CHAPTER 12: MARCUS IN DANGER

Third Person POV

“This is the most disgusting crime scene that I’d ever seen.” Detective Luke Hanson’s partner, Garrett Saunders says as he looks at the bodies that is lying in the basement of Lawrence Smith’s house in L.A. Luke doesn’t say anything as he looks at the bracelet on Amanda’s body. Even though Amanda’s body is unrecognisable after all these years, he knew that it was her because he recognized the bracelet that he gave her on her nineteenth birthday 6 years ago. A year before she went missing.

“I’m so sorry. I know that this must be hard for you.” Garret says as he looks at his friend. “Now I know why we couldn’t find anything at his condo. He did his dirty work from here.” Luke says as he looks around the basement. There are officers all over the house gathering evidence. “Detective Hanson forensics just arrived. They want to take a look at the bodies.” One of the officers say as he approaches them. “Send them in.” Luke says before he gets up.

Seconds later the forensics team come walking down the stairs. “I know that this is Amanda Hanson over here but I need you guys to I.D the other victims. I am pretty sure that they are the other four missing girls that I know have been with Lawrence Smith in the past.” Luke says as he points to Amanda’s body. The team gets straight to work. Luke and Garret leave the basement. “Now that we have all of this evidence, we need to get an arrest warrant and bring Lawrence Smith’s ass in.” Garret says as he takes out his phone. “You get on that. I want to question the woman who made the call and asked us to come here. I want to know why she came here and how she found this place.” Luke says as they walk out of the house.

Luke looks around the yard until he spots Gina. She is standing by her car.

Gina POV

After I called the cops, Amanda showed me where Lawrence’s secret room is where he keeps his computers. There is a secret door behind the wall in his that is in his closet upstairs. “This is where he does all of his illegal doings.” Amanda said. I switch the computers on and I see that they are password protected.

I take a piece of equipment from my bag. It’s a small device that can decode a password on any computer. I hook it up onto Lawrence’s computer and within seconds my device opens the computer for me. I get to work as I insert my flashdrive into the computer and I copy each and every file that is on the computer onto the flashdrive.

“I’m done now let’s go and wait for your brother outside.” I say to Amanda and the others. I couldn’t wait to get outside. The stench in this house was just too unbearable. I see a car stop in front of the house as I walk around the corner. 2 men climb out and then they walk into the yard. “Are you the woman who called us?” One of the men asks me while the other looks around the yard with a disgusted look on his face.
“Yes I am.” I reply. “I’m Detective Garrett Saunders and this is my partner Detective Luke Hanson.” Detective Garrett says as he points to himself and then at Luke. Luke just nods at me. “My name is Gina. Let me show you where I found the bodies.” I say. I walk around to the backdoor with the detectives and Amanda following me inside the house. I don’t see the other girls around now.

“Shit. We have to call this in.” Garrett says as he looks at the bodies. “I had to move this board here because the bodies were hidden behind it.” I say as I point at the wooden board that is standing next to the hole in the wall. Garrett nods at me as he takes out his phone but Luke keeps staring at one of the bodies. That must be Amanda’s body that he is looking at. “Amanda.” I hear Luke whisper.

“If you don’t mind I’ll go and wait outside. You can come and question me there.” I say and then I turn around and walk out of the basement.

I take out my phone as I get to my car just as few police cars come driving around the corner of the street and they stop right in front of Lawrence’s house.

I look back down at my phone and I notice that I have a few messages and missed calls from Pavlo.
‘Boss I managed to record this conversation earlier between Lawrence and two other people. I can’t tell who the other two are because they were both wearing masks but I did find out something. You were right. The video was edited.” Pavlo’s one message says. I was about to open the next message when I hear someone yelling at me from across the street.
“Hey how did you know about this place?" Detective Hanson yells as he runs towards me. Amanda appears and she stands right next to me. “Tell him the truth Gina.” She says. “Okay but I don’t think that he’ll believe me.” I say just as Luke comes and stands in front of me. “Just try please.” Amanda says. I sigh as I cross my arms over my chest. “If you must know your sister showed me.” She says. Luke gives me a confused look. “My sister is dead so she couldn’t have shown you. Now tell me who are you and how did you really find this place?” Luke asks her with a stern look on his face.

“My name is Gina Rossi from Rossi P.I.” I say as I hand him one of my business cards. He takes it from me then he looks at the card. “Okay but that doesn’t explain my other question.” Luke says. “I already told you. Amanda showed me where she is. I know that Lawrence Smith is responsible for her death and also for the deaths of the other girls that are in that hole in the wall.” I say. He looks at me like I am crazy. “Look I appreciate your help but I’ve got it from here.” Luke says before he turns and walks away.

“I used to call him big bear. That was my nickname for him that nobody else knew about. I called him big bear because of how good he took care of me after our parents died. He looks scary on the outside but inside he is actually a big teddy bear.” Amanda says. “She used to call you call you big bear. That was her nickname for you.” I say to him and he stops right in the middle of the street before turning around and storming back towards me.

“How did you know about that? Only Amanda called me that.” He says. “Amanda told me. She is right here with us now.” I say as I look at him and then at Amanda. She reaches out and touches his right hand. Luke looks down at his right hand. “She is holding your hand. Do you believe me now?” I ask him. His partner Garrett walks over to us. “We’ve got a problem. We can’t get a warrant now.” Garrett says. “What? Why?” Luke asks.

“We can’t get a hold of a judge to sign the warrant because it’s Saturday. We’ll have to wait until Monday.” Garrett says. “Fuck.” Luke says. I take out my phone and Mateo’s business card. “I think I know someone who can help us with that.” I say as I dial Mateo’s number on my phone. “Who is she?” Garrett asks Luke. Luke hands him my business card. “Gina Rossi from Rossi P.I.” Luke says. “Wow. I didn’t know that you get hot P.I’s like her.” Garrett says. “Dude that woman over there is crazy so don’t even think about it.” Luke says.

I glare at Luke just as Mateo answers his phone. “Hi, Mateo speaking.” Mateo says. “Mateo hi it’s Gina. Listen I found some dead bodies in Lawrence Smith’s house. I called the cops and they came to Lawrence’s house. The only problem is they can’t get a hold of a judge to sign the arrest warrant because their offices are closed. Do you know a judge that might be willing to help us now?” I ask Mateo.

“Jip I know this real hard ass judge that is always at his office. Even on a Saturday. I’ll call him now to see if he can help you.” Mateo says before he hangs up the phone. “Did you fill out the form that you have to send to the judge?” I ask Luke and Garrett. “Yeah I have it on my phone now.” Garrett says as he shows me the form for Lawrence’s arrest. I hear my phone going off and I see that it’s a text from Mateo.

‘Judge is waiting for the form. You can email it to him on this address. He’ll sign it and send it back.’ Mateo’s text says. He also gave me the email address. “There is a judge that is willing to sign the warrant. Here is his email address.” I say as I show my phone to Garrett and he gets straight to work. “Email sent now we just have to wait for him to send it back. It’s the best that we can do on such short notice.” Garrett says.

Usually the police get the signed warrant on paper but unfortunately they can’t wait for the offices to open on Monday so they’ll have to do it electronically. “Now we just have to find out where Lawrence is.” Luke says.

Just then Sylvia and the other 3 victims appear right next to Amanda. “Lawrence just left the strip club with stripper. He is taking her back to his condo in the city.” Sylvia says. “That never ends well. He is going to beat that poor girl and then rape her. He always does that with strippers and prostitutes that he takes over there.” Amanda says. I look at Luke. “He’ll be at his condo in the city. We can get him there.” I say as I get in my car. “Hey whose this we? We’ll handle it thank you very much.” Luke says to me before he looks at Garrett. “Get the car.” He tells him.
“He’s got a girl with him and he’ll hurt her if we don’t stop him so less talking and more driving okay.” I say to Luke as I start my car. “How did you know that?” He asks. “Your sister and the other ghosts of the victims that are laying in that basement.” I say as I put my foot on the gas and I speed off with Luke and Garrett right behind me.
My phone is connected to the car’s Bluetooth so I call Pavlo. He answers the phone on the second ring. “Boss I followed Lawrence to his condo and he has a girl with him.” Pavlo says. “Lawrence is a murderer so I need you to bust in there and save the girl. I’m almost there.” I say as I hang up the phone.
I stop right in front of Lawrence’s condo. His door is wide open so I know that Pavlo kicked it open. Luke and Garrett stop next to me. “I told my guy that was following him to go inside and get the girl.” I say to Luke and Garrett as we run to the front door. I run into the house first where I see Pavlo holding a girl in his arms. She looks like she had been beaten. “He just ran out of the backdoor when you guys pulled up.” Pavlo says as he points to the kitchen.
“Go get him. I’ll call an ambulance for her.” Garrett says. I run out of the back door first. Lawrence hasn’t gotten far because he’s overweight. I manage to run up to him and I kick him in the face making him fall down on the ground. Luke grabs him and he pulls him up onto his feet.

“Lawrence Smith you are under arrest for murder. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can’t afford an attorney then one will be appointed for you.” Luke reads him the Miranda rights as he cuffs Lawrence. “What? I didn’t kill anyone.” Lawrence says as he looks at Luke. “Lie all you want Lawrence but I found your house and the bodies that you kept in the basement.” I say to Lawrence.

“You little bitch. You just had to come and screw things up. I will get you for this.” Lawrence says as Luke drags him away. “Shut the fuck up. I told you that I was going to get your ass and you won’t be getting out of this one. I’ve got you right where I want you. Take him away.” Luke says as he pushes Lawrence into the arms of another police officer that had arrived on scene.

Luke and I don’t say anything as we walk back to the house. An ambulance was already there and they took the girl to the hospital.

Pavlo walks up to me. “Did you get the video that I sent you?” He asks me. “Yes I was about to watch it before I was rudely interrupted.” I say as I glare at Luke and he smirks at me. “You really need to watch that video. I tried to call you and Mateo earlier but you neither of you answered your phones.” Pavlo says. I look up at him and he has this serious look on his face. I take out my phone and I open the video that Pavlo had sent to me.
Looking at the video I hear what Lawrence and the two other goons are planning. “Shit. Mateo and Marcus are in danger.” I say as I run to my car. I dial Mateo’s number and the call connects to the car’s Bluetooth speaker as I put my foot on the gas and I speed out of the driveway.
The phone rings and rings before it goes to voicemail. “Pick up the fucking phone.” I say as I call Mateo’s number again while I speed through the streets of L.A. “Mateo’s phone Marcus speaking.” Marcus says as he answers.

“Oh thank God. Marcus it’s Gina. Listen I need you to lock the doors and windows. Don’t go outside and don’t open for anyone unless it’s me. I’m almost at your house.” I say. “Gina what’s going on?” Marcus asks but before I can answer him, I hear a commotion going on in the background before the line goes dead.

“Marcus!” I yell as I step on the gas.