BURDEN OF AN ANCIENT OATH by Joshua Brown (early reader books TXT) 📕

was gone, I breathed out a sigh of relief. Though I didn’t want to show it to her, I was terrified. I couldn’t let anything happen to Lauren’s mother, not because of something I was involved in. But my options were limited in what I could do.

Returning to my room, I got my phone and made a call to Hank Stamos.

It rang twice and he picked up. I knew that no matter what time of day I called, Hank would always be ready.

“Jack, what’s going on? You alright?” he asked, rather frantically. I supposed the 5 AM call would worry anyone, let alone the chief of police in New York.

Hank Stamos and I went way back. We both started our careers around the same time, and where he went up the chain of command within the NYPD, I found my way into personal detective work. Being partners once, we had an almost inseparable bond, and more than once, we got each other out of hot water.

“Hank, yeah, sorry to bother you this early. I’m in a bit of a pickle,” the words left my lips, not realizing the implications it might have on his thoughts.

“What’s wrong? Where are you? I’ll get a car down to you immediately,” he near shouted.

“No, no, it’s nothing like that,” I replied, trying to calm him down. “I’ve just got a personal issue at work that’s moving onto my staff. You remember Lauren?”

“The redhead working your front desk? How could anyone forget that bombshell,” he said. I suppose he thought the threat wasn’t as bad since it wasn’t directed at me.

“Yeah, her. Look, we’ve got a situation with a case I’m working on. Some high profile stuff that’s reaching all the way back to the Crossley murders in the 1980s,” I almost hoped dropping the name would get Hank’s cogs firing and he could give me some insight.

“Crossley murders? Never heard of them,” he said, dashing those dreams. “But yeah, what’s up? And it better be damn important if you’re waking me up in a panic before sunrise.”

He laughed, so I knew it was all in jest.

“Whoever we’re chasing is threatening Lauren’s mother. They’ve got a picture of her from inside the house while she’s sleeping. I’m not sure who they are or what they want, but I need you to help that poor woman,” I said.

“When did this happen?” His jovial nature immediately shifted to serious once more.

“Not sure, but over the last few days. The threat is serious.”

“You point me in a direction and I’ll make sure we have eyes on at all times. I know you wouldn’t screw me around with something like this, Jack, so I won’t question it further. But this will be off the books,” Hank replied.

I knew what he meant. A personal friend asks for police protection; it might look bad on the chief’s record.

“Of course, Hank. Hey, who knows, you might be able to find something on a cold case that’s seemingly disappeared from existence in the last 30 years,” I chuckled.

“Well, I’m going to catch a few more hours. I’ll dispatch a car in the morning and make sure there are eyes on her as often as possible.”

“That’s a good idea,” I said, the smug grin growing at the corners of my lips. “We all know how you get when you don’t have enough sleep, you big baby.”

Hank just laughed.

“I’ll talk to you soon, man. We should make plans sometime, Betty and the kids are missing their uncle Jack.”

“Maybe after this case, I’ll treat you all to a steak dinner.”

“Sounds good, man,” Hank said. “We’ll make plans then.”

I said goodbye, and we cut the call.

At least that was one thing taken care of. I didn’t want Lauren worrying about her own life and have her mother to worry about.

Chapter 12

Jack

Getting back to the office, I was surprised to see Lauren sitting at her desk. No signs of crying remained on her face, and had she not come to me, one might think it never happened.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, giving her a hug. She accepted, lingering a little longer than usual.

“It’s where I work, isn’t it?” she teased.

“I thought you’d at least take the day off or something regarding the situation. I didn’t expect you in, anyway,” I replied. “But I’ve got it all covered. Spoke with Hank Stamos this morning and he’s going to make sure that there’s always a watchful eye over your mother.”

“Thanks, Jack,” she said, gesturing her head over to Aaron and Gwen, standing over the computer. I knew she was telling me to keep quiet on the situation, never wanting to be a bother.

Nodding my head, I pulled away, poured myself a glass of orange juice, and greeted the others.

“You’re in early today,” Gwen said, checking her watch.

“Am I?” I replied.

“I’ve never seen you at the office before 11 AM,” she quipped.

“Well, it’s been a hell of a morning,” I sipped my juice. “What’s got you two hovering over a screen like this, or am I just being hopeful?”

“Well, I managed to find something on the mailman that delivered the letter to your door. Going through your footage was pointless, but I went back to your building and got some other cameras around the apartments. After a long search, through hours of nothing, I found this…”

Aaron hit the spacebar and the video started playing. There was little at first. Just a few cars passing by or people in the streets. But it was late, so everything was more or less empty. That was until a Chevy Impala pulled up to the apartment complex. That’s when he stepped out, the sack of shit that’s been terrorizing not only me and my crew but Jane Dench too.

“That’s him,” I pointed