Ghosts From the Past Ch. 2

Memories flooded Caz’s mind as he flew towards the station. The buildings and cars around him blurred into the background. He remembered the agony of the needle marking his skin as a young child. The look of pride on the face of Joachim Amsel, Papa to ‘The Family.’ At the time, Amsel had noted the strength Caz showed by not crying or showing any signs of the pain he felt. The praise had filled him with his own pride back then. Papa was not one to give out unearned compliments.

He pulled his car in the lot, slamming it into park in his usual corner spot. He entered the busy office, weaving his way between the desks and people. Dan was at his desk, his printer pumping out page after page.

“This guy had quite a history, Caz. Recent stuff was just drug use more or less. But before that, there were thefts, assaults, breaking and entering.” Dan said, reading off Jackson’s electronic file.

“What about accomplices? Did he associate with any particular group or person?” Caz asked.

“Not that I found,” Dan answered. “Looks like he was more of a loner.”

“What about when he was younger? Was there anything when he was a juvenile?” Asked Caz.

“If there is, it would probably be in a paper file. They still haven’t changed everything over to the electronic files.”

“I guess I can start there. Can you put those files on my desk when they are done?” Caz asked as he started towards the records room.

“Of course,” answered Dan. “You mind telling me what you hope to find that far back in his past?”

“It is… complicated,” Caz’s cellphone notified him of a new text from Captain Brink.

Uniforms found Jackson’s dealer, they’re bringing him in now. A guy named Lionel Olson, he goes by Cue Ball. See me in my office before you talk to him.

“I will try to explain everything later, Dan. Thank you for doing this.” Caz called back as he walked away.

“Yeah, anytime. Maybe you can come out and have drinks with us after work?” Dan said.

Caz headed back to the records room. “Heidi, can you pull something for me?” he asked the clerk at the records desk. “I need anything on Jackson Montgomery that is still not transferred to the electronic files.”

Heidi looked over the top of her glasses at Caz. She was stooped with slate gray hair and wore glasses on a chain around her neck. She had known him since he was a child. “For you hon, of course,” she answered, patting his hand. “It may take me a few minutes to find it and bring it out though.”

“That is alright,” Caz said. “I need to go talk with the Captain and a suspect first anyway. Thank you, Heidi.” he turned and made his way to Captain Brinks’ office. The door was open, he could see the Captain behind his desk. He stood outside and knocked on the door frame.

Captain Brink looked up. “Come in Caz,” he said. “Go ahead and shut the door behind you. I wanted to talk to you about Cue Ball.”

Caz came in and shut the door. He walked over to the chair opposite the Captain and sat. “Anything I should know about him, sir?” He asked.

“Guy has a record as long as I am tall,” Captain Brink said. “He’s a dirtbag, but I’ve never known him to be this violent. He has some cronies who do his real dirty work, busting fingers, noses, and the occasional leg. But from my knowledge of him… this doesn’t seem to fit. I still think it could be drug related, but we might be looking for someone else. Maybe the vic started buying from someone new. I have Cue Ball’s file pulled up if you want to go over it before going into interrogation.”

“I would appreciate that, sir.” Caz said to.

30 minutes later, Caz walked into the interrogation room. Cue Ball was sitting at a metal table which was bolted to the ground. He was a white male in his mid-thirties. He was wearing a white tank top, shorts that were much too big, and sandals with white ankle socks. The light from the fluorescent bulbs in the room reflected off his bald, and waxed head.

“Mr. Olson, thank you for coming in to speak with me,” Caz said, taking the chair across from Cue Ball.

“Mr. Olson’s my old man,” Cue Ball said. “I hate my old man. The name’s Cue Ball. And it’s not like a really had a choice to come in or not. I was enjoying a nice day at the park when two of your super cops slammed me to the ground and dragged me in here wearing these,” he lifted his hands, showing a set of handcuffs securing his wrists to the table. “Anyway, I don’t know why you’re trying to talk to me. I already asked for a lawyer.

“Of course. I am not here to talk to you about what the officers brought you in for today, however. I am sure they read you your Miranda rights. They still apply, and you certainly do not have to speak with me. I had questions concerning someone else, actually. Someone I heard you might know.” Caz set a folder on the table in front of him. “And I think it would be in your best interest to help us clear up a few… misconceptions about your relationship with them.”

“I ain’t no snitch,” Cue Ball told Caz. “Buuut, I also don’t want my good name dragged through the dirt ‘cause of someone else either. Maybe I can help. But you better tell the Judge I cooperated.”

“Of course Mr. Ols—I mean, Cue Ball. Can you tell me how well you know Jackson Montgomery?” Caz asked.

“I don’t know anyone by that name. But if they talkin’ shit about me behind my back they’re lyin’,” Cue Ball said.

Caz reached into the folder and pulled out an enlarged copy of Jackson’s driver’s license and placed it on the table in front of Cue Ball.

“Ahh, you talkin’ about Monty? I know him, he’s really more of an acquaintance though. Did a little business with him some time ago. What’s his deal?” Cue Ball asked.

“We know of the business between you two. I heard he was in a bad spot, possibly owed you some money. How much does he owe?” Caz looked at Cue Ball’s face for any change at the mention of Jackson or his debt. There was none.

“I mean, yeah, he owes me some money. With interest too. He’s always been good at settlin’ up eventually though.” Cue Ball answered, sitting back. He was looking more relaxed thinking the questions were about Jackson and not him.

“So, he has owed you money more than once? That must have been frustrating,” Caz continued.

“Yeah. Unfortunately, my… clients… aren’t always the most reliable. It’s one of the risks in my line of work.” Cue Ball sat back forward, raising one eyebrow slightly. He was beginning to become more apprehensive.

“Maybe you thought by hurting one of your clients, it would encourage others to be more punctual in settling their debts? Making an example of someone who has a history of late payments. Someone like Jackson Montgomery?” Caz asked, deciding he needed to try and catch Cue Ball off guard before he could think about invoking his rights.

“Wha— No. If he’s sayin’ I hurt him he’s a damn liar,” Cue Ball was getting angry now. “I don’t think I like where this is goin’—”

“I do not think you hurt him,” Caz interrupted. “But perhaps you sent one of your associates?” He watched Cue Ball closely now. “Did you tell them to kill Jackson? Or did one of them just go too far this time? Maybe they thought they were doing you a favor. Sending your message and making sure he could not rack up more debt later.” Caz began taking pictures from the file, lining them up in front of Cue Ball. They showed Jackson lying in a pool of blood, the three holes in Jackson’s back, the bloody slit across his throat.

“What!” Cue Ball exclaimed. “Are you sayin’ Monty’s dead?” All the color had drained from his face. “Hey man, I haven’t seen him in almost a year. Not since he started getting clean. I hadn’t even thought of his debt, I just wrote it off as if I’d never see it.” He was trying to back as far away from the pictures as he could. He was doing his best to look anywhere but at the grisly images on the table. “I don’t do that man! Please put those things back!” He said, glancing down at the pictures. Now he looked as if he might puke.

Caz collected the photos and put them back into the file. “It appears you may not have known about Mr. Montgomery. Do you have any idea who else may have held a grudge? Maybe one of your men?” He asked.

“No. Both my guys were with me at the park all day.” Cue Ball answered. “Like I said, I didn’t really know him. I heard he was tryin’ to go straight. I don’t have any idea who would’ve done something like… that,” he pointed to the file, losing a little of the color he had started to regain.

“Where were you and your guys late last night into early this morning?” Caz asked, leaning forward and looking hard into Cue Ball’s eyes.

“We were at Billy O’Rourke’s house over in Lansing. He’s our supplier.” Cue Ball told him. “Our order took longer than normal to sort, so we crashed at his place over night. Lots of people there. They’ll tell ya, I swear. And we ran to a store, Genny’s Gas station on Main street, I think. We made a beer run pretty late, probably like 2 in the morning. I bet they have cameras you can check.” Lansing was a town about 1 hour away by the main roads. Cue Ball, like most people in his line of work, probably didn’t use the main roads. Taking the back roads would push it closer to 2 hours away.

“I will be looking into that. What about other dealers? We found some pills in his apartment.” Caz continued the interrogation.

“No one I know sells pills in Monty’s neighborhood. Not enough money around there,” Cue Ball answered. “He was pretty much a straight smack guy as far as I knew.”

“Okay,” Caz said, standing and grabbing his file. “Thank you, Mr. Olson.” He turned and began walking toward the door.

“Hey!” Cue Ball said. “What about this?” He showed his handcuffs again.

“I told you already,” Caz said. “I was not here for your current charges. You had $1200 dollars in small bills, scales, and about 20 grams of heroin ready to distribute. I will be sure to pass along that you cooperated with my investigation, but I cannot get you out of that.”

“Fuck you man! You’re such a fuckin’ —-” Caz shut the door, but could still hear Cue Ball yelling from the room as he walked down to the end of the hallway, where Captain Brink was waiting.

“Well, there’s one lead down,” the Captain said. “He seemed genuinely surprised that Jackson was dead.

“I think so too. I am going to ask Lansing PD to check the security video from that gas station to be sure. I don’t think he was lying though. I thought he was going to faint there for a second,” Caz said. “Hopefully I can find something out through Jackson’s rehab group, or maybe video footage from his work.”

“I’ve still got some contacts with the narcotics team. I’ll ask if they’ve had anything with Jackson recently,” Captain Brink said as they made it back to Caz’s desk.

“Thank you,” Caz said as Captain Brink turned and left. He sat in his chair and had begun organizing his case file when he heard the squeal of the mail cart coming down the aisle. He turned to see Heidi pushing it towards his desk, a cardboard box with MONTGOMERY, JACKSON written on it in black sharpie. Underneath the name, in quotation marks and smaller handwriting, was the name GEFUNDEN, FALK. Seeing that name froze him in place.

Caz was in a room full of Family members. Papa and Mama were standing in front of three children, two were younger than him and one was just a little older, maybe 8 or 9 years old. Two of them were crying, the tall, older one with sandy blonde hair just stood there, looking forward.

“You were not born of the family,” Papa was saying. “But you found your way to us none the less. Today you join us as the Gefunden, the found. Today you receive your names and your place with us. Today, your life in the Family begins,” Papa went to the first boy. “You shall henceforth be known as Albrecht Gefunden,” he moved down the line to the girl. “You shall henceforth be known as Lia Gefunden.” He moved to the older boy, “And you my brave son,” Papa began, “you shall have a name of honor, for honor is what you have shown today. You shall henceforth be known as Falk Gefunden.”

Another member of the family was making a written record of the ceremony. Mama took each child’s face in turn between her hands, then bent down and kissed their foreheads as she followed Papa down the line.

“Caz?” came Heidi’s raspy voice, snapping him back to the present. “You okay hon?” her glasses were hanging by their chain around her neck. She looked concerned.

“What?” Caz said, just realizing Heidi was standing at his desk now. “Oh, yes. I am fine. Just lost my concentration for a minute. What is that name near the bottom of the box?” Caz asked.

“That’s why it took me so long to find it,” Heidi said “Apparently when Mr. Montgomery was first contacted by us, he went by Falk Gefer-whatever. Anyway, this was what I could find back there. Hope it helps.”

“I am sure it will Heidi. Thank you very much.” Caz said taking the box off the cart.

“Anytime sweetie. But only for you haha.” Heidi laughed dryly as she wheeled the cart back towards her own desk.

Caz set the box down and took the lid off. He reached to the back and pulled the oldest file. He set it down on his desk and flipped it open. Looking at him from inside was the dirty-faced, stringy haired boy from his memory. He was older in the picture than when Caz first saw him on his naming day, but it was him, nonetheless. He sat there for some moments, staring at the young boy in the photo. Then he began reading the report which accompanied it. It was a standard form from years ago. It had been typed, but some lines had been crossed out and edited by hand.

DATE: 11-16-2000

NAME: Falk Gefunden Jackson Montgomery

DOB: Unknown 08-14-1986

REPORT: On 11-16-2000 the compound belonging to the Family cult was raided by a task force including the SWAT team, local law enforcement agencies, and the FBI. FALK GEFUNDEN, a male juvenile living in the compound, was taken into protective custody by officers. Medical personnel checked FALK with nothing of note to report. Parents were unable to be found on site and custody was given to social services.

EDIT: Parents were located for FALK GEFUNDEN, who is actually JACKSON MONTGOMERY. Please see attached FBI kidnapping case report (attached). Social services relinquished custody of JACKSON to his parents upon confirmation.

There was another page stapled to this report. Caz turned to the second report. It was on FBI letter head.

DATE: 10-23-1995

NAME: Jackson Montgomery

Maria Montgomery

Geoffrey Montgomery

CASE TYPE: Kidnapping

REPORT: On 10-23-1995, I was assigned to the kidnapping of 9-year-old Jackson Montgomery. The case was referred to us by Seaview Police Department and was originally reported to them as a missing person. It was discovered during the investigation that Jackson had been taken by an unknown male. The male took Jackson into an unlicensed, full-size van which was brown in color. The vehicle immediately left the area. It is unknown where the van went upon departure.

DATE: 04-25-1996

SUPPLEMENTAL: Agents have been unable to identify the male suspect involved with the abduction of Jackson Montgomery. Their current location is also unknown. No new leads have been reported. No recent calls to the tip line Case to remain active pending new information.

DATE: 12-7-2000

SUPPLEMENTAL: Jackson Montgomery was 1 of many missing juveniles recovered during a raid on the Family cult compound on 11-16-2000. He was originally identified as Falk Gefunden, a name assigned to him by the cult leader, Joachim Amsel. Upon identifying Jackson, notification was sent to Maria Gonzalez and Geoffrey Montgomery, his parents. Custody of Jackson was transferred from social services to his parents.

Caz finished the reading the report and set it back down in the folder.

“Caz!” Dan’s loud voice broke through the fog which was settling over Caz’s mind. “You comin’ out for drinks tonight?”

“Not tonight, sorry” Caz shut the folder, stuffing it back in the box and replacing the lid. “I have some things I need to go over for this case,” he looked down at his watch, surprised to see it was already past 5 o’clock.

“Okay man. Just remember,” Dan squinted his eyes, pulled his lips back into a ridiculous grin, and continued in a strange tone, “all work and no play makes Caz a dull boy.” his hand smacked Caz’s shoulder.

“Of course,” Caz smiled. He was unsure what it meant but guessed it was probably from a movie Dan liked. He was always making movie references. Caz had never watched many movies himself, except documentaries and he didn’t think Dan had ever quoted anything from a documentary.

Caz collected all the reports and photos as Dan hurried to catch up to a group of friends. He set everything on top of the box Heidi had pulled for him and carried it all out to his car, heading for his apartment.

As Caz carried the box through his front door an older, orange tabby cat began weaving through his feet like he did every time he came home. “Hello to you too, Janus,” he said to the cat. He walked inside and set the box down on his table. Janus followed, sitting to the side of the table meowing. “Be patient.” he walked over to the corner of the kitchen, where a food and water dish was sitting next to a plastic container of dry cat food. He scooped out a cup, pouring it into one of the sides. Janus ran over, beginning to devour his dinner.

Caz sat down and began reading over the reports Dan had printed off for him. In the years following being found, Jackson had a rough life. He had started using drugs as an older teenager, a few years after being returned to his own family. This habit led to him to stealing from stores, and then to breaking into houses, and eventually robbing people at knife point. Caz didn’t know if it was due to the drugs, or his time with the Family cult, but Jackson seemed to have anger issues. He had an extensive history of assault and had been arrested multiple times for starting bar fights.

Caz felt something brush across his shins. He looked down and saw Janus rubbing the length of his body over his legs. “Done eating already?” He said, reaching down and scratching Janus behind the ears. “I guess that means it is time for me to eat too,” he loaded all of the paperwork back into the box.

After eating dinner, last night’s take out Thai food, Caz took the box into his bedroom. He placed it on the top shelf of his closet so Janus wouldn’t use it as a scratching post. Caz got into the shower. As the hot water poured over him, he stared blankly at the wall. He was rubbing the tattoo of the crow with his right thumb. Memories of the past he had tried so hard to leave behind were echoing through his mind. He looked down just below his right wrist, at the newer tattoo he had there. It was a capital D with thorny vines growing around it, there was a rose in full bloom in the center. A date was under it, 06-01-2002. Caz shut the water off and got out of the shower and dried himself.

Tonight, both the tattoos reminded him of what his father would always say. It’s important to remember the past, but always keep your eyes on the future. Caz walked himself through his breathing routine and climbed into bed, knowing no matter how hard he tried, he would not be sleeping well tonight.