JUSTICE REBORN (A Charlie Taylor Novel Book 1)
Read JUSTICE REBORN (A Charlie Taylor Novel Book 1) Online
Authors: Ivan Bering
By
Ivan Bering
Copyright
2014 Ivan Bering
All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including
photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission
in writing from the author.
ISBN
978-0-9937100-0-1
Thanks to my daughter Cathy for starting me
on this path and reading many versions of
this novel.
Other
Charlie Taylor novels:
A
Disconnected Mind:
second in the series: projected publication late
2015
Kill
All of Them:
third in the series: projected publication
2016
tABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
CHAPTER 1:
WHERE was CHARLIE?
.
- 6 -
CHAPTER 2:
WHITE ROCK PRISON
..
- 9 -
CHAPTER 3:
sTEPHEN’S BOARD
..
- 11 -
CHAPTER 4:
CHARLIE’S LOG: The Tipping Point
- 18 -
CHAPTER 5:
the five star couple
.
- 24 -
CHAPTER 6:
charlie’s log: the basketball game
.
- 30 -
CHAPTER 7:
CHARLIE’S LOG: The REST
.
- 34 -
CHAPTER 8:
THE BLACK ANGEL ARRIVEs
.
- 38 -
CHAPTER 9:
Charlie’s LOG: The Spring Dance
.
- 45 -
CHAPTER
10: Binary Search
.
- 54 -
CHAPTER
11: Charlie’s Log: Karen
.
- 59 -
CHAPTER
12: Stephen AT HOME
..
- 63 -
CHAPTER
13: Charlie’s Log: At the Hotel
- 67 -
CHAPTER
14: waiting at Fort Green
.
- 71 -
CHAPTER
15: Charlie’s Log: Chinese Supper
- 75 -
CHAPTER
16: A PRISON VISIT
.
- 79 -
CHAPTER
17: First Brainstorming Session
.
- 85 -
CHAPTER
18: condition Confidential
- 93 -
cHAPTER
19: Charlie’s Log: At the Abbey
.
- 97 -
CHAPTER
20: Forensic Division Problem
..
- 104 -
CHAPTER
21: Brainstorming Concludes
.
- 114 -
CHAPTER 22:
Charlie’s Log: concern
..
- 119 -
CHAPTER
23: Charlie’s Log: first Meeting
.
- 122 -
CHAPTER
24: Dr. Grovernor
- 128 -
CHAPTER
25: HARRY and the HOTEL COUPLE
..
- 134 -
CHAPTER
26: Charlie’s Log: the Assistant
- 138 -
CHAPTER
27: statutory rape
.
- 143 -
CHAPTER
28: uncle willie wanders
.
- 147 -
CHAPTER
29: Charlie’s Log: Sam and Ron
.
- 152 -
CHAPTER
30: Another Look at Harry
.
- 156 -
CHAPTER
31: Dr. Max’s Interrogation
.
- 161 -
CHAPTER
33: The Judge, Kate and Janice
.
- 175 -
CHAPTER
34: Charlie’s Log: The Blowup
.
- 178 -
CHAPTER
35: Random Selection
.
- 181 -
CHAPTER
36: Another Special Board Meeting
.
- 187 -
CHAPTER
37: An Ultimatum
..
- 193 -
CHAPTER
38: Charlie’s Log: Analysis
.
- 196 -
CHAPTER
39: An Amazing Video
.
- 201 -
CHAPTER
40: the Judge’s Chambers
.
- 207 -
CHAPTER
41: the Last Meeting
.
- 213 -
CHAPTER
42: At the Hotel
- 223 -
CHAPTER
43: Charlie’s Log: a Watcher
- 231 -
CHAPTER 44:
Charlie’s Log: the Parking Lot
- 237 -
My therapy demanded I start writing, the
mantra: write what is important to you. For some time, this meant bugger all.
But my analyst persisted, and I began with what I knew best: my work.
I tried to capture the turmoil and tension
which existed when we reinstated the death penalty, and executions were an
acceptable part of our ethos. Of course, with Prison Reform everything
escalated and the body count mounted.
It was not to be that easy; the writing
had to be personal. Hence, this book includes personal logs of my struggles.
These private records have been edited, and there are a few omissions; some
events are too embarrassing to provide a full confession, vanity trumping
accuracy. I’m sure you will be able to fill in the gaps; if you can’t, by the
last chapter you will know how much I care.
Charlie
Charles (Charlie) W. Taylor
Detective
First Class Homicide Division
They stayed here: albeit underground,
nevertheless at the Abbey.
The irony: the place was built around 400
years ago to serve the needs of a cluster of monks, and evolved into a
commercial success. The revenue from business conferences, meditation weekends,
and individual retreats provided a healthy profit and allowed the Abbey to
prosper. A central core consisted of a variety of buildings, all surrounded by
a waist-high stone wall, with exits at various intervals. One of the exits led
directly into an adjacent woodland where the walking and jogging paths
continued for miles.
He tried to control the frequency and
timing of his visits. It was best to blend with a crowd, best not to be
conspicuous and get recognized.
The pathways offered a diversity of
surfaces: some concrete, some paved, some crushed rock, and where the paths
enter the woodland some type of reddish earth mix prevailed. He walked the
forest for hours; on these tracks he found serenity, at last, able to recharge
and relax.
He buried them here, months ago.
“When we first arrived, she was creeping on
the sidewalk, like an injured cockroach.”
Jean Hardin delivered each word in a
strained cadence; at irregular intervals she lost all control. The convulsions
and tears transformed the attractive woman into a sobbing five-year-old, knees
tight against her chest as she rocked in the big chair.
Dr. Sam Taylor, her psychologist, decided
it was best to allow her to vent without any interruptions, no questions, and
no clarification. He would wait until her hysterical energy depleted. She was
an EMT, emergency medical technician. Her prior visits centered on a horrendous
traffic accident involving young teenagers. This was different. Today’s session
went beyond depression.
“The patient screamed every time she heard
a male voice. Any time a man spoke she let loose with a desperate howl. The
only reason we managed to get her into the ambulance is because Detective Zubik
was there and she helped me. Karen, that’s the detective, even stayed in the
ambulance and tried to calm the woman. The poor lady. Oh god, she kept
screeching, tossing her head and spattering blood over me and the inside of the
ambulance.
I’m still not fully qualified to connect
her to all the sensors of the new patient monitoring gear, but the senior EMT
couldn’t get close, so I wrestled my way through the setup.
No one could understand her. Jesus, her
entire face was swollen and bruised, almost shattered, most of her front teeth
were missing…”
Jean stopped for a moment the memory
overwhelming her. Great sobs wracked her body. Sam touched her shoulder and
encouraged her to continue.
“I’m not sure if it was the mild sedative
in the IV or if she just passed out but eventually she stopped. Bill, our
senior EMT, decided to sit up front with the driver, and I stayed in the back
with Karen.
She’s the latest victim of that mad
man…rapist…..you know he typically kills them but I think she’ll live….her face
will never be the same…
I can’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes I
see her. And I’m scared to go outside. When night comes, I lock all the doors
and turn off the lights. I’m going to buy a gun even though I hate them.
They’ve given me time off, but it isn’t helping. I’ve got to resign. I couldn’t
stand the sight of another one ……….oh shit..”
She lost all control again and the crying
intensified. Sam was prepared and decided it was time. He was stepping over
the line; as a psychologist he was not licensed to inject medication, but it
was a line he crossed before when facing a hysterical patient.
“Jean, let me roll up your sleeve and give
you a shot….…just enough to allow you to relax. Now sit back in that big chair
and close your eyes. I want you to rest for about 15 minutes. Then we’ll talk.”
Jean wiped her face dry, closed her eyes
and put her head back; soon her breathing became closer to normal but Sam knew
she needed more time. His official recording would start in a few minutes; in
preparation, he logged the date into his recorder: Friday, March 26th, 2021.
As he waited, he thought about the serial
rapist/killer who was terrorizing the city. Some his new clients were woman
traumatized by this high profile criminal and his bragging rants which all the
news agencies appeared anxious to report. Even his ridiculous name was
established by the press; the damn rapist got tagged as Horny Harry, which
implied, even if he was raping and killing, he was just a few degrees beyond
normal.
Harry was a brutal killer, only two of his
six victims survived his frenzied attacks. If Detective Karen Zubik was at the
site, then Sam’s brother should have been. At one time his brother, Charlie
Taylor, was the senior homicide detective in the Division and acknowledged as
the best man in the squad.
Sam knew all the detectives in the homicide
section. When Charlie’s wife and daughter were still alive, his brother’s
backyard became the gathering place for summer barbecues; the detectives were a
small elite group, all men except for Karen. She was older than the men but
able to sustain their pace and match their humor; the men, Wes, Terry, and
Manuel, were all under 35 years old.
Sam compared the summer evenings to being
with a bottle of fireflies: constantly in motion, at times one would light up
with a joke or a story and all would erupt, an explosion of laughter.
Sam and Monk, Charlie’s best friend, were
the only outsiders invited. But Sam’s wife found the humor too black, and she
often found an excuse not to attend.
Was the Chief of Police still trying to
keep Charlie buried in the Records department? The entire situation was
becoming hopeless; his brother would explode if those restraints weren’t
lifted.
But the Chief believed ‘law and order’ also
applied to internal procedures and codes of behavior; Charlie, an impatient
detective, struggled with the forms and office procedures which he viewed as
secondary priorities. So the two good men had their relationship defined by the
proverbial lament: not on the same page.
Two days ago one of the detectives, Wes,
phoned Sam; it was too tentative to tell Charlie but the latest rumor in
circulation: the Chief planned to reinstate and promote the senior detective.
So, where was Charlie?