Debbie was feeling guilty for suspecting her son was the sadistic bastard committing the Strangler murders. Since providing food to someone always made her happy, she whipped up a lasagna and brought it over to Red Cape Comics. She walked in as the only customer in the store was leaving.

Michael looked at her, surprised. “What are you doing here? I figured you’d be nursing your precious Sunshine,” he sneered sarcastically.

Debbie took a cleansing breath, reminding herself of why she came. “Michael, both Justin and Brian have been through a traumatic time. How do you think they feel, knowing that Ethan killed those boys because he blamed his failures on the two of them? I hoped even though they won’t speak to you because of what you tried to do to them that you’d be at least a little sympathetic to how they’re feeling right now.”

“A traumatic time? Oh, come on, Mother. If you ask me, The Fiddler should have just gone after the real reason his life is fucked up and strangled that blond fucking whore.”

“Michael!” Debbie yelled in disgust. If she hadn’t been holding the casserole dish, she’d have slapped him.

“Besides,” he continued, “those hustlers had nothing to live for, anyway. The Fiddler did them a favor. Fuck, for all that asshole Brian has done to me lately, turning his back on me and acting like over twenty years of friendship isn’t worth a damn, The Fiddler should have taken care of him, too. Because of those two, I’m going to end up losing my store. It’s not fair, and as my mother, you should be worrying about me, not those two pricks who have all the money they will ever need and more.”

Once he was done ranting, Debbie had to turn away and look out the window for a minute, unable to look at the man she raised. She couldn’t believe she had spent even a second fretting about how she could have thought her own son could be a serial killer. Even if Michael wasn’t so callous as to actually kill someone, listening to the hatred he had just spewed showed how low of a human being he really was. She was glad that her brother was not there to see the bitter, spiteful, and jealous man Michael had become.

Debbie finally turned back to her son. “You know what, Michael? Fuck you and your ‘poor me’ attitude. You brought everything that has happened to you on yourself. You threw away Brian’s friendship because you wanted more and he didn’t, when you knew all along he didn’t. Then you destroyed your marriage as if Ben had been nothing but a placeholder all along. Hunter won’t speak to you for the same reason all your other friends turned away because you are a jealous and spiteful little boy in a man’s body. You may not ever see your own daughter again because her mother doesn’t want someone as reprehensible as you around her child. I’m sad J.R. will grow up without her daddy, but she’s better off. Just like that animal Ethan, you need to grow the fuck up and realize that everything that’s happened to you has been because of you and the choices you made, no one else.”

Debbie turned to leave, still carrying the casserole dish she had brought in.

“Hey, why aren’t you leaving me the food?”

“Because you wouldn’t appreciate it and you don’t deserve the love that I put into it. There are kids at the shelter that do and will. Oh, and don’t call or come around me for a long, long time. If I want to speak to you or see you, I will find you.”

With that, Debbie walked out of the store and out of her son’s life.

About a month later, Debbie heard through the grapevine that Michael had sold half his share of his store to a collector he knew and left town. She hoped that wherever he was, he would find what he needed to finally become a man.

As is often the procedure in criminal matters, Ethan Gold was offered a plea deal by the district attorney’s office. He would plead guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and to the kidnapping and assault of Tim Morgan in exchange for there being no trial. Ethan’s attorneys had to reason with him because he first wanted to go to trial. He couldn’t plead “not guilty”, knowing he had no chance of a jury believing that since all the evidence was in his apartment, including a scrapbook where he had pasted pictures of Brian and Justin over the pictures of his victims with smiley faces next to them.

In talks with his lawyers, Ethan openly admitted that he committed the murders and had intended to kill Tim at some point. He wanted to use the “emotional trauma” he’d been suffering from since Justin left him as a defense. His legal team considered an insanity defense, but they knew it was a longshot. Only a small percentage of insanity defenses were accepted by a jury, especially in cases like this where the murders were obviously premeditated and were committed over a period of time. Besides, Ethan would have spent the rest of his life in a mental institution if he were found not guilty by reason of insanity, which is often worse than prison. Ultimately it came down to whether Ethan wanted to risk the death penalty if he went to trial, and after considerable discussions with his lawyers he decided he didn’t want to die.

Following a hearing where Ethan pled guilty as charged, there was a separate hearing where victims were given the opportunity to recommend a sentence to the judge. Ethan would then have a chance to ask the judge for leniency.

After his arrest, Ethan had reached out to his family, whom he had very little contact with over the past several years. On behalf of his immediate family, his father informed him that he was on his own and they would do nothing to help him. No one came to the courtroom for him at any of his hearings.

Brian and Justin went to the sentencing, more out of curiosity than anything else, and to show the man that they were together and happy. They sat in the courtroom staring blankly at him so Ethan could see them when he was escorted in.

The parents of Aaron Clarke, the boy found dead in the alley behind Babylon, were first asked to speak. Sandy was too emotional, so Pat spoke for the both of them. He kept it short and to the point.

“Your honor, this man stole our son away from us. Aaron was only eighteen, he had a full life ahead of him. This monster didn’t give him the chance to live it. He deserves no less than life in prison without parole, so he can never hurt another innocent person again and will have to spend the rest of his natural life paying for what he did to his victims.”

Next to speak was the mother of Adam Carter, the boy Justin found dead at the carnival. She told a beautiful story of her son’s seventeenth birthday party, which turned out to be his final birthday, where the whole family was gathered together. Adam was the oldest of her five children, and he was much loved and looked up to by his younger siblings. Mrs. Carter confessed that she and her husband separated after finding out about their son’s death. She blamed her husband for running Adam out of the house, but she also blamed herself for allowing him to leave. She also asked the judge to give her son’s killer the maximum sentence of life in prison.

Because the families of Frankie and Kyle were never found, no one was there to speak for them. However, Debbie had previously written a passionate letter to the judge and she was allowed to read it in court. Her letter spoke of the oppression and violence against the gay community.

“I never thought that someone like Ethan Gold, who is also a gay man, would commit such senseless acts of violence against other gay people,” Debbie said. “He targeted the most helpless among his own kind: young men who were homeless, young men who didn’t feel welcome within their own families. Your Honor, I beg of you, lock Ethan Gold up and throw away the key.”

The final person to speak was Tim, the brave young man who nearly became Ethan’s fifth victim. He told the judge about the nightmares he’d been having since his kidnapping and his fears of never being able to trust anyone. He never looked at Ethan while he spoke.

When Tim was finished speaking, he went back to sit next to Brian, Justin, and Molly. The judge told the defendant to stand and address the court. Ethan just sat there, tears pouring out of his eyes. He knew he was screwed and now he was scared. His lawyers pulled him to his feet.

“Mr. Gold, do you have anything to say to the court before I decide on your sentence?” the judge asked.

“This is all because of those two!” Ethan stated, turning around and looking at Brian and Justin. “They ruined my life and made me kill those boys. If it weren’t for them, those kids would still be alive.”

“Mr. Gold, did you stand here in my courtroom a month ago and plead guilty to four counts of first-degree murder?”

“Well… yeah,” Ethan said.

“When you pled guilty, you said you understood you were admitting your guilt in having committed the murders. Was there anyone who physically helped you commit any of those four murders?”

“No,” Ethan reluctantly admitted.

“Did anyone coerce you into committing any of those four murders?”

Ethan shook his head in answer.

“Speak up,” the judge demanded.

“No, sir,” Ethan said. “But they-”

One of Ethan’s attorneys whispered something to him, which caused Ethan to shut his mouth.

“What do you think I should do with you, Mr. Gold? And why do you think I should recommend to the Department of Corrections that you be housed in minimum security?”

“They should be the ones thrown in prison!” Ethan snarled, referring to Brian and Justin again.

“Mr. Roberts, I suggest you get your client under control,” the judge said to the attorney.

“I’m sorry, your honor,” Mr. Roberts said. “As we said in the memo we filed, our client asks to be housed in a minimum security institution, where he will have access to counseling services and recreation.”

The judge was stone-faced. “Due to the defendant showing zero empathy for the victims and the families of the victims in these crimes, along with seemingly taking no personal responsibility for what he did, I cannot in good conscience offer any leniency here. Ethan Abraham Gold, for the murders of John Doe, Frankie Stevens, Aaron Clarke, and Adam Carter, and for the kidnapping and assault of Timothy Morgan, I sentence you to four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole plus twenty-two years, to be served in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. I am recommending to the DOC that you be housed in maximum security at the Greene County Institution and that you be transferred from the Allegheny County Jail to Greene as soon as possible. I, for one, will sleep better knowing that you’re not sleeping in the same county as myself and my family.”

“But that’s not fair!” Ethan screamed. “I did it because of them, they should have to pay. I’m going to sue them…” He continued squawking as his lawyer tried to get him to be quiet.

“Mr. Gold, from where I’m sitting, you have absolutely no grounds to sue anyone,” the judge told him. Turning to the bailiff, he ordered, “Remove him from my courtroom immediately.”

Tim’s parents were watching the news one night and saw their son being interviewed after Ethan’s sentencing hearing. They hadn’t spoken to him very much since his kidnapping, which had been his decision. His mother called the foundation the day after it happened and left a message with the young man working the desk.

Tim was given the message and called his family home that evening. His parents had decided they wanted him to come home. He refused, saying that he would rather be on his own since they didn’t want him until he had been kidnapped and almost killed. Now that he was eighteen, he wanted to stay at the Sunshine and Rainbows Shelter and keep working on his apprenticeship with Mr. Ruger, the woodworker. He also asked that they not contact him again, that if he decided he wanted them in his life, he would call them. They were upset but ultimately accepted his decision. Tim had become very close to Debbie, Carl, and the other residents at the shelter and they were like a surrogate family to him. He’d begun dating one of the residents and was adjusting to his new life well despite it all.

Now that Ethan was permanently locked up, everyone could breathe much easier knowing that a serial killer had been taken off the streets. The thing that continued to bother Debbie was that the families of the first two victims, Frankie and Kyle, had never been located.

At Debbie’s urging, Carl asked for the morgue photos of the boys. Between those photos and Justin’s artistic ability, Debbie wanted to have good sketches of them. The jail had their artist draw sketches of them shortly after the murders, but no one had come forward to claim either one of the boys as their son, brother, etc. In Justin’s and Debbie’s opinions, the sketches had been shoddy and didn’t much look like the boys when they were alive. Debbie hoped that by putting Justin’s sketches online and on the news shows, maybe the families could be located.

Justin looked at the morgue photos for a baseline reference and added more based on Debbie’s recollections of the boys’ features. They first circulated the sketches on Pittsburgh area Facebook sites, asking that people share them in an attempt to locate the families of these dead boys. Drew, who now worked as the sports anchor at one of the local news channels, talked his producer into doing a piece on the boys and post Justin’s sketches on air. The other local channels quickly followed suit. Because of the mention of the “Liberty Avenue Strangler” murders, the story was picked up by the national press, which had been following the whole ordeal since the third body was discovered and the police dubbed their suspect as a serial killer.

Debbie and Carl gave an interview on CNN about how the murders had influenced the creation of the Sunshine and Rainbows Foundation. Debbie talked about the two boys she had met at the diner and teared up over the loss of their young lives at Ethan’s hands. Because she admittedly had little faith in local law enforcement, Debbie gave out the foundation’s phone number and urged anyone who recognized either of the boys to call.

The foundation was contacted by Kyle Laughlin’s family just minutes after the interview aired. His older sister had seen the piece on CNN and told her parents that one of the boys had to be their Kyle, who had gone missing a few months before the murder. As he had told his friends, Kyle’s family was in Canton, Ohio, about a two-hour drive from Pittsburgh. His family had suspected that Kyle was gay, but much like Aaron, he ran away rather than come out to his conservative parents. They decided to leave him in Pittsburgh where he had been buried and placed a large engraved headstone on his grave. They also gave a generous donation to the Sunshine and Rainbows Foundation in Kyle’s name.

The older brother of the boy known as Frankie Stevens called the foundation the following day. Debbie answered the phone and the young man told her that the boy’s real name was Peter Grant and was from Dayton, an Amish town in Pennsylvania. Peter’s brother happened to see a newspaper at a job site and recognized his brother in Justin’s sketch of “Frankie”. Peter’s parents had thrown him out when they found out he was gay and wouldn’t even acknowledge that he was their son anymore. His brother wanted someone to know who he really was.

Debbie asked Carl how Peter would have gotten Frankie Stevens’s birth certificate. Carl did some digging and discovered that the real Frankie Stevens died shortly after his birth in Pittsburgh. Peter must have bought the birth certificate somewhere and assumed his identity. That made sense, given that “Frankie” did not have a Social Security card, didn’t have his Social Security number memorized, and didn’t have a state-issued identification card with his name and picture on it when he first got hired on at the diner. Peter obviously wanted to distance himself from his past, but unfortunately had his new life cut short before he could begin to live it.

The local paper did a piece honoring Debbie for working so hard to identify the last two victims. The gang was gathered around their usual booth with the paper spread out on the table.

“Here’s to the best sleuth in town!” Emmett said, raising his coffee mug in Debbie’s direction.

Debbie smiled and wrapped her arms around Justin’s shoulders. “I couldn’t have done it without my talented sidekick.”

“To Sunshine!” Brian added, pulling Justin away from Debbie to give his partner a big kiss.