The Artist's Amour (BWWM) ✓

Chapter 35: Ms. Golding

Aria's POV

"Okay, so basically, back in '02, there was a string of vehicle robberies that took place around the outskirts of New York. 7 cars where stolen directly off shipping cargo from overseas- places like Germany and Japan. There was literally not a trace, it was as if these cars just disappeared into thin air." I explained, reading over the incident files. "They questioned every employee at the shipping docs, suspecting it must have been an inside job from just how clean the entire scene was. Every employee offered a DNA sample. Apparently, one of the employees there at the time was Steve, formally known as Pat Gonzales."

"In '03, one of the stolen cars where found abandoned off an old road by a female jogger passing by. The car itself wasn't very suspicious, but the dead body inside was. The body still remains a John Doe, due to the mutilation of the corpse. His fingernails had been filed off, teeth where pulled out, head was shaven. Anything that could have given them DNA configuration, besides his skin, was non existent. The DNA they were able to grab from the decaying skin, didn't match anything in the system. This case went cold fast." My mom added.

"Apparently though, when this car was sent to be compounded at the dump site, another sweep was done on the car, and they found an old sock that was wedged under the seats, next to the isle compartment. The original forensics team had somehow missed that during their initial sweep. The team was able to pull off enough DNA from the sock to be able to run a few tests. Turns out one of the employees from the shipping docs, Pat Gonzales, matched the DNA found of the sock. In his affidavit (witness statement), he claimed he had never even been inside the cargo holds, or had ever seen the cars." I explained, passing the witness statement to Chris as he sat back down in his seat across from us.

"That was quickly proven a lie." Chris nodded, as my mother began to print out numerous documents from a printer she happened to have in her bag. This woman would honestly never be caught slipping.

"Pat Gonzales was now a lead suspect. After he heard about the sock that was discovered on the news, he ran. He knew that that sock was his, and that the police department already had his DNA at their disposal.

"Pat Gonzales disappeared... Until 3 years ago. The police department got word that some illegal substances were being shipped to and from these ports through the last 6 months, but every time they tried to make a bust, they'd arrive too late and the cargo would be empty. Once again, no sign of them. No leftover powders, no fingerprints, nothing."

"The information they had was dodgy at best." My mother added. "But on September 19, 2013, the police received an anonymous tip that the shipment was coming in that night. Due to all the false calls, the chief of police only sent in a few squad cars to check out the site, he couldn't risk bringing in S.W.A.T. to another false call. What he didn't know was that those 7 policemen were about to walk into one of the bloodiest shoot offs in history."

"How many dead?" Chris asked, glancing. Down at all the documents we already had sprawled out on his kitchen island. I glanced back down at the report documents I was currently reading.

"It says here that only 2 cops lasted long enough for back up to arrive. Once they did, they shot at the 6 criminals who were there that night. Pat Gonzales was the last of the criminals to go as, he was shot off the cargo ports and into the ocean." I read, trying to piece the pieces together.

"Let me guess, no body found?" Chris asked. I shook my head.

"Looks like it wasn't. I don't understand how he could have survived though, he had a round emptied into him. There's no way anyone could survive that and the swim-"

"Unless he had help." My mom finished, as she pushed her laptop towards me. I glanced at the screen, at a woman in a surgeon coat.

"Who is this?" I asked, pulling up this woman's name: Mary Golding. Her eyes looked strikingly familiar yet I could place a finger on where exactly I knew her from.

"Both her and Pat were rumored to be intimate while he was working at the cargo loading docks years ago. She went to a prestige medical school in Russia about 10 years ago, then came to America, to continue private practice. It looks here like she changed her name to Sarah over the years-"

"Did she get plastic surgery?" I asked, pulling up files on Sarah Golding.

"What do you mean?" Chris asked.

"Did she get plastic surgery?" I asked again, already digging through my bag for my phone. My minding was racing as my thought process was moving faster than I was physically able to.

"I-yes, yes she did apparently. Let me see if I can pull up a picture of her after the surgery." My mom nodded, as I flipped through the pictures on my phone of my working staff. "Here we go." My mom nodded, turning the laptop to me as I turned my phone to her. The woman on my phone had darker colored hair, but it was still the same woman.

"Who is she?" My mom asked as she saw both Sarah and I from work, in the work photo.

"Sarah Golding, is also Sarah from my workplace... Post hair dye and surgery." I explained, as we showed Chris the pictures.

"She's also the one who fixed up Steve Garret, formally known as Pat Gonzales." My mother added, as all three of us stared blankly at the photos.

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