A Dangerous Man

"Everything was great until four months ago when Julie's heart gave out on her. I won't lie to you; it's been tough, but Gunner and I have had each other to lean on. Then, three weeks ago, I received a summons to have Gunner's DNA tested. A man claiming to be Gunner's biological father turned up out of nowhere and got a court order. The test results came back last week; Gunner's this George Westphal's bio-son and he wants custody. I need you to find out who this guy is, where he's been and why he wants Gunner now."

Karin finished writing and looked up. "Any idea why this Westphal guy showed up now?"

Parker shook his head in disgust. "It's my own damn fault. I was cleaning out Julie's personal stuff and came across a letter from before we met. Julie and a friend from Ohio communicated while Julie was living in Indiana, the year before she moved to Portland. From what I can tell from the letter, Julie never told her friend she was pregnant.

"I doubt Julie even remembered she had the letter. Anyway, I found this Crissy Walker in Toledo through Facebook. I let her know Julie had passed and told her about Gunner. Next thing I know, I get a call from some woman in Dayton, asking about Gunner. I got suspicious and shut the woman down. Then I get the summons to get Gunner tested for paternity. What a frigging mess!"

"What do you want, Mr. Parker?"

"I want to keep my son. I raised him for the past ten years, since he was one-years-old. I don't know who this other clown is. All I know is what Julie told me - the guy took off as soon as he heard Julie was pregnant. Who is this guy and why does he want Gunner after ten years? He could have found Julie if he wanted to, she didn't change her name from Jenkins until she married me."

"Okay, I can do that; but I can't even guesstimate how much this will cost. I might even need to travel to Ohio, so it won't be cheap. Is that going to be a problem?"

"Not really. Julie was working for an insurance agent and she had life insurance. Most of it will go to Gunner; but enough goes to me. I couldn't live with the money if it means Gunner isn't my son. So, do what you need to; just find something about this guy that prevents the court from giving him custody."

"I assume you've hired an attorney."

"Yes, John Brohn at Brohn and Curtis. They gave me your name."

"When's the hearing?"

"John Brohn is asking for a continuance. It was scheduled for two weeks from now; but he assures me we can delay for another few weeks."

"That's good; it should give me enough time to answer your questions. We'll hope they're the right answers." Karin handed Parker a pad of paper. "Now, I have some questions for you; first, the name and contact information for Crissy Walker."

Karin waited while Parker took out his phone, flipped through the thing and started writing.

"What's the name of the woman who called you from Ohio? And do you have a phone number and-or an address?"

Parker flipped through the phone again before writing on the pad. 'Janice Clarkson, lives in Dayton, Ohio. 937-555-2424'.

"Finally. Everything you have on Gunner's biological father."

Parker pulled a copy of the summons and other legal papers out of his satchel and handed them to Karin. "This is everything I have."

Karin flipped through the papers; skim reading the four pages of documents. "All right; this should be enough to find out who Mr. Westphal is." Karin pulled out a contract from her desk drawer. "Read through this; sign and give me a check as a retainer. As soon as I receive both, I'll get started."

Parker leafed through both pages of the contract before signing. "John said you're the best and what to expect. He also warned me to bring a check." Parker wrote the check out for the retainer. "Let's get started."

And so began one of the oddest cases Karin ever had.

Over the next two days, Karin exhausted every resource she knew. Every avenue was a dead end. George Westphal did not exist.

Karin called Larry Parker. "Larry, have you ever met George Westphal?"

"No. The one meeting we had with his attorney, Westphal wasn't there. The attorney said he was traveling and had Westphal's Power of Attorney. Why?"

Karin didn't want to get Parker upset. "Just need a physical description. There's more than one George Westphal. I'll talk to you soon. Bye." Karin pressed 'end' the call, wanting to get off the call before Parker started to ask questions.

Karin's next call was to John Brohn. After the greeting courtesies, she got right to it.

"John, can you give me the name of the clinic that did George Westphal's DNA sample?"

"Give me a second Karin." Within two minutes, Karin had the information; it was a clinic in Tempe, Arizona. A quick call to the clinic confirmed she would need a court order for the clinic to release any information related to George Westphal, including a physical description. Karin called John again to get that started.

While John worked on that, Karin contacted Crissy Walker, introduced herself and confirmed she was working for Larry Parker, Julie's widowed husband. Crissy was a fountain of information.

"When Mr. Parker told me about Julie and her son, I called my mom; she still lives next door to Julie's step-mom. Julie's step-mom and Julie's dad divorced within a year after Julie disappeared and she remarried a guy named Clarkson. That's why the different names. I guess the guy is an invalid, never gets out of bed.

"Mom says Julie's dad isn't dead; he's living down in Florida; some retired folks trailer park outside of Tampa. Mom doesn't think he remarried, at least not as of a few years ago when they stopped exchanging Christmas cards.

"Julie had a step-brother, a real creep. None of the other girls were allowed to spend the night at Julie's house as long as her step-brother lived there. He was about five years older than Julie. He joined the Army and was gone most of the time after that; but he did come home for Christmas and holidays. Mom says she hasn't seen Jesse in over a year."

Karin interrupted. "Any chance your mother has an address for Julie's father?"

"I'm sure she does. I'll call her after we hang up."

"Why did Julie disappear all those years ago?"

"Well, that was always the great mystery. We were halfway through senior year and Julie just left. Neither her dad or her step-mom knew why she took off or where she went. I received a letter from her, she was living in Indiana, I think. I wrote her back, then never heard from her again. The last letter I sent to her at that address was returned; undeliverable, no forwarding address."

Karin made a note to herself to get a copy of Crissy's letter from Larry Parker.

"Do you remember the step-brother's last name?"

"Clarke, with a 'e' on the end."

"I'd really appreciate Mr. Jenkins' address down in Florida. Could you get that from your mother and call me back right away, please?"

"Sure."

"Thanks Crissy." Karin hung up.

It was only fifteen minutes later when Crissy called back with Jenkins' address at the mobile park near Tampa and his phone number. Karin thanked Crissy and called Jenkins immediately.

"Mr. Jenkins. My name is Karin Roland; I'm a private investigator. I have some information regarding your daughter, Julie. I wonder if we could get together and talk."

"About Julie? Where is she?"

Karin realized Julie's father didn't know that his daughter was dead. He may not even know she had a child. "Mr. Jenkins; I'll be happy to share any information I have regarding Julie. Can we meet on Saturday at your home?"

"Can't you tell me where she is?"

"Not until we meet, sorry. But I'll try and answer your questions then. Can we meet?"

"Yes, I'll be here all day. Do we have to wait until Saturday?"

"Sorry, yes. I'll call you with a time when I land in Tampa."

Jenkins was still asking questions when Karin begged off and got off the call. "See you Saturday, Mr. Jenkins; goodbye."

Karin booked the flight to Tampa, then called Parker to ask for a copy of the letter. Friday evening she flew out of PIA, connecting through Dallas and arriving in Tampa late in the evening. She called Bill from the hotel to tell him she arrived safe and after exchanging 'I love you' with Bill, she tried to get some sleep.

First thing Saturday morning, Karin called Samuel Jenkins to arrange the meeting. Jenkins was so anxious for news of his daughter that he told Karin to come right out. Thanks to the GPS app in the rental car, Karin was able to find Jenkins' trailer within the hour. She wasn't out of the car before the screen door opened and a wiry old man with thin grey hair came rushing toward the car.

"Mr. Jenkins, I'm Karin Roland."

Jenkins stopped in front of Karin, holding his hand out in greeting; the look of hope was apparent on the old man's face.

"Let's go inside and sit down, Mr. Jenkins." Karin's words and the tone of her voice, spoken softly deflated any anticipation Jenkins sought from the detective's visit. He knew this wouldn't be good news; his face seemed to age another ten years as he turned, walked to the door and held the screen open for Karin.

"Would you like a cup of coffee, Ms. Roland?"

"Karin did a quick look around the small room; it was neat and clean. "Yes, please."

Jenkins pointed to a chair; indicating where Karin should sit before stepping into the next room. Thirty seconds later he returned with two cups. "Cream or sugar?"

"No, just black. Thank you."

As they sat facing each other, Karin dreaded having to speak the next sentence. "Mr. Jenkins, I'm sorry to tell you that your daughter, Julie, is deceased. She suffered from a heart ailment."

Tears appeared in the old man's eyes. "That's what killed her mother." He paused here for a moment. "Can you tell me anything about her life for the past dozen years? Was she happy? Do you know?"

"She lived in Portland, Oregon with her husband, Larry Parker. They appeared to be a happy, loving couple. Julie had a son, he's almost eleven now. Mr. Parker is raising the child, he adopted Julie's son, Gunner, when the boy was one. That's the reason I'm here; at Mr. Parker's request. Julie didn't talk about her family; in fact, she told her husband that both her parents were dead. Can you tell me why she would say that?"

Samuel Jenkins began his statement of contrition. "It was all my fault - all my fault. When Julie's mother died, I was a lost soul, raising a nine-year-old girl all on my own. A couple years later, I met and within a year married a single woman, Janice Clarke; she had a fifteen year-old-son, a real wild boy. I tried to bring some fatherly discipline to the boy's life, but Janice didn't like it when I did the least thing to correct the boy's behavior. My problem, well, one of my problems was, I was so captivated by Janice that I became a whipped puppy. I let her control the household while I went to work to pay the bills. My relationship with Julie suffered while I basically came under that bitch's control.

"Janice's son, Jesse, got into some trouble his senior year of high school. They let him graduate and he enlisted in the Army. By now, Julie was fourteen. Jesse would come home on leave for holidays and such. He seemed to be growing up and maturing. He always had his mother fooled, but now they both convinced me that Jesse had his shit together.

"One year, Jesse came home for Christmas leave; by then Julie was a senior. Janice and I spent the evening at my office Christmas party. When we came home, we heard a commotion in Julie's room. When we opened the door to her room, Julie and Jesse were in bed, Jesse on top of Julie, having sex.

"Jesse got off Julie and they both started screaming, Julie claiming she was raped, Jesse claiming Julie asked her to come into her room and seduced him. It was a 'he said-she said' back and forth; then Janice started yelling at Julie, calling her a tramp; saying all the rumors she heard about Julie had to be true, that she'd been having sex with half the boys in school.

"My head was spinning and I made the biggest mistake in my life, I believed my wife's lies about my own daughter."

Jenkins stopped at this point and looked across the room to the wall filled with framed photos. There were photos of a little girl and the same girl as a teenager. One with a young woman, obviously Julie's mother, Jenkins' first wife. Another, a professional photo, with Jenkins and the woman, Julie between them, aged about five. Jenkins lifted the photo of the teen-aged Julie off the wall and held it between his two hands. "It's the last time I saw my baby daughter. Within a week she was gone."

Karin finally interrupted Jenkins' soliloquy. "When did you learn the truth?"

"Not soon enough. Jesse went back to Camp Bragg in North Carolina. It wasn't more than two months later that I found out Janice was a lying sack of shit!

"Janice tried to hide it from me; but I found out Jesse was in trouble with the Army. Turns out one of the civilians on the base complained that she had been raped by Jesse. It was another 'he said-she said' but how many times does that have to happen before you stop questioning who's telling the truth? The Army didn't have enough to put Jesse on trial; but they gave him a less than honorable discharge and turned him out.

"I talked to Crissy, our neighbor and Julie's friend. I asked her about the rumors that Julie was having sex with the boys at school. Crissy was beside herself; swore that that couldn't be, that Julie had a reputation as one of the good girls."

Jenkins put the photo back on the wall and took his time to straighten it. He then methodically straightened the others; Karin waited patiently while he finished the simple task.

Jenkins turned back to Karin. "I wrote Julie in Indiana, at the address Crissy had for her. I never heard back from Julie, never a word."

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Jenkins turned to Karin. "You say Julie has a son? Do you have a picture of the boy? I sure would like to see a picture of the grandson I never met."

"Yes, I do." Karin reached into her folio and opened a folder. She handed the photo Parker gave her of Gunner to Jenkins' outstretched hand, which was shaking.

"Oh my god!" Jenkins raised his voice as he stared at the photo. "Son of a bitch!"

The old man's outburst surprised Karin. "What's wrong?"

"The boy, Gunner; he's the spitting image of Jesse."

Karin shook her head. "Can't be. There was a DNA test that proved the boy's father is a man named Westphal."

"I didn't keep any pictures of Jesse, but I'd swear he was the spitting image of that boy."

Suddenly, Karin realized why she hadn't had any luck finding information on George Westphal. Jenkins interrupted her chain of thought.

"Do you think this Larry Parker will let me meet the boy?"

"I'll find out. In the meantime I'd appreciate it if you'd keep all this between the two of us. At least until I find out why a man named Westphal has the boy's DNA."

"Who am I going to tell? I don't communicate with anyone from Ohio anymore."

"Well, Crissy's mother knew where you lived and had your phone number. In any case, just promise you won't spread the news about Gunner and Jesse. Not until I get to the bottom of this."

Jenkins agreed before Karin left the house and drove to the airport. Within a few hours, she was on a flight to Ohio. Saturday night was spent in a hotel outside of Dayton. Sunday midday, Janice Clarkson would receive a surprise visit. Karin decided that the best approach was shock and awe.

***************************

Sunday at noon, Karin knocked on the door of a 1920's Craftsman-style house that could use a paint job and some landscaping TLC. The woman who answered the door had lines on her face that you would suspect bore witness to many years of hard times and scowls. Karin wanted to keep the old lady off balance, so as soon as the woman opened her mouth, Karin crossed over the threshold, forcing the woman to back into the living room.

"Mrs. Clarkson, I'm here to ask you about your son Jesse. Can you tell me when you last saw your son?"

Obviously puzzled by the intrusion, Mrs. Clarkson stuttered. "Who are you, what do you want with Jesse?"

"I'm a private investigator from Portland. I'm looking into a paternity case involving a boy in Portland. What can you tell me about that?"

The old lady was caught off balance and confused; exactly what Karin hoped to accomplish. "If that little slut had Jesse's baby, then I deserve to know it and see my grandson. She had no right keeping my grandson from me!"

Karin tried to trip the old lady up. "So, if you think it's Jesse's son, why is a man named George Westphal claiming paternity?"

Mrs. Clarkson looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights and couldn't speak. Just then, a man's voice came from the back of the house.

"Janice - who are you talking to? Come here!"

Mrs. Clarkson hurried out of the room. Karin heard both their voices rising in anger as they argued back and forth, but she couldn't make out the words. She looked around the room and saw the family photos on top of the mantel. Karin quickly took photos of them with her phone, noticing the resemblance of an early photo of a young Jesse to the Parker boy. She was back in the center of the room when Mrs. Clarkson returned.

"My husband says I don't have to answer your questions."

"You refuse to tell me where Jesse is or why George Westphal is claiming paternity?"

"I - I can't. Now get out of my house!"

Karin went to the door; it was still open; but before leaving turned to the old lady. "I think you'll be sorry you didn't talk to me."

"You're the one who'll be sorry. You don't know who you're messing with! Now get out or I'll call the police!"

Karin caught a commuter flight from Dayton to O'Hare. She had a two hour layover at O'Hare before her flight to Portland; it would be good to be home again. The previous evening, Karin tried to find some information on Jesse Clarke using the hotel's wi-fi. Almost nothing came up, it was as if the man didn't exist. She would need to get back to her office Monday and make a few calls to some of her contacts; a man like Jesse Clarke doesn't at least leave a few breadcrumbs to follow.

Just as Karin finished writing notes to herself and closed her notebook, a short man approached her.

"Ms. Karin Roland?"

Karin looked up at the man; as she did, he flashed his badge and ID; it was a U.S. Marshall ID.

The man handed Karin his business card. "I'm Fred Cummins with the U.S. Marshall's office. May I sit down?"

Karin looked at the badge again, verifying the authenticity of the badge and that the name matched. She nodded to the chair next to her in answer to his question.

"We understand you've been talking to Mr. Jenkins and Mrs. Clarkson, among others, in reference to Jesse Clarke. Can I ask why?"

Being a former police officer and skilled investigator, Karin knew how this game would play out. She answered Cummins' question with a question.

"I'm actually investigating a George Westphal; can you tell me why he's trying to claim paternity on a child that's most likely Jesse Clarke's?"

Cummins smiled. "Ms. Roland, I know you're a better investigator than that. You certainly know by now that George Westphal and Jesse Clarke are 'unus et idem'."

It was Karin's turn to smile. "Latin, Mr. Cummins? My, my - you did your homework. Now why don't you tell me why Jesse Clarke is in witness protection."

"I can't tell you all of it, but I will say that Clarke helped a certain DA in Southern Florida in busting up a drug cartel. That DA is considering running for office, governor or senate, I don't know. The bust made him a big star and he's doing what he can to protect Clarke."

"So, you're going to help a guy who raped his teenaged step-daughter, raped another woman at Fort Bragg and - if I can read between the lines - was involved with foreign drug runners, to get his biological son, who he has never seen - from the man who loves and raised him?"