This is the companion to Midnight Solstice – I did not intend for a sequel, but I’ve received countless emails begging a conclusion. So for those who asked…this is for you.
Catherine had been home for nearly a year. She wasn’t the same as she used to be. John noticed this with some dismay, trying every way he knew how to cheer his only child, but it seemed hopeless.
The year before, Catherine had been brutally raped, her virginity stolen, and as a result had become pregnant. Her assailant had yet to be found, and ever since giving up the baby, Catherine had sank into an even deeper pit of despair and depression.
She had also not gone back to school despite encouragement from both parents and other outside influences to do so. Getting on with her life didn’t seem to be Catherine’s top priority and she had gone from a bright and shining girl with her whole life ahead of her to a pitiful, frightened creature who never left her room.
John had at last come to a conclusion. The only way Catherine was ever going to get on with her life would be to wreak vengeance on her rapist. Fueled by a lust to make his daughter happy, John threw all of his finances into finding the bastard via private investigators. It had taken nearly six months and fifty thousand dollars, but at last, word came, and he was shaking as he hung up the phone. He should call the police. It was the ‘right’ thing to do. But John wasn’t in the mood to do the right thing.
Quietly, he arranged a flight for the eight hundred mile journey for justice. The night before he was scheduled to leave, he announced at dinner that he was leaving. “I have a little business trip tomorrow.” He told his wife and daughter, hoping his voice didn’t shake or convey that he was lying. Catherine seemed unmoved. She just nodded numbly but his wife looked perturbed.
“Now? You’re leaving
now
?” Her meaning was clear. She didn’t want him to go anywhere while Catherine was so despondent. He looked carefully to his twenty-two year old daughter who was idly playing with her spaghetti. Last year she had been beautiful and sexy. Now she sat in her oversized sweatshirt and faded blue jeans, her hair caught in a makeshift ponytail staring with unseeing eyes at a plateful of pasta.
“Tomorrow.” He told his wife. “I’ll be back before you know it. It’s just overnight.” His wife sighed giving him a look and reaching over to smooth Catherine’s shining dark hair.
The following morning, John awoke and dressed, packed a bag and stepped into Catherine’s room. She was sitting on her bed wrapped in a towel, fresh out of the shower, her shoulder-length hair dripping water down her back. She looked so wan and thin and joyless that he nearly cried as he went and knelt before her. “I’m leaving baby.” She nodded looking away, out the window.
“Okay.” Gently he reached out and took her hands.
“Everything is about to get better sweetheart. I promise.” She just shrugged and he felt the anger wash over him anew. His poor little girl…that bastard was going to pay.
The airport was crowded but he barely saw the milling strangers as he arranged for his flight. He had one focus. Revenge.
On the plane, he meditated the time away by staring at the scrap of paper he held. It was a name. The name that would save them all. He had it memorized but he red it over and over again.
Brad Gossett.
That was the name of the monster that had shattered his child. The very thought made him ground his teeth in fury.
Once the plane had landed, John checked into a nearby airport motel and called a cab. He was furious at the police as he gazed out the window. The P.I. had discovered that Brad was living right on the campus where Catherine had been raped. He had left not only his semen, but also his
face
as evidence (via the web cam) and still they hadn’t caught him. All the better he supposed. For the plan.
The campus was swarming with kids. He followed the complicated layout to the dorm where Brad lived and went down the hall to his room. He could hear the passionate sounds of lovemaking through the door. Not wanting anyone to see him, he decided to wait and camped in the bathroom down the hall, peering through the door. After twenty minutes or so, it opened and a tall, lean black girl stepped out of the room shoulder her purse and smiling up at a mammoth black man. John’s stomach churned. It was him, Brad. He had watched that monster rape his child and would know the face anywhere.
After the girl had sauntered off he waited until the door closed, then approached and knocked. With a fellow Brad’s size, he couldn’t very well just knock him over the head. He had a more complicated plan in mind.
“Yeah?” Brad opened the door and arched a brow at him.
“Brad Gossett?” He asked unnecessarily. “I’m Special Agent Holtz with the FBI.” He quickly flashed the fake plastic badge he had bought at a local toy store the day before. “I need to ask you some questions in regards to the rape of Catherine Burney.” It worked. Little beads of sweat instantly broke out across Brad’s forehead.
“I don’t know nothing about it.” He said quickly trying to shut the door. John blocked it with his foot.
“May I come in Mr. Gossett?” Looking very nervous, Brad cautiously let him in. John was instantly disgusted. Pictures ripped out Playboy and Penthouse hung all over the walls.
“Like I said man, don’t know anything about that girl. I heard about it, that’s all.” Brad started shuffling around the room, trying to neaten it up a bit.
“Relax Mr. Gossett, you’re not in any trouble…yet.” He cleared a stack of porn videos off a chair and sat down. Uneasily, Brad sat on the bed across from him. “Are you aware that the alleged rape was caught on tape via Miss Burney’s web camera?” Brad paled a bit.
“I uh…heard something like that.” John smiled dryly.
“Well, it seems Miss Burney’s father identified the assailant from a photo line-up last night.” Brad tensed, looking ready to leap out the window. “Mr. Gossett, do you know a young man by the name of Desmond Cooper?” Brad blinked.
“What?” John crossed his legs pulling a legal pad out of his briefcase.
“I understand you and Mr. Cooper don’t like each other very much.” John’s P.I. had done his homework. Brad would be only to happy to pin the blame on his much-hated enemy who coincidentally, looked a great deal like him. Brad eyed him, shifting carefully on the bed. “Could you identify Mr. Cooper on sight Mr. Gossett?” Slowly, Brad nodded.
“Yeah…I guess so.” John pretended to make a notation on the legal pad.
“Do you think Mr. Cooper could rape a young girl?” Brad finally seemed to get it, looking all at once relieved and thoughtful, as if hatching a plan.
“Yeah, he’d do that.” He said too quickly and John nodded.
“Mr. Gossett, would you be willing to come to the station with me and point out Mr. Cooper in a lineup?” Brad suddenly seemed happy to oblige, grinning broadly.