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I was in the sub-basement of the FGA, sitting at the table with my workmates. We didn’t keep regular hours or even normal hours. We all worked too much and found working within walking distance of our houses was not exactly conducive to spending less time away from the office. Fiona pulled up the WitSec file.
Judge Kevin Wallace had retired in 2002 after a career spanning 40 years. He’d tried thousands of criminal cases as both a lawyer and a judge. When investigations began into Lydia Rolf in 2008, he was happily retired with a beautiful wife and a plan for their retirement. They had just returned from a vacation to Hawaii and were planning a vacation in Puerto Rico as well as selling their house to buy an RV. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wallace seemed excited about their decision to drive to the other 49 of 50 states and visiting all the US territories on vacations. Then it changed; the posts were less frequent and they weren’t taking as many photos together. On a hunch, I checked to see if Mrs. Wallace was deceased and found she was.
“Cause of death self-inflicted gunshot wound to the right side of the head just above the ear,” I read aloud. “Can you check if they had charitable donations to Children from the Future?” I asked Fiona.
“No need,” Fiona frowned and pointed to a picture up on her screen. It was Mrs. Wallace with Lydia Rolf, taken just two months before Mrs. Wallace’s suicide.
“Let’s see why Judge Wallace was getting a WitSec deal,” Gabriel said, entering a special code on his computer screen, which was being projected onto the wall across from us. “The file stated that Judge Wallace would be providing a list of known members as well as providing testimony against Lydia Rolf when she went to trial. Judge Wallace maintained that had he any inkling about the child sexual abuse taking place within the church, he would have reported it and stopped attending.”
“Tell me they got a membership list,” I said.
“They did.” Gabriel pulled it up. One was now a US senator, and I pointed this out. There were several prominent people. However, that didn’t mean much as many prominent people were Catholic and no one blamed them for the sexual abuses committed by priests. It was very possible that Judge Wallace had not known about the sexual abuse. It was also possible that he had known Lydia Rolf before she became a full-fledged cult leader, and that’s why she’d gotten a slap on the wrist.
“We need to find all these members,” Gabriel said.
“Yes,” I agreed. “Most likely, only active members would be doing this.”
“Randolph, I’ve seen that name today,” Fiona said. “No, sorry, the name I saw was Edgar Randolph, not Erica Randolph.”
“Edgar, Erica,” I frowned. “What did you see his name on?”
“He’s a prison guard at Lankford,” Fiona said.
“Is he perhaps related to an Erica Randolph?” I asked.
“Even I think you might be grasping at straws; it has to be a common last name,” Lucas said.
“Maybe, but we don’t have anything else to grasp at, might as well reach for straws.” I shrugged.
“Twins,” Fiona said after a few moments of keys clicking.
“Is Erica Randolph still a cult member?” I asked.
“No, she has moved with her husband to California, where she works for a movie studio,” Fiona said.
“Was her husband a cult member?” I asked.
“He was,” Fiona replied. “Or at least, he probably was, his name is on Judge Wallace’s list.”
“What about Edgar Randolph? Work record? Is he giving money to Lydia Rolf or are there complaints from other prisoners about special treatment?” I asked.
“Nope, although he’s been out with a family emergency for the last week,” Fiona said.
“All right, let’s go visit Edgar Randolph,” Gabriel said.
“Wait,” Fiona said. “Today, a doctor at a walk-in clinic gave a report to a detective with KC Metro that Edgar Randolph came in today with an infection in a wound that the doctor thought was a bullet wound.”
“When the cult was arrested, was Erica Randolph among them?” I asked.
“Yes,” Fiona answered.
“Okay, was Ralph DeLong involved with that investigation at all?” Gabriel asked.
“Yes,” Fiona said.
“It’s thin,” Lucas said.
“Yes, it is.” I agreed. “But it’s better than nothing. I’ll stay here and you guys go talk to him.” I sat down at the table.
“If we go, we all go,” Gabriel said.
“Deputy Director Schwab ordered me to take a Xanax and get a good night’s sleep,” I said.
“Wow, are you going to listen to orders for once? Maybe we should keep her on the medications, Xavier.” Lucas smiled.
“Okay, I’ll ride along,” I told them. I grabbed my SCTU windbreaker and hat. Once inside the tactical vehicle, I realized I was unarmed. But if I was just going to wait in the vehicle while the others talked to Edgar Randolph, I didn’t need a gun.
“Explain to me why Edgar Randolph would kill for Lydia Rolf when he wasn’t a cult member?” Fiona asked.
“Because Judge Wallace was murdered by someone,” Lucas said.
“What does that have to do with Edgar Randolph?” Fiona asked.
“Directly, it probably doesn’t mean anything. But I suspect Lydia threatened to accuse Erica Randolph of being one of the killers,” I said.
“Ah,” Fiona said. “That would explain it.”
“Especially since they didn’t find evidence definitively linking anyone to the murder. They found two shoe prints, one probably female and the other male, but that was so long ago the people probably don’t have the shoes any longer, and Lydia has all the bargaining chips. ‘Do this or else I tell everyone your sister murdered a judge.’”
“Except that implicates herself in the murder for at least conspiracy,” Fiona said.
“Not really, she was a religious leader, confessions are protected. She could say Erica confessed it to her during their normal religious ritual of confession, and since it was a past crime, it would not be required to be reported,” I said.
“I thought that only applied to Catholic priests,” Lucas said.
“Nope, it’s about the religious ritual of confession, not the denomination. The Children from the Future is a registered religious organization with the government-they even have tax exempt status.”
We parked and Edgar Randolph opened his front door to us.
“I confess, but I need protection for my sister,” he said, falling onto his knees on the porch.
“Uh, what?” I said.
“I’m the Family Annihilator. I didn’t want to do it. I was pressured by that queen bitch Lydia Rolf. I will testify against her. I have some of her threatening messages recorded. But my sister, her husband, and their unborn child need protection. They will testify as well.”
“Edgar Randolph you’re under arrest,” Gabriel said, walking over and putting handcuffs on the man. He looked awful. He was sweating and shaking and had dark circles under his eyes.
“I didn’t want to do it,” Edgar said and started to cry. His body heaved with the sobs.
“Oh shit,” Xavier was pulling out his cell phone. He dialed 911 and requested an ambulance to our location. I held out my arms in a ‘what on Earth’ gesture and then pointed at my ear where my comms unit was. I pressed the button and requested a second ambulance. Xavier was now moving forward.
“Uncuff him,” Xavier told Gabriel. “He’s having a heart attack.”
“Are you saying he didn’t want to confess and admit to being the killer?” Gabriel asked.
“He might, but now he’s having a heart attack,” Xavier said, trying to get the cuffs off while rolling Edgar Randolph over onto his back. I could already hear sirens. We watched helplessly and waited for the ambulance to get past the last block or so and arrive. Xavier went with the ambulance and Edgar Randolph to the hospital. Gabriel, Lucas, and I went into the house. On the coffee table was a stack of notebook paper covered in writing. I put on gloves and picked up the first sheet.
“To whom it may concern:
I confess that I killed all those people. I didn’t want to, but I didn’t have a choice. Two weeks ago, my sister Erica Randolph found out she was pregnant. It is her first child. She posted it on social media. Some years ago, she joined the Children from the Future under the spell of Lydia Rolf. While there, she met her future husband. However, she called me the day after she posted about the pregnancy to tell me Steven Rolf had come to see them and that he still had copies of their membership form which guaranteed their first child would become the property of Steven and Lydia to raise to adulthood. A few days later, Lydia mentioned it to me at the prison while I was on shift. She said she was really looking forward to seeing her new baby and that Erica and Matt would have such beautiful babies that they’d earn her a fortune before they got old enough to vote. The following day Erica called me in tears. She’d taken the contract to a lawyer, who said Steven Rolf had no claim to their child even if they had signed a contract. Then she told me Steven had come back to see them. He told them that if they tried to back out of their membership requirement, he would kill them and take the child. Erica said since Steven and Lydia had staged suicides for other members of the cult, she was really scared they’d do it to her and Matt and steal the baby. Erica says she has proof of Lydia and Steven preparing to stage the suicide of a cult member as well as arranging to drop a child off with a customer to be sexually abused. I don’t know what the proof is. Anyway, after Erica contacted me after Steven’s second visit, Lydia stopped me at the prison again and I recorded that encounter. It can be found on my phone and in a Drop Box folder. In it, Lydia tells me if I will kill three families associated with Daniels’ Security, she will leave Erica and Matt and their unborn child alone. If I don’t do it or if I go to the police, she will wait until Erica is 30 weeks along and send someone to cut the child from her womb, and she will die a terrible death while Matt is forced to watch. I believe Lydia will do exactly that. Steven has been trying to kill Nadine Daniels since he was released from prison, but he hasn’t been very good at it. I have ingested my entire bottle of pain killers as well as a bottle of whiskey and arsenic. I am mailing a copy of this to Nadine Daniels at Daniels’ Security. We as a family don’t have much money, but Nadine helped Erica and Matt escape the cult once. I can only beg for her generosity to help them escape a second time. I have willed all my worldly goods to my sister to help pay for Daniels’ Security’s services, if possible. I have about ten grand in savings that can be used as a down payment.”
I called the hospital and told Xavier. Xavier was quiet for a long time.
“Edgar Randolph died in the ambulance and could not be resuscitated,” he said.
“Fuck,” I said.