Chapter 20 #4
“Did you find a new lead?” He spoke eagerly, finally opening his gaze to really look at Camden.
“More than anything, we’re connecting it potentially via witnesses, friends. I don’t mean this in a bad way, but all the people who knew the family are getting older.”
Mark Brewster gave a harsh laugh. “I’m not even the oldest of them. I guess I never was very strong. And this just”—he shook his head—“honestly, it more or less finished me. I wasn’t even far into my career, but I just couldn’t do it after that. That wellness call did me in.”
“Can you walk me through what you saw?”
He just gaped at him and whispered, “The most god-awful horror that you could ever imagine. And you’ve probably already read my statement.”
“I have,” Camden confirmed. “Even after all these years, I’m sure the nightmare hasn’t left you alone.”
He shook his head. “No, it sure hasn’t.”
“So, then the question is, in all these years, did anything else come up? Has anything ever triggered something that made you wish you’d done anything, reported something you forgot, or anything like that?”
Mark stared at him and sighed. “No. … My mind has blocked off absolutely everything I could possibly remember about that morning. Yet still the horror continues to haunt me.” He pleated the blanket covering his legs, his fingers nervously working.
“I really don’t know how I can help you. I don’t remember anything.”
Yet something about his tone and his fidgeting told Camden there was more he wasn’t saying. “And yet,” Camden began, “it feels as if you did see something else, and maybe what you saw scared you even more than you could have possibly explained to anybody. So, you didn’t even try.”
Mark glanced at him in horror and kept swallowing, as if not able to get any saliva into his throat at all.
Camden sat back and nodded. “Look, Mark. No matter how crazy it may sound to you,” he began, “this is a really good time for you to get off your chest anything you didn’t say back then.
” After a moment, Camden added, “Nobody’s coming back after you.
Nobody will charge you with anything,” he stated, hoping that he was correct, and God help him if this was the killer, sitting right in front of him.
Mark stared at him, his bottom lip trembling.
Camden continued. “I can tell by looking at you that this isn’t something you want to take to your grave.”
Mark closed his eyes, and tears slowly slid down his cheek. He whispered, “I’ve spent a lifetime trying to forget. I don’t want to bring it all up again.”
“I can understand that,” Camden acknowledged. “As a cop too, I absolutely know that. However, I also know that people are often so overwrought, so shocked, that they see what they see. Maybe it’s something a little bit different because your mind simply can’t comprehend what’s in front of you.”
Mark’s eyes flew open as he frowned at him. “I didn’t understand what I was seeing,” he whispered. “I just didn’t see how it was possible.”
“And that’s the part I need to know,” Camden declared, his tone forceful.
“Tell me the truth. I won’t judge you for it, even if it sounds absolutely crazy.
I just need to know what you saw. Let me tell you that I’ve been involved in some pretty wild and crazy cases.
I swear to God, real ghosts were in some of them. ”
Mark stared at him in shock. Then he closed his eyes, clenched his hands into fists, and muttered, “I may never sleep again if I tell you.”
“Or maybe,” Camden corrected him, “maybe, after all this time, you could finally put it to rest and can get some sleep yourself. You’ve been carrying this burden on your own for a very long time.”
Mark trembled. “Maybe it’s time to let it go,” he whispered.
Camden agreed. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m not here to cause you pain, but it’s time that we find justice for these victims.”
Mark’s lips trembled, and he started to hyperventilate.
Camden knew that Mark was in trouble. Camden reached out a hand to calm him down and muttered, “It’s okay. Take it easy. It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay if you’re asking me to bring all that back up again,” he cried out. “It’s not okay.”
Camden waited a few minutes to see if he could get the man calmer.
Yet only when he promised to back off and to not ask anything more did Mark manage to take several full breaths.
Then he just sat there, exhausted, staring at him through pain-filled eyes.
And Camden realized just how much was stored inside him.
They needed to get it out, but he had no idea how.
He stood up slowly. “Here’s my card.” He tucked it into the breast pocket of the old man’s robe.
Then he walked back to the door. “I’ll leave you now.
However, if you want to get it off your chest before it’s too late, you call me, okay?
” And, with Mark watching him intently, Camden headed to the doorway.
And as he turned to look back, Mark stared down at the card, his fingers trembling, as if he really wanted to say something, but he couldn’t.
Mark whispered, “Not right now, … maybe not ever.”