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Name/Nickname: Wesley Todd Singer (AKA Wes, Fox)
Gender: Male
Birthdate/"Permanent" Story Age/Astrological Sign: NA; thirties/early forties; Libra
Birthplace/Current Location: Grand Forks, North Dakota; Minot, North Dakota
Height: 6'2"
Weight/Body Type: Average; lean/fit
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Dark brown; short, slightly wavy
Race/Ethnic Background: Caucasian; European-American
Relationship Status: Married/estranged (Brenda Singer (Pierce), wife) (NOTE, this status applies to Singer's lifetime; Brenda divorced him after his disappearance/death); in relationship (Diana Shea, girlfriend); was briefly sexually involved with Becky Frost as part of his undercover persona
Orientation: Heteroromantic heterosexual
Siblings: Daniel Singer (older brother, deceased)
Profession: Undercover police detective, Minot (ND) Police Department
Distinguishing Characteristics: Soft spoken; non-attention seeking; intense; idealistic though slightly cynical; compassionate and willing to help, often to a fault--tends to let himself be emotionally manipulated or even abused by others; seems to feel he deserves what suffering he gets, and so doesn't complain or stand up for himself often; rather pacifistic/generally avoids confrontation and violence; tends to act on his emotions more than on rational thought, so can come across as impulsive and disregarding of authority when this isn't intended; somewhat obsessive--can get neglectful of his family and personal needs/safety when working a case
General Appearance: Usually dresses casually on the job, often as part of his undercover work; always wears mandala necklace; others often misjudge him as intimidating due to his height and serious facial expression, and he sometimes takes advantage of this
First Appeared In: Four P (deceased/unidentified) (NOTE, is deceased by the time the main series takes place, so only appears alive in flashback/dreams or backstories)
Character Summary: Wesley Singer's childhood was an unhappy one, with his father taking out his anger on Singer's mother and older brother, Daniel, with frequent verbal abuse and beatings. Although Singer himself was rarely the target of his father's rage, he fled home at age sixteen to avoid such a possibility, and as a result ended up estranged from his family. He reached out to Daniel to try to make amends after joining the police force, but by then Daniel wanted nothing to do with him. Daniel's wife Karen was more open to reestablishing ties with Singer, and let him meet their young daughter, Cheryl. Once Daniel learned of Singer's visits, he forbade him from coming by again, accusing him of being a coward who had abandoned his family already. In order to avoid further conflict, Singer again cut off ties with his extended family, and focused on his work as a detective with the Minot Police Department.
After several coincidental run-ins with Minot resident Brenda Pierce (each time, he helped her out with various things, such as opening her locked car or tending to her injured hand), Singer found himself drawn into an awkward relationship with her; his romantic feelings for her were limited, but he felt obligated to continue helping her out, as her mental health and financial situation were somewhat precarious. The marriage was relatively uneventful but stable at first, and the two genuinely cared about each other.
Singer was contacted by Grand Forks police late one night with the news that Daniel and Karen had been involved in a car crash and had not survived; Cheryl, who hadn't been with them at the time, needed someone to take her in, and her uncle was the only relative she knew of. Singer made the lengthy drive to the hospital and met with Cheryl, whom he hadn't seen in quite some time; she'd remembered the argument he and her father had had the last time she'd seen him, and had thought he wouldn't come to get her, so Singer had to reassure her that she wasn't to blame for his falling-out with Daniel. He promised her a place to stay in his home as long as she needed. When Brenda expressed her displeasure with the situation, Singer overrode her argument, one of the few times he put his foot down. Although she had no ill feelings toward Cheryl in particular, Brenda resented Singer prioritizing his niece over her, and a rift opened in their marriage. Over time Singer and Cheryl grew quite close, with her referring to him as "Uncle Fox" (based on the meaning of his middle name, Todd) and him teaching her his personal system of shorthand so they could communicate privately.
An investigation was opened into what looked to be various related crimes taking place in the Minot area; a criminal cult was identified as the source, with some of its activities centered on the property of a local doctor, Ivan Kristeva. When it was determined that ritual child abuse and other illegal activities were occurring on the Kristeva property and Dr. Kristeva's personal security force was involved, the MPD made plans to infiltrate the cult somehow. Informants and former cult members made it clear that more traditional undercover methods would not work, so Singer came up with the idea to gain the cult's trust by playing himself--only pretending to be a crooked police officer, instead. Fellow officer Sgt. Mark Kincaid disagreed with this approach (Singer and Sgt. Kincaid were often at odds, with Sgt. Kincaid being more traditional and by the book, and Singer more nontraditional and impulsive), but Captain Don Bowen and Lt. Niko Lampinen backed Singer up, and he established a contact, Rebecca Frost, inside the cult. Unfortunately, in an effort to keep up the appearance of corruption, Singer began to get too involved in his undercover role, and was coerced into a sexual relationship with Becky, which further complicated matters at home when the increasingly volatile Brenda realized something was amiss. Although at times she was lucid and even remorseful, most of the time she was defensive, paranoid, and even violent, sometimes attacking Singer physically; aside from defending himself, he always refused to fight back or report the incidents. On one occasion Brenda even called the police and insisted Singer had attacked her; her lack of injuries, combined with Singer's injuries and Cheryl's account to back him up, convinced the responding police officers that the report was a false one, and no charges resulted. Singer began spending more time away from home at night, staying at motels, though he continued to look after Cheryl when he was at home.
Singer finally gained access to the Kristeva household and was introduced to security chief Luke Jonas, as well as the assistant security chief, Den Heikkinen, and security officer Diana Shea. When he learned that Dr. Kristeva's own son, Max Kristeva, was one of the victims of the cult abuse taking place and that Jonas was a likely perpetrator, he became protective of the boy, trying to shield him from the worst of the cult's--and Max's father's--abuse, which triggered Jonas's suspicions. Shea grew to trust Singer after tending to an injury Brenda had inflicted, and when Jonas showed up, Singer took the blame for them being at a first-aid station on an area of the property where they weren't supposed to be. Noticing how protective she was of the Kristeva children as well, Singer managed to rule out Shea as a participant.
Singer's access to the Kristeva property was cut short one night when he came upon two members of the larger cult attempting to drown Max, as an offering, in a watering trough near the horse stables. Singer pulled the half-conscious Max from the water and threatened the cultists that they faced serious trouble for attempting to injure Max without his father's knowledge or permission. The threat worked (Dr. Kristeva, though abusive, had never wanted Max dead) and the cultists backed off, carrying Max back into the house; but by then Kappa Security had been notified, and Jonas, Shea, and others arrived on the scene. Singer and Shea both demanded that Max be taken to the hospital. Mrs. Kristeva, awakened by the commotion, appeared and asked what had happened. Jonas explained that Max had nearly drowned while playing in one of the household's many bathtubs, and persuaded Mrs. Kristeva to agree with him being brought to the on-staff physician--who lived on the property, and whom Singer suspected also worked for the cult--rather than go to the hospital. After Max's mother left, Jonas then instructed Singer to leave the Kristeva property immediately; his private access was revoked. Although infuriated and concerned for Max's wellbeing, Singer did as he was told, returning to the MPD to try to think up the next plan of attack.
A few days later, Capt. Bowen informed Singer that a woman had stopped by the station asking to speak with him about the "Kristeva investigation"; when Bowen offered to talk with her instead, she refused, insisting she would speak only with Singer. Bowen set up a meeting for the two in a public park. Singer was surprised when Diana Shea arrived to meet him. She asked if he was an undercover police officer; when Singer refused to respond, she said she would take that as an affirmative, and began to fill him in on what had happened at the Kristeva household since his last visit. After his departure, and skeptical of Jonas's story of the bathtub, Shea waited until the others departed, then fetched her camera and went to inspect all the bathtubs and showers; she found all of them dry and unused. She photographed this the best she could, then headed outside after Heikkinen, in charge of monitoring the property's security cameras, arrived and told her the incident seemed to have started across the lawn, not inside. Shea approached the property horse stables, an area known to not be covered by the cameras, and noticed the splashed water and trampled mud and grass near the trough. On entering the stables for the first time, she couldn't see anything suspicious at first, but did finally retrieve a half-melted candle lying on the floor where it shouldn't have been. She took more photos of all of this, then, before leaving the stables, removed the roll of film and tucked it and the candle in her pocket, replacing the film with another, unrelated roll of personal photos. As soon as she exited the stables, she ran into Jonas, who took the camera, removed the film and unspooled it--exposing it to the light--and gave the camera back. He told Shea to gather her belongings and be gone from the property within the week. Shea left that very morning, and had been staying in a hotel while waiting to hear back about another job. Jonas's actions toward Singer--and Singer's rescue of Max, which she'd heard rumors about shortly after--had made her suspect he wasn't actually a crooked police officer after all, but was working undercover on whatever suspicious activity was centered on the Kristeva property. Singer couldn't clarify what exactly he was investigating yet, but Shea turned over her film and the candle anyway. She expressed remorse that now she could no longer keep an eye on the Kristeva children herself; when Singer asked if there was anyone else trustworthy enough to do so, she mentioned Heikkinen, adding that he was unlikely to directly disobey Jonas's orders, but could be trusted to try to keep the children safe from behind the scenes. Shea asked if there was anything else she could do to help with Singer's investigation; they reluctantly came up with a plan for Max's older sister, Chrissie (who appeared not to be a target of either the cult's or her father's abuse), to continue taking photos and reporting whatever unusual things she noticed whenever she and Shea visited with each other. They decided to keep Chrissie in the dark as for the meaning of her information-gathering, to better protect her; Jonas was already unpopular among many in the household, including Chrissie, so she knew to give him a wide berth and not pique his suspicions.
Over the following days, Singer and Shea continued to meet and exchange information about the case, which Singer finally outlined for Shea; she'd already suspected some sort of criminal activity occurring on the estate, but hadn't known it was related to a cult. One of the items Shea brought Singer was a candid photo Chrissie had taken of Max near the horse stables, of which Chrissie explained Max seemed to be afraid. Singer was struck by the photo, and expressed his own fear of losing touch with Cheryl if he and his wife did end up divorcing and he moved out for good. (Although he was Cheryl's relative, his current case left him no time to properly care for her.) Shea attempted to comfort him when he broke down, and they ended up spending the night together. They grew closer as the weeks passed, while Singer's marriage faltered further; Brenda, unaware of Shea's involvement, blamed Becky (whom she vaguely knew as Singer's informant) for Singer's increasing absences, and started more frequently taking out her anger on him. (Shea was alarmed one day on seeing the numerous painful bruises Brenda inflicted on Singer's abdomen, and at first assumed that someone from the cult had beaten him up.) Singer explained a little of the situation to Cheryl, showing her Max's photo and saying that the reason he was working so hard on the case was so no other children, Cheryl included, would ever have to go through what he'd gone through. He promised to take better care of her once the case was closed, and also told Shea that he would like to be with her when the investigation was done; Shea agreed. Throughout this period Singer had been compiling his shorthand notes into an informal profile of the cult, which was called the Four P Movement, and specialized in widespread human trafficking, drug distribution, kidnapping, threats/intimidation, and manufacture and distribution of child pornography. The cult had been active for at least a decade or so so far, and was known to have splinter groups in various states. Singer learned that devil worshipping was merely a front for most of the important people in the cult, but ritual crimes of various sorts, such as animal mutilations and child abuse, were widespread among lesser, more ignorant/easily influenced members. Women and children were the primary victims, with women being utilized mostly as "bait" to lure victims to the cult, or breeders to produce babies with no birth records for sacrifice or grooming. Children, kidnapped or born into the cult, were used in rituals and/or the sex trade, except for a select few who displayed a predisposition toward dissociating during trauma--these children were used to attempt to create cult-programmed alters who could carry out certain tasks in response to a hypnotically induced trigger, without any memory afterward. Singer learned that Max was one such child, and this was the main reason the cult wanted him alive. He also realized that the wider cult included members in influential walks of life, possibly including individuals in the police force itself.
Unfortunately, not long after Singer and Shea made their plans to be with each other, the situation started unraveling rapidly. Becky--whom Singer was already well aware was "bait" meant to manipulate him--admitted that she was supposed to have been dosing him with a drug created for the cult, which would have gradually made him vulnerable to suggestion, such as committing suicide on command; Becky had instead found herself developing feelings for Singer, the first man to treat her decently, and hadn't been able to bring herself to drug him. Not only this, but she was pregnant. Knowing that her own time of being useful to the cult was almost up, she warned Singer that the cult knew of his ploy--they'd known almost from the start--and told him to quit his investigation and return to his wife and niece. Singer offered to help Becky with the baby, and begged her to come with him to the police station and be put into protective custody, but Becky refused and left. Filled with foreboding, Singer hastily penned letters to a handful of people--including Cheryl, Brenda, Diana Shea, Sgt. Mark Kincaid, Luke Jonas (the shortest letter), and Max Kristeva (the longest letter)--and, after again asking Shea if Den Heikkinen was trustworthy, which Shea insisted he was--handed them over to the assistant chief of security, instructing him to deliver them to their intended recipients when the time was right. (When Heikkinen asked when that would be, Singer paused, then said he would know when.) Sensing that Heikkinen himself had feelings for Shea, he told him to also keep an eye on Shea and the Kristeva children; Heikkinen promised.
On his drive back to his motel in the dark, Singer found himself pursued and then boxed in by a few vehicles on a desolate road; dreading what must be coming, he nonetheless kept a level head, and attempted retrieving his gun, but wasn't quick enough before one of the other men's guns was aimed at him. He followed their request to vacate his vehicle (in which another one of them drove off) and was handcuffed and placed in one of the cars and driven away. When the driver jokingly asked why he was so quiet, Singer replied that they hadn't blindfolded him, so he knew what that must mean.
Singer was taken to a large, seemingly abandoned building and led through a series of halls before ending up in an empty room with just a few pieces of furniture, such as a chair and table. His captors struck and kicked him several times, just enough to daze him, before setting him in the chair and waiting. Not long after, Luke Jonas arrived--something which didn't surprise Singer in the slightest--and after briefly explaining how poor the police's attempt to infiltrate Four P had been, as well as making clear how much Singer's presence on the Kristeva property had annoyed him, he instructed the other men to tie Singer to the table and work him over for a while, but not kill him yet. They did as they were told, and took turns beating and torturing Singer with various implements for a time. Singer had almost lost consciousness by the time Jonas returned with a frightened Becky in tow and told them to take a break. The men left, and Jonas spoke with them outside the door for a moment; Singer took the opportunity to weakly tell Becky, "It's okay. This isn't your fault."
Jonas reentered then, telling both Singer and Becky that neither one of them had told on the other, but they had one more chance to make themselves useful. He took Becky into an adjacent room where a third man was waiting to keep an eye on her, and had her sit near the partly open door; he explained that she would have to listen in on anything else that happened to Singer, and if at any point either one of them wanted it to stop, all they had to do was say so, and come clean with what they knew about the other person. The other cultist kept Becky seated by the door and prevented her from covering her ears while Jonas tortured Singer a second time and then raped him; still, neither outed the other, and eventually Jonas called back his two accomplices (both were stunned at Singer's condition) and told Singer that since they had no concrete evidence on Becky, they would let her go for now (he made no promise about her future welfare), but Singer was a loose end who needed to be eliminated; as he hadn't spared himself by turning on Becky, his death would be relatively quick. He instructed the third man to escort Becky away, while the other two were to load Singer in a waiting van and transport him to a dumping site. Singer was untied and half-carried, half-dragged outside to an idling van, tossed in the back, and the doors slammed shut behind him. When Singer blinked the blood from his eyes, he realized he wasn't alone--a child was huddled in the back of the van with him. Recognizing Max Kristeva, Singer did his best to conceal his pain and, letting Max know he was a police officer, tried to reassure him that things would be all right. When he noticed Max looking at his necklace, he explained that it was a mandala and that it meant "whole, everything working together, all in one piece." He promised Max that if they worked together, Max would get out of the situation safe and sound.
The van eventually stopped and the two were pulled out, finding themselves upon the Souris Narrows Bridge. Both were made to kneel at the side of the bridge. Singer threatened them not to harm Max, as his father had declared him off limits; the driver replied that Max wasn't going to be physically harmed, though he had to be taught the same lesson that Singer had failed. While the two men argued over the wisdom of killing a police officer, Singer again told Max that he would be all right, and the cult wouldn't hurt him again. The driver then abruptly cut Singer's throat right in front of Max; when the boy recoiled, Singer's blood spattering him, the man warned him that if he ever told anyone about this or anything else that had happened to him, "then that"--pointing to Singer--"is you." Max immediately shut down; Singer's body was thrown from the bridge into the Souris River below, and, loading the boy back into the van, the men drove away to inform Jonas that the job was done.
When Singer failed to report back to Capt. Bowen at the police station, or get back in touch with Shea, both grew worried; when they got in contact with each other and realized no one had heard from the detective yet, not even his family, their feeling of foreboding increased. Bowen was forced to abandon the idea of infiltrating the cult, and left the next stage of the investigation up to Sgt. Kincaid. Shea, certain that Jonas had somehow had a hand in Singer's disappearance (and, she was just about positive, his death), returned to the Kristeva property, ostensibly to pay a social visit, but in reality armed with her gun, ready to kill Jonas. Heikkinen, who'd spotted her arrival on the security cameras, managed to intercept her before she could locate Jonas; despite Shea's pleas to let her go through with it, he refused to let her ruin her own life in the process, telling her to be patient, and that someday Jonas would get what was coming to him.
Meanwhile, despite widespread rumors that Singer had run off with his cult informant, Cheryl still held out hope that he would be located at some point, unable to believe her uncle would ever abandon his job or her. Brenda had no such hope, fully believing the rumors, and was legally divorced from him some years later, taking back her maiden name. She and Cheryl cared for each other until she became terminally ill, and her mental state deteriorated further, as well; she spent the last few years of her life in hospice care. After her death, Cheryl continued living in the old Singer house, visiting the police station every so often to inquire about her uncle's case. She eventually stopped visiting when the case went cold, but after seeing a news item about the creation of a missing persons unit in Minot, stopped by the station again to speak with the sole detective currently in the MPU, Det. Max Kristeva. Perplexed that not only had Cheryl been incorrectly informed that the case was "closed," but also that a case involving a missing police officer had been allowed to go cold in the first place, Kristeva promised to dig deeper and find out what was going on. During one of her visits, Cheryl noticed that Kristeva wore a mandala necklace, and, assuming that he'd bought it in memory of her uncle, urged Kristeva not to get too consumed with his work. Kristeva, meanwhile, had no memory of where he'd come up with the mandala image, nor could he understand at first why Cheryl's notes about her uncle's case contained a photograph of him as a child. He wasn't yet aware that, the moment Singer was killed, his own personality had fractured, and though he'd unconsciously forgotten that period of his life, he'd been attempting to emulate--or "become"--Det. Singer ever since.
In following years, Singer's skeleton--at first unidentified--would be found in a washed-out section of road near the Souris Narrows Bridge--a knife groove barely visible in one of his neck vertebrae--and his car pulled from the bottom of a lake, with a cinderblock still wedged against the gas pedal. Kristeva, along with his partner Det. Chance Devetko, would start trying to open the case back up to the light of day, uncertain--and uneasy--about who on and off the police force was responsible for covering up key details, and why.
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