CHAPTER 20: TROUBLE AT THE FREEMONT HOTEL PART ONE

Gina POV

Luke and I have now gone to three of the other four victims houses. We’re now heading towards Sylvia’s house. “Do you do this often?” Mateo asks me from the backseat. “Yes. It gives closure to the victims and their families.” I reply. “And do they usually want to chase you out of their houses? Like that guy did this morning?” Luke asks me. “Yes until the victim tells me something that only their family and them would know about. Then the whole explaining about how I knew that would start and then there’s the crying and the messages that the victims have for them before they cross over into the light.” I say.

“I wanna witness it this time.” Mateo says as he sits back. He’s been staying in the car this entire time except for when we had to drop him off at the mall so that he could go and buy himself a new phone. “Why don’t you just order one through Amazon?” Luke asked him. “Nah. I like to see that actual product before I buy it.” Mateo replied.

We arrive at the last house which is Sylvia’s parent’s house. Luke knocks on the front door and an a lady who looks to be about fifty years old opens the door. “Detective Hanson?” The woman says. “Hi Mrs. Jackson. I have some news about Sylvia. May we please come in.” Luke says. “Yes sure.” She says as she opens the door for us. I enter the house with Luke and Mateo coming in after me. “Hi Mrs. Jackson, my name is Gina and this is my friend Mateo.” I say as I reach my hand out to her. “My name is Mary.” She says as she greets us and then leads us to their living room where her husband is busy watching TV. He switches it off as he sees us walking into the room.

“Hi I’m Ronald.” Mr. Jackson says as he greets us. “Would any of you like something to drink?” Mary asks. “No thank you Mary. We won’t keep you too long.” Luke says. “Okay so let’s get straight to the point. We saw the news this morning about Lawrence Smith. Is it true that he killed my daughter?” Mr. Jackson asks us. “Yes and I’m so sorry.” Luke says. “But I can promise you that he will be brought to justice.” Mateo says just as Mrs. Jackson bursts into tears.

“I was always hoping that she’d come back to us.” Mrs. Jackson says. Sylvia is now standing right next to her. “There is something that I need to tell you.” I say to her parents and they both look at her. “I have this gift that enables me to see what no one else can see.” I say as I look at them before I continue. “I can see ghosts. Sylvia is here with us now.” I say. “What the hell are you playing at?” Mr. Jackson asks me.

“We just found out that we lost our daughter. And now you’re telling us all of this bullshit?” Mr. Jackson yells at me. “Tell my dad that I know he would go and sit in my old room at night while holding Chuckles.” Sylvia says. “Who is Chuckles?” I ask them. “How did you know about Chuckles?” Mrs. Jackson asks. “He’s my teddie bear that my parents gave me for my fifth birthday. I would always sleep with him at night.” Sylvia says.

“Chuckles is the teddie bear that you gave Sylvia for her fifth birthday and she used to go to bed with it at night.” I reply. “Tell me now how the hell did you really know about that?” Mr. Jackson says as he gets up and comes and stands in front of me. “I told you that Sylvia told me.” I say. “Bullshit. She’s dead so how could she have told you about that?” Mr. Jackson asks. “She’s telling the truth.” Luke says and I glare at him. He just shrugs his shoulders at me.

“Daddy?” Sylvia says as she touches his left shoulder. He looks at his shoulder and his eyes grow wide in shock. “Sylvia?” He says. “It’s me dad. Gina wasn’t lying and I had to show myself to prove it.” Sylvia says. Mr. Jackson tries to hug her but he flies right through her. “I can’t stay long because showing ourselves to the living takes a lot of energy but I needed to tell you something. I’m so sorry for not listening to you guys and I love you both so much.” Sylvia says. “Oh honey.” Mrs. Jackson says. “Tell Aaron I love him too.” Sylvia says.

“Who is Aaron?” Mateo asks her. “My brother that is living in Canada.” Sylvia answers as she looks to her right. “I can see the light. It’s so bright and beautiful.” She says before she turns to her parents. “I’ll miss you both so much.” Sylvia says. “We’ll meet each other again. We love you so much.” Mr. Jackson says. Sylvia smiles at them before she looks at me. “Here I go.” She says and I smile at her. She walks to her right before disappearing.
“She’s gone. Our baby girl is gone forever.” Mrs. Jackson says as she falls to her knees. I bend down and wrap my arms around her. She leans into me and cries on my shoulder. “Thanks for catching him.” Mr. Jackson says as he looks at Luke. “She’s the one that you should thank. If it weren’t for her than we would’ve never found them.” Luke says as he points at me. “Thank you. I’m so sorry that I yelled at you.” Mr. Jackson says as he looks at me.

“That’s okay Mr. Jackson. I’ve had worse.” I say. “So you two are cops too?” Mr. Jackson says as he points between Mateo and I. “P.I.” I say as I points at myself. “Lawyer. I’ll be the one to send Lawrence’s ass to jail.” Mateo says. “I don’t want you to send him to jail. I want you to send him to the electric chair.” Mr. Jackson says. “That’s up to the state. Death penalties have been suspended in California until further notice. But I can try.” Mateo says. Mr. Jackson just nods at him but I can see that he is fuming because of what Mateo had just told him.
“I’ll let you know when we are ready to release Sylvia’s body. She deserves a proper burial.” Luke says. Mr. Jackson shakes his hand. “Thank you.” Mr. Jackson replies. “Are you guys ready to go?” Luke asks Mateo and I. “Yeah.” Mateo says as he turns around and he leaves out the front door followed by Luke.

I get up and I take something out of my pocket. “Here. It’s a cheque of 5000 dollars. It should help with the burial costs.” I say as I hand Mrs. Jackson the cheque. “Thank you but why?” She asks me as she looks up at me with tears in her eyes. “I like helping people. That’s all.” I say. “Thank you.” Mr. Jackson says. I nod and then I leave their house.

“It’s almost 13H00. I think we should get back to Marcus’s house.” I say as I join Mateo and Luke in the car. “But you said that we should head over to the Freemont Hotel first?” Mateo says. “Yeah after we get back to the precinct to get my car back.” I say. “we could stop at the Freemont first and then go back to the precinct if you want? I don’t have a problem with that.” Luke says. “Really?” I ask him. “Yes.” Luke replies. “Okay so let’s go.” I say as I fasten my seatbelt.
Mateo’s phone goes off and he takes it out. “It’s an email from Judge Jerry.” Mateo says. “That must be the exhumation forms that we need.” I say. “Exhumation? For who?” Luke asks. “Andreas Castellano.” I say. “I thought that an autopsy on him was done when he died?” Luke says. “That one was fake. He wasn’t stabbed. He was drowned.” I reply. “How do you… oh yeah sorry I forgot.” Luke says as he look at him.

“Jip he showed himself to me last night. And he was drenched in water.” I say. “You gotta be shitting me?” Luke says. “I’m not shitting you.” I say. “Judge Jerry says that he’s sorry it took so long for him to come back to us but he managed to get the papers and they’ll be exhuming his body tomorrow morning. It will then be taken to the Anthropology department at UCLA where Dr. Lara Stephens will examine it.” Mateo says. “Good. Hopefully we’ll get some answers soon.” I say just as we reach the hotel.

“I’ll wait here in the car for you guys.” Luke says. “Okay we’ll be back as soon as we can.” I say as Mateo and get out of the car. “Man I’ve had a lot of fun night here when I was younger.” Mateo says as he looks at the hotel. “Do you miss coming here?” I ask. “Nah. Those days are over.” Mateo replies. “You don’t have to come with me.” I say. “I think I should. I just got this weird feeling that something is about to happen.” Mateo says. We walk to the elevator and I press the button for the third floor as that is where Dax and Tatiana are.
We get to room 302 and Dax opens the door for us. “Hi Dax. This is Mateo.” I say as I introduce them. “Hi nice to meet you.” Mateo says as he shakes Dax’s hand. “Likewise.” Dax says. “Gina?” I hear Tatiana say from behind me. “Oh I’m so glad to see you.” Tatiana says as she rushes over to Gina. “I’m glad that you’re okay Tatiana.” I say as I pull away. “This is my friend Mateo.” I say as I look at Mateo. Mateo doesn’t say a word to her. He looks like he’s frozen on the spot. “Mateo?” I say to him. “Hi I … I’m Mateo by the way.” He stutters. “She just told me. My name is Tatiana.” Tatiana says as she holds out her hand to Mateo.
“Wow. You have a beautiful name.” Mateo says as he greets her back. She blushes at him. “Thank you.” She replies before she looks back at me. “Let me just go and get dressed.” She says as she turns around and walks back to her room. She looks like she just got out of the shower because her hair was wet and she was wearing a robe.

I look at Mateo who is still staring at Tatiana’s retreating body. I wait until she closes the bedroom door before I turn towards Mateo.

“Oh my God! You’re totally crushing on Tatiana!” I say.

“What? No I’m not!” Mateo says. “Yes you are. I can see it in your eyes.” I say. “That’s called love at first sight.” Dax says. “Pfft. There is no such thing.” Mateo says. “There is and it catches you off guard. You, Sir, are totally smitten.” Dax says as he bites into his apple. “Whatever man.” Mateo says as he looks at Tatiana’s bedroom door.

“Come on admit it. You like her.” I say. “Okay yes I like her and I find her extremely beautiful.” Mateo says. “I’ll kick your ass if you think about hurting that girl. She’s been through enough already.” Dax says.
“What happened to her?” Mateo asks me.
“Let’s just say that I was abused by my soon-to-be ex-husband who wants me dead now.” Tatiana says from the bedroom door.
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Back to the outside of the hotel. A man is sitting in a car and he saw Gina and Mateo walk into the hotel. “Let’s go. Tell the others to meet us inside.” The man says as he gets out of the car along with three other guys. His phone rings and he picks it up. “Hello.” He says. “Did you find Tatiana?” Toby, Tatiana’s husband, asks him. “Yes. She’s at the Freemont hotel.” The man replies. “I know. I followed you here. Look to you right.” Toby says. The man looks to his right and he sees Toby standing at the corner.
“And the guy? Is he with her?” Toby asks him about Dax. “Yes and so is the bitch who helped her escape.” The man replies. “Good. I’m coming with you.” Toby says as he walks up to the man. He turns around and looks at Toby. “I told you that I’ll take care of everything. That’s what you’re paying me for.” The man says as he puts the phone down. “Wrong. I’m paying you to kill her friend and that asshole. But Tatiana is mine. I’ll take care of her myself. She’s going to pay for leaving me.” Toby says as he takes out his pistol to load some bullets into it.
“Whatever. Let’s just go and get this done.” The man says as he starts walking towards the hotel.
Luke is sitting in his Land Rover, eating his burrito that he had just bought from the vendor across the street. He notices the group of men walking towards the hotel and he recognizes one of them as Carlos Santoro. He’s the man who was talking to Toby. Carlos is an assassin that has been on the police’s most wanted list for years. “Son of a bitch!” Luke says as he gets out of the car.

Luke hides behind the corner of the main window of the hotel’s foyer so that they don't notice that he's there. He and Carlos had a few run ins in the past. He sees that Carlos had joined another group of men. He also notices that they’re carrying guns underneath their jackets. He now knows that their obviously here to kill someone. He puts his gun in his holster and he takes out his phone. “I’m calling this in.” He says as he calls the precinct. He sees that Carlos and his group of 15 men are taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

He runs towards the stairs and waits until the last guy is on the first floor before he follows them. “Remember Tatiana is mine to kill.” He hears one of the men say. “Yeah yeah. I’m actually thinking of taking that little friend of her for myself. What’s her name? Gina? She’s a smoking hot little thing.” Luke hears Carlos say as he gets to the stairs that leads to the third floor.
"There just one problem though?" Carlos says to Toby. "What's that?" Toby asks him. "There is a young man in there with them. What shall we do about him?" Carlos asks Toby as they walk down the hall towards room 302. "He's collateral damage. We kill him too." Toby says.
“Shit.” Luke says.