Chapter 136: Unraveling
*Be careful what you wish for. There’s always a catch. – Laurie Halse Anderson*
Everything was going wrong.
Everything had gone wrong.
It only continued to get worse.
Jolene divorced him.
His mother went missing after they were released from jail.
Regina went to the store and never came home. Her purse was found in a freezer at the grocery store.
Rachel and his kids were now missing. Nothing was out of place at the house. Nothing was missing. She took the oldest to school, parked in the parking lot across from the school like she always did. They never made it into the school.
There was no video footage of any of them leaving.
They just simply… disappeared.
He received a visit from the sheriff's office late in the afternoon. It had been a familiar face that had knocked on the door. Parker looked at his old partner with sadness and tears in his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Hank.” Parker said and he meant it. “Your father is at the County Hospital.”
“Was he in an accident?” Hank asked trying to figure out why his former partner was telling him.
Parker shook his head. “No. He was shot.”
“They took him to the emergency room?” Hank asked, grabbing his keys.
“He’s in the basement.” Parker clarified quietly.
Hank understood what his former partner and friend was saying. The county did not have a coroner, they were not big enough. They didn’t even have a real morgue. They had a cold storage room in the basement of the county hospital. If the body had to go for an autopsy, they went to the basement until the coroner from the next county could collect it.
Or, in this situation, a criminal case where the body had to be identified.
Hank walked out and let Parker open the back door to the patrol vehicle. He wasn’t cuffed, he wasn’t under arrest, but he remembered the last time he sat in the back of a patrol vehicle. Or more specifically, the last two times.
Once after he nearly killed Jolene.
And once when he was found in the hotel.
He still wanted to know how they found him. But that was neither here nor there at this point.
At the hospital, Parker walked down the stairs with Hank in silence. The other deputy on duty opened the cold storage drawer and pulled out the tray. She unzipped the body bag and Henry stared out at his son. Pale and lifeless.
“That’s him. Henry James Fargo, Senior.”
He knew that he had to give the full name and confirm that it was his father. He knew the process. He had done this himself. Walked down with a family member to have the body identified.
And now, Hank was the one identifying the body.
Parker drove him back home and opened the back door for Hank to get out.
“Parker -.”
“Don’t. You’re not the man that I thought you were.” Parker said coldly. “You beat your wife. You nearly *killed* her! *YOU!* You were supposed to be her hero in blue. Do you know how many times I heard her say that?”
“Look, it was a mistake…”
“Which time?” Parker demanded. “How many times did you beat her before then?”
The silence drew out between them.
“I’m sorry about your dad. It sucks to lose a parent. Especially like that.” His voice was soft and calm. And filled with his own grief. “But don’t ever call me or talk to me ever again.”
Parker slid behind the steering wheel and pulled out into the darkening street. Hank stood in the driveway and watched the streetlights flicker to life. Slowly, he turned and went up to the front door where he unlocked to go inside.
Standing on the front porch, he called his uncle and once again, the call went to voicemail. “Uncle Alex, you need to call me. It’s about dad.”
As soon as Hank entered his parents’ house, he knew something was off. It was confirmed when he walked into the dark kitchen and found the man sitting at the island drinking scotch. And smoking a cigar as if he had no care in the world.
“Where is your father?” The man asked with a thick Columbian accent.
“Dead.” Hank replied and the other man scoffed. “You want to go see his body? It’s still in cold storage at the county hospital.”
The man chuckled. “So, what? Your law-abiding friends can arrest me?”
It was Hank’s turn to scoff. “Not my friends anymore.”
“Where are my men?” smoke surrounded his head making a halo in the darkened room.
“Arrested.”
There was a glow from the cigar. “You promised me things.”
“My father and uncle promised you things.”
“You own their debt now.” The ice clinked in the highball glass.
“Take it up with my uncle.”
“Already did. I’m sure they’ll find his body in the next day or so.” He took a draw on the cigar. “Gasses make the bodies float.”
Hank swallowed hard. “You killed him?”
“Not yet.” He blew out a smoke ring before taking a drink. “I want my product.”
“The DEA took it.”
The man gave a low deep laugh. “I could care less about the drugs. That kept the attention off the real product.”
Suddenly Hank thought that they were in something deeper and darker than he had ever imagined. He knew that the drugs were moving through the streets. He and some of the others made sure that it continued to flow. Dealers were tipped off before the raids. Large quantities were moved before it could be caught.
But if this was just a cover… what was the real product?
“I’ve seen pictures of your wife. She’s pretty. I could get a lot for her.”
There was no way that Hank had heard that right. Get a good price for her? Was that the real product? People?
“I can’t get to her.” He said thinking of the private security that went *everywhere* with her now.
“Hmmm….” The man snuffed out the cigar. “You have a daughter?”
“Yes, she’s five.”
“Untouched?” The man’s teeth were bright in the darkness as he smiled.
Hank swallowed the bile in his mouth before answering. “Yes.”
“I want your wife *and* your daughter. After that, I’ll let you know what else you can get me. Bring me them, and I’ll let your uncle go.”
“What do you want with my daughter?” Hank asked quietly.
The smile grew wider. “I like my toys fresh and untouched. She’ll be well taken care of. Until she bleeds, and then she’ll take good care of me.”
The man stood up and made his way to the back door. “I’ll give you two days. But only because I have other business to take care of.”
He slipped out the back and Hank watched him walk across the backyard and disappear into the tree line. When her was sure that the man was gone, he rushed to the sink and lost his lunch.
They wanted his baby girl. His five-year-old baby girl. What kind of monsters had his uncle gotten them involved with? Or had it been his own father?
And how was he going to get away from them? And make sure his kids were safe. Did his mother know? Is that why she left? Is that why Regina and Rachel have disappeared?
Maybe them being gone would be the best thing for everyone.
Maybe he needed to be gone too.
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