by Helen Phifer
***
Jake threaded his arm through Annie’s and the pair of them weaved along the tree-lined road towards the cemetery. The blackness behind the gates looked ominous; she didn’t want to do this. Why did she let Jake talk her into these things? She hadn’t been here since Mike’s funeral.
‘We can’t get in, it’s all locked up.’
Jake looked at her in disbelief, ‘Are you serious? You’re a copper, you should know how to scale a fence.’
‘Of course I know how to scale a fence, just not when I’m drunk. I don’t want to land head first in someone’s grave. I have a bit more respect than you do.’
‘Wimp. Come on, I’ll give you a bunk up.’
Annie ignored his offer of help and wobbled on ahead of him, scaling the gates before Jake could offer her his hand. She jumped off the other side and slipped. Jake bent over laughing.
‘Come on then big man, let’s see if you can do any better.’
Jake took a run for the gate. For his size he was surprisingly nimble and he managed to climb over it and land on his feet next to her. Annie tutted and began to walk away in the opposite direction to Mike’s grave and Jake followed. She let out a loud scream at a statue in the distance and he started to laugh again. Her elbow landed sharply in his side and he stopped. She decided to walk up towards the old chapel, which was now boarded up and fenced off. Annie had been drawn towards it last year when she had come looking for Alice’s grave – she had seen Alice’s ghost in that area of the cemetery so it was the logical place to go. Jake, who had finally stopped laughing, whispered in her ear, ‘Come on, you’re right this is stupid, let’s go and order a Chinese.’
Stubborn as ever she carried on walking. ‘Now who’s the wimp? You were the one who wanted to come here in the first place, I’m not leaving until we see a ghost; I’ll prove to you I’m not full of crap.’
‘I never said you were, but it is kind of hard to believe.’
Annie shook her head, it felt muzzy – too much Tequila. She would pay for it in the morning but maybe tonight when she finally made it to bed she wouldn’t have any of those terrible nightmares about a secret room in a cellar with dead bodies inside.
***
Stu and Laura huddled together to try to keep warm. They couldn’t really see the chapel from their position but this was the only place where they could keep out of sight yet still be near enough to get there in a hurry. Will’s voice echoed through their earpieces. ‘Two people just climbed over the gate and are heading your way up towards the chapel. It looks like a man and a woman but hard to tell from here.’ Stu crept to the side of the wall; straining his eyes he could make out a tall man and a much shorter woman who were stumbling hand in hand. Laura popped her head around to take a look and rolled her eyes at Stu. ‘I can’t see those two getting up to anything other than a quickie, that’s if he can get it up. Those two are hammered and I’m freezing in a bloody cemetery of all places. How do we get roped into these crappy jobs? Join CID, become a detective, solve serious crime. Yes right, what a load of rubbish.’
They watched as the dark figures finally reached the chapel and then the taller one bent down to give the shorter one a bunk up the fence. Will’s voice echoed in their ears. ‘Go, go, go.’
Jake’s hand pushed Annie and she grabbed hold of the top of the fence just as two figures came hurtling up the path, followed by a car with headlights on full beam, blinding them. Jake landed on the ground with a loud thud as someone rugby tackled him. He landed on his back with some bloke on top of him. Annie, blinded by the light, began to shout, lost her grip on the fence and then slipped to the ground. She landed next to Jake and whispered, ‘We are so fucked.’
The car stopped in front of them and a familiar figure climbed out shouting, ‘Police, don’t move.’ Laura slapped a pair of handcuffs on Annie whilst Stu cuffed Jake. Annie took one look at Jake’s shocked expression and began laughing; Will stepped closer to take a look, pushing Twit and Twat out of the way, who were standing with batons and CS gas drawn, ready for battle. ‘Jesus.’
Jake grinned at him, ‘Alright Will, fancy meeting you here.’
‘Would you like to tell me exactly what you two are doing in here at this time of night?’
Annie was speechless; her laughter getting more hysterical by the second. Composing herself as best as she could she screeched. ‘Sorry officers, whatever it was it was me.’
Will clenched his fists in anger. Annie hiccupped so loud it echoed around the graves. ‘Sorry Will. Jake and I decided to do a spot of ghost hunting.’
Will’s voice shook as he barked at Stu and Laura to uncuff them. His cheeks were flushed red and he leant down to grab Annie’s arm. ‘Jesus Christ, I can’t leave you two alone for five minutes, you are a bloody liability.’
Jake had sobered up remarkably well compared to Annie, who was trying to stifle her laughter and not doing it very well. Jake looked at Will. ‘Sorry, it’s my fault. I begged her to come with me.’
Will shook his head and grabbed Annie’s arm much more roughly than he’d intended, instantly regretting it as her face became a mask of fear. She pulled away from his grip. ‘I can manage on my own.’ Annie sobered instantly; she knew that Will would never mean to harm her, not like Mike used to, but still her feelings were hurt.
‘Sorry to interrupt your little party Sir.’ She spat the words out. ‘Come on Jake, let’s go back to your house and finish that tequila. Oh and Will, don’t bother coming round after you finish whatever it is you’re doing in here. I’ll be far too busy holding a séance.’ She stormed off, making Jake jog to catch up to her. Neither of them spoke until they reached the gates where they looked at each other and started laughing once more. The wind carried the sound up to the chapel where Will was standing shaking his head and trying to figure out what had just happened.
Stu and Laura waited for Will to tell them what to do. ‘Right, since those two have almost certainly messed up any chance of catching our grave robbers tonight, I think we should leave. I can’t see anyone coming in here now after all that racket.’
The two specials looked relieved to be able to escape the boredom; they wanted to be out where the action was, although judging by what jobs had been passed over the radio in the last hour – a group of kids throwing stones at a taxi and a pensioner who had fallen out of bed – they wouldn’t get much excitement working ‘response’ either. Will was just glad to get rid of them; he’d had enough for tonight. He waited for them to get in the car and then muttered, ‘Come on, first round’s on me. If I get drunk I may just find all of this slightly amusing.’
Stu smirked. ‘It was kind of funny Will. What are the odds on those two deciding to give Most Haunted a run for their money while we were on observations in here?’
Laura laughed, she agreed with Stu. They got into the car and Will drove down to the gates where Jake was trying to give Annie a bunk up. Jake turned and saluted them. Will passed the keys to the gate to Stu. ‘Open the gates and let the stupid buggers out and don’t say a word. I’m really not in the mood.’
Stu got out and opened the gates. Will watched as Jake and Annie giggled at something Stu had said to them. It would be all around the station tomorrow but it wouldn’t be his fault; they only had themselves to blame. He waited for Annie to turn and look at him so he could smile but she didn’t, instead she clutched hold of Jake and stumbled off in the direction of his house.
Laura had been watching Will; she had seen the look in his eyes when Annie had marched off. He wouldn’t admit it but he was upset. Laura had never met a woman with so much baggage and even more bad luck. Fingers crossed Stu would be his normal wimpy self and leave them after half a pint of lager to get home to his wife. For all his bravado he was nothing more than a henpecked husband, it would be nice to be alone with Will in the pub. She’d had a thing for him for the past twelve months yet he’d not once looked at her in anything other than a professional capacity. She grinned to herself at the thought
of what she could do for him if she was given the chance. Stu looked at her and whispered, ‘Never in a thousand years, he’s in love.’
Laura shook her head, ‘Twenty quid says I at least get a kiss off him.’
Stu growled, ‘For twenty quid I’d want a blow job, not a kiss. Tenner and you’re on.’ Laura smiled sweetly and nodded in agreement.
June 25th 1984
Sophie and Sean were playing Hide and Seek upstairs. Sean wasn’t very good at it because he was too small to climb up into any of the cupboards, which meant that Sophie always found him. She had laughed at him last time she found him behind their mum’s bedroom door, hiding underneath her long, fluffy dressing gown. This was his favourite hiding place and he felt safe there because it smelled of coconut shampoo and his mum’s perfume. He buried his head into the soft robe to stifle a giggle when he heard Sophie shouting, ‘Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum I smell the blood of an English man.’
He could hear her footsteps as she ran along the landing, the creak of the bathroom door as she looked inside and the bang as she slammed it shut again and ran to the next bedroom. He was too young to understand that she was making a fuss so as not to make him feel bad about being too little to find a good hiding place – she was kind like that. She could be horrible to him, especially if he had taken one of her Sindy dolls for his A-Team men to rescue but most of the time she was nice. He heard her footsteps as she ran closer to his hiding place. He was staring down at his feet, so he didn’t see the dark the shadow that walked past the door but he shivered and felt his teeth begin to chatter. It was so cold; he hugged the robe tighter to him to keep warm. He sniffed and then gagged, there was an awful smell in the room – a bit like when his mum made veg for dinner and they didn’t eat it all because it was horrible. She would forget and leave the pan on the cooker for days. He wondered if his mum was cooking veg for tea and he pulled a face. He didn’t like any of it except for the green peas and he only liked them because they made good ammunition for the A-Team to flick at the bad guys. The light left the room and Sean felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to prickle. It was sunny outside so he didn’t understand why the room had gone so dark. He wanted to peek out from his hiding place but his Hannibal voice was telling him ‘No’. He had to stay hidden then he would be safe. Sophie had stopped running about and he heard her make a funny, high-pitched noise. It wasn’t very loud at first but then she let out a really loud screech which made him jump with fright. There was a loud thud which was followed by more screaming. Sean was scared but he had to go and see what was wrong with his sister so he ignored Hannibal and ran from the room onto the landing where Sophie was curled into a ball screaming. He didn’t know what to do but then his mum came running up the stairs and bent down to see what was wrong with her. He had never seen anyone with a face as white as Sophie’s and he was afraid for her.
‘What’s wrong Sophie, tell me what happened?’
Sophie stared at their mum and shook her head. ‘There was a man, he was all black and he smelled really bad.’ She let out a sob and began crying.
‘What man, where did he go? Did he hurt you?’
Sean began to feel scared; he had smelled that bad smell but hadn’t seen any man. He turned his head to look around and make sure that the man wasn’t behind them. Sophie nodded her head and Sean watched his mum’s face turn the same colour as Sophie’s. ‘He pushed me over and told me to get out.’
Sean felt his knees begin to shake, he was so scared and he needed to pee really badly.
‘Sophie where did he go, is he still in here?’
His mum pulled Sophie up from the floor and then she grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed both of them behind her. She picked up a vase of flowers off the small table, discarding the flowers and dropping them to the floor.
‘Sophie I need you to tell me where he is, which room did he go in?’
‘I don’t know Mummy, I think he’s gone. He walked into the wall.’
She lifted a shaking finger and pointed at the wall opposite them and whispered, ‘He went through there but I think he will be coming back, he doesn’t like me.’
Sean watched his mum put the vase back on the table and then she turned to face both of them. ‘Sophie if you are telling me lies you will be in trouble young lady. No-one can walk through walls. Now do you want to tell me what really happened or are you going to continue telling fibs?’
Sean wanted to tell her that there was a man who had smelled bad but he didn’t want to make his mum even angrier so he kept quiet and didn’t look at Sophie. He felt sorry for her and she would be angry with him if he knew and didn’t speak up. But then his mum picked up the vase again and walked into each bedroom to look under the beds and in the wardrobes. Sophie and Sean followed her. She even checked the cupboard in the bathroom where the hot water tank was but the only things in there were piles of towels. The only place his mum didn’t check was the attic but since there was no ladder he reasoned that the man couldn’t be hiding up there, not unless he had super powers and could fly like Superman. He felt Sophie’s hot breath as she let out a sigh of relief, she was standing so close to him clutching his arm he couldn’t move it. Their mum turned to them both, ‘Now I don’t know what game you were playing or why you are telling lies Sophie but you mustn’t do that ever again. You nearly gave me a heart attack; I thought someone had attacked you.’
Sophie bent her head as big teardrops fell from her eyes onto the floor. Sean reached out his hand and curled his chubby fingers around Sophie’s cold, much more slender ones then squeezed hard – he believed her. Their mum went downstairs and they followed her, neither of them wanting to be upstairs without her in case the bad-smelling man came back through the wall.
Chapter 2
He perched on the arm of the sofa, admiring his handiwork. The woman lay there and didn’t move once, which was exactly how he liked it. He didn’t want to fight with her and he was glad there was no blood, he didn’t like it – no that wasn’t a strong enough word, he hated blood. The smell of it made his stomach churn and his knees go weak. A couple of times he had passed out because of it and he was getting better but he avoided it at all costs. When he had first put the plastic bag over her head she had tried to claw her way out of it but he had tie-wrapped it and the plastic was too thick and her nails too short to make a difference. Satisfied that she was dead he walked towards her, pulling the Stanley knife from his back pocket. He slid the button up so the blade was pointing out and slowly sliced the plastic in half, making sure the blade didn’t touch her skin and spoil everything. He didn’t have time to pass out or feel faint. He sliced through the thick, plastic tie and the bag loosened, pulling it away from her face and her soft, pink lips. He stroked her long, blonde hair. He tucked back the fringe which had come loose when she had been struggling and stared. She looked as if she was asleep – a sleeping angel. He had expected to feel deep regret at what he had done but he didn’t, what he felt was satisfied. For the first time in his life he felt as if some basic, primal need had been filled and he felt intoxicated from a feeling of well being which his normally troubled mind rarely felt. It was still early yet, he would have a couple of hours with his perfect angel before taking her to her final resting place. He hoped the priest would be the one to find her and not a little old lady, but it didn’t really matter who found her because people would soon come running to see what the fuss was about and the news would soon spread about his gift to God’s messenger.
He sat in the armchair and closed his eyes, memories from a long time ago filling his mind. His mother was to blame for everything that had gone wrong in his life. He wished that she was here to understand how messed up she had made him but she wasn’t. He was on his own, always had been and always would be. He must have dozed off because when he opened his eyes he didn’t know where he was and his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. Blinking a few times he looked over to see if the woman had come back to life and walked out. She was still there an
d very dead. He stretched out his hand letting his fingers brush her cheek, it was much cooler. Her lips had a blue tinge to them now; they didn’t look as kissable as they had done earlier. Standing, he picked up his iPhone and took a few pictures of her, sending them to the wireless printer he had in his small office upstairs. Best not to get these pictures printed out at the shop in town, they would raise some eyebrows!
He went upstairs and unlocked the door to the ofice, which was actually his spare bedroom. All the walls were painted white and on one wall were four large cork notice boards. Three of them were blank. He picked the two photos up off the printer and pinned them to the board he’d named Operation Gabriel. On this board were pictures of his victim’s house, views of the street from both ends. There was a small map of the surrounding area and her house was marked with a big red cross. Post it notes were pinned to it as well with her name and phone number. There was a picture of the coffee shop she used two or three times a week to get her skinny latte with a dusting of chocolate sprinkles on top. Once she’d bought a slice of lemon cake, but even this had been to go. He’d never seen her sit down and relax, take five minutes. He’d stand in the queue behind her and twice when she’d turned he’d grinned at her. Flustered she’d smiled then turned back to face the barista and wouldn’t look around again. She had no family or friends that visited her and she never went with anyone to get her coffee. He’d been watching her for four weeks now and the only visitor she had was the electricity man to read the meter. It looked as if Tracy Hale was as lonely as he was, he had no idea who would be the one to report her missing. It was quite sad really. He stepped back to admire his work; Op Gabriel was almost over. He just needed to secure her in the church grounds without getting caught and then it would be time to start the next operation. He enjoyed the information gathering part of it almost as much as the killing and he wondered if he wasn’t wasting his talents in his current job.