“Think of the cash you can raise from
‘save our pastor’ promotions.”
Erick got back to the church with the children at four thirty p.m. He got them out of the vans and watched as the excitement continued with the little ones as he walked over to the main office to speak with Arnold. The office door was open, but both his office and his secretary’s office were dark. He turned on the light to find a sticky note on Arnold’s door in his secretary’s handwriting, telling him that Arnold had taken Lisa home. He walked back to his own office down the hall and called Lisa’s cell phone, but there was no answer. “What the hell is going on here? She has been gone all night. Arnold took her home, and I still can’t reach her.” Erick slammed the phone down, and as he did, it rang.
“Hello?” “Erick, it’s Charlotte Watson. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” Erick was looking around his desk and Lisa’s, which was right next to his, for anything to tell him what was going on. “Oh, hello Charlotte. To what do I owe this unwelcome call?” There was a moment of silence, and she said, “I’m trying to reach your father. No one knows where he is, and he’s not answering his cell phone. I thought perhaps you had spoken to him.” Erick was impatient as he answered her. “No, Charlotte, I have not spoken to my father. He left a message on my cell phone earlier today, but I have not had the chance to call him back. What do you want with him?” “Church business.” There was a half cough half laugh on the other end of the line after she said it, and Erick said, “Really? You don’t have a damn thing to do with my father’s church as I recall. In fact, I’m pretty certain that he threw you out of the church before I left because of crazy ass Bruno’s shit.”
“You don’t have to be foul mouthed about it, Erick. The Lord is always listening to us. You of all people as a leader of a flock of your own should be more careful about the language you use.” “You are the last person to give anyone a lecture on language or morality. Did my old man not pay you for his hump this month?” “You will never understand the inner workings of the Lord, Erick, that’s why you are where you are in life. Your pride and ego are overwhelming your sense of duty to our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.” “Goodbye, Charlotte.”
Erick went to hang up when he heard her yelling loudly in the background, “Cleansing, Erick. You need a cleansing in the blood of our savior for the end is near, and you know that it’s true.” He put the phone back up to his ear and said, “The only person who needs a cleansing in the blood of Christ is you. Now, don’t call me again. I’m sure my old man will contact you when he’s ready for another one of your freaky mountain midnight bonfires.” “Don’t condemn what you don’t understand, Erick. God is listening.”
Erick hung up and headed for his car. He whispered to himself as he walked down the corridor of the church past the nursery to the parking lot, “God is always listening, Charlotte, and he knows your deeds, and you will burn for them.”
Maria Estonia was bent over in pain in the church nursery. She had ten children to look after and could barely move. Her pregnant belly was heaving as she tried to stand up, but instead she threw up on the floor, and several children slipped in it. She cried out as loudly as she could for help, but no one was around. She looked at the clock on the wall. It was ten to five.
“The parents will start coming in ten minutes. Lord, give me the strength to make it and keep Jesus alive, Lord.” She was half bent over, half crouching, when there was a sudden rush of water down her legs.
Erick was passing the nursery when he heard Maria’s light whimpers, and he stopped in the hallway and turned back to see her pressed against a corner wall and a countertop, trying to hold herself up. He ran into the room without looking and hit the vomit and embryonic fluid on the floor and went sliding across the room until he hit the wall with his feet and fell violently back onto the concrete. He shook his head while calling out for someone to call 911.
Chris called John to let him know that Charlotte was gone. Chris was talking but could tell that John was distracted. “John, are you there? Did you hear what I said?” “Yes, Chris, I heard you.” Chris heard a gurgling noise in the background and what sounded like weeping. “Hey, John, is everything okay?” “Absolutely. Better than okay.” Chris heard the sound of a steel door closing and asked, “Where are you?” “I just finished up some business related to the child murders. I’m on my way back to the office.”
“Why do you think that Ms. Watson has flown the coop?” Chris looked out the windshield of his car and said, “I don’t know, but I have a bad feeling.” “Really?” “Yeah. I think she knows a lot more about what’s going on in these murders than she would let on.” There was a moment of silence, and Chris heard another door click.
“Did you press her about the murders?” John asked. “I wanted to get into it, but she freaked, and I called you. Now I have a worthless subpoena and no witness.” John laughed. “You pulled her rap sheet. You know where she lives. You’re a damn federal agent, Chris. Start using your head. Get out there and do your job. Find her. I have to be honest, based on your skills so far I don’t think you will make it a day at Quantico.” Chris got angry and said, “I will make an excellent agent, Agent Swenson. I have had no training. I’m doing the best that I can.” John laughed on the other end of the line and said, “This is trial by fire, Chris. What you are doing now is not taught at the academy. You either have the instincts or you don’t. Now, put your logic hat on and go over the conversation. Go to the most obvious place that you think you will find her. For crying out loud, you do know this woman, right?”
“Better than you can imagine.” “Then get to it. I have some things to finish up. Call me when you have her or some idea where she is.” John hung up the line, and Chris continued on to Boyle Heights.
One of the children’s parents found Maria and Erick and called 911. Within minutes, the two were being treated. One of the EMTs was working on Erick and asked if he wanted to go to the hospital. He said no and told them to focus on Maria and her unborn child.
It was nearing seven, and the lake at Reseda Park was calm. There were a few older kids playing on gym equipment and some adults playing baseball. Iris Rosenberg was sitting and pushing a stroller in front of her while trying to calm down her crying four-month-old son, Ezra. Her husband, Ken, was playing softball with his company’s team. Iris was enjoying the evening air when a fight broke out not ten feet from her. Shots rang out, and everyone ran for cover. She pushed Ezra’s stroller under the bleachers and fell flat on her stomach where she’d been sitting as the fighting and gun fire continued.
She stayed on the ground until she heard the sound of police cars and ambulances driving into the park. She looked up to see three kids lying on the ground. There were several black and Mexican kids running in different directions. The police pulled in and formed a blockade around the area and called for hands in the air. Iris looked on as one of the Mexican kids raised a weapon in the direction of officers and gun fire erupted. She watched in horror as the kid’s chest was blown open, blood splattering everywhere as his body was riddled with bullets. The whole group of witnesses were off to the side, and Iris was frazzled by the goings on. She turned to see Ezra’s stroller under the bleachers and ran over to get him. She pulled the stroller back and reached in for the child, but the stroller was empty. Ezra was gone.
Erick and Hess sat silent in Jim’s office while he was out giving orders to some of his commanders. He walked back in and sat down at his desk and said, “So…how the fuck are you, Erick? I haven’t seen or spoken to you in a very long time.” Erick was sober faced, and a tear ran down the side of his cheek. Jim walked over to the window, lit a cigarette, sat down on a stool, and said, “Jesus, Erick. This is nothing to cry over. I just want to talk.” Jim blew the smoke out the window as the two men sat silent. He took a few more deep drags then stubbed it out and asked, “Do either one of you know anything about the ritualistic killings of young children that have been going on?”
Arnest was sitting as his desk when his phone rang. He had a small group of customers in his office that he was assisting with funeral plans and took the call, speaking in cryptic terms. “I see. Good. Very good. Why don’t you drop the package off here at my office later this evening, and I will make sure that it gets to the proper party?” He hung up the phone and went back to his work with the grieving family.
An AMBER Alert was issued within ten minutes of Ezra’s disappearance. The West Valley office of the LAPD had officers on scene with search and rescue checking the lake along with K9 units that were searching for any scent of the child. Iris and her husband were beside themselves as the questions flew at them. Iris didn’t answer. She just screamed Ezra’s name over and over, but her cries and pleas fell on deaf ears.
The foyer of the Eagle’s lair was lit brightly by the early evening sun. The Eagle had stepped into the foyer to take a breath after his long conversation with Pastor Arnold Espanza. He grabbed a bottle of water from the wet bar and sat down on the open patio, looking out over the sea. He had just taken a sip of his water when his phone buzzed and beeped with the AMBER Alert. He pressed the message button and read the report. He took a few more sips of the water then stood up and put on the mask of the Iron Eagle and walked back in to talk to Arnold about this latest alert and what, if anything, he knew of it.
Jim was talking with Hess and Erick when the AMBER Alert came in. The men’s cell phones also went off, and Jim looked at his phone and said, “Another missing child, just abducted from Reseda Park. Do either one of you have any ideas about this?” Both men sat stoic, and Jim asked Erick, “What’s the deal? In all of the years that I have known you, when I come to speak to you I can never shut you up. Now, you sit there with this dumbass solemn look on your face. You need to help me out here because I have never seen you this way. Your pal over here, Mr. Stevens, is about as much help as you. What happened to telling me to get right with God and to repent my sinful ways?”
Erick looked on and said, “I just learned that I’m dying, Jim. I’ve been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, advanced pancreatic cancer. I have weeks, maybe a few months, before I will be called home by the Lord.” Jim sat back in his chair with a look of bewilderment on his face. “So…you’re dying?” Erick nodded. “And you called your buddy, Hess, here to comfort you?” Erick nodded again as did Hess.
Jim sat for a second and then broke into laughter. “Well congratu-fuckin-lations. You’re going home, man. You get to get out of this shithole and go to heaven or hell or wherever it is you believe you go to after this life. Shit, man. I’d think you’d be shouting it from the rooftops. Think of all the cash you can raise from your congregation on bullshit fundraisers and ‘save our pastor’ promotions. Jesus! You have a built in audience of nearly a million people the world over who watch your damn Sunday sermons live. You have all of those bullshit self-help religious books out there, and your local congregation is nothing to sneeze at. Fuck, man, you’re going to be the richest motherfucker of all of us, and on top of that, you’ll be dead, so all that cash will go to your church and your personal family. Fuck. What the hell are you crying over?”
Erick stood up and said, “I don’t appreciate your tone, Sheriff. It’s insulting and degrading to me and my ministry. I have told no one yet. I just got the second opinion from Dr. Charles Ritter at Northridge Hospital, so if you will excuse me I need to speak to my family and call an emergency board meeting of my church.” Jim laughed as Hess stood up as well. Jim said, “Whoa there, partner. You two aren’t going anywhere until you answer some questions for me. You both just received the AMBER Alert. You know that a child has been abducted. A four-month-old child. The same age as the victims in these ritualistic killings. I came to you to seek your guidance here. The killers leave Psalm 26 carved in stone on the hills around Malibu after they shove a steel rod up some kid’s ass and through the top of its skull. They eat the kid’s heart, and we think they bathe in or drink the kid’s blood. Now, what kind of sick fucks do that?”
Hess and Erick were still standing but not responding. Jim got pissed and said, “Look, Erick, I understand that you’re in shock over the fact that you’re dying, but guess what? I don’t give a flying fuck. We’re all going to die, and now the race is on to try and find and save this new abduction victim before he ends up on the spit and feeding a group of sick ass bastards.” Erick said, “Jim, I have no idea who would do such a barbaric thing. It’s not a Christian group. I can tell you that. Let me talk to my family and board, and I will set aside time first thing in the morning to sit with you and go over the case file.”
Jim looked at Hess and asked, “What about you? Do you have any idea what might be going on here?” Hess just shook his head. Jim said, “You have a follower of the serial killer and cult leader, Bruno Richards, in your employ. Is that correct?” Hess looked shocked and said, “I most certainly do not!” Jim put a cigarette in his mouth while pulling up Charlotte Watson’s rap sheet on his computer. He talked with the unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth. “Charlotte Watson. She is your personal secretary according to a probation record. Is that still true?” Hess looked agitated, and Jim was loving it.
“Yes. Ms. Watson is my secretary.” “You do know that she was part of the Richards’ Family, right?” Hess didn’t react. Jim said, “Mr. Stevens, the Richards Family, the cult that killed multiple men, women, and children in sacrificial manners to appease the lord. Your god!” Hess yelled out, “He’s my Lord. He’s your Lord. He’s the world’s Lord and savior. Ms. Watson had nothing to do with any of the killings. She was cleared in those matters. She was a young and impressionable kid when those things happened. She is a wonderful and righteous woman of faith now.” Jim bit down on the smoke and asked, “Well, all the same, I would like to talk to her about this case. Can you make that happen?” Hess didn’t get a chance to answer before Jim’s cell phone rang.
“WHAT?” “Sheriff, I’m sorry to bother you. It’s Chris Mantel. I need some advice.” Jim looked at Hess and Erick and told them to hang tight and then asked, “What’s up, kid? I have an interview going on.” “John sent me out to interview Charlotte Watson.” “Yeah, I know. Her boss is standing right in front of me.” “You have Hess Stevens in your office?” “I just said that, Chris. What do you want?” “Well, Ms. Watson and I have a personal history…I came out to talk to her, but before I could get anything out of her she bolted. John got a subpoena for her, but when I went to serve it, she was gone. Now I have John pissed off at me. I’m on my way to her home in Boyle Heights, but I know she won’ t be there.”
Jim said impatiently, “What…the fuck…does any of this…have to do with me?” “I think she knows about the killings. I think it’s more than knows. I think she might be the ring leader.” Jim was staring hard at Hess who was staring back at him. “Really?” he said. “Listen, Chris, I have two gentlemen that I am holding up from some important business. Let me finish up with them, and I will call you back.”
Jim hung up the phone and said, “Ms. Watson is on the run from the law.” Hess’s face dropped, and he said, “I don’t understand. On the run for what reason?” “That’s a hell of a question, Mr. Stevens. The FBI just issued a subpoena for her, and she ran before they could serve it. Do you have any idea why Ms. Watson would be on the run?” Hess shook his head slowly. “Why don’t I believe you, Mr. Stevens? Why do I think that you both know exactly why Ms. Watson is on the run?” Erick got a bolder tone in his voice and said, “Can we go, Sheriff? You have no reason to detain us. If it is Ms. Watson that the FBI wants to talk to then that is their business not ours. I don’t have any clue as to what you’re talking about. Do you, Hess?” Hess shook his head. “May we go?” Jim nodded his head and yelled at Erick as he walked out, “You and me, tomorrow morning, first thing. We are going to have a conversation about this mess.” Jim slammed his fist down on his desk and called Chris back.