Darkness Follows (12 page)

The
cell phone vibrating on his bedside table woke Jones early that morning and he
missed the call by a few seconds as he reached over and knocked it to the
floor. When he retrieved it, he saw it was the Dersten Police station, and rang
the number back immediately.

Jones
learned of the eventful night they had in Dersten.

"Your
man fell asleep on the job?"

"He'll
be dealt with." Crawley had promised. "But that's not all I'm calling
about."

Crawley
had explained to Jones that for the first time in two years a murder had been
committed in Dersten. A young girl had been stabbed to death outside her work
the same night Ryanne had taken off. Jones asked if Crawley had any suspects or
witnesses, and he told him it was fresh, but he had some leads.

"There's
something else you should know." Crawley paused for a moment. "There
was a small piece of paper beside the body."

"Okay..."

"There
was something written on it, but we can't make it out. It rained last night,
and it might not even be related to the case. We've sent it for testing, so hopefully
we'll get the results back soon."

"You
couldn't make out any of it?"

"Naw, not even close.
Should
we...consider the possibility that Jeremy's in town?" Crawley asked.

Jones
had told him to send over whatever parts of the file he had, and that he'd get
back to him with the next move when he got to the office, and looked over the
files.

When
he arrived at the department he stopped by Daniel’s office, and found him on
the computer.

"There's
been a murder in Dersten.
Young girl that might fit our
description here.
Chief Crawley's sending over the paperwork. Come
on."

Daniels
rose from his chair, and yanked up his pants.

"Is
that a mustard stain on your shirt?" Jones asked as they walked to his
office.

"Oh, ah yeah."

Jones
shook his head, and opened his door, allowing Daniels to go in first.

The
fax machine was still empty.

"Get
Burrows on the phone, alright?" Jones said, and took a seat at his desk.

"Yeah, sure."
Daniels sat
across from him, and dialed the extension as Jones grabbed his files.

"How'd
she die?" Daniels mouthed as he sat with the phone to his ear.

"Stabbed to death."

"Doesn't
sound like...
Hello, yeah, Officer Burrows."
Daniels handed the phone to Jones.

Jones
waited on hold as he searched through the papers.

"I
know that wasn't his M.O. before, but like I said, he might've escalated things
while being on his own."

Daniels
sat in silence, licking his finger, and trying to rub out the bright stain from
his shirt.

"Burrows.
It's
Jones." He paused. "There's been a murder in Dersten."

He
filled her in on all the details that he knew, and before he could ask, Burrows
offered her services.

"Anne
Marie Preston, age twenty three, she worked at O’Leary’s as a server. That's
where she was last seen alive." Crawley leaned back stretching out, and
then slumped down in the chair propping his body up with his hands on his legs.

"When
we got back to the station," Max said, “One of our guys called it in. Her
body was found down the alleyway next to O’Leary’s."

Aurina
put her hand over her mouth to prevent a gasp from escaping. She knew Ryanne
had been downtown last night, and she couldn't help but think how close she
might have come to meeting this girl’s fate. She instantly felt guilty for
relating the situation back to them, but Ryanne had been there, and she
couldn’t bear to think it could have easily been her.

"We
went back to the station and went over the file that Inspector Jones and
Detective Burrows left us when they came. We wanted to know if this case may be
related to yours. There are very few similarities between the murders that
David and Jeremy committed and the crime scene from last night. We have no
reason to think it may have been Jeremy, but we are also not ruling it out yet.
The CSI team is processing the evidence as we speak and we will have more
answers soon." Max said.

"If
it was Jeremy, why would he have killed this girl?" Aurina asked, and wanted
to finish the sentence with ‘when Ryanne was right there.’ but decided against
it.

"We're
not sure yet," Crawley rubbed his brows with both hands. "Point
being, we have someone dangerous, loose in our town, and it's not safe for
anyone to be going out on their own, ‘
specially
after
dark." Crawley looked directly at Ryanne. She returned his gaze for a
moment, and then looked at Aurina.

"Could
she have been killed because he couldn't get to me?" Ryanne asked.

"We
can't speculate about these things. It’s highly unlikely this was Jeremy."
Crawley shook his head and stood by the entry way to the living room, leaning
against the corner of the wall. "Nevertheless, while you ladies are under
my care, you'll abide by my orders."

"Yes."
Aurina said and both girls nodded.

“One more thing.
When we
notified Jones of the situation here and Officer Burrows got wind of it, she
insisted on coming back here again.” Crawley told them.

“You
mean to get us?” Aurina asked.

“No, to stay.
She decided
it’d be beneficial to have an extra person on watch when it came to you girls,
considering we’ve got a murder to deal with here in town.” Ryanne went to say
something, but Crawley interrupted her, “Wouldn’t have been my choice, but we
aren’t really left with one right now. I thought we could handle it, but with a
murderer on the loose…”

“When
will she be here?” Ryanne asked.

“She
left early this morning, as soon as they were made aware of the situation. Be
here before supper I suppose.” Crawley said. “I’ve called Blake at the shop and
he'll be coming over shortly. Max’ll be coming back tonight, stationed just
outside." Crawley got up and walked over to the door, tipped his hat and
nodded good bye to the girls. Max followed behind him without a word.

*****

Soon
after the police left, Aurina got up and started pacing the room.

"I
can't believe it." She said repeatedly, whispering almost to herself.

"Rina,
this could be our fault. What if we led Jeremy here?" Ryanne said looking
up at her, making Aurina stop in her tracks. She looked down at her sister,
whose face was wrinkled, and thought it was possible she finally understood the
seriousness of the situation.

"It's
not your fault," Aurina said," They even admitted, they don't think
it was Jeremy. Murders happen everywhere, every day…The poor girl." Aurina
thought about David and Jeremy’s victims, all her sisters’ age, their long
lives ahead cut short.

"I
knew her." Ryanne said.

"What?"

"When
Max and I went out the first time, we stopped in at O’Leary’s, the town pub,
for a drink. I saw her then for the first time. I never met her; I just know
who she is." Ryanne said. Aurina knew she had been lying to her before
about having a drink, but had given her the benefit of the doubt. "Then,
last night at the bar, she was there again, singing."

"Singing?
I thought she
was a server?"

"She
was, but she sang there too, on both nights." Ryanne stared off in a daze.

"I
just can't believe this is happening. Oh Rye, please promise me you won't go
out alone again okay?" Aurina urged.

"I
promise." Ryanne whispered, still in her trance.

Aurina
looked out the window, and saw Blake pull into his driveway; Max and Crawley
pulled away at the same time. Blake sprinted across the lawn to their house
with a few bags in his hands. It startled Ryanne out of her daze, and she
bolted out of her seat.

"I'll
be in my room." She said as she dashed down the hallway, while Aurina went
to the front door to let Blake in.

"Hey,
you heard?"

"Yeah,"
Blake closed the door behind him. "Just after I got off the phone with Crawley,
my mom called to tell me."

"Word
gets around fast. Did you know her?"

"Not
personally. Wanna fill me in on what Crawley had to say?"

“Blake,
I think I’m going to go for a run, just up and down the road here. I'll fill
you in when I get back, but I just need to clear my head. Could you stay…and
just…Ryanne is in her room.”

“No
problem.” Blake smiled, “But next time you want to go for a run and you’re up
for company, let me know. I could show you a few trails around here.”

Aurina
nodded, her eyes smiling up at him, and finished tying her shoes.

“Hey,
before you go…” Blake dug around in one of the bags in his hands. “One of my
customers gave me this to thank me for helping her out.” He pulled out a small
glass bottle and handed it to her. “I don’t drink hard liquor.”

She
took the svelte bottle of whiskey. “This looks expensive.”

“Yeah,
well, she got into a little fender bender in her husband’s car. I fixed it
discretely. Here.” He took the bottle back. “I’ll put it in the cupboard,
alright?”

“Thanks,
that was thoughtful of you.” She lingered by the door, as she watched him take
the whiskey into the kitchen.

“See
you in a bit.” He called and she raised a hand before shutting the door behind
her.

On
their way back to the station, the Chief asked Max if he could stick around for
a short while longer. After he fired Jenkins, he had told Max he wanted to
include another officer in the program to increase security.

Max
made a pot of coffee while waiting for the Chief to fill in Jenkins’ replacement.
He wasn’t surprised when he saw the Chief take officer Jared Pearce aside.

“Max,
could ya come in here for a quick sec?” the Chief called.

Max
set his coffee mug down by the pot, and joined the two men, closing the door
behind him.

“I’ve
filled Pearce in on the WPP, and he’s been brought up to speed on the situation
in Toronto, and how it relates. I was hopin’ you’d take the time to fill him in
on the smaller details Max.”

Max
nodded and saw Pearce side
eyeing him.

“Alright
then,” the Chief stuck a tooth pick from his pocket into his mouth. “You’ll
each take turns working ten to ten, mornings and nights. “

Pearce
nodded. “We’ll have that worked out today Chief.”

“Oh,
and Max,” The Chief sat down in his chair, “I’m gunna have Pearce working on
our end of things, with Anne Marie’s case. I’ll keep things the way they are
with you focusing on Aurina and Ryanne.
That suit
you?”

Max
nodded after noticing Pearce furrow his brow.
“Of course
Chief.”

Pearce
nodded to the Chief and followed Max out into the main office.

“Should
we sit down and make a schedule then?”
Max asked, gesturing
to Pearce’s desk.

“I
think we’ll be fine if we stick to you being on nights, and I’ll take days.”
Pearce stopped, and stared at Max.

“Okay,
well, I’m not sure I should be doing all nights. How will you work the case
with the Chief during the day?”

“Listen
Max,” Pearce took a step closer. “
you’ve
gotten some
mixed signals on how things work around here. The Chief seems to favor you, so
I’ve got an understanding about why you think the way you do. But I’ve put a
lot of hard work in here and it’s not for nothing.”

“Whoa
man.” Max held his hands up between them.

“I’m
just letting you know how things work Max.” Pearce lowered his voice. “And I’ve
been here for five years longer than you. I have seniority. I have no idea why
the Chief brought you in before me, but don’t get mixed up--you’ve gotta pay
your dues.”

“Listen
Pearce,” Max kept his voice quiet, “I’m not trying to get off on the wrong foot
here. I respect your position.”

Pearce
stepped back, and rested his hands in his belt loops.

“I
didn’t ask for this. I came by the opportunity honestly and only because the
right man has a decent opinion of me. I’m sure we can work things out in a fair
way, alright?”

Pearce
stared at Max for a moment, considering. Finally he nodded.
“Yeah…alright
then.
Listen, I don’t need you to fill me in on the case this minute. I
can look over the notes on my first shift at the house.”

“Sure.”
Max shrugged. “Anything you need from me then? If not, I’m going home to get
some sleep.”

“Not
a problem.  I don’t know exactly what’s been happening, but I know the
Chief made a mistake putting Jenkins on the case. I guess Jenkins proves that
seniority’s not the only factor in deciding
who’s the best
officer for a case
.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”
Max smirked and
Jared cracked a smile.

“Listen,
we’ll catch up on the files tomorrow when you take over my shift alright?”

Max
nodded.
“Sounds good.”

“One other thing.
I’m there to
work, so I don’t want to meet the Patrick sisters. I’ll do my shift, but I’m
not a babysitter. My time’s much better spent looking into this case. ”

“That’s
fine by me.”

On
his way home, Max fought to stay awake. He wanted to curl up in bed and close
out the world for a while. Besides doing paperwork for Jared Pearce, Max
couldn’t remember ever having a real conversation with him. Although he was
relieved to have avoided a bad start, he had no illusions about their working
relationship.

On
the other hand, his relationship with Ryanne seemed to be just that --an
illusion.