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Sanders’ shaking hands held the gun pointed at his own son. Sweat beaded on the old man’s brow and his breathing was labored. Damien could see the conflict in the detective’s eyes as one of Sanders’ hands reached for his cuffs.

“I’m going to throw these handcuffs to you, son,” Sanders said. “You’re going to place the gun on the ground and put these on.”

“Dad, you’re ruining the surprise,” Tobin said. “I’ve been working hard, like you. Dedicated, like you. Now you’re coming in right before the finale and you’re messing everything up. Just go home, Dad. Go home and I’ll give you the next clue a little later.”

“Where’s Charity?” Sanders asked.

“I can’t tell you. That would take away all the fun. Don’t you understand? I’ve done this for you. Just for you, because I know what’s important. Life may treat you like crap, but it doesn’t mean we have to accept it. That’s what you used to say. And now I’m making things right. I’m giving to you what the people of this town took. Your respect. But, not anymore. After today, you’ll be remembered forever.”

“Tobin…” Sanders said, struggling to find the words. “Son… please, put the gun down and tell me where Charity is?”

“She’s in the same place where Mark’s first victim is located.”

“Where?”

“Dad, you’re not playing the game. I can’t tell you. If I tell you, then I’ll be the one who solved Mark’s first murder, not you. You have to solve it. That’s the whole point. I’m nothing. I’ll never be anything. That’s why I did all this – you have to be the hero, not me.”

“Fine,” Sanders said. “Then what do you say you and I solve it together? Let’s save Charity as father and son.”

Tobin beamed and tears welled up in his eyes.

“You mean it?” Tobin asked. “You and me?”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Sanders’ eyes glistened as well.

“Now, why don’t you uncuff my partner so we can get out of here and be heroes.”

“You’d be so proud of me, Dad,” Tobin said as he slid Damien’s key into the handcuffs. “You had all the pieces in your files. I just put it together. I understand why you missed it. You were too deep into the investigation. But, I connected the dots because I had fresh eyes.”

The cuffs released from Damien’s hands. He rubbed his wrists as he stood, his legs still wobbly.

“I saw what tied Mark’s first murder of Taylor Lawson to its location,” Tobin said.

“And what was that?” Sanders asked Tobin pointed to Damien. “His father.”

“What?” Damien asked. “What does this have to do with my father?”

The old detective’s eyes lit up.

“Of course,” Sanders said. “He mentored Mark.”

“My father mentored Mark? Are you kidding me? He hated spending time with his own sons. You think he’d invest time it a nut job like Mark?”

“It makes perfect sense.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Damien said. “None of this makes sense.”

Damien placed his hand against the wall to steady himself and fought through the cloud dulling his mind, forcing himself to think back to his childhood.
His father went to the bar instead of Jacob’s soccer games. He was on the road when Damien graduated middle school. He went out of his way not to be with his sons. When would he have had time to spend any with Mark, let alone mentor him?

Then, like a bolt of lightning, Damien remembered his father standing at the head of his ninth grade class. He was dressed in his blue jean overalls, greasy baseball hat and a tight white t-shirt that showed off his naturally thick arms.

Mark sat in the seat in front of Damien, listening to his dad talk about the benefits of being a long-haul trucker. The money, the hours and the freedom. He got to see the country like few others could, mile by mile, on the highways that ran through each state.

While his father made it sound exciting, Damien seethed with anger.
For Damien, it was the first time he’d heard the details of his father’s adventures. It was as new to him as it was for the rest of the class.

His father could barely contain his smile when he talked about driving over the great Mississippi River, through the plains of America, over the Rocky Mountains, and touching the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean just south of San Francisco.

They were places Damien and his family had never been. Experiences his father would rather have done alone than share with his own family.

He told his class how the wonderful life of a trucker meant you could have two lives. Damien knew what that meant – the one he enjoyed on the road and the one he’d rather leave behind.

Afterwards, Mark approached Damien’s father to ask him more about a life behind the wheel. Damien remembered his father telling Mark to call him anytime he wanted. Even if he was on the road.

That stunned Damien. He never offered such a connection to his own family. Why would he give it to Mark?

“What… what does my father have to do with Mark’s murders?” Damien asked. “Was he involved?”

“No,” Sanders said. “No evidence ties your father to the crimes.”

“Then what? I read all your files. What am I missing?”

“The same thing my father did,” Tobin said. “The beginning of your parent’s life together.”

“You mean, their first date?” Damien asked. “They went to Rocco’s Italian Restaurante on third street.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes.”

“You’re wrong,” Tobin said. “That was the second place your parents went. The first place, that’s where Mark murdered Taylor. That’s where Charity is hidden.”

“How do you know this?”

“I asked him. I asked Mark. I told him what I was doing, where I thought Taylor was, and he verified the exact location of her body, as long as I kept it a secret until the very end. He said he wanted my father to get everything he deserved.”