The Guardians Complete Series 1 Box Set: Contains Mercy, The Ferryman, Crossroads, Witchfinder, Infernum

by Wendy Saunders

  ‘That’s correct.’

  ‘Once again, could you take me through the statement you made to Deputy Gilbert?’

  ‘There’s not much to tell. I was driving home; it was dark and there was a guy standing in the middle of the road. I didn’t see him until he was highlighted by my headlights and I slammed on the brakes. He ended up in a heap on the ground. I called Jake and we all ended up at the emergency room.’

  ‘You don’t know how he received his injuries?’

  ‘No,’ she shook her head. ‘Louisa said something about him having burns, but I don’t really know much more than that.’

  ‘He had stab wounds to his arm.’

  ‘I suppose I tried to stab him and set him on fire, before trying to run him down with my car then?’ she replied, her irritation showing through.

  ‘Sarcasm is unproductive Miss West, please refrain from it.’

  She raised her brow at his deadpan response.

  ‘Could you please get to the point Chief Walcott, I have no desire to spend all day in here. I do actually have a job you know and I’m on a deadline. I don’t really have time to waste playing these games with you.’

  ‘You stated you did not know, or recognize the victim?’ he ignored her waspish reply.

  ‘That’s right,’ she shrugged, ‘I have no idea who he is.’

  ‘Well he seems to know you.’

  ‘What?’ she frowned in confusion.

  ‘Although we have still been unable to ascertain his identity, he was carrying this on him when he was brought into the ER.’

  Olivia watched curiously as he pulled a sheet of paper out of the file. It was enclosed in a clear plastic envelope, sealed at the top with red evidence tape. He slid it across the table so she could pick it up.

  Her mouth fell open slightly and she pulled in a slow breath as she took in the fine lines of the sketch. It looked exactly like her, right down to the freckle on her cheekbone.

  She stared silently at the drawing. There was something about it that bothered her, more than the fact of a complete stranger having a picture of her. It was something else; it looked almost familiar. Not the image of her but the style of the artist, the paper, the pencil strokes. She was sure she’d seen some of the artist’s other work. She just couldn’t quite place it.

  Unconsciously pulling her lower lip between her teeth her gaze fell to the bottom corner, to the initials of the artist and she sucked in a breath. TB, Theodore Beckett.

  ‘Did you speak with the guy? Has he regained consciousness yet?’ she asked slowly.

  ‘Yes, we did speak with him,’ the Chief replied warily. ‘He didn’t reveal much; Dr Linden believes he is suffering from some kind of amnesia. He did however confirm that he drew that picture, but that he didn’t know your name.’

  ‘Impossible,’ the word was out of her mouth before she could censor her reaction.

  ‘What’s impossible?’ he leaned forward, his eyes eager.

  ‘Nothing,’ she murmured, her mind trying furiously to work it out.

  She was almost certain that if this was truly a sketch by Theodore Beckett, the same Theodore Beckett referred to in Hester’s journal, then it couldn’t have been done by the man in the hospital. That was just ridiculous. It would make him over three hundred years old. No, it was something else, some other explanation.

  Theodore Beckett’s journal was also in the box in her library with Hester’s journal and in his journal were several sketches. Maybe the guy had broken into her house and stolen the sketch.

  No, she unconsciously shook her head, that didn’t make sense. Why would there have been a sketch of her in his journal, unless it wasn’t her at all? What if it was a sketch of Hester? After all there was a really strong family resemblance between her and Hester as she was directly descended from her.

  Her mind was working furiously now. If it was a sketch of Hester and the man had broken into her house to take it, the question was why? Why take one sketch, a well hidden one at that, how would he have even known where it was, or that it existed, and why take it? There were just too many questions and not enough answers.

  Chief Walcott watched her face intently. She was trying to work something out, he was sure of it.

  ‘Miss West,’ he interrupted her thoughts. ‘Do you recognize this picture?’

  ‘No,’ she replied, dropping it back on the table.

  ‘You’re lying,’ he accused.

  ‘Why don’t you prove it,’ her gaze hardened as she once again leaned back in her chair. ‘Don’t I at least get a phone call or bathroom privileges?’

  The Chief glared at her, his jaw tightening with steely control.

  ‘Deputy Carl, would you be so good as to show Miss West where the restroom is?’

  ‘Sir,’ he nodded, as he beckoned Olivia to follow him.

  With an arrogant tilt of her head she stood, but as she swept past the Chief the door opened and Deputy Hanson walked in, holding onto a laptop.

  Waiting until Olivia and Carl were out of the room the Chief shook his head.

  ‘She’s hiding something, I know it,’ he murmured.

  ‘Sir,’ Helga interrupted.

  ‘What is it Deputy?’ He frowned as if he were just noticing she was in the room.

  ‘Morley Ridge sent over the security footage.’

  A slow smile spread across his face as he took the laptop and laid it on the desk in front of him.

  He opened it up and watched in silence. After a few minutes he closed the window and turned back to Deputy Hanson.

  ‘Well then,’ he replied smugly, ‘why don’t we just wait for Miss West to re-join us?’

  When Olivia finally stepped back into the room, she purposefully stalked over to the chair and hooked her jacket off the back. Shrugging into it she fixed the Chief with a steely gaze.

  ‘Chief,’ she said coolly, ‘I think we’re about done here. I have work to do and I can’t spare you any more of my time, so I’m afraid you’ll have to live without the pleasure of my company.’

  She headed toward the door, ignoring his frown.

  ‘We’re not done here Miss West.’

  ‘Yes we are,’ she turned to face him, hands on hips and eyes blazing belligerently. ‘So either charge me with something or stay the hell out of my way.’

  Turning back to the door she found Deputy Hanson blocking her way.

  ‘Get out of my way,’ her voice was low and controlled, ‘or badge or not I will make you get out of my way.’

  Helga looked at the Chief, who nodded and she stepped aside, allowing Olivia to pass.

  ‘It’s about your father.’

  Olivia froze in the doorway, her spine stiffening as she turned slowly back toward him, her expression carefully blank.

  ‘What could you possibly have to say to me about my father, that I would actually want to hear?’

  ‘Please,’ he indicated the seat opposite him, which she had just vacated.

  They stared at each other for a moment until Olivia finally relented.

  ‘Fine,’ her tone was curt as she moved around to the chair and sat back down. ‘You have exactly five minutes and then I am out of here and next time you want to speak to me, trust me, I won’t be so accommodating.’

  ‘Fine,’ he repeated as he sat back in his seat.

  He had the appearance of a man with aces up his sleeve and Olivia didn’t trust that one bit.

  ‘Four minutes thirty seconds. You’d better hurry up.’

  ‘Miss West, were you aware that there were a string of murders back in the summer of ‘94?’

  ‘I was eight Chief Walcott, what do you think?’ she replied derisively.

  Her eyes narrowed in distaste and she realized the more time she spent in the Chief’s company, the more her dislike of him intensified.

  ‘Besides,’ she continued bitterly, ‘that was the summer my mother died, as you are well aware. That pretty much eclipsed ev
erything else.’

  ‘Was murdered you mean,’ he corrected her.

  ‘That was a cheap shot and you know it,’ her lip curled in contempt. ‘Four minutes.’

  ‘That summer there were four murders, all young men between the ages of eighteen and thirty five. I am unable to disclose any more information, except to say that the first victim’s injuries matched Adam Miller’s exactly.’

  ‘A copycat?’ Olivia frowned.

  ‘We don’t think so. The manner in which he was killed, the method and the state of the remains, all matched exactly.’

  ‘What exactly are you getting at Chief?’

  ‘None of those details were ever released to the public.’

  ‘So you think it’s the same person? That someone took a twenty year vacation and then suddenly decided to start murdering again.’

  ‘Something like that,’ the Chief replied carefully.

  ‘I fail to see what this has to do with my father?’

  ‘The murderer was never caught and the murders stopped very abruptly... right after your father was imprisoned, as a matter of fact.’

  ‘Are you fucking serious?’ her voice was dangerously soft. ‘It isn’t enough for you that he was convicted of murdering my mother and grandmother, but now he’s a serial killer too?’ she shook her head in disgust. ‘You are unbelievable.’

  ‘Miss West, the time frames fit.’

  ‘Was he even a suspect in the original murders?’

  ‘Not at the time, no,’ he conceded.

  ‘Then why the hell would you suspect him now? He’s locked up in a secure mental facility.’

  ‘We suspect he may have an accomplice.’

  ‘An accomplice?’ she repeated slowly. ‘Chief you are trying my patience.’

  ‘When was the last time you saw your father?’

  ‘I haven’t seen or spoken to him in twenty years.’

  ‘Now that’s not exactly true is it?’ The Chief smiled coldly as he pulled a piece of paper from the manila folder in front of him.

  ‘What’s that?’ Olivia asked suspiciously.

  ‘The visitors’ log for Morley Ridge State Psychiatric facility.’

  Olivia clamped her lips shut and stared hatefully at the man in front of her.

  ‘Your name appears on that list on the 27th of October,’ his eyes flared with triumph at having caught her in a lie. ‘That was the day you arrived back in Mercy, was it not.’

  ‘Time’s up Chief,’ she moved to stand but he held out his hand to stop her.

  ‘One more moment of your time Miss West.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ she hissed.

  There was absolutely no point in trying to defend herself to this man. He didn’t want to hear the truth about what happened the day she went to visit her father. He was looking at her for murder and nothing she said was going to convince him otherwise.

  ‘I’m done trying to reason with you Chief Walcott. You want answers? I suggest you take a trip out to Morley Ridge and ask my father yourself.’

  ‘I would if he was there,’ he replied coolly.

  ‘What?’ her face visibly paled. She felt her stomach drop and her heart clenched painfully before beginning to beat erratically. ‘What do you mean he’s not there? Where have they moved him to?’

  ‘He wasn’t transferred,’ he carefully watched her reaction, ‘he escaped yesterday morning.’

  ‘You’re lying,’ she whispered, the color slowly draining from her face.

  He smiled slowly as he flipped open the laptop in front of him. He hit a few keys before spinning it around to face her. Olivia couldn’t move, every muscle in her body froze as her eyes fell on the face of the one man she had tried so hard to forget.

  She was obviously looking through the lens of a security camera. Her father was sitting in a room not unlike the one she was in now, except he was chained to his seat and wore a very unflattering, but clean and neat orange jumpsuit.

  He looked the same. Her heart squeezed painfully and she wondered how it was possible to both hate and love someone at the same time.

  He didn’t look like a murderer, he looked like the father she had adored as a child. He’d had barely aged at all, except for the greying hair at his temples. Charles Connell had always been a handsome man and although it shouldn’t have been possible he was now even more good looking.

  She continued to watch as another man entered the room and her breath involuntarily caught in her throat. She recognized the man with a young looking face and white hair instantly. It was the man she had seen outside the pub the night Adam was abducted, the same man she was now sure had been following her around town.

  ‘What is it?’ the Chief interrupted, as he noted her shocked expression, but she continued to ignore him, her attention firmly fixed on the scene unfolding on the screen before her.

  She watched on in horror as the two men donned gas masks and walked straight out of the door. The security feed switched and picked them up on the cameras mounted in the corridor, then the main entrance. They were joined by several other men who seemed to be in on the escape. They then pretty much strolled out the front door, before getting into an expensive car and disappearing.

  Her father was loose and he’d had someone watching her. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest and her lungs felt too small. She couldn’t breathe. The buzzing in her ears had now become a roar as she stumbled to her feet her vision graying at the edges.

  ‘I need to get out of here,’ she breathed heavily.

  Her chest felt like it was being crushed and there seemed to be an iron band around her temples that kept tightening.

  In her haste she tripped and fell against deputy Hanson. The Chief simply sat and watched her with a cool detachment which bordered on sadism.

  ‘I need to get out of here,’ she repeated as she struggled to pull herself free of the tight grip Helga had on her arms.

  ‘You’re not going anywhere Miss West,’ Chief Walcott replied coldly.

  ‘No?’ Olivia hissed as she pulled away again, ‘let me go.’

  The nausea rose in her throat as the first licks of panic took hold, crushing around her throat like a fist. Her heart was beating so wildly now it felt as if it would burst right out of her chest.

  Suddenly the door burst open and slammed against the wall so hard the mirrored window shook. Through her hazy vision she could make out masses of wild red hair and violent green eyes. For a brief irrational moment, Olivia thought she looked like a fiery Celtic goddess and she fought back the urge to laugh hysterically.

  ‘Take your hands off my client right now deputy,’ Erica’s voice cracked like a whip.

  Helga released Olivia and stepped back, her hands held up. Erica was across the room and pulling Olivia protectively behind her before anyone could blink.

  ‘I will have your badge for this,’ she threatened.

  ‘We were merely asking Miss West some questions,’ he shrugged easily. ‘She is here of her own free will.’

  ‘You are in so much trouble Chief Walcott,’ Erica replied acidly, ‘I don’t even know where to begin. But as of now this interview is terminated.’

  ‘It's over when I say it’s over,’ his eyes flashed. ‘As I said, Miss West is here voluntarily.’

  ‘Be that as it may,’ Erica’s fury was barely contained. ‘She agreed to answer a few questions; she did not agree to these bullying tactics.’

  ‘Now listen Miss Kelly,’ he snapped.

  ‘No, you listen,’ she interrupted coldly. ‘You will not come anywhere near my client unless you have absolute, incontrovertible proof against her, that will hold up in a court of law. If you do not, you will leave me no recourse but to lodge a formal complaint with your superiors and to advise my client to sue, not just your department, but you personally for victimization, undue duress, extreme emotional distress, harassment and anything else I can make stick. Do you understand me?’

 
; ‘Perfectly,’ he replied icily. ‘Deputy Hanson please escort Miss Kelly and her client out.’

  ‘Don’t bother,’ Erica retorted contemptuously. ‘We can find our own way out.’

  She kept a light hold on Olivia as they made their way through the department. Despite the fact that Olivia was white as a sheet, she held her head upright by sheer will alone.

  ‘I’m so sorry I didn’t get to you sooner,’ Erica whispered under her breath, just loud enough for Olivia to hear. ‘They kept stalling me.’

  Olivia didn’t trust herself to speak. She just concentrated on the doors and as soon as she was outside she ran around the corner down the alley at the side of the building. Resting one hand against the rough brick, she heaved and vomited on the ground, retching painfully, until finally her stomach was empty.

  ‘Jesus, Olivia,’ Erica rubbed soothing circles on her back. ‘What the hell did they do to you; this can’t just be about Brody disappearing?’

  ‘You know about that,’ Olivia gasped shakily, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

  ‘I do now,’ Erica frowned. ‘Tell me what happened.’

  ‘Not here,’ Olivia straightened, her body still shaky and her breath shallow. ‘Take me somewhere else and I’ll tell you what I know.’

  9.

  Olivia took a sip of her tea. Cupping her hands around the warmth of the cup the sweetness of the tea soothed her ragged throat, as well as her nerves.

  ‘I called Jake, he’s on his way.’ Erica wandered back into the library which was fast becoming Olivia’s favorite room in the house.

  Olivia was curled into the sofa. Erica pulled a throw off the back and tucked it over her, and glancing over at the fire she nodded in approval.

  ‘Good, I see you’ve started a fire.’

  Olivia wasn’t about to tell her just how she’d managed that and she quickly changed the subject.

  ‘Where is Jake? I expected him to be at the Police station.’

  ‘Salem,’ Erica replied.

  ‘What’s he doing in Salem?’ Olivia asked in confusion.

  ‘Fool’s errand,’ Erica shook her head. ‘Looks like the Chief wanted Jake out of the way because of his friendship with you.’