Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two
My new job was with the same chain but at a different store than before and I was told there was a chance for advancement. I had applied at a location that was closer to Angela’s house. My old boss had never talked to me about advancing but the manager of this store seemed to appreciate my experience. Having experience as a cashier was helpful. I could work into a manager position but after seeing the hours managers worked it didn’t look that appealing. It was a good day spent learning how they did things at this store and it wasn’t too different from the store I worked at before. It was in a different part of town than the previous job. It was actually closer to Angela’s house and that was a positive thing. 

I made a few friends but the work was about the same. The manager was a lady and I got along with her well. She had trouble finding reliable help and was very encouraging as to my future with the store. I was told I could become an assistant manager if that was my goal. It wasn’t as many hours as being a manager but more than just being a cashier so I needed to think about that for a while.

I had a lunch break with another cashier from the store and we talked about our past lives for a while. She was a single mom as well. Her husband was a firefighter who was killed on the job and she had one child, a four year old girl. We had a good short conversation and then went back to finish our shift. We talked about getting together on our days off once I became more settled in my job. 

The afternoon went well and I was getting used to being on a job again. It wouldn’t take long for me to get back into the routine here. My shift ended before most of the girls I had lunch with but I began before they did too. So far I was working a day shift but that could change at any time. Most shifts were worked around truck arrivals and I could work weekends as necessary. 

When I got back to Angela’s house, she was in the kitchen cooking and Lincoln was sitting at the breakfast bar talking and asking questions. I don’t know what the subjects of their conversations were but she had gained Lincoln’s interest and he was sitting quietly. That is no small miracle as I can attest from experience.

I went in to change out of my work uniform and came back to see if I could be of help to Angela. She told me she had a great day getting to know Lincoln. Angela seemed to have everything under control. She had asked Lincoln to help set the table and he complied. Everything seemed too good to be true. I had a good first day at the new job; Lincoln was helping with setting the table and other kitchen chores and Angela was happy with a smile on her face while preparing a meal. 

She told me that helping with Lincoln gave her purpose and she was happy helping with him. She told me he was a great joy to be around. I was surprised she didn’t use words like challenging or a “handful”. Lincoln took up to her even better than with my mother. I was surprised but grateful. 

Angela said, “You can make a salad, everything else is almost ready. Everything you need is in the refrigerator, just make it how you would for you and Lincoln.”

I opened the refrigerator and there was a variety of raw vegetables to make a salad with so I collected them and took them to the Island to chop and add together to make my salad. I found fresh spinach and mixed it with Romaine for the salad base and added avocado, red onion, bacon bits, cheese and a few tomatoes. 

I told Angela that if she was going to be cooking for us I would be contributing to the food bill. She told me she wasn’t worried about it. She enjoyed having company in the house, she had been alone for so long and that was one reason she decided to rent out the room. She said she just hoped she would get along with the renter who got the room and so far it has gone well. 

Angela carried the food to the table, I carried the salad I had prepared and Lincoln carried his insulated cup to his place at the table. We all sat and ate while having conversations including how my work day went. I told Angela that I got along with my workmates and we all made plans to get together on my days off. 

After dinner I got up and helped Angela clear off the table and do the dishes. Lucky for us she had a dishwasher and we got it loaded and turned on. Lincoln even carried dishes from the table to the dishwasher. I told Lincoln it was time for him to get a bath and he complained for a few minutes but finally went into the bathroom to get ready for the bath. 

After giving Lincoln a bath, I dressed him in pajamas and I finally put him to bed, read him a book and got him to sleep. I came back into the living room and Angela was sitting in a chair reading her own book. She looked up and smiled when I walked in and laid her book down. 

We sat and talked for a while, apparently trying to avoid conversations about our husbands. She asked me questions about how I got suspicious of John McKinley in the first place so I told her the whole story. About him coming to my register, and about the things he bought. She interrupted to say she would have been suspicious of those things as well.

I told her about checking his Identification for an alcohol purchase and writing that information down. I told her how I followed him back to his house and the suspicious things we saw there. I told her how I got Jill involved and what ultimately happened to her when she couldn’t tell them where I was. It was the first time I had talked about Jill for a while and the first time I had thought about her. 

I broke down. It made me sad that we were both involved but she is the one that didn’t survive it. I cried! It was also the first time I had the chance to mourn her. Angela handed me a tissue. I soaked through that tissue and a couple more that she added to those she gave me. She told me she always had them handy when she was just sitting anywhere. I slowly regained my composure and continued my story.

I told her about following John and watching him. I told her about getting a camera placed in his house and we were able to watch him from our own living room. I told her about the other guy who was there and following him. I also told her about the attack at our apartment. I told her about Jill’s mom being attacked.

Angela said, “Wow, that all sounds like scenes from a movie.”

I replied, “It didn’t seem like a movie, it was as real as it gets.”

I told her the guy who was visiting John’s house was a Pakistani gang member. When he was out on bail he was murdered by other gang members, presumably to prevent him from giving any information to the police. She had heard about the victim’s father shooting the convicted murderer in the courthouse, but she hadn’t heard anything about the other gang member. We had a long visit but I told her I needed to start reading the case files if I was going to write a book about the incident. 

I said goodnight to Angela and went back into my room I shared with Lincoln. He was sound asleep and it was a good time to start looking through the case file. They had a lot of information about John McKinley, a lot of it wasn’t presented at trial. Evidently the judge didn’t permit some of it to be used. I guess it didn’t matter, he was found guilty in spite of it not being used. 

Mr. McKinley had a long list of crimes that he had participated in before he got into this case. He had burglary convictions, he was convicted in a couple of fraud cases, and he was a suspect in several other cases. I went through all of the other crimes he was convicted of just to see what kind of guy he really was. Out of about fifty seven other convictions and charges that had followed Mr. McKinley one stuck out the most.

Mr. John McKinley had been arrested for vehicular homicide in the death of Charles Young. I was shocked for the moment and couldn’t believe what I was reading. He was the one that killed Charles. Why did they keep that from me? Were they afraid I wouldn’t appear impartial if I knew that dirt bag was responsible for the death of my husband. 

I couldn’t move and I could feel a tear start to slowly drip down and run over my cheek on its way off of my face. The sadness that fell over me was overpowering. I felt like I was being held in place, frozen in this moment. 

“Maybe Charles led the guy to me,” I thought. I couldn’t help but think there was a sort of divine intervention involved in me being the one that helped catch this guy. There was so much in the files that the police never mentioned to me. 

There was a list of other suspects that were part of the kidnapping and murder. Hamza Osman was on the list and was noted for being a gang member. He was killed by other gang members in order to keep him quiet was the story that was noted in the files. Other gang members were identified but not prosecuted due to lack of evidence. 

The gang had the name of “Etizaaz”. A note was written on the side by the detective that says “no one knows how to pronounce it.” Hamza Osman was listed as an official member although it was unknown who the gang leader was. The gang had involvement in drugs, prostitution, sex trafficking, gambling and even murder for hire. If you wanted someone killed you just pay a fee and the gang would take care of things for you.

The detective noted that it was unclear what connection John McKinley had with the gang other than Hamza Osman being present and helping John with the kidnapping of the girl and murder of her mother. The detectives believed that Hamza Osman was killed to prevent the discovery of his connection with the gang, although the police had already put that together. 

The materials of the case were getting pretty involved and tomorrow was a workday so I decided to save further investigation for another time. I was tired but curious about what the police knew that was never revealed. 

The information that I actually now had was a lot more than I ever thought possible. I knew who was responsible for Charles’s death and that was comforting. I had trouble moving on even though I knew that Lincoln needed me to be one hundred percent available for him. I didn’t want to ever forget who Charles was and didn’t want Lincoln to forget who his father was but we had to do what was best for us. 

I would have never put together that John McKinley was the man responsible for Charles’s death. It never occurred to me and it was hard to believe he was the one. I don’t know why I wasn’t told unless they thought I wouldn’t testify. I knew the case was too important to let go of because of him murdering my Charles.