It's called Suicide on the Mountain. I wrote it about six years ago and I'm still in the process of editing it haha. Please share any thoughts, feelings, likes, dislikes, opinions, criticisms and any other thoughts that you have about it 
Looking back I can remember it clearly. The day that I found out that my daughter was murdered. Those are not days that can be forgotten. Some of you may have heard about it in the newspapers. Others may not know of it at all. This is my recount of the story.
I was sitting in my den, looking over some client's paperwork. I worked at Miller & Miller Investments. Being a stockbroker has its benefits after all. Suddenly, there was a knock on my front door. I, of course, had thought it was just the pizza delivery. I didn't feel like cooking that night so I had ordered out. I had gone to the door with my money in hand, I don't remember why, but I was dressed in a smoking jacket and slippers. When I opened the door, it was the last thing I ever could have possibly imagined. Two policemen were standing on my doorstep.
"Can I help you?" I asked politely.
"Yes, are you a Mr. Robert Wine?"
"Yes that's me; may I inquire as to why you are looking for me?"
"Well, we found a girl earlier and we think that it is your daughter, Charlotte."
I looked at them in shock. "It can't be her. She's over at a friend's house tonight. She said they were just going to hang out at the house, watch movies, and play Dance Dance Revolution."
"We'd like you to come down to the station and identify her. We know it might be hard for you, but we need confirmation."
I hung my head and spoke softly, "Please come in. I just need a moment to properly dress."
I kept thinking to myself that it couldn't be my little girl, my baby. Not after everything we'd been through. Not after I'd been raising her alone. It just couldn't be her. When I finally got to the bedroom I changed into some khaki pants and a navy blue polo shirt, as well as some sneakers. My bedroom was in the back of our small three-bedroom apartment. I didn't like spending money frivolously. I was saving most of the money I made for Charlotte's college fund.
She dreamed of going to a big state college and becoming a crime scene investigator. As I was walking back through the hallway I glanced at each of the pictures of Charlotte and a few with both of us. It was her idea to place them chronologically down the hallway so that people could see them. It brought back so many fun memories. I was sure the body lying in the coroner's office at the police station waiting to be identified had to be someone else. When my gaze finally fell on the police officers I noticed that neither of them had moved an inch. They stood there motionless in their black uniforms.
"I'm ready now."
"Our car is outside and you'll have to sit in the back."
"That's fine with me"
As I stepped outside the sweltering desert heat was forced on me. I liked it in my air-conditioned house better than standing outside on a summer evening in Arizona. The heat in the summers is practically unbearable unless you've lived here for a couple of years and are adapted to it. Charlotte and I moved here about ten years ago, when Charlotte was just six. So I've adapted to it. I could see the heat radiating off of the pavement as I walked towards the car. Hopefully I hadn't taken too long getting ready I didn't want the car to be too sweltering.
When I sat down in the car, the possibility that I had to identify Charlotte became a reality and not just a horrible nightmare. Behind the metal screen in the police car I felt guilty. I was blaming myself, I shouldn't have let her go out tonight. I should have known they wouldn't stay at Jenny's house. They probably went to hang out with Jason, Charlotte's new boyfriend. From the very moment that I met him, I didn't like him. He gave off a bad vibe; something just wasn't right about him. I didn't say anything to Charlotte though because she said he made her happy. The lights in the nearby houses and stores were all just one giant blur when we passed them. However, I noticed that as we were driving, we were heading towards downtown, where Jason lived.
We finally arrived at the station. As I stepped out of the car I felt the burst of hot air again. I now wished that we had stayed in Colorado, but it was too much for me to handle after the death of Charlotte's mother, Andrea. I loved her with all my heart. She died brutally in a car accident in the snow one day on her way to pick Charlotte up from kindergarten. Entering the station, I immediately began to hear a rumble of noise. I wanted this all to go away. I wanted it to be a dream. Sometime during the drive the policemen introduced themselves as Jackson and Roland. They were downstairs now, making sure the body was ready to be identified. I stood around with the cup of coffee they had offered me. I don't remember saying yes. I didn't like coffee; I hate the smell of it. Jackson and Roland were now approaching me and I only stared at them.
"He's ready for you now."
I simply nodded.
"We want to warn you, although you probably already knew this, its going to be quite a shock."
Again, I only nodded. I seemed to be speechless. Walking down the steps I braced myself for what was about to come. From the last step, I could already see the coroner standing next to the covered table with the dead body on it. The atmosphere of the room was very cold and depressing. It seemed so sterile here with all the metal, I was afraid my shoes would infect the floor. I took a deep breath and nodded towards the coroner. He proceeded to pull the white sheet down far enough so that I could only see the face.
"This isn't Charlotte." I claimed, "Why did you think it was her?"
Jackson and Roland looked at each other and then one of them pulled something
out of their pocket that was wrapped in a plastic bag and marked as evidence.
"This is the only identification we found on her. Do you know who it is, if it's not Charlotte?"
"It's Jenny Carpenter. Charlotte's best friend."
Jenny Carpenter and Charlotte had similarities to them. Jenny and Charlotte had known each other ever since we had moved here. They had become friends in kindergarten and have grown to love each other ever since. In fact, this year they had a lot of classes together, which was surprising since they had registered for their first day of high school at different times. I had been thinking of taking Charlotte to a different school, but she begged and begged me that she would have no friends there. I thought of it as a fresh start, she thought of it as a horror. I finally caved in and let her stay at the school.
Although I was shocked that it was Jenny. At the same time, I was relieved that it wasn't Charlotte after all. They had gone purse shopping the other day and I knew that they gotten matching purses. They liked to have the same things. It made them feel sisterly, I suppose. Jenny must have grabbed Charlotte's purse instead. As I headed back upstairs with Jackson and Roland, I began to plan my route to finding Charlotte. First, I would go back to my house and call the Carpenters to see if they knew where the girls went. Then, if they did I would go there first. Most likely they wouldn't be there though. So I began to think of places to go that were the girls' favorites.
"Can you take me home now?"
"Sure. Are you positive that it is Jenny Carpenter, though?"
"Yes, I am."
"Well, in any case we still have to have her finger printed. If you talk to the Carpenters, don't let them know. We would like to break the news to them ourselves."
"I won't tell them anything about it. I promise."
"Let's go then. The car is still just outside the building."
As soon as the police took me home, I went straight to the phone and dialed the Carpenters' number. I only had to wait for it to ring twice before someone answered.
"Hello?"
"Hello Anne. This is Rob."
"Oh, hi Rob! How are you doing?"
"I'm alright thanks, and yourself?"
"I'm doing okay. I just made some cookies for the girls when they get back."
"They aren't there then?"
"Oh no, they left about three hours ago to see a movie. They said they were going over to the Cine Capri. After that they wanted to grab Starbucks and go to Target."
"Ok, well I was just calling to remind Charlotte she had to do something." I lied. I hated lying to Anne. She was such a nice woman.
"Will you let her know for me when she comes back?"
"Of course I will!" I heard a timer go off in the background. "Oh! That's my roast. I'm sorry to be so short, but I have to go and take that out of the oven before it burns."
"That's alright. I have some things to do as well. Have a goodnight."
"You too, Rob. It was nice talking to you. Goodbye."
"Nice talking to you too, Anne. Goodbye."
That was the end of the conversation and I didn't even have to bring up that I was looking for Charlotte. I felt so badly for her though. The police would be there soon to break the news to them. Jenny was their only child, too. I was sure that they would be heart-broken when they found out. Of course the police might have headed back to take fingerprints of Jenny. Then, at least the Carpenters could eat their roast in peace. Little did they know that their daughter was not at the movie, but instead dead on a coroner's table in a police station downtown. After I hung up, I picked up my keys and a flashlight in case I needed it if I found Jason and Charlotte in a car together. I set the alarm and locked up the house then proceeded to drive straight to Cine Capri.
