Chapter 31 Beckett
BECKETT
Idon’t even know what words to use to be able to describe what I’m feeling right now.
She’s fast asleep on the couch in the office that I use when I’m at the Timberline station. I sit on the floor just staring at her as Mocha lies on her chest, her fingers tightly tangled into his fur like she often does when she’s upset.
Her tears are finally dry, and I just stare at her. Mocha is still awake, just watching her, too.
“You did a good job today, bud,” I whisper, petting his head. I’ve never heard him bark like he did when that punk ass kid tried to touch her, or in the video the dumbass posted for the world to see.
I have to just stay sitting on the floor so I don’t go out there, find the guy, and beat him until there is nothing left. I’ve never felt this angry about something before, and I’ve dealt with a lot of sick fuckers who deserve nothing more than a dirt cell with no food six days a week.
After a few minutes, I slip her phone into her pocket, stand up, and go to sit at my desk. I put on the blue light glasses that she got me, and I open my laptop.
I stare at her over the top of it, before opening up several tabs, the first being Flykr and a second tab for Loop. On the other, I open the person’s database. Lastly, I grab a notebook and a pen.
I look up the same search on my computer that Sloane looked up. I get several hits all at once, all of them being reposts, bashing the original poster. All of these random people are coming to my sweet girl’s defense, saying how amazing she is.
It takes me awhile to find the account of the guy who originally posted it. He’s since taken the videos down, or given the amount of hate comments, Loop took them down for him. But there are other videos on this guy’s page.
He seems to be from the area. He posts a lot of stuff in the mountains, a lot of random things like going for drives, and he just ranting about things that no one else seems to care about.
He has around a thousand followers and a couple of videos with quite a few views, but nothing about him stands out.
I scroll through his comment sections, through what are called his reposts. He seems like a very normal, although maybe slightly depressed, kid.
While I’m scrolling through his reposts, something catches my eye; one of the videos is of one of the girls who was found a few weeks ago. Another victim of The Ghost Killer. I’m sure that it’s just a coincidence; regardless, I tap on the post and scroll to the girl’s social media.
Obviously, there are no recent posts; the last one was from over a month ago.
The girl has quite a decent following, and a lot of the comments on her most recent posts are saying how much they miss her.
A lot of fans are seemingly distraught about the fact that she’s now gone.
That they are wishing justice for this girl and her family.
A hashtag was even created for her, #LLEH, with a few thousand posts attached.
I scroll deeper into the comments, and Gideon_CO.boy pops up. The kid’s username who was harassing Sloane today.
The comment thread isn’t very long, just three messages exchanged between him and her, but it catches my attention.
Gideon_CO.boy: You’re so sexy!
Ed3n_Halliday: Please stop messaging me, I’ve had enough of your harassment.
Gideon_CO.boy: honey don’t be mad it was never that serious
I scroll through a few more posts, and the comments that this kid leaves are all similar, most of which she never responded to.
I go back to his account and scroll through his videos. He posts several times per day, so it takes me awhile to find what I think I might be looking for.
On July eighteenth, he made a post. It’s the sunset in the mountains. One single line of text, and one hashtag in the caption.
The sunset looks good tonight. I know they were always your favorite. #LLEH
That’s it. The comments on the video are turned off, and this is one of the videos that got quite a bit of attention.
It’s not even the day that they announced that she was dead; he posted it on the night that the coroner is pretty sure that she died.
I link all the videos with notes so I can come back to them later.
The farther down the rabbit hole I go, the more I find, and the less it looks like a coincidence.
Every single girl that has gone missing since they started suspecting a copycat killer is somehow related to this account.
Comment sections are all filled with the girls asking the same thing; please stay away from me. Him not caring and calling them some kind of pet name. Then he posts a video every fucking suspected death day, something to do with them and the sunsets, or whatever they ‘liked’ with a single hashtag.
I pull up the footage from my vest cam and run his face through our database. It takes awhile but eventually it does pull up a match.
Twenty-six-year-old Gideon Matthews of Denver, Colorado.
I stare at the screen, seething. Was he targeting my sweet girl? Was she going to be his next victim?
I sit at my desk just staring at his picture. He has three things on his record: two speeding tickets, and one arrest charge from when he was in high school for being a peeping Tom on some girls in his grade.
I look over at Sloane, grateful that she’s here and that she’s safe. I know that I won’t be able to let her out of my sight now until this guy is in prison, because I’ll be damned if he gets anywhere near her ever again.
Several long hours later, and after a few phone calls, I close my laptop. I turn to my printer to collect all the papers and notes that I now have.
“Beck…” Sloane’s sweet voice carries through my office; it’s softer than normal, and a little scratchy from all the crying she did before she fell asleep.
I’m out of my chair and by her side in an instant. I sit on the edge of the couch, my hands finding her face and looking down into her eyes. They are a little puffy and red, but they are still as gorgeous as ever.
“Yeah, baby, what do you need?” I whisper, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
“Can we go home?” she whispers, and I nod.
“Of course, baby. Let me grab my stuff,” I whisper, leaning down and kissing her forehead.
She nods, her eyes closing for a moment, and Mocha kisses her face. She lets out a small huff of laughter, a sound that I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of. A sound that I’ve never been more grateful for.
I give her leg a squeeze before getting up. I go back to my desk, pack up my bag, slip my notes into a folder, and slide it into my bag with my laptop.
I grab my vest off the hook. I turn off all the computers before going back over and making sure that she’s ok. I help her up off the couch and wrap her in my arms.
She doesn’t say anything the whole way home, just curls up on the front seat, Mocha snuggled closely to her.
When we’re home, I help her inside and sit her on the couch.
“I’m going to go change. Mocha will protect you. I just need two minutes,” I whisper, making her look at me. She nods softly, hiding her face in Mocha’s fur. I quickly run up the steps and change into some comfy clothes before going back downstairs. She hasn’t moved at all, and it makes me frown.
I grab the TV remote and turn on a random kids’ cartoon to hopefully calm her down. I make sure that all the doors and windows in the house are locked.
I sit down next to her, and she hugs me tight, her body trembling slightly, from both fear and exhaustion.
“Are you hungry?” I ask when I see that it’s almost five. She shakes her head and just nuzzles herself farther into my arms. “Have you eaten today?” I ask, my hand rubbing up and down her back to comfort her.
“Breakfast,” she whispers.
“I’m gonna make you some soup,” I say, kissing the top of her head, slowly standing up.
She doesn’t let me get far before she looks up at me and lifts her arms up as if she were a little kid wanting to be held, so that’s exactly what I do.
I pick her up, and she wraps herself around me, arms around my neck, and her legs around my waist.
I hold her close to me, and the full weight of what happened today settles on top of me. If my suspicions about Gideon are right, then who knows what he would have done if she were alone, or if she hadn’t called me.
I hug her tightly, Mocha jumping up and trying to get our attention. But for the first time, all her attention is on me; she’s clinging to me as if she were to fall apart.
“Are you ok?” I know it’s a dumb question, I know that she isn’t ok, but maybe if I give her the opportunity, she’ll open up to me.
“I’m scared,” she whispers into my neck.
“I will never let anything hurt you. What do you need from me to make you feel safe?” I whisper, and she just shrugs.
“I don’t know. I just hate how I feel right now,” she whispers. She’s not crying, but her entire body is trembling.
“Well, here are a few options: short term, you come to the police department with me until you feel safe enough to stay home. I’ll order a better security system for the house and the property.
Long term: Maybe we could look into getting you into self-defense classes, maybe boxing, judo, or any class that specializes explicitly in self-defense.
Another option you could look into is getting your concealed carry license, since it’s legal in Colorado and Georgia.
If being armed is something you’d be interested in. ”
She doesn’t move or say anything for a long time, just holding as still as she possibly can, and breathing slowly as she takes in all her options.
“I think all those are good,” she whispers, bringing her face away from my neck.
My hands rest gently on her hips as she straddles me, and I wait for her to form whatever words she’s trying to.
“I think that I need to be more careful with what I post,” she whispers, fidgeting with her fingers as she looks down at them in her lap.
“If you want, I can get you the social media safety book that we keep at the station if you’re interested in learning more about its dangers and how they can be prevented,” I whisper, kissing the top of her head.
“I think that I would like that,” she whispers, looking up at me again. I nod softly, bringing my hands up to cup her cheeks, and she visibly relaxes into my touch.
“Good, we can get it tomorrow when you come in with me.”
My thumbs brush her cheekbones softly. She nods in response, and we fall into silence. I try to stay calm so that she doesn’t freak out any more than she has, even though all I want to do is go find the sick fuck who scared my baby.
“I’m going to cook us some soup, does that sound ok?” I ask, kissing her forehead for like the tenth time just since we’ve been home.
“I’m not really hungry,” she admits, which I figured as much.
“I know, and that’s ok, but we still need to eat.”
She nods, still wrapped around me as I stand up. I carry her into the kitchen, Mocha right on our heels. He looks up at Sloane with sad eyes, just hoping that his mom is going to be ok.
I sit her on the counter, she lets go of me after a few seconds, and makes herself comfortable.
When she has herself situated how she wants, I step back from her and go over to the fridge. I grab a handful of veggies and other ingredients out of the fridge and pantry. I lay out all the ingredients before grabbing the spices that I’ll need.
I begin by bringing chicken broth to a boil. While it boils, I cut up all my veggies and toss them in so they can start cooking.
A few minutes later, Sloane’s arms wrap around my middle, and she presses her face into my back as she presses a kiss to the middle of my spine.
“I’m going to go take a shower,” she whispers.
“Ok, it won’t be ready for a few minutes. Take your time,” I whisper back, turning and cupping her cheeks in my hands before pressing a soft kiss to her mouth. I sigh when she returns the kiss.
I pull away after a few seconds. I look over her face carefully before letting her turn to leave, Mocha right on her heels following her up the stairs, where they disappear out of sight.
By the time she comes back downstairs, dinner is almost finished. She looks cute. My hoodie that she’s stolen is probably three sizes too big for her.
I wrap her in a hug. “Do you feel better?” I whisper, resting my chin on top of her head.
“Yeah, a little bit,” she admits.
“That’s good.” She nods wordlessly. I squeeze her extra tight. “You ready for some soup and bread?” I whisper, she nods again, pulling away slightly.
She sits down on one of the stools, and I dish up our food. She takes a small bite as I grab my bowl and sit down next to her.
We eat in silence. I don’t know what to say to fill it. I’m sure she has a hundred thoughts rushing through her head right now. But neither of us speaks until after the food is put away and we’re sitting on the couch with some cocoa, getting ready to watch a movie.
“Can I sleep in your bed tonight?” she whispers. I didn’t realize there was any other place for her to sleep other than next to me.
“Of course you can, you don’t even have to ask, baby. My bed is your bed.”
“Thank you,” she says, snuggling into my chest.
I tilt her chin up so that she’s forced to look up at me. “I’d do anything for you. You understand that, right?”
She looks at me for a long time, thinking over her answer before she nods. “Yeah, I know.” I press my forehead to hers.
“Good, because I would. You are one of the most important people in my life, and your safety is my number one priority right now.”
“You’re too amazing,” she whispers. I shake my head.
“I’m just giving you what you should have been getting all along,” I say, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.
When we pull apart, she rests her head on my chest, turning so that she can see the TV.
I relax, holding her tight while Mocha plops down on the cushion next to us.
It doesn’t take long for her to fall asleep. I hold her for a bit longer before slowly maneuvering myself to get up carefully so I can take us upstairs to our room.
She barely even twitches as I lay her down in bed. I pull the blankets over her. I get undressed, take a quick shower before crawling under the covers, pulling her flush against me so that she can stay safe all night long.