It had been a couple of weeks since Jason had passed and the funeral had taken place. Harriet was still finding it too hard to move on. Jason had lightened her life in more ways than one and now she was completely lost. The funeral had passed by in a blur. So many people had attended and Jason's family were distraught. Harriet wondered if his mother would ever actually let her son go.
Since the way Jason died was so unlike him and out of the ordinary, no one seemed ready to accept it straight away and now it seemed Harriet was the only one left, besides his mother, to accept Jason's passing.
Harriet had decided to take a few days off of work to recover from the stress and grief. The captain understood and told her to return to work on the following Monday. She had the full weekend to herself. As per usual, her insomnia kept her awake most of the night and by the time seven o'clock in the morning rolled around, Harriet was already up and dressed.
Just as she finished her breakfast, the phone began to ring. Harriet plodded over to the landline and picked it up.
"Hello?" A crackling noise greeted her from the other side, followed by a loud sigh.
"Hi Harriet." A soft voice made Harriet smile.
"Hi Mrs Murray, how are you holding up?" Jason's mother had started calling Harriet once a week. She wasn't sure why, but she had a niggling feeling it was because she wanted to keep Jason close, and Harriet was a constant reminder of Jason and his work. It helped Harriet too, being able to talk to his mother about anything and everything took a bit of weight off her shoulders.
"Oh, I get better by the day. It's just so hard." Mrs Murray sniffed. "Our Jason was such a good boy. I never would have though he would die through unsafe driving."
Harriet let her eyes wander upwards. "No me neither Mrs Murray. He was such a safe driver. But the world has a funny way, I'm sure he's keeping an eye on you."
"And you too Harriet dear."
"I'm really sorry to cut this short but I've got some jobs to get on with. Can I call you later?" Harriet could feel the tears welling up in her eyes and didn't feel ready to cry down the phone to her own mother let alone her partners one.
"Okay, I'll speak to you later. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Thank you. I'm alright, about the same as you really." Harriet let out a little laugh. "Speak to you later Mrs Murray."
"Yes darling, speak soon." And with that, Harriet was listening to the dial tone.
***
Harriet had busied herself by cleaning her little home from top to bottom. Every inch had been sprayed and hoovered. The spiders that had made themselves at home in the corners of each room had been sucked into oblivion. Harriet hated spiders. She wasn't one bit scared of a criminal pointing a gun straight at her chest but some little eight legged beast? She would run and scream like a little girl.
Plonking herself down on the sofa, Harriet pulled out her phone to see she had a notification from the dating website. Since losing Jason, she hadn't bothered looking at anyone, and just ignored the message notifications she got. There was another one waiting for her to accept a request. She clicked off and shoved her phone back in her pocket.
The sun was shining and the heat was rising. It was starting to feel like Summer. Without hesitation, Harriet got up and grabbed her keys from the side in the living room and walked out the front door, locking it swiftly behind her. She climbed into her car and pulled out, heading in a direction she wasn't even sure of.
Half an hour later she pulled into a large wooded area and parked up. It wasn't unusual for Harriet to come to the local woods to have some peace and quiet to think. She got out the car and checked she had all the essentials before walking the path she knew so well.
While walking, she let the tears flow freely, taking in large gulps of air before letting out heart-wrenching sobs. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she rounded the tracks corner and saw a small log cabin in the middle of the woods. The lights were on but there seemed to be no movement from inside.
Carefully, Harriet creeped over to the cabin. Her detective instincts were kicking in. Since when do people leave lights on in the middle of the day, on a bright Summer's day. Harriet looked around to see a red Nissan parked off in the distance, but apart from that there were no other people.
She walked up to the front door and knocked loudly, scaring a few birds from a nearby tree into sudden flight. Harriet jumped down at the movement and laughed internally at herself for being such a girly girl. When Harriet had knocked for the third time, and there was no answer, she took it upon herself to walk around the building and check it out.
Leaning to look through the front window, Harriet's heart jumped in her mouth.
Without tearing her eyes away from the window, Harriet pulled out her work phone, which she kept on her persons incase of emergency, and dialled the office number.
Captain Price was slow to pick up.
"King? What are you – "
"No time. I've got a body, laid face down in a locked log cabin. I need emergency back up."
"What? A body?"
"Yes, another body Captain. Back up. Now!" Harriet yelled before slamming the phone down on him. Without thinking, Harriet wrapped her thin jacket around her fist and punched the window, sending glass flying. The body still wasn't moving or reacting to her presence.
Harriet fiddled with the lock on the inside of the window and quickly became agitated. She wasn't on duty but she still felt she had a duty of care to those around her. A horrible stench attacked her as soon as she leant through the window space. It made her gag and tears burned her eyes.
Using the thin jacket as a shield for her hand again, she wiped the few shards from the window and prepared herself to jump through. She landed with a hard thud on the wooden floor on the other side. She quickly leapt up, the stench even stronger now she was inside. She soon realised the smell was decomposing flesh.
Covering her mouth and nose with her arm, Harriet slowly approached the body, only now seeing the flies fluttering around and the pale brown patch around the chest area. She knew what was coming. Using her foot to turn the body over, Harriet immediately turned and bent over, her stomach emptying its contents.
On the floor was the body of a female. Her eyes were glazed over and her face was very pale. There was no life left in her. Flesh was starting to come off her in small chunks. There were deep incisions across her chest and legs. The pattern was obvious here. Harriet had a strong feeling this woman was another body to do with her case. Harriet had to leave the room, fumbling with the door before throwing herself outside.
In the distance she heard the sirens coming her way. Followed by heavy footsteps and her name being called. She was too distracted to listen. Another body, another dead person for her case. This was becoming a problem now. She was almost sure that she wouldn't find any evidence – the body had clearly been there at least three weeks. He had killed someone in the middle of the woods where no one would hear her scream.
Four police officers came running over to Harriet, one of them stopped and helps Harriet calm down while the others entered into the building. They soon exited, looking as sick as Harriet felt. They radioed over for some transport for the body and stood talking to Harriet.
"What were you doing out here?" One asks. Harriet continues to look to the floor.
"I went for a walk to clear my head. Ever since Jason..." Her voice trailed off, the office nodding in understanding. "I thought the whole thing looked a bit strange. I decided to investigate and found... her."
"This is starting to worry the station Harriet. People are getting scared." Another officer placed a hand on her shoulder. "I think you need to talk to the captain."
Harriet nodded, her knees almost giving away underneath her.
***
The Captain was pacing back and forth in front of Harriet, hands folded over his chest. He hadn't uttered a word since she had entered, even though he was the one to call her in. She sat there in silence, her gun feeling foreign in her holder after two days without it.
"We have a problem." Captain Price finally spoke. Harriet nodded, and he looked her way. He looked tired and worn out. Things were obviously getting out of hand.
"We do. He needs to be stopped."
"Harriet. It goes further than that. The body you found in the woods on Saturday belonged to a young girl called Chloe Marks. She had no living relatives and as you said, there was no evidence. Just some dead plants which we assume are roses. She was killed nearly a month ago."
"That's before the first murder was found." Harriet gasped as realisation swarmed her mind. "Caroline Pollard wasn't the first body was she?!"
The Captain shook his head. "Chloe is, as far as we know, the first victim to Mr. Anonymous. But it doesn't look like he's just targeting the usual anymore." Captain fiddled with the end of his dark blue tie, curling the end over and under, one way then the other.
"What do you mean?" Harriet stood up, and approached where the Captain was stood. "Who else has he targeted?"
"Harriet, we have reason to believe that Jason's death isn't as simple as it seems."
Harriet was flown back in time to the moment she was told Jason had died. Her chest was swollen and tears threatened to spill. The Captain didn't move from his position but he watched the detective, carefully analysing her.
"Do you think... Do you think he had something to do with it?" She stammered out, her heart rapidly beating against her ribcage.
"I am not saying yes. But it's something we have considered. We have no evidence that he did anything, so we can't form an investigation. Please don't get your hopes up Harriet."
Harriet said nothing more, she turned on her heels and left the Captains office. So much new information was swirling around in her head, she needed time to work it all out. For the next few days, all she was going to do was work. This killer needed to get caught. He was a complete mystery which made him all the more dangers. Harriet was going to get justice for all the women who died, and most importantly her Jason. If he killed Jason, Mr Anonymous was going to pay.
Harriet switched on her computer and settled in for a long shift.
"You better be prepared Anonymous. I'm coming for you."
A/N: I am so sorry I know it is short! But I wanted to get something up for you as I was away at the weekend. Tell me what you think! Vote, Comment, Share.
LOVE YOU ALL x