Heavenly Hunted

by Aria Williams

  Another part of the group dealt with domestic violence. It was a theory that many women who were fighting for the right to vote would be met with harsh treatment by their own husbands. In reality, it was a horrible truth. As the group gained more exposure, many of our members left. Of course, I worked on the side doing what I do best, but I had to be especially careful as to not destroy the progress already made.

  I had developed a close friendship with a lady named Jane. She was supported by her loving family and very caring husband Fred. He was understanding towards the cause, but tried not to show his support openly in public. In those days he would have been crucified by his colleagues.

  I spent many late nights at their house, organizing posters which were made from hessian. We took great pride painting each letter by hand

  We developed a strong, close relationship over six months. I was even asked to become godmother for their young child, who was two years old. I declined their invitation, and suggested another members of the group who was a mutual friend. They respected my decision and loved me just the same.

  Two days before the christening we were scheduled to attend a suffrage meeting. Jane never showed. The other members thought she had pulled out like so many before her, but I knew that wasn’t the case. I rushed to her house after the meeting, .

  Whispers strayed down the street and found me easily, these murmurs acted as an evil type of gossip, and held no sympathy for Fred. I couldn’t believe my ears—they bled with each new rumor and my heart ached. My heart cramped inside itself, the loss I felt for Jane was overwhelming. I held onto the small glimpse of hope that they were talking about another Jane I didn’t know.

  When I arrived at their residence, my hopes were crumbled. A policeman had taken over Fred’s house, yelling at him, demanding answers as to why his wife’s body had ended up in a shallow grave by the river. I fought back an intense burn at the back of my throat and worked through the horrid feeling of dread as it pulsated through my veins. I needed to get over my own feelings of loss and be strong for this family. I struggled with my emotions. I wanted to barge inside and throw out this officer. Could they not see that Fred was grieving deeply for his beloved wife? The cocky young lieutenant who was running the open interrogation, stepped well out of his boundaries. The small crowd parted as an older, seasoned policeman walked into the house, gave Fred his deepest regards, then clipped the young man under the ear and dragged him out. Whatever the senior officer said made a lasting impression upon this young rookie.

  Ten years later, I read in a local newspaper on the other side of the country what an outstanding officer this young man had become and how he cleaned up the streets of that small fishing village.

  I took control of the situation at hand threw everyone out. Fred was distraught, he wasn’t moving and I couldn’t get a response from him. I got the lady next door to take the children.

  Sitting Fred down, I took a seat next to him and grabbed his hand for comfort.

  “Do you know who has harmed your wife?” I felt evil asking, but every family has skeletons.

  He never answered, he was still in shock. I made him a coffee, then sat back down with him for as long as I could. I itched to get away and investigate for myself. Finally I couldn’t take it any longer. My presence here wasn’t making a difference. I left to look at the place his wife’s body had been dumped.

  The area had a vile horrible feel to it. My stomach swirled around, jumbling up the dinner I had eaten. I developed a slight headache, but took no notice to it. The body had been moved but I was looking for anything to give me a clue as to the identity of the person who had committed this crime. The area was very wet. A lot of people had been here and stampeded all over the scene, I feared there was nothing left to form any case, even if the police found a killer. But in those days, even if you did find some evidence to use, it was easy to get out of a crime. Alibis could be bought easier than milk and bread. It was just too dark. I decided to go home and come back at first light.

  The search the next morning proved to be very beneficial. The crime scene itself held nothing of value, but the tracks leading away from the scene did. They weren’t easy to find and had been covered up very well, but you couldn’t miss the flattened grass where the body had been dragged through the dense bushland. There was at least 100 meters of tracks, but only one set of footprints and they were large. Uncommonly large for those times; it shouldn’t be too hard to find a big foot.

  I kept in close contact with Fred and discovered a few days later the real site where Jane was murdered. It was down the road from her house. Jane had left early to trade some eggs at the local shop for meat, but had never made it. Somewhere along the way she met a man, lured under false pretenses, then murdered. Jane was slain with hundreds of lashings, until the pain had become too much and I presumed she had a heart attack. No one had heard a single noise. The case was never solved.

  This was more than a lifetime ago and not something to dwell upon. Such treacherous acts shouldn’t be remembered in vivid details as I have done, I’ll be experiencing some beautiful times ahead and don’t wish to spoil this time.

  I spent most of the school day with Nate. Mark had to leave halfway through the day to make a few statements to the police about his sister’s behavior. They’d decided to take her accusations seriously. I knew it was hard on him to watch Hopwood parade around in front of the students for the past few years with the knowledge of what he had done. I hoped that through this act of providing his eyewitness accounts of his sister’s behaviors, some of the pain from the last few years will be healed.

  Without Mark around tormenting me, I was getting bored. I hadn’t realized how much entertainment he had provided. I knew what I needed and that was a case. I wanted to give some jerk a well deserved boot up the ass.

  ***

  The last class of the day was history. I normally enjoyed this class, but today I couldn’t. I sat in my chair bouncing around. It was like I had ants in my pants. The ugly pimpled kid who Mark hated was being all kinds of rude, most of his disparaging comments about Joan of Arc were directed at me. I wasn’t going to waste the energy on him today, and to my surprise, the fact that I ignored him pissed him off more. Good luck getting a girlfriend, pizza face, most of the year couldn’t stand him now. But that was only because he openly tormented ‘Nate’s’ girl. And seeing that Mr. Popularity was back, he was becoming more and more disliked by the minute. I really dislike bullying, but in his case, an eye for an eye.

  The last bell for the day rang and I jumped out of my chair, grabbed my bag, and nearly reached the door, when Mrs. Harvey asked me to stop for a chat.

  “Indy, are you okay? I’m worried about you.” Her motherly concern was evident.

  “Yes, ma’am, of course I am,” I said. I was so glad this boring day was over and I could throw myself into something worth my time.

  “Okay. You haven’t been your normal self today and I specially designed this class because I thought the content would interest you.”

  I really wasn’t too interested in Joan of Arc. Actually, in my opinion, she suffered from schizophrenia. She was one hell of a smart chick on one hand, but on the other she was as dumb as dog shit. If she was that close to God, she would have seen her death coming. Come on, who wouldn’t try to prevent that?

  “I’m fine, Mrs Harvey.”

  “Okay, dear. Off you go.”

  I left before she had even finished speaking. The corridors were just about empty. I could see both Nate and Connor waiting outside for me, neither were looking at the other. Connor seemed annoyed to be waiting with Nate. I knew how Connor felt about Nate, but I wasn’t sure about the other. Nate was a little more mature and a lot harder to read. He was older in many ways than the other boys in more than just years.

  That’s when I remembered he was 21, not 17 like the rest of us. I walked out and they kept in step with me all the way home. I walked in the front door and went straight to the phone. I pressed th
e flashing button and got out my note pad. I had moved the phone into the lounge room a few days ago, but put the ring on silent. It was like my secret but not so secret phone. Nate leaned against the wall opposite me with his arms crossed over his chest and looked unimpressed.

  Chapter Six

  Nate

  I couldn’t believe how utterly stupid that girl is, we had established that there’s a new hunter in town stalking Indy and all she can think about was finding some men to hurt or whatever it is she does. “So what do you think you’re doing?” I ask as even-headed as I can.

  Indy looked at me, noting that I’m not trying to be an ass, and turned to me.

  “I’m going to save an unfortunate lady from being hurt or victimized by some horrible man.” Pride filled her voice, conviction shone in her golden eyes.

  Fair enough. I could see she spoke with passion about helping these women, but from what I had read and seen about her methods, they weren’t pleasant. I’d done a lot of guessing in the past and now I have to stop being foolish and take the blindfold off.

  “How do you do this?” I still tried to be calm.

  “Well, normally it involves lots of threats and plenty of intimidation, then if they give me shit, I stomp on their heads.”

  I took some deep breaths and tried to calm myself. I was close to yelling, but I didn’t want a fight or cause an argument. Indy jumped straight into attack mode without falter.

  “And I love to kick ‘em in the balls, that’s my favorite move.”

  “What the hell, are you stupid?” I pushed the words from my mouth with that much force, it felt like my rage had been forced from my throat. I was close to losing control of my anger, no amount of fighting with myself would push it back down. As expected, Indy stepped into my comfort zone, her nose nearly touched mine. She wasn’t happy, blackness flowed from her nostrils and tickled my senses, the taste was horrid. I pushed down the adrenalin and tried to bottle it up.

  “You’re living in my house, you don’t get to tell me what to do. I am owned by no one, Nate.”

  Indy walked away from me, mumbling loud enough for me hear. Mind your own business, you can always sleep in the gutter. I moved extremely fast to stand in front of her.

  “I’m trying to help you—why do you have to make it so difficult?”

  Connor had come over to join us. He stood next me. I think he supported what I had to say.

  “Nate’s right, this isn’t the right time to do this.”

  For the first time since I arrived, we both agreed on something..

  “The timing is irrelevant, your methods are very harsh.” I backed up Connor’s statement.

  Connor nodded in agreement; Indy barged her way through us and stormed upstairs to her room.

  Connor raced after her. I grabbed my phone, connected the headset, and put the buds in my ear. I was going to run off my frustrations to some angry music.

  I ran around the town twice. It was starting to sprinkle now but I ignored the rain. I was still angry at Indy. I didn’t think this would be the end of her trying to get a case—maybe for now, but this was her nature. For hundreds of years Indy had gone out and taught men a lesson her way. I didn’t see this changing overnight, I had to present Indy with some other choices. There must be a way that she could still help women without hurting men. I just had to come up with an idea. Maybe she could give talks at women’s shelters. It was a good idea in theory, but the practicality was zilch. Indy had all the experience necessary and countless stories, but her age was the biggest factor. At the end of the day she still looked seventeen, her age was a curse. Indy’s perfect disguise provided so many lost opportunities.

  The rain had become heavier, my clothes were getting noticeably damp and I was chaffing in undesirable areas. I decided to head home. I was on the other side of town and would be drenched by the time I reach Indy’s. Pushing through the heavy downpour, I reach the house in no time.

  A soft yellow glow lit up the hallway and travelled down the stairs, Indy was still up. I had nothing to offer her at this stage, so I was going to leave her alone. I switched on the TV, then lay down on the lounge, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was airing. Tonight’s episode was from season seven, Buffy trains the potentials, these girls are not quite slayers because Buffy or Faith has to die for one of them to move up in the ranks. They had no one to help them train, so Buffy herself stepped in. They had to learn how to defend themselves. That’s when I got a wonderful idea—Indy should start up her own self-defense class. It would only take up a few hours a day. She could offer a range of classes, one for young girls and one for older women. It was a great idea, but it would have to wait. I had stirred her up enough for the moment.

  I turned off the TV and lay down in bed ready to sleep, this lounge was starting to become uncomfortable. The only sound in the house was me repositioning in an effort to get cozy. Once I found that nice spot, I lay still and enjoyed the stillness of the silent house. Everyone had gone to sleep except for me, these were the times I enjoyed the most. I had been alone doing my own missions since I was a teenager, solidarity had been my life. And I enjoyed it till I realized what I had been missing.

  I closed my eyes and relaxed my breathing, sleep would be here soon. That’s when I heard the tiniest of noises outside. It was only a faint scuffling of shoes, but it was enough to get my attention. I stood up and peered outside the window. The rain was coming down in thick sheets now and bouncing in each puddle, disintegrating in mid-air. Each pitter patter mimicked the one before it. I walked to the front door and stepped outside. The night was still, each black area owned its own shadow. I scanned as slowly as I could. I read each shadow’s story and learned nothing new. There was no one out here. I turned to go back inside but stopped as something caught my eye. On the very top step was half of a muddied shoe print, the sole was small and looked like it belonged to a girl. Someone had been here, listening on this doorstep, hoping no one would know. An awareness of being watched settled on my soul. It felt like a thousand tiny insects crawling over my spine. I knew she was out there, I just needed to find her.

  Chapter Seven

  Indy

  Connor followed me upstairs, his movements were loud and clumsy. He was angry with me or concerned, whatever emotion it was, he was being Connor, the big cuddly teddy bear I had grown to admire and trust more than myself. I closed the door behind him in my room, to signal no one else was welcomed. If I could lock it to keep out other unwanted people in this house, I would. I would look into that.

  I sat on my window seat and looked out at the town below. Nate had left for what I assumed was some exercise. He did have to keep himself in peak shape. It would have taken time to tone his body to the cruelly defined condition he sported. Thinking of his biceps and abs were making me drool with excitement. For frig sake, I’m angry at him, not turned on.

  Why did he have to jerk me around? And after all the crap he had done in the past, why did I have to respond in a taunting way? I mentally grabbed my own shoulders and shook the daylights out of myself. He was trying to tell me what to do. He was just as much of a problem as this Bernie chick.

  Connor stood behind me waiting. I turned around to find him in the same pose as he had downstairs. Guessing by the way he had his arms across his chest, he wasn’t too happy with me. I copied his stance. I was going to stand against Connor. I was pretty sure he would cave easily.

  “Why are you doing this?” asked Connor.

  “I’m not doing anything that I wasn’t before, Connor.” I thought using his name would alert him to how serious I was.

  “It’s a lot more dangerous now. If she catches you, she won’t hesitate. We have to assume that what Nate has been saying is true.”

  I was getting so mad. Why did everyone think she was a bigger threat than me?

  “Why do you have so little faith in me? I’ve lived for hundreds of years. Do you think there haven’t been others who tried to kill me?”

  The anger was buildin
g up. I put my hands on my hips. As Connor backed up, I realized I was intimidating him. I quickly moved my arms to my sides. It was too late; the damage had been done. I moved towards him as he stepped back once more, his hands quivering at his sides. I was at a loss. I could close the gap between us and go for a hug to remedy the situation or do nothing. Either move has the potential to be damaging to our close-knit friendship. I decided to do nothing and sit on my bed. I left him enough room to join me… the decision was his.

  I was relieved when he made the choice to sit, but there was enough room between us for a large elephant.

  He sighed loudly. “You know I just don’t want to see you hurt.”.

  My own sigh filled the silence that followed. “I need you to have faith in me—you of all people, Connor.”

  “I can’t tell you what to do, but I won’t approve if you do what you want. I have to stand firmly with Nate on this one.”

  Connor’s arm went around both of mine in a friendly hug; a few inches lower and it may have been questionable. The longer he held me, the more apparent it became that we would only ever have friendship . He let go of me and left my room. I was a little glad I had something to check out.

  I wanted to inspect the wall behind my wardrobe. I vaguely remember seeing a phone jack when I moved in. I grabbed the side of the wardrobe and moved it forward just enough to confirm my thoughts. Hidden neatly behind the wall within reaching distance was a tiny socket, that made things a lot easier. I was going to move the phone into my room while Nate was on his jog.

  Fifteen minutes later I was getting that jittery, excited feeling. I wanted to put on my happy pants and do a crazy dance. I pressed the button to hear my first case in weeks. The possibilities excited me, my heart thumped hard in my chest in anticipation.