Turn Against Me

“This murder doesn’t make any sense.”

“Detective Daniel, when has any murder made sense?”

Detective Daniel was the lead investigator on a recent murder that happened in a prevalent neighborhood. A place where crime never really happened. The Cartwright household was well known for their innovative children’s toys that generated millions of dollars. It was a teddy bear that learned from the user, creating meaningful conversations.

“The boy hasn’t said anything for a week. His aunt has been nice enough to bring him in for questioning, but I’m sure she is about tired of us trying to work with the kid,” Detective Daniel said with a deep, exhausted sigh.

“What about Annie? Have you given her a call?” Mikayla said as she handed him a cup of coffee. “Or have you not spoken to her since your breakup? Must be tough to lose the woman of your dreams to a washed-up stripper.”

With an eye roll and a chuckle, Detective Daniel patted Mikayla on the shoulder. “Yeah, I know you’re definitely not going to let me down. Watch your mouth, though. That’s no way to disrespect sex workers. They matter too, you know?”

“Well, aware, detective. I, too, used to work over at Dollhouse. In fact, I’ve actually seen you there a few times now, if I remember correctly,” Mikayla said with a wink. “Seriously though, call her up. You know she’s one of the best child therapists in the county. Besides, Alexander’s aunt would probably let you continue to work with the kid if you brought on someone with as many accolades as Annie. Not to shame Miss Menthol over there, but I don’t think anyone, let alone a child, likes the smell of cigarette breath.”

“Hey, hey, hey. Miss ‘Menthol’ over there is a great criminal psychologist!”

“Exactly. Criminal psychologist. Not child psychologist. You’re a smart man; I thought you would know the difference. The kid isn’t on trial. I highly doubt he killed his parents and left a clean scene,” Mikayla laughed.

“Anyway, hotshot, I have to go back to the lab. The forensics team that showed up at the scene is still trying to wrap their heads around how there was no trace of evidence left behind. Guy or girl, or whatever they identify as knows how to get away with murder. It’s crazy; the kid hid in the TV stand! He was small enough and smart enough to hide where no one would really look. Anyway. Better get on this quick, friend. The last thing you need is the chief breathing down your neck because you don’t have answers for ‘Perfect Pinesville Proper.’”

Mikayla sipped on her coffee and shot a wink at the investigator.

“Detective Daniel!” Taylor screamed, “I am not sure what else to do with the kid, he keeps pulling away from me, and my tactics aren’t working.”

Her lingering stale and warm breath nearly made him vomit.

“Ugh, I hate the smell of cigarette breath. Mikayla has a point.”

“I hear you, Miss… Taylor. I’ll call up a child psychologist to handle this. Can you call Alexander’s aunt to come to pick him up?”

“No need to do that, Mr. Detective! If that’s even your real title,” Cindy mocked as she walked towards the interrogation room. “This is sick, you know? His parents had just died. My brother just died! He was one of the sweetest men on earth, and you have yet to figure out who killed him and his wife! I wasn’t really a fan of hers, but still, the girl didn’t need to die yet!”

Cindy ripped the door open with a hair flip and a middle finger towards the detective and ushered her nephew out of the room.

“It’s not even ten in the morning, and I already need a stiff drink and an eternal nap….”

CHAPTER TWO

“There are days where I want to just throw my phone into a river,” Annie said as she slammed the door to her office.

“Miss A, who did it now?” Spaniella, said as she straightened up her back, tucked back a hair, and smiled -nervously.

Spaniella was Annie’s assistant, who was only about 22, fresh out of college, not knowing where she wanted to go in life. She had long blonde hair that flowed down to her waist, stringy but still pretty. Her eyes were very dark, and her eyelashes had multiple layers of mascara. Better Than Sex mascara, to be exact. She always kept it with her wherever she went.

Her parents’ names were Daniella and Spangler. They had her when they were only 16 and had no idea what to name her. As a last-ditch effort, Spangler decided to mix the two names and create “Spaniella.” She hated the name, so she preferred people to call her “Ella” instead.

“Ella… I really hate telling you personal information, but seeing as that we are going to be associates for quite some time I….”

“Miss A, if you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to.”

After taking a few deep breaths, she smiled and looked over at her young assistant.

“Fine. My ex-boyfriend, who so happens to be a detective on the case, left me a voicemail about some kid involved in a murder. His parents were killed, and he was left alone. He asked me to come to therapize the kid and get him to talk. The audacity!”

“The poor kid,” Ella said with a frown on her face, more concerned about the child instead of the drama between her boss and her ex-lover.

“Ella! I don’t mind helping him out; I love kids! It’s the principal. I haven’t talked to him in almost three years. He cheated on me with some washed-up stripper from Dollhouse!”

“Hey, don’t do the stripper like that. Sex workers matter too!”

“Ella, you sound like one of my old friends, Mikayla. She works in forensics down at the precinct Daniel works at. She or Daniel would’ve said something like that,” Annie said with an eye roll and a smirk. She missed Mikayla and her feisty attitude. Maybe that is why she liked Ella so much.

“So, are you going to take the job, Miss A?”

“I suppose I could. They do pay me fairly well whenever they need someone to talk to their children. They have another psychologist there who has the worst breath ever. Hate to talk and gossip about her, but if that were me, I wouldn’t want to talk to her either, you know what I mean?”

Ella simply shook her head and took a deep sigh, “Not to be rude, but you smoke too, Miss A.”

Embarrassed, Annie tried to defend herself, but Ella didn’t give her a chance.

“So, I take it I need to clear your schedule for about two weeks or so?” Ella said with a smile.

With a nod, Annie smiled at her associate and went into her office.

“I vape. There’s a difference, Spaniella.”

CHAPTER THREE

“I see you made the call, Detective McRoberts,” Mikayla said as she crept up behind the detective, scaring him into a jump.

“Don’t call me by my last name. I know all of you go by your last names or whatever, but it reminds me too much of my dad. So, can we not?”

“Sheesh, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Or better yet, they wished they woke up in someone else’s.”

The detective snatched Mikayla’s coffee from her hands and drank it in front of her. Before she could even say anything, he sat down at his desk and opened up his laptop. He was trying hard to hide the fact that he was happy Annie decided to take the job. He didn’t think she would come after the voicemail he left her.

“Hey, um, Annie. It’s been a long time since we’ve last talked. Um. Oh! It’s Dan, by the way. Detective Dan. Your ex-boyfriend, Dan? Anyway. Um. I have a kid here; he won’t talk. He’s the kid from the Cartwright household. Yeah, um. The guy or girl who committed the crime left it so clean you could eat off the floors. I mean, I wouldn’t because there was blood everywhere, and it was a murder scene. Um, what I mean is they, um, can’t get him to say what he saw, and his aunt is a high-class, you know what who plans on going public if we don’t get this solved. You know, um, the folks in Pinesville….”

The detective rambled for so long that he had to leave her two voicemails to get his point across.

“Sorry about that, Annie. Um, so do you think you can come to talk to him? We have the budget to pay for your services. We got the go-ahead from the chief and all the other people who need to know, well, financially or what have you. Okay. Hope to see you soon?”

“Dan. Dan!” Mikayla said, pointing to the interrogation room just down the hall. It was Annie. She wore a bright yellow maxi dress paired with some tan sandals, and her hair was up in a bun. Her dark brown hair fumbled all over the place as if it refused to stay put in her ivory satin scrunchie.

She faced Dan’s way and scrunched her freckled face, trying to see across the floor. With a few blinks, her bright hazel eyes spotted him and her scrunched face relaxed into a disappointed face.

“Still can’t believe he slept with that woman! I know I should forgive him, but men are just such dogs.”

In a panic, Dan tried to duck under his desk, spilling all of his coffee on his lap.

“I would help you, but that’s just karma. Shouldn’t have taken my coffee, McRoberts. Also, you’re not 5, get up and talk to her!”

Flustered, he reached into his drawer and pulled out a spare pair of pants. He pursed his lips and shook his head as he headed to the bathroom to change.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the legend herself!” Mikayla said as she reached for a hug from Annie. Annie wrapped her arms around Mikayla and held on tight. “You don’t call me anymore.”

“I’m sorry, Mikayla. We need to catch up, though. Maybe after here?” Annie said as she tucked hair behind Mikayla’s ear.

“Woah, Woah. You can’t just go around touching people like that. You know I love a good touch from a woman, especially one as fine as you are.” The two shared a laugh before Dan stumbled over. Trying to act cool, he extended his hand to Annie and cleared his throat. “Glad you could make it, Miss Myers. Good to see you again.”

Mikayla scoffed before bursting out into laughter. “Miss Myers? Miss Myers?! Daniel. That’s wild, Daniel. You were literally up in this woman’s...”

“It’s fine, Mikay. It’s been a while.” She firmly gripped his hand and shook it fast before letting go. A part of her didn’t want to let go, but she still couldn’t get over the stripper situation.

“Well, let’s go in, shall we?”

*

“Mikay, I’ve dealt with many, many, maanyy, children, but Mr. Alex? Tops it all for me,” Annie said with a raspy slur. She held up her end of the bargain and took out her good old friend for a drink at a local bar.

Midnight Memories.

It was a contemporary bar with dim lighting, plenty of seats, expensive drinks, and a lot of attractive locals. Mikayla and Annie hadn’t been at this bar for years, so coming back was nostalgic for them. This is where they first met.

“It just breaks my heart that someone would just come up there and do something like this. This poor young man is not okay. I don’t know if I can get through to him. Well, I could, just not as fast as that aunt of his wants. Or as fast as that chief of yours wants.”

“I wouldn’t worry about them. You are so smart, beautiful, talented, wise, beautiful, and resourceful. Did I mention you are beautiful? I just wanted to add that in there,” Mikayla said with a wink.

Mikayla was only a couple of years younger than Annie, but she was just as smart, if not smarter than her. She desperately wanted to leave her abusive household when she was younger, so she did everything she could to get out. She read books. Studied for hours at a time. Got a job. Saved her money. Her overachieving won her a full-ride scholarship to MIT to study Biophysics, and she graduated high school at the age of 16.

Mikayla was fit.

Not only did she overachieve in her studies, but she overachieved in the gym. Her copper skin tone matched her bright green eyes and dark black hair. When she felt like it, she would clean up nice and put on some light makeup, but for the most part, she loved putting her hair up with an alligator clip and throwing on the most comfortable clothes she could find.

“I don’t know, Mikayla. I just want to solve this and move on with myself. After I figure this out, I’m going to get myself a nice brownie sundae. I always get one of those after I…”

“After you have a breakthrough. You told me you used to always get one when you finally got through to your teenagers. I’ve shared a few with you.” Mikayla said with a smile on her face.

Annie bit her lip and shook her head, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, I plan on going on a vacation soon to Greece for a couple of months. You should come with me. I haven’t left the states in years, and it’s about that time I disappear. Especially after this whole ordeal”

“Please don’t hate me for this, but you probably are anyway. Um, can we invite Dan? He speaks Greek and he’d be a great tour guide…”

CHAPTER FOUR

“Hey Alex, honey! I brought you some donuts and chocolate milk. Your aunt said this was your favorite kind,” Annie said as she pulled out a greasy white bag filled with donut holes. “Don’t worry; these are the good kind. Your aunt feeds you those nasty healthy ones. If you don’t tell her, I sure won’t.”

For once in two weeks, Alex smiled and reached out to the bag of donuts. Not wanting to show her excitement, she took a deep breath, tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, and nervously tucked at her necklace.

After shoving a donut in his mouth, the little boy pointed his small finger at her necklace.

“Oh? This? It’s a barn owl! Did you know that one of their ears is bigger than the other? It helps them to figure out where a sound is coming from!” she said with her hands cupping her ears. Annie managed to make him smile again. He continued to eat his donuts blissfully, so she left him to eat as she sat near him in the makeshift ‘therapy room.’”

After he finished eating, he washed down the sugary fried balls of dough with his chocolate milk, leaving a chocolate milk mustache across his small face. She handed him a napkin, and he cleaned up his face.

“Barn owl?” The little boy asked as he licked his lips, eyeing her necklace.

“Yes! I love them so much so that I got myself a tattoo of one on my forearm!” she pulled back her sleeves and revealed the beautiful owl on her arm. It was so detailed it looked like it could fly off her forearm.

In a panic, the little boy screamed and hid under the table, tucking his head between his legs with his hands protecting his neck. Confused, Annie tried to call to him to come up, but he shut down.

“Shoot. Did the owl scare him? Maybe I shouldn’t have done that..”

Annie left the room and called out to Dan to come over. In a hurry, he toddled over to her.

“Hey, the kid freaked out when I showed him my tattoo. I think it scared him. He won’t talk to me anymore, so I’m just going to give him a break, and I’m going to go. I have a dinner with my brother I must go to anyway. So…”

Dan nodded, unsure of what to say. He just sighed heavily, wished her a good night, and called up the aunt.

*

“Kyren!” Annie said as she hugged her older brother. He was tall, with tan skin and bright blue eyes. He looked almost unreal, like something out of a sci-fi movie. He was kind, quiet, and kept to himself a lot.

“Annie, how are you? Come now, take a seat.”

“Whew, it has been a day. I was working with this child, and I had him, but then I lost him. He wouldn’t talk for a while, then he opened up and shut down soon thereafter!”

A waiter came by and took their order. They ended up at a local dine-in that had been in the neighborhood for generations—Tonia and Tim’s Diner. The place hadn’t been upgraded since its inception, but the quality of the food was incredible.

“I wish I could tell you more about it, but it is an active investigation, and I can’t really say too much.”

“Is it the Cartwright kid?” Kyren said with an odd expression on his face.

“Um, maybe. Well, yeah, but I can’t get into it, though. He just shut down when he saw my tattoo; it scared him, I guess. Our tattoo artist did a good job, though. The details make it looks so real.”

“That’s okay, sis. I’m sure he was just traumatized, and the detail probably scared him. It’s all over the news. That aunt of his keeps going on the news crying about how much she loved her brother and how she wished she was there to stop it from happening. She’s so small. What makes her think her small, botox-ed up, fake hips having self was going to stop the attacker?”

With a deep sigh, Annie gripped her beer and chugged it. “I don’t know, but I need to get to him again. I probably just need to give him space. This is going to be much harder than I thought.”

CHAPTER FIVE

“Miss A! Why are you in the office?” Ella said as she furrowed her brows at the sight of her boss. “I thought you were doing everything from home? There’s not too much here at the office, and you don’t have any appointments.”

Annie plopped on the couch right by Ella’s desk and closed her eyes.

“I can’t go back to the station. The kid won’t talk to me, and I’m trying to give him space.”

“What happened?” Ella said as she grabbed a blanket, covered up her boss, and sat on the couch with her.

“Well, I got the kid to open up over some donuts and chocolate milk, but he clammed up and hid under the desk when I showed him the tattoo.”

“Maybe the tattoo is a clue? I mean, if I was little and I saw something scary that resembled what I saw at my parent’s massacre, I would be scared too,” Ella said as she looked off. “Maybe the killer had a tattoo that looked similar to yours?”

“You watch too many true crime shows, Ella. Honestly though, I don’t think anyone could like owls as much as I do.”

*

“Alex, hey!” Annie said as she walked into the room. It had been a couple of weeks since she last saw him and the media continued to grow with rage. The aunt started a whole protest against the precinct and was demanding answers. Alex was calm; he let her get close as he continued to eyeball the greasy bag in her hands.

“Yes, I brought you donut holes again. This time with strawberry milk, they were out of chocolate. I hope that is okay. If not, I can go grab you some hot cocoa?”

The little boy shook his head and gratefully started to nibble on the donuts.

“The hot cocoa is gross. They use water,” he mumbled with a mouth full of glazed donut holes.

Annie laughed, surprised that this child was able to tell the difference between hot cocoa with milk and hot cocoa with water. Then again, he did live in a richer neighborhood. Annie had grown up on hot cocoa made with water. Her mom bought the hot chocolate from the local dollar store and she loved it.

“Can I ask you something?” she said candidly as she waited for him to finish drinking the milk. He looked up at her and nodded.

“Well, first. Thank you for talking to me. I didn’t mean to scare you last time.”

He nodded again and looked away, over at the sandbox they put in the room.

“You can go play if you want,” she said as she ushered him over. Alex started to play with the sand before she asked him, “Did the person have something on them that scared you?”

He nodded again and continued to play with the sand, sticking his tongue up towards his nose as he buried his fingers in the sand. Not wanting to push him again, she just played in the sand with him and made him laugh for the remaining time she was there.

*

“This is the most we’ve met up in quite some time, Ky. Are you using again?” Annie said as they shared a few drinks at the bar.

“No, no, no. I’m just checking in on you and making sure you’re good. I’m sure that case is taking a toll on you,” Kyren said as he picked up his glass of water and sipped slowly.

“That’s a new watch,” Annie said as she grabbed his wrist and looked at it. “Sheesh, this looks expensive. What did you do, steal this?”

With a chuckle, Kyren pulled back his wrist and admired the watch. “It was a gift. I landed a huge deal with a local investor for the parrot toy I’ve been working on. It’s even better than the Cartwrights stolen idea,” he said with a smile.

“Stolen idea? What do you mean?” Annie said with a puzzled look on her face.

“There is no way they thought of that idea on their own. They had tons of people pitch to them when they decided to become investors, but they didn’t take on anyone. Then boom! They came up with this idea. Come on now.”

“Didn’t you pitch to them? Wasn’t your idea similar?” Annie said, trying to hide the concerned look on her face. “Well, I’m just glad you still won in the end, right? No more pitching to investors for you!”

With a huge smile on his face, he called the waiter over and ordered them a round of drinks.

“So, how is the case going?”

“Still can’t talk too much about it, bro. The kid seems to be doing better, though.”

“Yeah, I still can’t believe that this happened to them. So unfortunate, but you’re right, karma comes around, huh?”

Puzzled, she looked up at her brother and shook her head, “I mean, yeah. Karma is a thing, but I still don’t think they deserved to die. Besides, we don’t know too much about the family other than they were rich, had an adorable son, and kept to themselves.”

“Maybe they kept to themselves for a reason? Maybe they stole the idea! Maybe they knew someone was after them….” Kyren said as he viciously stabbed the salad on his plate.

“Let’s just leave this job to the professionals, Kyren. The kid is not okay. His parents are dead. Karma or not, that’s a lot he needs to sort through. For all we know, he probably saw the murder happen, and his brain is protecting him from having a complete meltdown,” Annie said, trying to finish up her drinks so she could go home. Kyren was acting strange, and she wasn’t sure why.

She just saw him the other day, and he never mentioned pitching to other investors.

“He probably hid in the TV stand. No one really thinks to look there,” Kyren said, pushing his plate aside.

“I know I didn’t…” he whispered, or so he thought.

He looked up at Annie and smiled. Trying not to panic, she took a deep breath and smiled back at him.

“Do they have desserts here? I’ve been wanting a brownie sundae for days now. I think I’m going to take it home too. I need some sleep, Ky. I have to go back to the station tomorrow, and I have to figure out how I’m going to get the kid to talk….”

CHAPTER SIX

“Hey, Miss A. They sent over those files you requested. About that Cartwright kid,” Ella said, peering into Annie’s office. Annie looked distressed. Her room was a mess, filled with take-out boxes and papers all over the place. She sprung up when she saw Ella come in.

“Sorry,” Annie said as she tried to gather herself.

“You’ve been in here for a few nights in a row. Go home at some point? You’ll figure this out; you got this!”

“That’s the problem. I think I’ve already figured it out.”

Confused, Ella wanted to ask her what she meant, but she knew better than to question her boss.

Annie was a sweet woman, but she hated being questioned. After handing over the papers, Ella excused herself and went back to the main room.

“Please don’t show me what I already know. Please.”

After taking multiple deep breaths, Annie opened the files and spread the photos across her desk.

There was a lot of blood.

Whoever killed these people was clearly upset about something. She glanced over the report that stated the child was found in the TV stand, tucked in a spot that was big enough just for him to hide. Already suspicious, she clenched her jaw, bracing for the worst.

She continued to flip through and noticed there was a photo of a broken picture frame. It was a Christmas photo of the Cartwrights.

Linda, Larry, and Alexander.

Linda’s smile looked forced, but she was beautiful. She had long black hair, light brown eyes, and a beautiful sun-kissed tan. She had her hand on Alex’s shoulder and her other arm wrapped around her husband, Larry. They looked like an award-winning couple: good teeth, decent smiles, Polo shirts, and Cartier jewelry.

“Wait, what is that?” Annie said as she peered close to the photo in her hand. Upon looking closer, she noticed the watch on Larry’s wrist.

“There’s no way….”

In a flurry of rage and confusion, Annie fell to the ground and wept. She didn’t want to believe it was him, but the evidence was all there. The owl tattoo. The watch. The mentioning of the TV Stand which was where they found the child, but the public didn’t know that information.

“Ella!” she screamed as she brought herself back to her feet. “I have to go. I have to go. I need to go,” she whispered as the young assistant helped her grab her thing.

“Miss A? Is everything alright?”

Without answering her, she handed her the photo of the broken picture frame and walked out the door. Millions of thoughts flooded her mind. Could it have been him? Why would it have been?

Before she got in her vehicle, she leaned up against the car and wept more. Conflicted, she couldn’t decide whether to go down to the station or not. She knew she had to do the right thing. It was her job.

Broken-hearted, disgusted, feeling faint, and mentally exhausted, Annie did all she could to keep herself from vomiting all over the place.

“I have to do this.”

She took a few deep breaths and got into her car. Just as she was about to turn on her car, she felt a cold object press against her right temple.

“Annie, you only order a brownie sundae to-go after you have a breakthrough and figure something out. Would you really turn in your brother like that? Drive.”