Horizon Home

Detective JD Moore was sitting in his office reading the newspaper, and nursing a cold cup of coffee. Another slow Wednesday morning at Central Ohio PD. His secretary read the latest crime thriller while her phone sat silent on her desk. At 67, she had read more than her fair share of mysteries and crime thrillers. A fact that she felt made her more than qualified to stick her nose into any situation that came their way. In such a small town, she knew everyone, most of them since they were born. In fact, in her younger years, she had babysat a fair number of the townspeople - Detective Moore being an exception of course. He was new to their PD and she was still figuring him out. All she knew so far was that he came from up North, liked coffee, listened to bluegrass music on repeat, and although he kept to himself for the most part, he was friendly enough.

The phone trilled loudly, pulling Mrs. Lynn from her novel. Without looking away from her book, she answered. “Central Ohio PD, this is Kathryn, how can I help you?”

“This is Detective Mason from Toledo PD. I need to speak with Detective Moore,” said a gruff voice on the other end.

“One moment please.”

“Hey JD, I’m forwarding you a call from Toledo. He sounded annoyed, so it must be important,” Kathryn shouted from her desk.

“Got it,” replied Detective Moore. He answered the phone, listened for a few minutes and then closed his door before speaking to the other detective.

Kathryn sighed, disappointed to be missing out on some potential drama, and went back to her book.

Moments later JD came out of his office with a concerned look on his face. “I need to leave town for a few days Kathryn. I trust you can keep things running here while I’m away. If anything urgent arises, you can always call Tom.”

Tom? thought Kathryn. Tom couldn’t get a cat out of a tree in her opinion, but she’d let Detective Moore figure that out on his own. “Sounds good sir. Is there anything I can do to help? What’s going on in Toledo that they need your help?” She inquired.

JD gave her a knowing smile and continued out the front door. “I’ll call you if I need anything.”

A few hours later, Detective Mason met JD at the door of the Toledo PD, and greeted him with a hearty handshake. They walked into a small conference room where 2 more uniformed officers sat. There was a large whiteboard with information scribbled in a variety of colors and a rough timeline going back the last 6 months. From a quick glance, JD could see they had found at least 3 bodies.

As JD and Mason entered, the other 2 officers stood. “Officer Moore,” Detective Mason began, “We know you must have a lot of questions, but first let me introduce Detective Tracy French and her 1st officer, Bill Newton from the Espen PD. We’ve been working together on this case for about a week, and agreed that you might be able to assist us in a unique way.”

“I’m happy to help, but I’m still at a loss as to how. We haven’t had any unsolved cases at the COPD in decades, and I’ve actually only been there a few months.”

With that, Detective French spoke up. “This has nothing to do with where you are now, but rather where you grew up.”

JD could feel his face getting hotter as he looked away.

“It may not be something you like to chat about, but in our investigation of these murders, the only thing they had in common was a group home they either attended or were employed by in their past. Twenty years ago, to be exact,” she continued. Tracy paused, but when JD didn’t offer any reply, continued, “Again, we aren’t here to pry into your personal life, or what landed you at the Horizon Home for teens. Frankly, we wouldn’t know anything about you if it wasn’t for our suspect.”

This pulled JD from his thoughts. “Suspect? You already have a suspect in mind? Is he or she in custody? How did you land on him as a suspect?”

“One question at a time, Moore. Yes, we have a suspect in custody. We found DNA at one of the crime scenes. Trouble is, we have no motive yet, and he says he won’t talk to anyone but you. Ever heard of a Trevor Smith?” asked Tracy.

“Doesn’t ring a bell, but it’s been 20 years, so maybe seeing him will jog my memory.”

“We’ll get to that. Let’s get you up to speed on what we know first. As you can see from the timeline behind me, we’ve found 3 bodies in the past 6 months, there might be more, and none of us see this guy stopping on his own.” Detective Tracy looked around the room at the other officers. “All of the victims are either former residents or employees of Horizon Home, so there’s also a possibility that you’re in danger. Can you think of anyone from that time that would do something like this so many years later?”

“Well, you didn’t go to HH if you were a Boy Scout or on the Dean’s List, if you get my drift, but this? No. No one that I knew was this angry back then.” JD shook his head, “Hold up though. If you have this guy’s DNA, why do you need me?”

Officer Newton finally spoke up to answer. His voice, much deeper than expected, didn’t fit his appearance, “Technically, we don’t know if it’s his DNA. It’s still being analyzed, but he was picked up on a theft charge and started freaking out and talking about this case. One of the reasons we think Trevor is a good suspect, in addition to the hair that was found, is that all 3 victims were at HH during his stay - which coincidentally overlapped your stay - early 2000’s.” JD simply nodded in agreement. “The first victim was a lady by the name of Margaret Wilkins. Her whole career was working as a secretary, among other jobs at HH.” Newton slid an old photo of Margaret toward JD. He immediately remembered her as a kind woman that ran the front desk, answered phones and would sometimes help out in the mess hall. She was one of the nice ones. She would sneak the boys extra helpings when she could, and always thought to bring them baked goods around the holidays. She had a quiet, humble kindness about her that always gave him peace.

“Forgive me, but if you’re thinking that some former student of HH killed these people due to mistreatment 20 years ago, I have a hard time fitting Mrs. Wilkins into that pictur explained JD.

“Actually,” Officer Newton continued sheepishly, “we believe she was the first killed because she had information about where some of the other victims were currently living. It appeared that she stayed in touch with some of the kids when they moved on from Horizon Home.”

“I see,” responded JD, feeling slightly hurt that he hadn’t been one of them. He steeled himself for the other 2 victims.

Officer Newton showed JD pictures of the other 2 victims, as well as photos of them from 2005 when they were residents of HH. “We were able to go through the old files of Horizon Home and find some old photos of the 2 male victims. Scott Lucus and Seth Grove. Both were residents from 2000-2006, but there’s not much else we know about them. They were both brought in for similar reasons - constant fighting in their home schools, aggressive behavior at home, trouble with local police. However, before coming to HH they didn’t know one another. Some of the notes in their files made it seem like they’d formed quite a friendship once they arrived.”

JD shook his head. “That wasn’t a good thing. They were both the definition of bullies and if they decided to team up and make your life hell, they would succeed. I was a little older than them and stayed out of their way. They liked to pick on the younger kids. The ones that couldn’t fight back as well. They were cowards. Still, they didn’t deserve this,” he continued as he reviewed the photos of the crime scene showing both men with multiple stab wounds.

“Margaret still lived near Horizon Home, and she was the first victim. The 2 men had actually stayed friends - however ill advised - and moved to the Toledo area, which is how Detective Mason got involved. Without his input, we would not have connected Margaret to the other victims,” Detective French explained. “His team found the hair at one of the crime scenes and made the connection. However, we haven’t been able to connect Trevor to HH, or establish a motive. Which brings us to you. If he knows you, we assume there’s a connection to HH, but his name doesn’t show up in the files. We think it’s fake, but haven’t been able to get any answers from him, and we’re still waiting on lab results on the hair as well. We’re hoping you can get some information from him to speed things along,” she concluded and all eyes were on JD.

JD looked around the room suddenly feeling the weight of the situation. They were counting on him to stop a killer. He had never dealt with a case this big in his career. It was a lot to take in, but he knew he didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t go back home without answers of his own. Who was this guy, and why was he asking for him of all people? Something didn't sit right with him.

Detective JD Moore stepped into the interrogation room and looked at the man sitting across from him. He took a deep breath after seeing that the man’s hands were still cuffed to the table, and knowing that the other detectives and officers were watching from the 2-way glass behind him.

Trevor spoke first, “Jack, is that really you? Forgive me for saying that you’ve changed a bit over the past 20 years,” he continued with the hint of a smile.

JD looked closely, but was still at a loss. “I’m sorry, but have we met before?”

Trevor sighed, “I guess we’ve both changed a fair amount in 20 years. It might help to know that when you knew me I was Sammy Parker. We were at HH together, although I was about 4 years your junior. You helped me out of a pinch or two back then, and selfishly I’m hoping you can help me again.”

“Little Sammy Parker! I haven’t heard that name in a long time, and would never have recognized you.”

“I get it. I look like shit.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that...”

“No, it’s true. To be honest, my life never really got on track. I haven’t been perfect, and I’ve had my share of trouble, but I swear, I’ve never killed anyone. You have to help me, man.”

“I’ll do what I can. To be honest, I never knew how you ended up at HH. You didn’t seem to belong back then. You weren’t like the rest of us. I just figured it wasn’t my business.”

“That would be the work of my lovely parents. They decided they didn’t want me holding them back, so they made up a bunch of lies to tell HH, and I was admitted. I’m sure some money exchanged hands too.”

“Tell me what you know about how you landed here. I’m not making any promises, but I’ll listen and give you a fair chance. That’s all I can offer.”

“Well, like I said, I was no angel when I left HH. I moved around a lot with no place to go and no real skills. I tried to find work, but with no car, it was hard to get anywhere. I started stealing to eat. I was actually pretty good at it and didn’t get caught for a long time. Anyway, long story short, things were starting to turn around a little bit, and then my old man found me. At first I thought maybe it could be ok and we could make up for lost time and all that BS, but it didn’t last long. He’s not a good guy Jack, and he was trying to drag me down even further than I already was. I tried to get away from him, but he kept showing up. That’s when I changed my name. I thought it would help me hide from him, but it didn’t take long and he tracked me down again. Jack, I think he’s behind these murders. It’s some kind of twisted “retaliation” for what he believes people did to me back then. It’s his way of showing love. I know it sounds nuts, but he’s legit crazy Jack. I didn’t want to tell the other cops because I know how it sounds, but you have to believe me, please tell me you believe me and you’ll help Jack. You’re my only hope of getting out of here and you know me. You know I wouldn’t do this!

“So back up. Why do you think it’s your dad? When was the last time you saw him or spoke to him?”

“The last time I saw him in person was about a year ago. It didn’t end well. He wanted me to go with him on this job, but it was stupid and I knew he’d get caught, so I told him no. He was pissed and said I was using my skills for petty shit and I could make bigger scores. I told him to go to hell, that I was trying to get my life together and didn’t want to end up in prison. He stormed off. About 2 months after that he called me drunk off his ass and was saying all kinds of crap about how he let me down for the last time and he was going to make it up to me. I asked what he meant, but he just said, it’s a surprise. I figured he’d forget the whole conversation once he sobered up, and I forgot all about it until the bodies started piling up. I heard about Scott on the news and thought it had to be more than a coincidence. Then when Seth was murdered I started freaking out. I didn’t know what to do. Cops arrested me for stealing some stuff from the grocery store, but I thought it was about the dead guys and I shot my mouth off, and so here I am,” he looked down with tears in his eyes.

JD watched Sammy’s face for any hint of deceit and found none. He had always been a pretty chill kid at HH, especially compared to everyone else. However, he could see a motive now. Scott and Seth were relentless with Sammy. He was young, quiet, wouldn’t fight back, and wouldn’t squeal. The guys would beat him up every time they got the chance. JD found himself keeping an eye out for Sammy. He would let him hide in his room, or be near him when they were playing outside to ensure the guys couldn’t gang up on him, but JD left Horizon House before Sammy, and he could imagine things took a turn for the worse after that.

“I’m glad you asked for me Sammy, but we aren’t kids anymore, and this is more than just some fist fights in the yard and bullying. We’re talking muder, and I don’t have jurisdiction here, so there’s only so much I can do.”

“I understand,” Sammy replied, already looking defeated. “I just couldn’t think of anyone else and I knew you became a cop, so I thought maybe…” his voice trailed off and he shrugged his shoulders.

JD met the other detectives back in the conference room and was ready to argue for Sammy, but before he could get a word out Detective Mason put up his hand and stopped him, “Before you start, you need to know that the hair came back and it’s not a match. We put out an APB on what we think is his dad’s latest registered vehicle and hope to know more within the hour.”

JD sighed with relief. It wasn’t finished, but at least he felt they were giving Sammy a shot. He grabbed some drinks from a vending machine in the break room and went back to join Sammy. He didn’t say anything about his dad, in case things didn’t pan out, but chatted with him about his life now and what he would like to do when he walks out of here. Jack shared that he had just moved to a smaller, sleepy town and was looking forward to a little less excitement in his future.

As JD and Sammy continued to share stories and laugh about old times, a knock interrupted their thoughts. Detective Mason entered and told them that Sammy’s dad, Walter, had been pulled over in Tennessee and had plenty of damning evidence in his car, including Duct tape, blood-smeared knives, and rope. He was in police custody and there was no reason to hold Sammy any longer.

JD drove home the next day with Sammy still on his mind. Yes, he had been able to clear his name, but it wasn’t really a long-term solution to Sammy’s problems. He needed a real chance at a life that didn’t involve crime. Without thinking everything through he picked up his phone. “Hey Sammy, how would you feel about moving to a small, sleepy town, and having less excitement in your life?”