Wild Rose
"Come on, mommy, why can’t I go outside to play soccer?"
"You just can’t. Please stay inside and don’t go out."
"Look mommy, why are those men wearing green uniforms?"
"Be quiet and don’t move."
"But why are we the only ones who have to stay inside?"
"Just because."
"Someone is knocking the door. Can I open the door?"
"No."
(Knock, knock)
"Open the door, INS."
"Don’t open the door, just be quiet."
It’s been a month now, and every night now I keep having that same nightmare about what happened when I was only four. INS came to our house and took my mom and dad. I would have been taken away too if I wasn’t born in the US. What was the reason for the round up of all the illegal immigrants?
Now 23 years after that, I’m a great detective for the LAPD, and my name is well known all around the globe, my name is Detective Morales, Aaron Morales. A Mexican American. I work homicide, and so far all the cases I have had were murders of husbands by their wives-motive, cheating.
I always had easy cases, until one day. We received a call, it was a case like no other. Many bodies were found on the border between Mexico and the US. The victims appeared to be all immigrants, illegal immigrants. It seems that they were crossing the border, and the smuggler left them all alone. He abandoned them, and let them died.
 
That is what everyone was saying at the station, and that is what got the case closed, but I knew there was something else, that the smuggler had nothing to do, if he was the criminal, why did he had to shoot them all. Three week later we got another call. Similar case, but this time a lot more complicated, the three bodies we found this time, the three of them had no head, someone had decapitated those people.
This time only two of them were illegal, one of them had his California ID. We reckoned he was the smuggler. We also had reason to think that this was the same smuggler, that we were accusing of murder. He took the same route that he did last time, and only this smuggler knew about this route.. Only this time he was also dead.
These murders at the border kept on happening for five months, this case that was now called the American Nightmare, because this people came for the American dream and ended up dead.
We didn’t know what to do, or who the criminal was. The only thing we knew about the criminal was that he or she maybe hated immigrants, and didn’t want them to get to the US.
"Mr. Morales!, sir."Johnny my assistant said with a concerned tone
"Yes?"I answered
"We just received another call, another 5150." He said it while looking to the ground.
"Ok, my reliable assistant, talk to me."I asked.
"Could you please call me by my name?"He said in a angry tone
"It’s hard to remember."I said laughing
"What is so hard about Johnny?"He said.
"Ok fine, Johnny, what’s wrong?" I asked with a sneer in my face
"Another case at the border."He said, and his angry tone went all away.
"What, again? This is the seventh time this month."I said with an anger expression.
"Yeah but just whit a difference." He said with a small smile on his face
"What is it?" I asked concern.
"We have a witness."He said
"What? Oh my God. Take me to her." I said "What is the witness’ name?"
"We don’t know. She wouldn’t tell us." Johnny answered
"She? So the witness is a woman?" I asked
"Yes she is."
"Does she speaks English?"
"Hard to tell. She didn’t say a word. She was in shock when the police arrived."
 
It was dark and it was raining, and I had to meet with the witness, a woman whose name we didn’t know, a woman that even though I had not yet seen I was attracted to. The curiosity of meeting her and talk to her was making my temperature rise. I didn’t know what it was but there was something about this girl that made me wander off. The only reason of knowing that she survived a massacre like that, that she was brave enough to go through that experience.
I didn’t know what to do- the moment had come, and I was about to meet this mysterious person.
"Hi, my name is Aaron Morales, and I’m a detective here." I said, with a firm voice, trying to hide that I was about to break down.
"Leave me alone," she answered with a really tough voice.
"So, I see you can speak English." I said with a smile I my face, "Are you going to tell me your name?" I asked.
"No I’m not." She answered with a harsh tone.
"Well it would make my job a bit easier." I answered with a soft tone.
"Come on, at least look at me, I know I’m hard to look at but give it a try." I said joking. Then I heard her giggle."Was that a smile?" I asked.
This was getting harder instead of easier. Every time was harder to get her to say anything. The only things coming out of her mouth were insults, and nothing more. She was a beautiful girl though, I couldn’t deny that, she a brunet, with curly hair, her hazel beautiful eyes. The shape of her face, and her dimples. I think I was falling for the witness.
For the next couple fo hours I tried to get her to say anything besides insults. I was trying to get her to talk about what had happened just a couple of days back. I knew that I wasn’t being prudent, but there was nothing else I could do, we needed something, and that something was something she had. Maybe the reason why she wasn’t saying anything was because she was still in shock for what had just happened to her.
It was dawn now and we still had nothing, but one good thing that happened was that ever since the witness appeared all the murders at the border had stopped, maybe the one responsible for the murders was afraid of getting caught and decided to stop. But that wasn’t going to make us stop searching for the one responsible.
After nine I decided to head home. Those four walls, that crap hole. It always made me wonder how hell was really like, if it was really as bad as priest describe it. Maybe I wouldn’t think that way if I weren’t so "macho like" and would grab a broom and start sweeping.
That night I received a call. I was surprised when I answered and found out that the one calling was the Capt. Marquez. He never makes phone calls unless he is about to yell at us.
"Morales, I need you to do me a favor." The chief said with an authoritarian tone.
"Yes, Chief, I’m listening." I answered firmly.
"I need you to come to the station and ...."
"At this moment?" I asked.
"Yes, right now, I want you here as soon as possible." He answered with an angry voice.
"I’m on my way." I said.
It didn’t take me long to get there. The highway was empty, and I just drove. I turned on the radio, but I kept on changing the station. There was nothing on that could draw my attention, nothing until I flip on a Spanish station, and I heard a song, that song that my family used to hear every time during Christmas, and every other holiday.
When I got to the police station the chief was there waiting for me outside. He wasn’t alone, he was there with the witness.
At the station noone called her "the witness," everyone called her "Wild Rose." We started calling her that because like everyone was saying, she is beautiful like a rose, but even something beautiful like that could hurt you, and I mean that kind of pain that really hurts and that could send you to the hospital.
The Capt. asked me to take her back to my place, he said that she seemed to like me because I was the only one that she spoke to in all the time she had been here.
I couldn’t tell if she was happy or angry, her faced showed no expression she was just plain, not a laugh, not a scorn. It was hard to get her into the car, but the chief seemed so eager to get her out of the station, and he gave the excuse that she liked me better. I had no choice so I decided to take her home. On our way home she kept changing the station on the radio to 100.7 a station that I didn’t know existed but she seem familiar with, that told me something about her. That she had been here in the U.S. before.
When we got home all I could think of was how messy my apartment was. I couldn’t even look her in the eye, I was so embarrassed. The first thing she did when we got there was grab a broom and started sweeping, all I could do after was get out of the way. all of the sudden I remember something I had forgotten, I didn’t file the paper work, which means that none on the station knew that wild rose could speak English.
Didn’t take her long to clean my apartment, and now it was shiny and spotless. I had never seen my place so clean and for the first time I was proud of my place.
It was nine o’clock and there was nothing else to do I my apartment, so I decided to go out and take Wild Rose with me. We went to a bar for a drink. We had a good time, and this time she at least talked a little bit more, but she never mention the incident at the border, and I didn’t think it was a good time to bring it up so I let it go for that night only and decided to focus on having a good time.
Now it was twelve now and we were heading back. I hd to pull over for a incoming fire truck, after a while I realize that the truck was heading the same way we were, it was odd, because there aren’t many fires by my neighborhood.
I couldn’t believe what I saw when I got home, the fire truck was outside my apartment trying to put the fire out, I didn’t know what to do, there was nothing I could do but wait, or try and get some answers. I head to the firemen and started asking.
"What happened here?" I asked
"Apparently someone bore into the house. They were looking for something and couldn’t find it, so they set the place on fire." the firemen said.
"Someone broke in !" I repeated.
"Yeah that’s what I said." the fireman said.
I just tanked the man and walked away, I didn’t know what to think. In my five years living in that apartment nothing like this had ever happened. I decided to call the chief to tell him about the little accident but he wasn’t at the station, I called him at his house and he wasn’t there either.
I was thinking on heading back to the station but there was no reason for me going back. There was nothing for me to do there.
We needed a place to stay and the only thing that came to mind was a motel, the only problem was that there weren’t a single motel near by so we decided to just sleep on the car. It wasn’t a pleasant night we were cramped up. It was cold and I could get off my head the incident in my apartment. Who would’ve wanted to get in, there was nothing of value in there, and besides everyone in the neighborhood knew I was a cop, noone had ever messed with me.
The next day I went to the station wearing the same cloths I had the day before, I had nothing else to put one, I had lost every thing I had. There at the station everyone was talking about the accident, everyone also offered their help, and invited me to spend the night at their place, but I couldn’t accept, I had to watch Wild Rose, I just couldn’t leave her at the station again.
I was about tho leave the station when the Capt. called me and told me that he needed to talk to me. I head to his office and there wit the chief were two INS officers.
"Morales, have a seat" Capt. Marquez told me in a strict voice.
" Capt what are these people doing here?" I asked concerned.
 

"They are here because they are taking.. How are you been calling her? Wild Rose? Well her. They are taking her into custody, to be deported." Capt Marquez said.

"She still hasn’t told us anything about "The American Nightmare" case." I said.
"She would probably never tell you anything." An Ins officer said.
"How can you be so sure about that?" I asked.
"Because she is wanted in all South America." Capt Marquez answered me.
"What? Why? What is she being accused of?" I asked.
"Murder. The same kind of murders happening here at the border." Capt Marquez said.
"Are you saying that she is the one who killed all those people crossing the border?" I asked really terrified.
"Yes." Capt. Marquez answered.
"How long have you know this?" I asked almost yelling at the Capt.
"Lower you voice when you are talking to me," Capt Marquez said. "I just found out yesterday."
"Is that why you weren’t at your house when I called you?" I asked the Capt. "Were you investigating her?"
"Yes you could said that."Capt Marquez said.
"What is going to happen with her?" I asked.
"She is going to be deported and trial in her native country." Capt Marquez answered.
"Detective Morales, could you bring her in please?" An INS officer asked me.
"I can’t." I answered.
"Why is that?" Capt Marquez asked me.
"I didn’t bring her with me." I said really worry because I knew that she was outside waiting for me in my car.
"What?" Capt Marquez shouted. "Where could she possibly be? You don’t have a place where she could stay."
"Don’t worry, I’ll bring her in. Just give me a couple of hours." I said.
I head out of his office and went out side to my car. I got in my car and didn’t even look at Wild Rose. All I did was drive as far as possible from there and as fast as possible as I could. After a half an hour drive Wild Rose asked me what was wrong.
"I just found out you are wanted in all South America, and that you were the one who killed all those people at the border." I answered.
"Oh yeah, then why didn’t you turned me in?" Wild Rose asked.
"I don’t know. Do you have a motive why I should not turn t you in? Because I certainly don’t have one." I said.
"How about because I’m innocent. I did not killed anybody." She responded.
"Why is Capt Marquez saying that you killed those immigrants?" I asked.
"I don’t know." She answered.
All of the sudden I noticed that we were being followed. How stupid of me, why didn’t I notice before?
Whoever the person that was following us was getting close and at a fast pace. The car following us hit my car, it was trying to get me out of the road, I started speeding, and ramming him side ways. It wasn’t long until the other car was able to get us out of the road, causing my car to crash and flip through the air. After the accident all I could see was a tall whose face was cover by shadow, but even if it weren’t I could see straight, that accident really caused me damage.
"Preparate para morir hijo de perra." That man said in a broken American accent.
Then I heard a shot and closed my eyes. I felt no pain, I didn’t feel anything, I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Was I dead?
Then I heard something hitting the floor I opened my eyes and saw Johnny laying besides me with a bullet hole in the back of his head. I looked up and there was Wild Rose standing up holding a gun. She was shaking it was either her first time holding a gun or her first time killing someone.
"Johnny, why were you trying to kill me? I know it wasn’t because I never learned your name. The only thing I know is that you had a motive, and I’m going to find out what that motive was." I said out loud talking to my self.
I was still confuse and in pain for the accident. There was nothing else I could do than to call an ambulance, and the Capt to let him know abut what had just happened. For my luck the last call Johnny had made was to Capt Marquez so I decided to call him first before I call an ambulance.
The phone rang twice, and on the other side if the line Capt Marquez answered, and before I could say anything he said. "Is Morales dead?" I just hang up the phone and was left speechless.
I never called the ambulance after that. I just got on Johnny’s car, and took off with Wild Rose. We rode all the way back to the police station, I was thinking on confronting Capt Marquez. I didn’t know if that was the right thing to do or the most idiotic thing I could do.
 

When I arrived to the station no one was there, the place was empty. I looked at Wild Rose and told her to take off, to just drive and to not look back, to start all over in a different place. I told her this while I was walking towards the empty dark Police Station. I think I told her that because I knew I wasn’t coming out.

 
It was quiet, and all I could hear for a while was the car in which Wild Rose took off, but after a while it was back to a dead silence, nothing more nothing less. Then I saw a light, it was the Capt’s office, then a shadow on the window, only one. Was that Capt Marquez? I head into the Station holding my gun up and firm. The station inside looked like a ghost town, no one there but the person at the Capt’s office. I head to the office. In there Capt Marquez was waiting for me in his chair, looking arrogant, drinking wine and smoking a cigar. He looked at me and a smile formed in his face.
"So Morales, you are alive?" Capt Marquez asked.
"Yes I am, but you don’t look surprise!" I said.
"I knew Johnny wouldn’t be able to kill you." He said.
"Why send him to kill me?" I asked.
"You were digging deep on the immigrant case." He said.
"Even if I was I got nothing." I said.
"But I can’t take any changes of you solving the case." He said.
 

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because I already know who killed them." He answered.
"Yeah you told me it was Wild Rose." I said, "but you were trying to framed her weren’t you?" I asked.
"Yeah but that was a stupid idea." He said.
"Then why do it?" I asked.
"That was until we could find a new scapegoat." he said.
"Let me guess, I’ that new scapegoat?" I asked.
"Bingo." He said with a big smile across his face.
"What makes you believe that is going to work? Who is going to believe that?" I asked.
"Well, we have the motive, I just need to work on the how." He said.
"What?" I asked.
"Well, your experience back when you were a child made you clinical insane and you never got over the trauma," he said. "You didn’t want other immigrants to have the same experience as you did. do you decided to stop them before they could get here."
"You are going to make me look like a psycho?" I asked.
"Yes, and guess what I just capture you. But you tried to killed me so I had to defend my self and had to kill you." He said.
"But who is going to believe that crap?" I asked.
"Well I believe it." Capt Marquez said.
He raised his gum up to my face and stared at me for a few seconds, he was about to pull the trigger, but I could die, not just yet, I needed to find out why was I a scapegoat? Who was the real killer?
"Wait Cap, before you kill me. Who is the real murder?" I asked.
"Well who do you think did it?" he asked.
"You did1" I said.
"Yes, I did." he said.
 

"Well, is hard to explain. We were actually using illegal immigrants." he said.

"Using them?" I asked.
"Yes using them. We used them, we would have them bring cocain into the country. Who would suspect that illegal immigrants were dealing drugs into the U.S." He said.
"What if they were caught?" I asked.
"They were never going to be caught. Do you remember those two INS officers that were here. They were working with us, and the route that the smuggler was using was one that those INS officers made sure no one was there, no one but us that is. Waiting for the drugs. In exchange we will let them go through, and come to the U.S.. Well, that is what we made them believe." He said.
"You bastard." I yelled.
 

"And now that you know the secrete, is time you died." he said.

"I don’t think so." Wild Rose said pointing a gun at Capt Marquez.
She came back, after I told her to leave. Why did she come? Was it because of me? Or was it that she just wanted to get even with Capt Marquez?
I heard a shot, but this time I knew were the bullet was coming from. The Capt now had hole on his head. But what are we going to do with him now? Only one thing make it look like a suicide. He confess and I listen to him, I’ll just say that his conscience didn’t let him sleep and that he had horrifying nightmares that he couldn’t handle anymore and he needed to end his misery.
Wild Rose, what to do with her? Now it was out of my hands she was going to be deported in two days.
A new day now and I’m weaving Wild Rose goodbye, and I never learned her real name. But now I’m the new Capt of the L.A. P.D. and I couldn’t be better.