by Sara Dalton
Chapter Eleven
7th April 2016
Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
Addison stood by the exit as she tried to phone Fletcher. But he didn't answer. She stepped away from the smoking shelter where the staff had a quick cigarette while she dialled Fletcher’s number one last time. Addison shook her head as she stuffed her phone into her pocket and headed back inside the hospital. The doctor had told her she had a concussion and that she needed to take it easy or it could cause more bleeding from her nose. The process of being checked moved along a lot quicker than she thought so it’s a possibility that Fletcher was still booking Michael Ray into the cells. She pressed her fingers to her nose feeling the bandage taped to her face, hoping no-one was thinking she had a nose job. That certainly wasn’t the case.
She took her phone out from her pocket again as she entered her hospital room they provided her when she was first brought in. She had no messages or missed calls from Fletcher. She didn’t know whether she should wait for him or make her own way back to the police station. She grabbed her plastic bag and gathered her things together. She left her room and headed down the corridor where she found Robert leaning against the counter talking to the receptionist. She rolled her eyes when he glanced her way.
“I thought Fletcher was picking me up,” Addison said.
“He’s still dealing with Michael Ray, so I offered to get you,” Robert replied.
“Oh, how kind of you. I need to injure myself for you to actually notice me.” Addison replied sarcastically. She folded her arms over her chest as he stared at her.
“I’m trying to help my partner.”
“Your partner? I’ve been with Fletcher the whole time. He’s been my partner, not you.” Addison replied. She strolled by Robert, out through the exit into the car park. He trudged behind her, jingling his keys in his pocket. Addison stood by his car waiting for him to unlock it, but she knew he was purposely taking his time. When he finally unlocked it, she jumped into the passenger side while Robert got behind the wheel.
“I’ll drop you off home and you can take the rest of the shift off. Recover and be in early tomorrow, we have a suspect to interrogate.” Robert replied.
“Fine. Wait, we?”
“Yes ‘we’, including you.”
“Fine.” Addison pouted her lips and glanced out of the window trying to hide her smile.
The car journey to her place was quiet. Robert didn’t make any more effort to talk to her and the only time Addison spoke, was directing him to her flat which wasn’t far from the hospital. He pulled up outside as he stared out of his window to her little studio flat.
“This yours?”
“Yes, it’s small but cozy. Don’t judge it by the way it looks.”
“I’m not judging.”
“You are, I can see it on your face,” Addison said. Robert stared at her trying to keep a straight face. She folded her arms over her chest unimpressed, the moment he laughed she got out of the car. She stomped her way towards the front door while Robert sat in the car as he watched her go inside her tiny home. Before she shut the door behind her, she saw Robert still watching, she gave him a small wave before he sped off down the street. She closed the door and placed her keys in the small bowl on the table by the entrance. She slipped her shoes off and placed them on the shoe rack. Addison entered her living room, slinging her handbag onto the sofa.
She glanced at the mess on her coffee table, an old case file she had taken from the archives without knowledge. The thought of getting into trouble has crossed her mind many times, but she didn’t care. It meant something to her. The case of the silent killer from 30 years ago. All the documents were scattered over the table with pictures of the silent killer’s victims.
She was meant to clear them away last night, but she got so engrossed in reading them. She picked up her empty wine glass from last night and placed it in the sink. In her cupboard, she pulled out another clean wine glass and placed it on the counter. The half-empty bottle of wine was still on the side from the night before and poured herself a new glass. She knew she shouldn’t but it helps her sleep and she knew the medication wouldn’t.
She took it to the sofa and sat beside the case files she had been reading, the silent killer case that she can’t seem to forget. She reads each file every night before bed, thinking about different possibilities which would make no difference now. Once she had finished with them, she knew she had to put them back into the archives.
The silent killer case was written on the side of the box. There were many pictures of teenage girls who were murdered, seven of them. It was a very gruesome case and it was one that no one could ever forget, especially Addison. She started to stroke the scar on her wrist, trying hard to put the nightmares behind her. Each memory flashed into her mind, haunting her. She took a sip of her wine and picked up one of the pictures from the file.
It was the first victim of the silent killer. His victims were single parents with teenage children, by blood they were bound to him and if they disobey, this was the price they had to pay. She placed the picture back down and picked up another one, this time it wasn’t a teenager. It was a picture of her mother.
She threw the picture down and got up with her glass of wine that was nearly empty. She moved over to her window and peeked out from her curtains. The darkness started to take over the sky. The black clouds were moving through the ending daytime in a rush and within minutes it would be evening. Addison glanced back at the case files on the table and the picture of her mother on the top, there were similarities to the case she was working on now. But would it be too soon to assume that they were looking for a copycat killer? Should she let Robert know?
She drained what was left in her glass and decided to take a quick hot shower. Once she was finished, she took some painkillers as her nose was causing slight pain. Her phone started ringing and she rushed over to pick it up, it was Fletcher.
“Ads, how is the nose?”
“Ads? And yes, the nose is fine.”
“My nickname from now on for you. Addison is a mouthful and McCain is a tongue twist. Ads it is.” Fletcher said. Addison was sure she could hear him smiling down the other side of the receiver.
“Was there a point to this phone call?”
“I wanted to see how you were doing. Robert picked you up from the hospital? He came back and told me that you’re taking the rest of the shift off. So just wanted to check in and make sure there wasn’t any serious damage.” Fletcher almost sounded concerned. Although Addison was convinced that he probably sent Robert to her.
“Yes, and yes, there was no damage caused. I’ll be back first thing tomorrow morning. We can interview Michael Rays as soon as we arrive at the station. I’ve got a bad feeling about this case.” Addison mentioned. She knew she shouldn’t have said anything, but her lips carried on moving and blurted it out.
“You and me both, I’ve been looking into this old report on the internet about the silent killer, it could be a coincidence…”
“The silent killer? Are you sure? That was a very gruesome case and they took years before they caught that killer.” Addison said. She tried to sound as negative as she could, make him believe that it was just a coincidence. She didn’t want to go into that, into her past. But she knew she would have to sooner or later.
“Addison, this is a gruesome case we are on now. Wendy’s daughter witnessed her mother dead on the counter.” Fletcher reminded her. He was right, this was a gruesome case and the similarities to the silent killer case was too much.
“You’re right, let’s interview Michael and see where that leads us. Let’s hope we have no more murders and this was just a domestic.” Addison hoped. She knew deep down this wasn’t going to go down well.
“I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow,” Fletcher said. Addison said her goodbyes and she was left with the picture of her dead mother on top of the silent killer case.
“Good night Fletcher
.”
Addison put her empty glass on the table on top of the pictures and headed to her bedroom. She sat on her bed and plugged in her charger to let her phone charge overnight. Her first case had brought back the events of what happened to her twenty years ago. She was sixteen years old when she found her mother, and the killer was eventually caught - no thanks to Addison. She was bound by blood and she obeyed him.
Addison was adopted into a new family and she even changed her name to what it is now. The name Madison Reed was a cause of severe depression at a young age for her, but she saw a counsellor. As days went on, she made herself worthy and that’s when she joined the police force, she was a uniformed officer for a few years, but she wanted more. Addison got into her white silk nightie and headed into the kitchen. She grabbed her bottle of wine and refilled her glass. She sat down and started to read the autopsy reports from the silent killer case until she eventually fell asleep on the sofa.
Addison awoke with a start. She sat up on the sofa and glanced around the room forgetting where she was for a moment. She sat on the edge of her seat and hung her head between her hands.
Finally, she picked up her empty glass and empty bottle, she took them through to the kitchen and put them in her glass box for the recycling lorry in the morning. She placed the box by her front door and noticed she had a letter through her letterbox. It had her old name written on the front. Madison Reed. She stood staring at it as her heart pumped harder than it should. That’s a name she hadn’t used or seen for a long time, but now its right in front of her.
She picked it up wondering if she should open it or throw it away. She placed it on the counter in the kitchen and left it there. She went into her bedroom and got into her bed, she expected it to be warmer, but it wasn’t at all. She glanced at her phone and the time was four in the morning. She only had a few more hours of sleep before waking up to be ready for work. But her mind kept coming back to the envelope sitting on her counter in the kitchen.
Chapter Twelve
8th April 2016
Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
Addison stood outside Robert’s office and knocked. There was no answer so she thought that he wasn’t here yet. She headed back downstairs to the cafeteria where she saw Fletcher having breakfast. She sat in the empty seat opposite him while he stuffed his face with a bacon sandwich with brown bread, tomato ketchup dripping onto his plate. Addison grabbed a black coffee with three sugars, hoping it will heal her hangover from the amount of wine she had drank the night before. Only one glass would be enough, but since the start of this case with Fletcher and Robert; she needed more.
She grabbed a spoon and stirred her coffee vigorously, Fletcher watched her as she furrowed her brows. He looked at her nose, it was swollen.
“How’s your nose?” Fletcher asked as she finally looked up at him. Unintentionally her hand touched her nose, she looked in the mirror before she left this morning and it looked bad but she hoped it would have gone down a little bit when she arrived at the station.
“They gave me some painkillers but there wasn’t any permanent damage. You could have warned me Robert was going to pick me up yesterday.” Addison pouted at him. Fletcher started laughing.
“He wanted to get you and take you home. How sweet.” Fletcher teased, almost sounding sarcastic. Addison sipped her hot black coffee and saw Robert heading towards them.
“He’s coming,” Addison whispered.
“Hello, children, ready for a good days work? I want results. Let’s get a move on.” Robert rushed them. Fletcher glanced at Addison and they both noticed Robert seemed to be in a good mood, but Addison knew with her around that it wouldn’t last long. The pair both got up from their seats and followed Robert down the hallway and up the stairs to the CID, Criminal Investigation Department. They headed through the double doors.
“I’ve already had someone put Michael Rays in the interrogation room. Fletcher and I will start off the interview, you can watch from the side for now.” Robert said, directing it mainly towards Addison.
“But why sir,” she started. She wasn’t happy at all that Robert has decided to push her to the side again.
“McCain, just watch for now.” He told her. She knew his mood would change around her. She kept her mouth shut and followed the men down the corridor to the interrogation room. Robert took a seat with Fletcher by his side. Addison slipped in and stood at the back, in the shadow. Michael Ray was watching her. She stood with her arms crossed waiting for Robert to start. He started rustling through papers he had with him, he licked his finger as he glanced at each sheet slowly. They were all sitting in silence and Addison noticed that Michael was starting to fidget in his seat as he watched Robert. He was taking his time on purpose.
“How long have you know Wendy Willis or was she Wendy Phillips back then?” Robert started.
“Philips, Wendy Philips. She went back to her maiden name after she split up with Carl.” Michael said.
“Wendy Philips, how long have you known her for?” Robert asked.
“I’ve known her for years, eighteen years to be exact.” He replied as a matter of factly as he sat in his chair straight folding his arms over his chest.
“Where were you on the night of the twenty-third of April?”
“I was at home with my ma, you should be talking to Carl. He’s the problem here.”
“Why should we be talking to Carl?” Addison was surprised how calm Robert was. He’s never raised his voice or even changed his tone.
“Well, Carl divorced Wendy because he found out about Anna. She’s my daughter and he got angry with her. Didn’t take him long to get a new bird though, he was never good for Wendy.”
“And what? You are?” Addison whispered but everyone still heard her. Michael sat up straight in his chair and his brows knitted together. Addison didn’t like the way he was looking at her.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Michael started clenching his fists under the table where Addison noticed from where she was standing. Robert glanced around at Addison and she looked away. He was giving her a warning. She didn’t say anything else and he carried on.
“You were arrested for many accounts of domestic abuse towards Wendy.”
“That doesn’t make me a killer.” Michael laughed.
“It makes you a suspect.” Addison couldn’t help herself. Robert turned in his chair again and looked at her again. She saw the scowl he gave her.
“What’s her problem? Why she even here?” Michael started. Robert got up from his seat and gestured for her to take his place.
“Why don’t you sit down and I’ll stand back and watch.” Robert moved towards the back with his arms crossed over his chest. Addison glanced at Fletcher and he nodded his head to the seat. She was slightly embarrassed that Robert put her on the spot. She took in a deep breath and looked up at Michael. This was her moment to impress her boss.
“How did you find out Anna was your daughter?” Addison started. Michael moved in his seat as he glanced at Robert who stood in the corner.
“Why is she even asking me the questions now? You can’t do that,” Michael stood up from his seat. Robert stepped forward.
“Sit down and answer the questions.” He raised his voice, it even surprised Addison as she sat straight in her seat. She watched as Michael sat back down in his seat and looked at her. He let out a long sigh.
“She ran away from me. When I found her, she had a new family. Anna, when I saw her for the first time, she looked like me. So I hung around and watched.” Michael explained. He paused and looked back at Robert. “I broke into the house and stole her hairbrush. I did a DNA test. And she was mine.”
“How long were you watching Wendy and her family before you stole the hairbrush?” Addison asked.
“So, after finding out that you had a daughter which she never told you about what did you have planned? Were you going to confront her?” Fletcher jumped in. He started to notice the angle Addison wa
s taking the interview and when he spoke Michael snapped his head towards Fletcher.
“That’s exactly what I did. When Carl found out he knew exactly who I was, we got into a fight and she threw us both out. She called me back the next day and she told me, Anna was mine. Carl had disappeared. She agreed that she would tell Anna that I was her father and it was up to her to decide if she wanted to see me.” Michael explained.
“And it was all happy families was it?” Addison said.
“Carl came back a few weeks later, he threatened Wendy that he would take Jake away from her. That was when Anna got involved, he hit her, and he hit her hard. Wendy got into a fight with him the moment he raised his hand.”
“And you happened to see all of this?”
“No, she called me that night. She was crying, asking for my help. But Carl ended up meeting someone else and she never heard from him again.”
“That’s it for now.” Robert stepped forward. He nodded to Fletcher who stopped the tape from recording. Addison could feel Michael’s eyes on her as they left the room. “I want you in my office in 10 minutes.” Robert pointed at Addison and then his finger moved towards Fletcher. “Go and take Michael back to his cell, he will be released on bail until further notice.” Robert ordered him. Fletcher nodded and went back into the room. Addison watched as Robert took long strides down the corridor back to the office, he wasn’t happy and she knew he was going to give her a bollocking. She trudged along behind him, preparing herself for the moment she walks through his door.
He opened it and moved to the side to let Addison inside the room first, which she did. He followed in after and shut the door behind him. She stood by his desk as he pulled the blinds in the window to stop any onlookers from the co-workers.
“Would you care to explain what the hell that was in the interview room?” Robert said as he stood behind her. She straightened her back and held her head up high as she prepared herself to tell him the truth.