“Is that it? Looks more like one of these ominous mansions you only see in movies...” “Are you afraid? I thought only women would be scared about stuff like that. I’d have expected more from you, Ryan.” “Ouch...”
The car stopped in front of the San Fernando Asylum, which was in a rather isolated location, surrounded by forests. It was an old, medium-sized building that kind of left the impression of being a dangerous place, a warning for everybody who came close to it. Ryan Coleman and Claire Jackson were two of these rare guests. They were employed by the Navy and Police respectively and worked together on crime cases that were not solved properly. It is likely that hundreds, if not thousands of people were thrown into prisons, asylums or similar facilities, even though they were not guilty of doing any crimes. The case that led those two to San Fernando was a very special one. However, before any final conclusions could be made, they had to meet the person who was thrown into this asylum a decade ago.
“Let’s head inside.” Ryan said and walked to the entrance, Claire followed him without saying anything, her gaze was focused on the barren looking garden. Once the two entered, they immediately spotted the front desk and a woman sitting behind it. She was busy typing some information into a computer. Ryan cleared his throat once he stepped closer to that woman in order to get her attention.
“Yes?” She replied without looking at him. “We have a meeting with Mr. Walters.”
“What? Mr. Walters doesn’t like any visitors.” “Could you please check his schedule? I phoned him a week ago to arrange this meeting. It took us nearly four hours to get here and I really wouldn’t want to have wasted these hours just because a bored assistant refuses to do her job properly.” Claire interrupted with a sharp tone and successfully managed to get the assistant to actually pay attention to the two guests. The woman did not bother to reply and started to check her employer’s schedule. “Follow that hallway, last door on the left.” She then calmly said, making it kinda obvious that she felt embarrassed. “Thank you.” Claire only replied and the two Liberty officials wandered off into the described direction.
Once they reached the door, they knocked on it and waited for a reply. “Come in.” A male voice soon replied. “Miss Jackson, Mister Coleman.” Mr. Walters said once the two entered his office. “This asylum won’t be able to offer you much, but please, feel yourself at home.” “Wouldn’t want any asylum to become my home, to be honest.” Ryan replied with a chuckle and said down on one of the chairs in front of Walters’ desk, Claire did so as well. “Hahaha, no sane person would want that actually. My wording was a bit...inappropriate, shall we say?”
“That it was, but we were able to laugh, so it’s all fine, I guess.” Claire said, sounding a bit impatient, not sure if it was on purpose or not. “So you wanted to talk about Courtney Vargas, right?”
“Yes, I haven’t told you any details about the reasons for our visit when I phoned you. Basically, we two have been assigned to investigate old crime cases that were never really solved.” “Yeah, there are tons of people who are sitting in prisons, asylums and so on without being guilty. We investigate old files and once we’re certain, we go search for these people.”
“So you’re trying to tell me that Vargas has been sitting in my asylum for a decade even though she’s not guilty?” Walters asked and received a nod from both his guests. “That's fairly interesting and surprising as well. Please, tell me what you have found out...”
Claire opened the briefcase she had brought along and grabbed some files. "I guess I'll just start from the beginning. Ten years ago, some people heard screams coming from the Vargas' apartment and called the police. Once the police officers entered, they were attacked a sixteen year old girl, whose cloathes were soaked in blood. Courtney. Of course, the officers could easily defend themselves and captured the girl. However, they also found three dead bodies. Two of them were obviously her parents, the other one was the eighteen year old John Mayfield, Courtney's boyfriend at that time. They were cruelly stabbed to death."
"The investigation began, however, Courtney's behaviour gave the officials enough reason to believe that she had committed this crime. She refused to talk and became violent on numerous occasions. As a result, the case was closed rather quickly and Courtney was the culprit. But there was no evidence that backed this claim up, the crime scene was simply too much of a mess in order to recreate the crime."
"It really was kinda strange for us when we read the files about this case. The case was simply closed, the court decided that this young girl was mentally unstable and sent her into asylum, and there were no efforts whatsoever to solve this murder properly. So we gathered more information about Courtney, her family and her boyfriend. The latter would prove to be a rather interesting individual. It was revealed five years ago that John Mayfield was involved in seven murders at the time when he was Courtney's boyfriend. He was a serial killer, and also the son of a rich businessman here on Denver."
"So, there you have it. Let's just put all these pieces together and we have three dead people, of which one was a serial killer, a rich businessman, who probably tried to make sure that his reputation wasn't damaged thanks to his son's actions and then we have a sixteen year old girl that acted strange and was thrown into an asylum."
Claire took a deep breath after finishing and closed the file. "So, Mr. Walters. That's why we're here. This case wasn't closed properly and now it's our job to do that. Of course, everything we just told you could be wrong. Which is why we have to talk to Courtney. Our next steps depend on what she'll answer to our questions."
"Hmmmmmmm", Walters hummed. "This is indeed strange. It'd also mean that Courtney isn't really insane and has just played a different role the whole time. Why would she do something like that?"
"No idea. Her behaviour was strange, and we hope to get an explanation from her. However, I'm a bit worried about her current mental state. I mean, she's been here for ten years now...Maybe that's what those people wanted back then. Throw her into an asylum and just wait until she has lost her sanity. Nobody would doubt the court's decision."
"Well, I think it'd be the best to bring you two to Courtney." Walters said and stood up. "I'm also interested in what she has to say. Of course, only if that's fine with you."
"Shouldn't be a problem, I guess", Claire replied. "Well then, follow me, I'll bring you to her."