Anonymous

17 - Nine Weeks

Harriet lazily dragged herself out of her car and walked towards the station. She had had a restless few days and the progress she was making on the Anonymous case was very slow and tedious. She had spoken to the tech team who were currently looking into an anonymous account on the dating website which had been speaking to all five of the women murdered. Harriet was following her gut instinct on this one, she was sure he was the killer and they were just days away from busting him.

She headed straight for Captain Price's office instead of her own and knocked hesitantly on the door. Within seconds, he had pulled it open and welcomed her in. Before the anonymous killer case, Harriet had barely stepped foot on the third floor let alone the Captains office. Now she was making herself comfortable in there at least once a week.

Captain Price seated himself and took a sip from his coffee. Strong and black, it left a bitter taste in his mouth but it was the only thing that kept him going through the day. Harriet shuffled in her seat, not sure of what to say or do with herself. She needn't have worried; the Captain meant pure business this morning.

"How long has the anonymous case been open, Harriet?" He spoke calmly, his eyes focusing on her.

"Nine weeks Sir." She answered confidently. He nodded in agreement.

"It's been four weeks since... Detective Murray..." The Captain cleared his throat to continue. "A few days ago Detective King, I got word that Jason's accident wasn't all it seemed. We have confirmation that his car was tampered with. Even if Jason was driving sensible that night, his car would have still driven off the rockery side – it was just pure evil luck that the tree branch was there."

"How? Why?" Harriet stuttered, happy to finally be finding out about the truth, saddened by the thought of her partner, now buried and resting eternally.

"Someone who knew what they were doing had the car rigged to pull right, to send it over the other side of the road. We don't believe it was the person's plan to kill Jason, just scare him. Unfortunately Mother Nature had let her branches grow wild, and that's how that happened. We retrieved the device from Jason's car and it's been officially confirmed. With the evidence of your brakes being drained too, we have enough to stick someone with attempted murder and the murder of Detective Murray. The bastard will go down."

"We just have to find out who it was." Harriet finished for him, in a sort of daze trying to soak in the information she had just been given.

"Are we any further along in the case Harriet?" The Captain was now back to all business.

"Yes Sir. The technical team, led by Andy, are looking into his cyber footprints."

"Cyber footprints? You mean to tell me this sicko is online now as well?"

"Not just recently Sir. Evidence seems to suggest that it starts online. He goes onto this dating profile, and looks for women in the area. He then talks to them, without connecting to their account. He arranges date with the woman and then... well... she ends up in our morgue." Harriet winced, she didn't like to word it like that but how else can it be explained? All of the women had been on a date with him and all had ended up dead. Everything was pointing to this anonymous account.

"Has Andy found anything else?"

"I am on my way to see him once I have finished with you Captain." Harriet had everything crossed that the team had found something else. She needed some more evidence. But the lack of a phone call from Andy suggests that they had been unsuccessful. With a wave of his gigantic hand, the Captain dismissed Harriet from his office, not another word was uttered.

So Jason had been murdered. Captain Price had told her this news, it was confirmed. Now Harriet needed to know who did it and why. Why would someone want to kill Jason? He was loved by many, adored by the community. Only his ex-lovers were a bit sour but he could handle them with a soft spoken sentence and a wink.