Hellfire

Chapter 1 - What Lies Beneath

"Birth and death; we all move between these two unknowns."

-  Bryant H. McGill

          The phone's screaming pierced through the darkness in Charlie Myles's mind. He jolted awake, springing off the bed and tangling himself in the thin blankets tripping him over. He landed with a thud on the hard wooden floor. Someone stirred on the bed and a woman's arm reached across to the bedside table silencing it.

He watched as she pulled herself up off the bed and pulled on a short red dress, her hair was the length of her back in curls the colour of midnight. He didn't recognise her but he knew this simply wasn't a case of a drunken night stand. No matter how hard he tried he had no recollection of what happened.

"Hey.  What happened last night?" He finally said pushing himself off the floor and leaving the blanket at his feet. He was relieved to see he still had boxer shorts on to cover his modesty.

The woman turned quickly, her hair doing that thing only supermodels seem to do.  She was lightly tanned with striking green eyes. Her only imperfection was the ruby red lipstick smudged across her cheek. She didn't say anything instead she pulled a lipstick from her purse and walked over to the mirror.

            'Jane xoxo'

Was all she put before giving him a sly smile and a wink in the mirror. Then with a little wave of the hand she left the flat without a word.

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Three loud rasps on the front door awoke him from his slumber this time. He groaned, face down into his pillow. Am I ever going to get some sleep? He thought to himself. Turning onto his back and reaching for the clock on his bedside table he looked at the time. 9:30 am. Four hours since Jane, the mystery woman, had left.

He allowed himself a minute before stretching with a big yawn and got out of bed. The floor boards were cold to the touch, but after living in the dingy flat for a year and a half he was used to it. Still half asleep he made his way to the door.

Knock, knock, kn- "Yeah?" He asked opening the door, the chain stopped it from opening completely. Through the small gap all he could see was a middle aged man in a grey fedora hat that matched his suit coat. A greying moustache decorated his stern looking mouth and brushed his lips as he spoke.

"Mr Myles I presume. Mr Charles Myles." His voice was husky, as if he smoked fifty a day and smelled strongly of black coffee.

"Yes." A look of confusion on his face and hesitation in his voice.

"I am Detective Inspector Pearce, and with me is Police Constable Rhodes. Can we come in?" He held up an identification badge quickly as proof and then tucked it away in his jacket pocket. Even though it was implied as a question, Charlie knew answering with a 'no' wasn't an option.

"Ok, let me just get dressed." He closed the door and rushed back to his room, putting on the first pair of jeans, which were ripped at the knee and stained with what looked like oil. He quickly returned and opened the door, allowing the police officers in.

Pearce was a bulky officer, not strong looking but broad shouldered and hefty. It was only once he entered Charlie got his first look at Rhodes and was taken aback slightly. He didn't know what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't what his eyes had fixed upon. Rhodes was a petite looking female, no taller than 5 foot 6. Her hair the colour of dark red wine. Her skin pale with dots of freckles across her nose and cheeks. She looked agile and fiery in her police outfit, despite her dainty figure. She smiled politely up at him, but her eyes quickly travelled down towards his toned, tight stomach before quickly looking back up at him and nodded a hello. Her cheeks flushed slightly as she slipped around him and took her place on the sofa.