Healing the Past

First Call

Chapter 3

 “We got a potential jumper. No name at the moment. The guy who called it in didn’t recognize her, only gave us a basic description of teenage female with long red hair.” Greg fed us the information from the caller as we flew through the streets.

When we got there things looked grim and sad as it is pretty basic for this type of situation. Bridge above a road with a girl on the ledge looking down.

Greg started giving orders, “Spike in the truck, Thunder you’re my second, everyone else witnesses. We got a lot of them so someone should be able to give us a name.”

As Greg introduced himself and tried to get a response from the girl I watched her and her reactions. One thing for sure my profiling skills would be a big help. When we approached she had looked up, but then she resumed studying the pavement below her. Bad. She flinched at the sound of Greg’s voice. Double bad. I was willing to bet that a guy was involved in whatever was making her do this.

“Boss I got a name for you.” Ed’s voice came over the headsets.

“Let’s hear it Eddie.”

“Pippa Lange.”

“Alright Eddie. See if you can learn something that can explain what’s going on.”

“Copy that.”

“Spike run her name; let me know what pops up.”

“Yeah Boss.”

Greg tried talking again. “Pippa Lange.”

“Leave me alone.” That response and the way she slid away from us was made understandable by Ed.

“Boss, according to a couple of our witnesses Pippa has been having boyfriend problems.”

“What kind of problems Ed?”

“Story says that the first week with Josh Hollis was great but after that she changed. They said before she was happy, friendly, would talk to anybody. Now three weeks in she won’t even look her best friend in the eye anymore.”

“Spike, run the boyfriend.”

“Started when Ed gave the name Boss. Couple of restraining orders were taken against him.”

I broke in, “Let me guess, they all were requested by women, specifically ex-girlfriends.”

“Smart, pretty, and apparently psychic too. And some added info on Pippa Lange, her father walked out on the family when she was 10. It’s just her, her mom, and her younger brother.”

That information stopped me in my tracks. Her situation sounded way too familiar.

“Boss, can I try talking to her?”

“No dad, boyfriend’s a jerk, I think she needs a female voice. Go for it Thunder.”

I took a step closer. “Pippa. My name is Thunder. I want to help you, but I can’t until you tell me why you are doing this.

Her reply was absolutely heartbreaking. “No one can help me. The only way for it to stop is this.”

“For what to stop Pippa?”

No answer.

“He hits you, doesn’t he? He seems like he’s trying to control every little thing you do.”

“How do you know all that?”

“Pippa, believe it or not I used to be you. A smart girl, living with her mom and younger brother. She meets a guy who seems sweet, but then turns out to be something completely different. And there seemed to be no way out.”

“The only way out is this.”

“No it’s not. I made it because I didn’t want him to win. So I fought back. If you jump he’ll win. But if you step back and tell us everything that’s happened he goes down and you get to live your life”

For what seemed like forever she just stood there. Then she backed away from the ledge and came over to me.