Jack Johnson #1: The File

“Hello, Cariño. I’m looking for some records on a Martha Cummings.” Her name was Carolyn, not Cariño, but Jack had been calling her by the endearment since he had started working cases with the Lakewood PD. He found that Carolyn was more likely to help him out if he called her sweetheart. 

“Hello, Jack.” Carolyn smiled at him. She was old enough to be his grandmother. Her obviously dyed brown shoulder length hair gently curled under and brushed her fushia cardigan.  “What do you need this for?”

“I’m working on a case for Kevin and the file was pretty sparse.” He handed her the official file. 

It was thin, she thought as she took it from Jack. Anything she could find would be helpful and appreciated. She nodded seriously, her beaded eyeglasses chain tinkling. “Okay, coming right up!” With that, Carolyn disapeared. 

Jack thought of the first time he had stepped into the Clerk’s Office, and how out of place he felt. Carolyn had eagerly started chatting with him, and had been extremely helpful. Well, as helpful as she could be. She bent some rules as far as she could for him, but she’d never outright break them. Still, without her, some of his cases would have been interminable. 

“Here’s a copy of everything I have, Jack. Hope this helps!”

“Thanks, Carolyn.” She smiled at him, and he returned it. “Take care, you hear?”

“You take care, too, Jack.” But Jack was already most of the way out the door. 

Jack looked at his watch. 2:00 p.m. He wandered out to Belmar Park and found a spot to sit down. The clouds had continued to hold back, but tonight the skies would let loose and storm the plains and the foothills, on their way to the Rockies. And Lakewood was on their war path. 

He looked at the photocopies Carolyn had given him. Now he had the names of other family members. A husband, a son, and a daughter-in-law. Carolyn had given him records on anyone immideately related to Mrs. Cummings, so Jack was holding the death certificates of most of Mrs. Cummings nearest and dearest. The three had died in quick succession. And that’s about the time the grand-daughter ran away. Or went missing. If she was still alive, she was Jack’s primary suspect. 

Jack was right down the street from the Lakewood Police Station. He wondered if Kevin had files on any of these deaths. And just down the road was the library, which probably had newspapers from that time. He was parked closer to the police station, so Jack opted to head to the library first. 

Jack took a stack of newspapers from June 2012 to May 2013 and began looking for the Cummings. Right away, he found the car accident. Eric Jr. and Rebecca were on their way to Napa California to celebrate their 25th anniversary when their brakes malfunctioned and their car careened off a road in Utah. Deaths under investigation… yes, Kevin may have a file. He skimmed a few more newspapers and couldn’t find an update, even after their obituaries and funeral service information ran. Jack skipped some papers and went to May. A report on the front page declared the hazard of prescription medication for the elderly, and used the accidental overdose of Eric Cummings as their motivation for the report. While the death was initially under investigation, the case was later dropped. 

Jack wrote down some notes, and then returned the papers to their spot in the archive. If he needed to later, he could look them up online, but it was useful to see them here in print, untampered. There was almost nothing on the missing granddaughter. Maybe Kevin would have more on her. 

At the station, he waited in the bull pen for Kevin to be done talking to one of the officers. Once he had his attention, Jack requested the case files for the suspicious deaths. 

“Well, they’ll be pretty sparse, as we didn’t investigate them further after deciding they were accidents.” Kevin waved off any argument to the deaths being accidents, even though Jack wasn’t going to argue. If Kevin said they were accidents, then they were probably accidents. “We didn’t investigate the car accident, but we do have some information from the police in Provo. I’ll see if I can dig it up.” He stood hands on hips, lips pursed. 

Jack could tell Kevin was trying to think if he had missed anything. Jack just wanted more information on the family. If one of these cases turned out to not be an accidnet, that was secondary. “Thanks, Kevin.” This next case, though, however, was a cold case in need of a second look. “I also need some information on the granddaughter.” Kevin looked at him intently.  “Was she missing or a runaway?”

“Well,” Kevin started slowly. “We explored the missing angle, and I can give you that file as well.” Kevin ran a hand over his stubble. “But we couldn’t find her.”

“What do you think happened?” Jack watched Kevin shift his weight.

“I think she ran away.” He said this while looking Jack directly in the eyes. “The Grandmother pursued it as a missing persons case. We couldn’t track her at all.” Kevin shrugged, and his weight shifted back. “Must have crossed state lines before we started searching.” He finished with his arms crossed. 

Jack nodded. “I’ve got Pete looking into the granddaughter.”

“She might resurface now, with DNA testing being a trendy thing. We’ve been able to solve a number of cold cases because people have taken an interest in their family history.” 

“It’s almost four, do you mind running the files to Pete at the office? I’ve got to meet with the client.”

“I can do that for you, Jack. Thanks for looking into this. We are a little behind on our quota, so if you can find this ring, or the granddaughter, that would help.”

“If we find her, I’ll send you an invoice.”

“If you find her, I might just pay it.” Kevin laughed as Jack walked out the door.