Harriet collapsed on her sofa and welcomed the feeling of the soft material surrounding her aching body. She had spent the last two days straight going back over and over the cases she had been given. A new partner had been assigned to the case, but she showed no interest in her. She was new to the homicide department and lacked the skills to think like a criminal. She thought about naming the criminal and giving him a back story – she wanted to do a profile which was done weeks ago.
Harriet shook her head at the memory of her losing her patience and screaming at the new detective, sending her off in tears to sort her out. She had returned a little while later and not a word was spoken between the two and that is how Harriet wanted to keep it.
Her phone buzzed against her wooden side table, and she reluctantly leant forward to pick it up, her pyjama top rising to reveal her stomach as she did so. Harriet also grabbed the television remote and switched on to watch her favourite soap. It had been a while since she had felt she could relax.
Obviously the thoughts of Jason and his last moment plagued her memory and nightmares. She constantly wished she could have been there or saved him in some possible way. But the world has made other plans for her – sending her into the deep dark pit she now resides in.
Her mobile vibrated once again, Harriet had momentarily forgotten she had it in her hand. She unlocked the screen and was greeted with a text from Amy.
'Hope you're okay sweetpea. Chin up xox'
The text was only six words long, but it made all the difference. Amy had been with Harriet through thick and thin and right now, she needed her more than ever. Amy only had to reassure Harriet that she was there because she knew Harriet didn't like to talk about problems when they were this raw.
She shot back a quick message saying she was okay and that she loved Amy to pieces and within minutes Amy had sent one back saying that she loved Harriet too. Harriet smiled and placed her phone on the sofa next to her and went back to watching her soaps.
Half an hour later, her phone buzzed again and Harriet picked it up expecting it to be Amy once again. It was a message from the dating site again.
She had ignored the dating site since Jason had passed, and felt too raw to strike up any conversation with any real-life blokes. Curiosity got the better of her and she swiftly logged on to her account to see five messages waiting for her and three new requests sent.
Harriet looked over the requests and rejected them all, they were not her type. In other words, they weren't Jason.
She flicked through the messages and they were all generic of type. It was the man, saying how much he's like to get to know her and asking if she would like to meet up for a drink. She ignored the most of them, but one stood out to her.
Again, it was from the same anonymous account from a few weeks ago, the night that Jason had died. Instead of using her name, the message only read... 'Do you like roses?'
Harriet looked around the room, suddenly feeling as if she was being watched. The hairs on her neck stood up on end and goose bumps covered her arms. She chose to ignore that one aswell, someone from the local was probably playing some sick joke on her.
While on the website, she saw a profile come up in a section labelled 'people near you'. It was a photograph that looked very similar to the dead body she had found in the woods. So she clicked on the profile. It was Chloe Marks. She had last accessed her account just over four weeks ago. That is around the same time of her death.
Harriet eyes nearly burst out of her head as something inside clicked like a puzzle. She rammed her phone into her pocked and ran upstairs. She pulled on a pair of black trousers and her work shirt, slipping her gun into its holder. She raced out of the front door, being careful to check it was double locked and jumped in her car. She floored it out of her road and headed straight for the office.
Harriet's mind was whirring and all sorts of theories came crashing down around her. Jason was not on Chloe Mark's account – that she was sure of. So the killer was not Jason. Guilt overwhelmed her for ever thinking that of her former partner, but she promised herself she would apologise at Jason's grave as soon as she got the chance to.
Harriet applied the brake smoothly as she approached a junction, but the car didn't slow down. She tried pressing down harder on the break but again nothing happened and the junction was coming closer and closer. She was travelling too fast to just pull over and started to panic. Opposite her, on the other side of the junction, was a large river. If she landed in there, she wasn't going to come out. Her car came screeching towards the junction and Harriet checked both ways for any oncoming traffic. Luckily, she couldn't see any.
Harriet pulled her steering harshly to the left as she rounded the junction, her car groaning and pulling in tight. She tried her hardest to keep to the left, but her car slid out behind her and clipped the right side kerb, sending her snaking and tyres screeching. Her car span two times and smoked out, the engine giving one last groan before it completely gave up. Harriet sat, shaking in her car looking out at the tyre marks on the road.
***
"Jason's death was not an accident!" She screamed as she entered her Captains office. Her hair had fell out of the neat bun she had put it in and her hands were still shaking from the shock of the almost fatal accident.
"Harriet, what happened to you?"
"I was nearly killed because some murderous bastard cut my damn brakes!" She yelled, her arms flailing around next to her. She felt angry and upset. Jason did not cause his own death. Someone must have done the same to her as they did to him. When she had called the car cover team out to recover her broken down car, the mechanic had said how lucky she was because it appeared her brake pipes had an incision and the fluid had drained quickly, leaving her no braking system.
"What?!" Captain Price stuttered, spraying coffee everywhere.
"The same person who sabotaged Jason. You needed proof. Well you've got some!" Harriet raged, throwing pictures of her car to the captain. He looked over the few pictures and his face darkened. Harriet recoiled in horror as she realise she had been screaming at her boss. He didn't look happy.
"Detective King, you've done really well. I am pleased you are okay. If what you say is true, which I don't doubt for a second, I will demand an investigation into Jason's death."
Harriet relaxed her shoulders and thanked him. He held his hand up to silence her once more.
"But you must promise me that you will not interfere or compromise this investigation. I will give it to our best team members, but you can not be a part of it." Harriet nodded and Captain Price's face seemed to light up again. He dismissed her and she left the room, still recovering from the shock of her late night decision to rush into the office and nearly getting killed.
***
As Harriet climbed into bed, exhaustion finally over took and she fell into a deep slumber. Her nightmares were constantly of Jason and the pain of his last moments. She was reminded every night that she did nothing to save someone she loved. After yet another nightmare, she woke up drenched in sweat. It was only 5 o'clock in the morning, but she decided to take a shower and get ready for an early shift at work. Her bed sheets were also soaked from her sweat and tears during the night, so she stripped the bed and jumped in the shower.
When she came back in the room, she saw her phone light up with a notification. Harriet usually turned the vibration off at night so she could sleep better but had forgotten to turn it back on this morning. She wandered over and checked her phone to see another message from the dating app, taking a big gulp of air, she opened the message.
'You look like you could use someone to cuddle up to in bed'
She felt a wave of sickness engulf her and made a beeline for the bathroom. After wrenching over the toilet for a few minutes, she sat on the cold tiled floor, letting the wall support her weight. Someone was definitely watching her and she would bet any money it was the same person who cut her brakes, set Jason up and murdered all those young women. The anonymous killer had found his next target; Harriet was just still in denial about it.
She gathered her thoughts and belongings and made the travel to work. She had to use a company care considering hers was broken at the moment, but as she pulled into work she had never felt safer. Harriet practically ran into the building through the back door, almost hugging the receptionist as she went. The killer wouldn't follow her to a police station, which would be too obvious.
Harriet paused in the reception area, as she saw a large gathering of people outside the front door which was public access. The mob seemed angry and was yelling incoherent words at the top of their lungs. Harriet began walking towards the scene to calm them and ask them to move on, when Officer Smith placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.
"Captain Price wants to see you. That right there is a large mob of angry civilians and its all about your case. If you go out there, they will tear you limb from limb Harriet."
And with that, he walked away.
Harriet turned her back on the shouting public and made her way to the Captain's office where he slapped down a newspaper in front of her.
"Read." Harriet picked up and saw that the headline was about the body count rising in the town. Someone had leaked precious information into the public and now they were angry and scared.
"That mob is demanding we tell them everything. If we tell them everything, then the killer retrospectively knows how far along we are and what we are thinking next. But if we ignore them, then they will riot and cause god knows how many problems for us."
Harriet places down the newspaper and nods in agreement. "What do you want to do then Captain?"
He sighs and runs a hand over his bald head.
"Leave and go to a nice, hot country far, far away?" He replied, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "I've called a press conference for Friday, so you have two days to prepare."
"Wait, me?" Harriet's mouth fell open at this revelation. "Why?"
"Because you know the case, so you know what to say to calm those people down. They want us dead right now because they don't think we can do our job. You need to prove that we are doing the best we can."
Harriet still couldn't get her head wrapped around everything and the Captain couldn't help but look at her dumbfounded face and laugh.
"Besides." He continued "Your name is mentioned in the article. If you don't turn up, they will think we have something to hide."
Harriet reluctantly agreed to do the press conference, but how was she supposed to prepare herself to get shot at verbally by the members of public she was protecting?
Just as Harriet was about to leave Captain Price's office she turned and coughed, grabbing his attention once more.
"Have you heard anything about... about Jason's case?"
The Captain slowly shook his head, Harriet's heart ripping into two once again.
"No, sorry Harriet. I have the best investigation team on it and right now they are going over his car. As soon as I hear anything I will let you know."
Harriet thanks him quietly and leaves, closing the door softly behind her.
A/N: Thanks so much! Nearly 200 reads - you guys really are amazing. I have just starting writing a romance book so if that's your thing feel free to check it out :) Vote, comment and share!!! xox