Little Red (24 page)

‘Jesus, where’s the
initial impact on this one?’ Jack was intrigued by the find’s, he saw the puzzle coming slowly together.

‘Well, if you look around the back, just here above the base of the skull, you can make out the similar strike mark from the other skull’

‘But, judging by the deformity and mass damage, I would say this one put up more of a fight. The blow was delivered and hit lower than planned, which could mean that the victim was the same or similar height to the attacker. The initial hit, which should have been the killing strike, failed and the victim defended them self…..resulting in the face being bashed in with the weapon, reference the caving in of the temple and separation of the jaw’ Nathan stopped for a breath.

‘My god Nathan’, started Sally, ‘Who says C.S.I doesn’t teach you anything!’ laughing. Nathan accepted the humour as a
well done
remark.

‘Well what you just said is exactly what I believe had happened. In between the two skulls were the rest of the bodies. Broken rib
cages, snapped Femur’s and the other bones located in a human body’.

‘Right, so we can say, that judging by the remains we have here, the first victim was male, roughly six-two. That would be a good match for Mr Breen. But what about the second?’ stated
Jack.

‘Good question, that’s
what I’m hoping to find out by tomorrow. We are sending the teeth away for screening, after the tests are complete we should have two matches to the victims’.

‘Sal that’s great, I can’t thank you enough for showing us this, really…thanks’

Sally blushed at Jacks heart felt appreciation.

‘You guy’s……go on, out you go. You’re cramping my style’ winking as they took the hint.

‘So we have two bodies, both with similar attacks, one worse off than the other. Both hidden away in the barrel in Mr Breen’s garden shed. Decayed badly, must be a week or more’ Jack rolled the words out as they walked, both men picturing a similar image in their heads.

‘Well we can only guess that the second body belongs to the teacher that went missing from Abby’s school’

‘Miss……’ Jack browsed through his notebook, ‘Carrigot, Miss Carrigot’.

‘Okay, so we have two missing people possibly located. One of which is the alias that the Wolf has being using to acquire a job at the schools’

‘He won’t be using it anymore, if he watches the news he would have seen the raid plastered all over it’ suggested Jack.

‘Good point, but it’s not what I’m thinking. The school that gave the others a reference, St Paul’s, they all said that the picture we have of the Wolf is not Mr Breen’

‘So what are you saying Nathan?’

‘That Mr Breen and the Wolf must have known each other in some way!’

‘You think?’

‘Oh yeah, I’m not putting it down to luck that he decided to kill Mr Breen, not knowing who he is, and used his name and occupation as an alias to abduct girls and torture, eventually kill them’.

‘I see what you mean. We need to check Mr Breen’s tutor schedule for the last, say, six months…..see if anything pop’s up!’

‘It may be longer than that Jack but it’s a start’.

They departed the building and climbed into the car that had been sat waiting for them. Jack ordered Malcolm to drive back to the hotel so they could drop Nathan off. The ride was silent as both men created a plan of actions in their heads.

***

The Wolf decided to take a nap. He had burned energy whilst attacking the girl and the lack of sleep from the recent abduction had tired his brain. He removed his clothes and s
at upon the large arm chair, its leather surface cooled his sweating skin. His mind raced with what had just happened, the throbbing sensation still housed within his nose. He allowed the blood to dry to his face, he wanted to see his appearance when waking, to see the old life upon his lips. He drifted slowly, his body becoming relaxed.

The girl sat slumped over in the chair, her body jerked as she whimpered. Her mind raced with worry and fear, the same questions spinning around in her mind.
Where am I?.....Why am I here?.....Who is doing this?......Why are they doing it?......,
the answers never came. The light had been left on for her to look upon the carnage he had caused, the biting of her cheek had aided in loosening the rag in her mouth. She licked at it slowly, the pain shooting through her head. The gag moved inch by inch, she wriggled her jaw delicately to help slip it off. It dropped and hung around her neck, her chest grew as the oxygen filled her lungs. She gasped for several minutes, the air soothing her.

Chapter Nineteen

H
e ran as fast as his body could take him. The invisible beast ran by his side. From the corner of his eye he could see its breath, the hot plumes escaping its large mouth as it panted, he matched its pattern of air inhalation and exhaling; their hearts beating in unison. His skin felt no cold as he leapt through his snowy surroundings, every couple of strides he would lower his body to the ground and vault forward with his hands; the white powder flicked out behind him. He felt alive, he moved like the beast, they breathed together; they ran together. He was becoming.

The beast had stopped suddenly, catching him off guard and he fell to the ground, the snow covered his head. He knelt and turned to face his friend, its breath appeared distant and the cracking of foliage encouraged Russell to track it. The branches were bent from his view as he pushed through the
woods, he followed the beast as it moved past the large trunks, its shadow partially cast as the moon glared down from above. Russell followed with curiosity, he didn’t understand why his friend had stopped. It intrigued him to find out.

He stopped short as he neared the edge of the
wood, the crisp white fields lay ahead. He saw the dark mass and it saw him, their eyes connected and the wolf offered a loud howl to the light in the sky. He moved towards it, noticing the body on the floor. He gazed around and noticed that he was back in the location where he had first met the woman, the one he had killed. Russell approached the body nervously, still unaware of the wolf’s intent. He saw the naked legs and moved around the wolf’s large shadow to observe her bloodied body.

He stopped as his heart raced, the beating sounding in his ears. The woman was
gone, the blood from her body had disappeared with her. Now, in her place, lay the fragile girl, the red cloak buttoned around her neck, her heart pumping the red liquid from the gaping hole. He fell to his knees and placed a hand on her stomach. She looked just like she did when he had left the house, her pale skin and wide eyes remained exact. The stab wound from the shard of glass prominent on her small chest, the blood pooling in her lungs.

‘Sarah…….I’m sorry, I’m so, so, sorry’ he wept

The beast beside him growled away his tears, the warning issued and heard. He dried his eyes and looked at his sisters body with a stone cold expression. He had to fight the remorse and block it from his mind, he battled his emotions by introducing fear into others, by controlling the weak and manipulating those that he could. The wolf had beckoned him to the body, he had to see her; he needed to learn of how his work should be done…..how he will become. He leant back and fired the deep howl to his moon, it glared back down upon him, warming his skin and accepting his offer. Her heart was for his becoming, the trade was complete.

***

Nathan lay upon the bed, the folder placed to his side. He had finished placing the collage of information upon the wall. His room now beginning to appear like the office, just more spacious and comfortable. He preferred his new surroundings. He could work with peace of mind from unwanted guests. He picked up the folder and sat himself against the headboard and the mass of bulky pillows provided a great lumbar support. He ripped open the envelope and removed the brown A4 folder and its contents. He lifted the front open and read the first page.

Mr Cawley

This folder contains the details you had asked for. I apologise for the amount but as you can see, there was a lot to overlook. The pages show all cases of violence, murder, death and other investigations that may be relevant to the Wolf case. I hope everything is satisfactory and if you need any more assistance, just call.

Thank you

Lillian

Nathan didn’t know the name of the young constable that he had asked for help. The note seemed formal, as if she had taken pride in retrieving the information he had asked her for. He felt a wave of admiration for her. He then hoped that the folder did hold the details he needed. It would be a shame to let the young woman down. He flipped through the contents, finishing at the final page. It held the number eighty six at the bottom.

‘Fucking hell’ he spoke with shock.

There were more than he had planned on, the complete folder would take him longer than expected to digest. He focused on the first twenty for the night………..he reached eighteen when his eye lids began to close.

***

Jack had sat at his desk. The news from Sally had been more than he had hoped. Finally the pieces were coming together, his boat dream of retirement was closing in,
he longed for the freedom. He leant back and placed his feet upon his desk, the sigh escaped his mouth and turned into a long drawn out yawn. He was feeling exhausted, the case was non-stop and he realised that this was the exact reason his ex-wife had left him,
you’re not married to me!.....you’re married to that fucking job!
They were the words she had used, he did recall a few more curses that were thrown in his direction but that wasn’t important. What was important was the fact that she was right, and the sad thing was it had taken him his marriage and most of his life to realise that. He chose not to dwell on the past, his future lay with the case, this exact moment would determine the outcome that he longed for, he wasn’t going to stop until he had closed the file and earned his leaving party.

He removed the crushed packet of cigarettes from his trouser pocket and shook the contents, the sticks rattled inside, telling him that he was low on smokes. He removed one and lit the end. He welcomed the relaxing effect it brought him.

He placed his notebook upon his legs and flipped through the pages, reading over the details he had jotted down whilst on the case. He reached the eighth page and noticed the words
Press Conference
in bold letters.

‘Shit’ he spat, the accumulated ash dropping on his grey suit pants.

He had forgotten about the conference for the second victims family, he panicked and reached for the phone, the dents in the handset reminded him of the anger he showed towards Lime’s threats to Nathan. He tapped the numbers and waited for the dialling tone to finish. The call went through, he waited for the answer.

‘Hello Director Chamber’s office, how can I help?’

‘Marion, its Jack, is he in?

‘One moment Mr Crawford’ the line was placed on hold

‘Jack, what can I do for you?’ the gruff voice came

‘Sir, I’m just calling about the Press Conference for the Clough Family. Is there a date set yet?’ his voice held a slight panic which he attempted to hide.

‘That’s been sorted already, I received your paperwork two days ago Jack!’

‘My paperwork?’ confused by his bosses reply

‘Yep, I have it hear in fact….wait one’ the line went silent and the sound of a chair squeaking came through the phone, it was followed by the sifting of paper.

‘You still there Jack?’

‘Yes Sir’

‘I have the copy that you signed stating that you have handed all interviews and conferences to another party, dated from…..yep, two days ago. I think your old age is kicking in my friend’ he finished with a deep chuckle

‘I see, can I ask, who the person or persons are that I handed it too Sir?’

‘Of course, Doctor William Lime no controls the press coverage. He has booked tomorrow as the conference date, will you be attending?’

No Sir, sadly I can’t, thank you Sir, apologies for bothering you’

‘No need Jack, get some rest’ the call was ended.

Lime, that fucking snake.
He came to terms with the fact that Lime must have forged his signature to complete to handover process, his blood boiled and he felt another launching of his phone approach. His dreams of retirement were clouded by the Doctor, he had Nathan removed and now he was focusing on stealing Jack’s light. He removed another cigarette and torched the tip with the flame, he inhaled deeply.

‘Fucking wanker’ he shouted whilst exhaling.