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10 X 4: AFFLICTIONS A missing child, a suspicious and suspect spouse, and an ancient evil bedevil Doggett and Reyes... |
Queens Borough, New York
1:30 a.m.
"What time is it?"
The door shut behind Andi, leaving the room in complete darkness. "1:30. Go back to sleep." Pulling back the comforter, she slipped into bed beside her husband.
"Geez, Andi! You were supposed to be back before midnight. Melea cried herself to sleep. Again. She misses you enough and these nighttime escapades of yours don’t help."
Turning on her side, away from Joe, Andi closed her eyes and tried to begin relaxing. She had been through all of this before. It was best to let him rant instead of arguing. He would never understand.
Thankful that his watch glowed in the dark, Joe gave a relenting sigh. "I’m going in to the office tomorrow. I’ll try not to wake you when I leave."
"Talk about someone being gone a lot…"
The sarcasm was not lost on him. "Go to sleep, Andi."
**
Joe was up before his alarm went off. He showered and dressed quietly down the hall so he would not disturb Andi as promised.
The silence gave him plenty of time to consider his life. Fifteen years with the New York Police
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For details on the Salem Witch Trials, visit: |
Department, five of those spent on the elite Child Abduction Task Force. Joe had retired early but could not shake the need to be ‘out there’ doing whatever it took to protect his city. Andi had put up a fight when he was hired as a special investigator for the DA’s office. She had never had to work. Coming from an old, well-established New England family, Andi received multiple inheritances when relatives passed on.
They had been married two years when Melea was born. For another year, they had been truly happy. Until Andi expressed the need to get away more often and her parents died. That was when she had started these nightly prowls with her girlfriends.
They never told Joe what went on during those times and they never came over to the house. He suspected bar hopping and even dared to think drug use might be involved. Nothing to substantiate his beliefs, but he held them nonetheless.
It was almost 6:30 when Joe made his way to Melea’s room. Not intending to wake her, he barely cracked the door to blow her a silent kiss. The comforter was folded back neatly; the pink sheets were smooth against the mattress. Unwrinkled because Melea was not there.
"Andi? Did Melea come in here?" He had quickly made his way back to their bedroom, not fully aware of his increased heart rate.
Andi pulled the pillow over her head without opening her eyes. "Come on, Joe. You said you wouldn’t bother me."
"Is Melea in here?!"
"No, she’s probably sleeping which is what I would like to do."
He jerked the pillow off her head, fear in his eyes. "She isn’t in her room!"
Andi threw back the covers and jumped from the bed as Joe raced through the house.
"Melea! Melea!"
J. Edgar Hoover Building
One week later
John Doggett entered the basement office in time to see Monica Reyes nearly choke on her coffee.
"Please tell me you didn’t make this!" She held up the cup with a disgusted look on her face.
Doggett smiled as he took a seat. "That bad, huh?"
"Awful!" Shoving the rest of the coffee aside, Reyes continued the paperwork that was to be her work for the day. Boring busywork that kept getting shoved to them in order to keep them out of the field as much as possible.
Doggett rolled his eyes and turned to the files he had picked up from Skinner before coming down. Cattle mutilations in Argentina. How exciting. That one went to the bottom of the pile.
It seemed every day was this way. The Bureau wanted to keep certain events hush hush and they could not afford to raise questions by completely closing the X-files and relieving Doggett and Reyes of their duties. So, they gave them nothing but paperwork and useless stories probably dug from the tabloids.
"How much longer can they just leave us down here? There’s so much for us to look at and deal with. Mulder tried to expose the lies they covered up. We can do the same, John. It just takes perseverance."
"Don’t you think we should build up a little more trust before we try to get ourselves abducted by aliens?"
Reyes leaned back in her chair and stared hard at her partner. "I’m serious, John Doggett. They’re leaving us down here to rot."
The phone’s shrill ring pierced the air, startling them. Doggett winked at her. "Maybe they’re sayin’ we can come up now."
Ignoring him, she answered quickly. "Who may I say is calling?" Doggett raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged in response. "It’s Joe Travers. He says he knows you?"
"Yeah," he took the phone with a smile, "Joe? Been a long time, buddy. What’s up?"
Reyes watched the expression on his face change from happiness to distress. She really hated being on only one end of phone conversations. Her curiosity always got the better of her.
"We’ll be up this afternoon. Make sure you’ve got everything the department has collected. We’ll get her back, Joe. I promise." Doggett hung up looking drained.
"John? What’s wrong?" Reyes placed her hand on his arm to get his attention.
"Joe…his daughter is missing." Doggett took a deep breath and stared towards the ceiling. "We worked together on the Task Force for a few months before…" He was quiet for a second. "...before you arrived to help."
This was not what he needed. Reyes knew that the healing had only begun for him and this would only tear open the wounds once more. "I think I remember him. But, John, that doesn’t mean you have to go and insert yourself into another tragedy. Offer your help from this office by sending someone in your place."
"I can’t." He shook his head and resolutely pounded the desk with his fist. "Joe, Andi – I owe them for the time they spent with me. But, I owe that little girl. She’s why I want to go, Monica. There’s really no other reason."
Determination. She saw the look and knew there was no reason to attempt to convince him otherwise. Reyes sighed heavily because of the emotional journey that lay ahead. Yet, this was the right thing to do in so many ways. A little girl was missing. Doggett’s focus was right where it should be.
"Alright, let’s go."
Travers home
Queen’s Borough, New York
A couple of police cars lined the street across from the house when Doggett and Reyes arrived. They watched an elderly couple hug a man and then exit the residence.
"That’s Joe," Doggett motioned towards the man as they stepped from the car.
Reyes immediately recognized that same worn expression she had come to know as that of a grief-stricken parent. She chose to say nothing and waited for Joe to greet them.
"John!" Hugging him tightly, Joe thanked him for coming. "You’ll never know what this means to us."
John smiled in response, "Joe Travers, this is Agent Monica Reyes."
Reyes stepped forward and shook his hand. "Mr. Travers, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I only wish it could be under better circumstances."
"I know you have experience with these types of cases," Joe grimaced and led the agents inside the house. Although he had been on the Child Abduction Task Force for two years, he had not worked with her during Luke’s case but he had seen her around. "Andi, they’re here." Joe showed them into the living room that had become a type of command center. "All the reports and evidence that’s been put together are in these boxes." He pointed to two small cardboard boxes sitting on the floor. "Unfortunately, there’s not much. They…the officers…" His voice broke as he tried to regain his composure, "There’s nothing, John, nothing. No hair or fibers that don’t match us or Melea."
Reyes paid close attention to how Doggett was handling this with the situation hitting so close to home. There was no pain in her partner’s face but she also saw empathy only he could provide to Joe.
"John, it’s nice to see you again. You look well." Andi stepped into the room, hands shoved in her pockets. Reyes could not help but notice she was not disheveled. Andi’s make-up and hair were all perfectly placed.
Doggett hugged her quickly. "Andi, this is my partner, Mon-"
"I know who she is." Andi interrupted abruptly and crossed her arms glaring at Reyes. "You didn’t do much to help on John’s case, what makes you think you’re going to find my daughter?"
Joe and Doggett’s eyes widened. Reyes found herself unable to respond before Andi continued.
"All the Task Force wives kept an eye on you while you kept your eyes on John. Yeah, we watched you like a hawk." Andi sneered at her before turning and walking away.
"Now what was that all about, Joe?"
"She…" Joe sighed, "She’s been uptight since the polygraph tests." Doggett and Reyes waited for an explanation. "I passed and she failed. Twice. But you have to understand Andi would never hurt Melea. She loves our little girl. Excuse me, I’m gonna check on her."
Reyes sat and began looking through one of the boxes while Doggett closed the door behind Joe.
"Monica, I’m sorry..."
"No." She held up her hand to stop him from speaking. "Don’t say that. Let’s just focus on the case at hand, okay?"
Doggett took charge of the second box, sorting the files into what seemed to be a manageable order. "Monica, you gotta understand what’s going through her mind. She’s stressed and she’s lashing out –"
"John! I said stop it. Look, we both know I don’t have a good track record with abduction cases. Obviously, my reputation precedes me."
Both looked up from their places as the door opened. "Um…I’ve got Andi going out to grab some groceries. We haven’t had a full fridge since…since this thing started. You two’ll get a good lunch – "
"Don’t bother, Mr. Travers." Reyes stood with her box tucked under her arm. "I’m heading to the New York field office to go over these polygraph readings. John, I’ll call in a couple of hours okay?"
She made her way to the door, followed by Joe and Doggett.
They watched in silence as Reyes drove away. Doggett knew she had been stung by Andi’s words. He wished he could take away the hurt but knew there would be no words to help.
"Gosh, John, I’m --"
Doggett chose to interrupt rather than hear an apology from Joe. "Take me through the house and show me all the possible exits."
**
The tour did not take long. Doggett noted all the usual passageways – windows, doors – nothing out of the ordinary. According to police reports, there had been no signs of forced entry. Doggett saw none as he examined the door jams and window sills.
Melea’s room was immaculately constructed. Obvious love and care had gone into creating a little girl’s paradise of teddy bears and doll houses. No rogue fingerprints had been lifted and Joe had already mentioned that nothing out of the ordinary had been discovered.
When they entered the master bedroom, there was a sense of separation in the manner in which it was set up. The queen-size bed was as perfectly centered in the room as possible. Each side of the room contained a dresser and night stand displaying distinctly different items distinguishing between Andi and Joe. Even the closet had been evenly separated.
"You mind if I poke around?" Doggett did not look at Joe as he spoke, instead focusing on where he would begin his search.
Joe nodded, "Yeah, go ahead. The investigators didn’t bother since we’d been in bed that night."
Doggett bypassed the closet for Andi’s dresser. Start from the top and head to the bottom, that was the general plan. Pulling open the top drawer, he sifted through various forms of undergarments and nothing else. The next two drawers yielded lingerie and t-shirts but the final drawer was different, although Doggett had no idea if there was significance in its contents.
"Andi got a thing for nice smells?" He brought out several pillar candles and packs of incense.
"Those? I guess, but she only uses them when she goes out. She always told me it was a tradition with female family members. I guess it’s also a tradition to leave the husband out of your personal business."
Doggett noted the pain in Joe’s voice. Andi must have really hurt him but he stuck beside her – most likely for their daughter’s sake. But there was something that Joe said that intrigued him. "What did you mean ‘family tradition’?"
Joe sat on the bed, hands folded in his lap. "Andi comes from an old and well-established New England family that came over in the early 1600s. They have traditions that are never broken at any cost. I guess the idea of sitting around in candlelight stems from that."
"What about her parents? Why aren’t they here?"
"Her parents died a year after Melea was born and Andi became the sole heir of all inheritances coming to her parents. Having an old family means a large family so she had enough money coming in to allow her to stay home. But that wasn’t enough." Joe kicked the side of the bed. "I wasn’t enough, I guess, because she started going out on her nightly escapades when the money started coming in."
Andi’s friends had been questioned only to verify her story. They had not been talked to since and Joe had never really met them. He considered them part of his wife’s personal life he was not welcomed into.
The way Doggett was reading Joe’s explanation started forming a picture in his mind. Andi was obviously a partier. No, Joe was not enough for her but she was content enough until inheritances brought about financial freedom. If she had been out the night of the abduction, it was plausible that someone had followed her home. However, evidence did not suggest that.
"Andi’s parents hated me."
Doggett was surprised by the suddenness of the statement and watched his friend sitting on the edge of the bed with his head lowered. "Why?" A simple question but Joe had obviously thought it was important enough to mention.
"Because I wasn’t one of their ‘group’." The words fell out of his mouth dripping with disdain.
"You mean they hated you ‘cause you weren’t from an upper crust, snobbish family who basically believed those who failed to meet their standards should be brushing away the dirt that came in their path?"
Joe glanced up before answering, "Couldn’t have said it better myself."
What if this family that hated Joe wanted to take Melea and raise her in their prescribed manner? Doggett thought it was certainly plausible. He also conceded it was a stretch. But Andi really was not acting overly concerned.
A scenario began to form in his mind. Using a number of ‘what ifs’, Doggett considered it was highly probable Andi was in on the abduction – he did not even consider the failed polygraphs. Maybe Andi carried Melea from her bedroom to a waiting car. The child would not have screamed or fought against her mother. That could explain the lack of abnormal fibers and prints.
But why? He had an answer for that, too. Andi was dissatisfied with her life. Melea was her connection to Joe and the only thing keeping her here. Take away Melea, leave Joe, move back to enjoy the glitzy lifestyle of her childhood. Problem solved.
The idea that Andi would stage her daughter’s abduction was distressing but also gave hope that Melea was safe. It was the best idea Doggett had. He decided to run with it. "Where’s her family from, Joe? And her closest living relative. Where do they live?"
Joe hesitated for a moment, only because his wife rarely discussed her family. "Um…her cousins live in Gloucester, Massachusetts. John, I don’t know –"
"Any piece of information can help and her family needs to be checked out."
"Salem. Her family lived in and around Salem for 400 years. Their name is Carrier."
There was something certain and powerful in those words as they hit Doggett’s ears. Without a word to Joe, he immediately called Reyes.
FBI New York City Field Office
"Andi, sooner or later you’ll have to tell us about your family."
When Andi had arrived home from her shopping excursion, Doggett and Reyes had been waiting and had made the decision to escort her to the station house rather than to question her at home. The decision was made upon seeing that Andi had failed to return with the groceries she had supposedly gone to buy.
The interrogation had been tension filled from the beginning. Andi had refused to speak, claiming she was unnecessarily being harassed.
"Don’t let them do this, Joe!" she had cried out when they asked her to recount her whereabouts.
Doggett had forced himself to stay outside the interrogation room with Joe. He had been so angered and appalled at Andi’s actions that he was finding it hard to see her as a mother.
"I’ll say it again, Andi. You have to talk to us about your family."
Andi stared coldly at Reyes. "Who are you to ask me about my family? Don’t you have a job to do or do you want to split up my marriage so you can take a chance at Joe? You’ve done it before and I’m not letting it happen to me."
This was hard for everyone to ignore. Andi had so blatantly stated what many of the officer’s wives had believed when Doggett and his wife had divorced. Doggett shifted his weight as Joe stared with disbelief through the two-way mirror.
Reyes showed no shock, although it was tearing her up inside.
"Salem, Andi. Why won’t you discuss it? We know all about your family, the Carriers. Martha Carrier was one of the women condemned as witches and executed."
"Then what more do you want to know?"
Reyes shoved a file across the table. Digging up information of the Carriers had presented little trouble once she had received Doggett’s call. "Melea is not the first little girl in your family to go missing. Seven others have disappeared. All gone for days before reappearing. The story always ends once they come back, but I won’t drop it so easily." Their gazes locked. "I’ll find Melea before she can be returned."
Andi audibly chuckled.
"You think this is funny? Or are you nervous because I found you out? Those friends of yours – Bonnie, Elizabeth, and Margaret – they’re involved." A look of shock crossed Andi’s face. Reyes had hit upon something and she took the chance. "It only took a couple of phone calls to find out who they were. All come from distinguished and old Massachusetts Colony settlers. Bonnie Bishop – descended from Bridget Bishop, Elizabeth Cory – descended from Martha and Giles Cory, Margaret Good – descended from Sarah Good. You see the pattern, Andi? All were condemned and executed during the Salem Witch Trials."
Reyes stood and leaned across the table. "Tell me what’s going on."
Andi buried her head in her hands, "None of those girls were ever hurt. They were saved."
"Where is Melea?" Reyes’ voice rose with each word.
"I don’t know."
"Tell me!"
On the other side of the glass, Joe had already turned away but Doggett could not tear himself from the scene unfolding before him. Andi was involved in this. It was something he could not quite grasp. How could a mother let her own child be taken and not say anything?
There were no words for the devastation Joe was feeling. It was not anger at Andi, but a sadness that he had never before known. His wife, the mother of his child, was involved in the kidnapping.
"John, I have to…" Joe trailed off.
"Yeah." Doggett answered without taking his eyes off the interrogation. He heard the door close and knew that Joe was breaking down. He had been there before.
"Andi," Reyes softened her tone as she moved directly beside her, "if you don’t know where Melea is, at least help me try to find her. Tell me why these girls have been taken for days and then returned."
"They exhibit the signs." Andi wiped her wet cheeks.
Oh, dear God. It was all so clear now. Reyes was familiar with the infamous Witch Trials, but science and even the colonists who condemned the women and men had debunked any so-called evidence of witchcraft during that era. But that black history had cast its own spell over the families of the accused.
"What do you mean ‘signs’?"
"Screaming out at night, crying, falling into fits when disciplined." Was any more evidence needed? It all made perfect sense to Andi.
"Those are signs of nightmares and temper tantrums..."
"Andi," Doggett entered the room, surprising both women with his suddenness, "Agent Reyes, could you…" he motioned his head towards the door.
"I’ll be right outside." Reyes stepped out and assumed Doggett’s place on the other side of the two-way mirror.
Within the interrogation room, the atmosphere had changed. A mother and father sat across from each other – although their experiences were nowhere near similar. Something connected them: The love for and the need to protect a child.
He decided to speak slowly, "Andi, I think you believe you had to save Melea from somethin’. It’s somethin’ I don’t understand, I can’t understand. But what I do understand is that you want to keep your daughter from being a part of your family’s dark history as you see it."
"John, they didn’t tell me where they were taking her and they didn’t tell me when. But Melea would scream and cry and I couldn’t get her to settle down." Andi was crying, almost inconsolable. "When we were little girls, we were taught to recognize the signs of possession passed down by Martha. Bonnie, Elizabeth, and Margaret – all of their families have different signs passed down. Not everyone’s affected. I wasn’t and I thought Melea would be normal but she wasn’t. I had to do something."
Doggett leaned on the table, his hand covering his mouth. What they were working with was a family legend strongly held to be fact, passed down through the centuries, and used to explain temper tantrums and disobedience. Finding this little girl was going to require looking at this family’s history and these ‘friends.’
"Andi, we’re gonna take you home." There was no reason to continue questioning her. Melea had been taken by the three women who did not tell Andi where they were going.
**
"Three women and a little girl matching Melea’s description were just spotted at a McDonald’s drive-thru in Massachusetts."
Reyes grabbed the fax from Doggett and finished reading the bulleting aloud, "A McDonald’s in Gloucester…" She looked directly at him. "Are you ready?"
Doggett smirked as he grabbed his jacket. "Get in the car. I’ll call Joe and tell him what’s going on."
Gloucester, Massachusetts
The Salem descendents were well known in Gloucester. The townspeople disliked them and stayed far away from ‘that house’ on Crescent Lane. It was the only house on a dead-end street. Some said the Salem curse caused the grass in the yard to die. Others said the women just did not care enough to properly tend the yard.
One dark night, the brave few who paid attention to Crescent Lane saw the three women and one little girl enter ‘that house’.
"Okay, they all seem to be in agreement that they’ve been in there for at least five days." Doggett returned to the warmth of the car after questioning the closest neighbors a block away.
Reyes put the binoculars in her lap and sighed in frustration. "It took this long for someone to recognize her and call us. Why don’t people pay more attention to what’s going on?"
"Cause we’re all worried about ourselves, Monica. Three women and a little girl don’t arouse much suspicion. ‘Specially if she’s not yelling."
"John!" Reyes firmly grabbed his arm and motioned towards the house. A light had been turned on and someone had walked outside.
"Is that…?"
They both strained for a closer look.
Doggett could feel his heart pounding as they confirmed it. They had found her.
"Joe, this is John Doggett," he smiled at Reyes, "we found her. How soon can you get to Gloucester?" The excitement and gratitude in Joe’s voice was catching. "Monica and I are goin’ in."
Doggett nodded to her. They had a job to do and they had to do it right. There was no backup, even though this was an FBI kidnapping case. The Bureau had been reluctant to join a modern day witch hunt. They were on their own.
"Take the front. I’ll go ‘round back. If Melea’s still near the front door, you won’t scare her."
Reyes mentally counted several seconds to allow Doggett time to get into position before heading to the door. She rang the doorbell and stood back.
"Who’s there?" An adult voice harshly called out.
Reyes tightened her grip on her weapon while reminding herself a child could be just on the other side of the door. "Ma’am, my car broke down. I saw your light on and was hoping to use your phone." She watched the sheers over the large windows move lightly. They had been watching her. Thank goodness she had the presence of mind to keep the gun within her jacket.
The door creaked open and she was greeted by a woman in her thirties with long, blonde hair pulled into a braid. From the one photograph they had been able to obtain of the women, Reyes quickly assessed her to be Elizabeth Cory. "In the kitchen. This way." Elizabeth motioned for her to follow.
Doggett’s position at the back door allowed him to see into the kitchen and a smaller room he assumed was used as a study – but he noticed nothing out of the ordinary. No signs of Melea. But they *had* seen her. He was sure of that and he had already called Joe to say she was coming home. At this point, they needed back up to ensure that would be true.
As he watched Reyes being led into the kitchen, Doggett stepped back from the house and pulled out his cell phone to call the local police. He introduced himself and explained the situation to the captain. "My partner’s inside the house with one of the suspects. We’re not having problems so far but I’m not sure the two of us can search this house quick enough to find the little girl and take her abductors into custody."
The Gloucester Police Department arrived in five minutes. Elizabeth was nervous. Reyes could almost make out footsteps from somewhere else in the house. She smiled and placed a call to her home number. "Wonderful! My sister isn’t home."
"Isn’t that the luck? Look, I’ve got a number for a reputable towing company…" Elizabeth handed her the phone book, letting a picture fall to the floor. It was Melea.
Reyes wasted no time in retrieving it. "Beautiful child. Is this your daughter?"
"No." The picture was snatched from Reyes’ hand. "Why don’t you wait for the towing company by your car? You don’t want them getting lost."
Doggett and the police chief had been watching from the back. They signaled for the SWAT team to prepare to enter.
Reyes nodded. "Let’s talk about something else." She pulled her weapon, catching Elizabeth by surprise. "FBI. Elizabeth Cory, you’re under arrest for the abduction of Melea Travers."
Elizabeth ran to the top of the basement stairwell, "Maggie, Bonnie – GO!"
Reyes grabbed her before she could race down the steps and pinned her against the wall.
"You have the right to remain silent..." She locked the handcuffs in place as the SWAT team stormed through the front door.
Doggett and the chief came through the back, weapons drawn, eyes anxiously searching.
"Downstairs!"
Doggett rushed passed the team, almost directly into Bonnie Bishop hiding at the side of the utility sink. She raised her hand to bring down a large crowbar over his head before being shoved aside by another officer.
"Where is the girl? Tell me where she is and it will be over!"
Bonnie sneered at him. "We almost had her. Another, day, even one more night and she would have had the life of a normal little girl!"
"Where is Melea?"
"Not here." Doggett could hear the sick laughter in Bonnie’s voice.
Shouts upstairs caused him to ignore her. He watched the SWAT team swarm outside and surround the cellar doors. "Monica? You’re kidding right?"
She shook her head. "Margaret moved Melea into the cellar while Bonnie waited as a distraction. Offer a deal and Elizabeth talks. Go, John, you need this one."
They shared a smile and Doggett moved to the head of the SWAT team. He stood back to allow the cellar doors to be opened before rushing in.
‘Find Melea’ – the only thought on his mind.
The team spread out but he instinctively knew where to look. Underneath the stairs was a crawlspace. Doggett shined his flashlight inside.
"Can I go home now?"
Doggett held out his hand and carried Melea out of the dark cellar. They ignored Margaret being handcuffed – his concern was for Melea. She was dirty and scared, but she was alive.
Two weeks later
"I still sit outside her room every night." Joe was watching Melea play outside while he talked to Doggett over the phone.
"Yeah, that’s understandable." It had been a couple of weeks and, from what they had been told, Melea was acting relatively normal. "Any nightmares?"
"No. I think that was the first thing they tried to get rid of even though she doesn’t talk about it. Andi and I agreed to a separation, but there doesn’t seem to be hard feelings between us. I think it might work out, John."
Doggett grinned, and Reyes signaled to him that they had a meeting. "Look, I’ll call you later, ‘kay? Give Melea a hug for me. Talk to you soon."
"So," Reyes began after Doggett cradled the phone, "Everything’s normal?"
Doggett nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. "No nightmares. Joe seems to think she’s okay. I guess it’s all we can hope for."
**
"Melea, time to come inside!" Joe held out his hand, but was shocked by the response.
"No, daddy!" Melea stomped her foot and began screaming irrationally.
"Stop throwing a f--" Joe stopped speaking.
It was too late for his daughter, he realized. In more than one way.