Within the Shadows

by J. D MCG

  Jacob started the engine and the car roared down the street. Between them, they couldn't decide what to have for dinner. Chinese food was their top choice, and Jacob knew Kate liked it too.

  * * *

  All Jack Roberts could think about was Charlotte. Why did I leave her alone when I knew that man had been in the garden? Questions flew around inside his mind.

  He continued to lay on his bed processing everything that had happened, but it hurt him too much to think about. Jack pulled himself off his bed, headed downstairs towards the kitchen, and made a sandwich. He hadn't even buttered one slice of bread before he heard a knock at the door.

  When the door opened, Jack lay eyes upon Mr Hussain standing in front of him.

  'What are you doing here, Avi?' asked Jack.

  'I know it was you!' Avi Hussain started to raise his voice so the entire neighbourhood could hear.

  'I don't know what you are talking about.'

  'You know exactly what I'm talking about,' he quietly threatened him through his teeth.

  'You think I killed Charlotte?' Jack asked in shock.

  'We all do,' he answered while pointing back to their neighbour’s homes.

  'Well, do they all know what you and my wife got up to while I went out running?'

  There was a slight pause. Avi had no idea Jack knew about his little fling with Charlotte. Jack had a slight smile in the corner of his mouth, and Avi noticed which made him very afraid of Jack.

  'And I'm guessing by your silence, you didn't know I knew about it?' he continued, laughing in Avi's face.

  'So is that why you killed her?'

  'What makes you believe I killed her?'

  'Because she was having an affair with me.'

  'Don't think so highly of yourself,' Jack continued to laugh. 'I couldn't care less if she was having an affair. The fact that you think you were special to her is hilarious. Charlotte was constantly sleeping around, she was a whore, but you didn't know that, did you?'

  Avi felt humiliated. This wasn't how he expected the conversation to go. Jack laughed before slamming the door in Avi's face and continued making his sandwich. He noticed the garden light was on as he glanced through the window. He felt a presence watching him, but there was nobody in his eyesight.

  Jack leaned in closer to the window to get a better vantage point of his garden. It's probably just a cat, he thought. But then something caught his eye. The mystery man was back, hiding almost out of sight, down the bottom of the garden.

  Jack took a step back out of shock, as the man laughed deeply. The light in the garden turned off sharply, leaving Jack with nothing but the thought of the man continuing to stare at him. He quickly darted for the back door and made sure it was locked, before rolling down the kitchen blind.

  Jack fell to the kitchen floor, terrified and panicking. Who is this guy? And what does he want?

  * * *

  Jacob and Belle arrived home with their arms full of Chinese food. Kate rushed over to help lighten the load and carried it through to the kitchen. All three of their stomachs growled as the smell from the food became unbearable.

  'Let’s hurry up and eat this grub,' Jacob announced.

  As the three of them tucked into their dinner, Jacob's phone began to ring and he began to sigh while placing his head in his hands. He picked his phone up off the kitchen counter and headed for his bedroom before answering.

  'DS Wright,' he announced.

  'Jacob, we've got another body,' Ally informed him.

  'Where?'

  'The same place our last vic was found,' she enlightened him.

  'Okay, I'll be there within the hour.'

  Jacob hung up, headed to the kitchen and scoffed some more of his food, before picking his coat up.

  'Where you going?' Belle asked.

  'Got another crime scene.'

  'But you've only just got home,' Kate sighed.

  'I know. I'm really sorry,' Jacob apologised before jogging for the door. 'I'll see you both later.'

  Jacob shut the door behind him and ran towards the elevator. Once he reached the ground floor, he sprinted to his car and raced towards the crime scene, with his police lights flashing brightly throughout the Birmingham streets.

  * * *

  Barnes awoke again, with a pounding headache, laying on a cold, damp floor. Confused and dazed about his surroundings, he realised he'd been moved. But when? he thought. I don't remember being anywhere other than the warehouse. He suddenly noticed a slight pain in the crease of his arm, like he'd been injected with a needle.

  As he rubbed where the pain resided, his eyes locked on to a little red spot. So they did inject me with something. He noticed his wrists weren’t tied together and as he moved his body to pull himself off the floor, his legs jangled with the sound of a metal chain. The chain, attached to ankle bracelets, connected to the wall beside him.

  'Where the hell am I?' he asked himself out loud.

  Barnes tried to shuffle to get a better look at his surroundings. He felt like the floor was tilting from side to side. That's some crazy stuff they gave me. His vision was blurry and his head was still pounding.

  The room was extremely dark, and the tiny square windows were blacked out. A noise made itself known to Barnes' ears. The sound of people laughing in the distance, chuckling away, enjoying themselves. I must be near to a road, he thought.

  Barnes roared out loud at the top of his lungs, 'Help!'

  He could still hear laughing as it gained closer, but Barnes' voice was too raspy from the injection he'd received.

  He tried again, opening his airwaves, 'Help! I'm in here!'

  Then he heard nothing but silence. Maybe they've heard me, he rejoiced. But then he heard footsteps, not coming from the other side of the wall, but coming towards the room, behind the door. Shit, he panicked. They've heard me.

  The door opened, blinding Barnes with a bright light, shining from behind the silhouette in front.

  'So, you're awake,' the voice said.

  Barnes knew exactly who it was. His captor was still nearby and had been the entire time. She must have heard his cries for help and come to silence him. They both heard the sound of people outside talking and laughing again, as Lily placed a finger over her lips, telling him to be quiet.

  Barnes had no idea whether to listen to her or risk it, to try and save himself. He took the option that would be less painful and hopefully keep him alive slightly longer.

  'Good boy,' she mocked him. 'You know what's best for you.'

  'Where are we?' he asked, unsure of their location.

  'Like I'm going to tell you that. If I hear any more from you, I'll have no choice but to gag you. Do you understand?'

  Barnes said nothing, just nodded, informing her that he understood her command. She slammed the door, shutting the light out from the dark, bitter room. He managed to get a good look at the size and appearance of the room before the light went out. The room wasn't very big but was straight and long. He was worried that because they'd moved, Jacob and the team wouldn't be able to rescue him and capture Lily and her associate. He felt truly alone and terrified of what might happen to him.

  * * *

  As Jacob arrived on the scene, he took a glance at the time. Is it really past nine already? He pulled himself out of the car, shut the door behind him and braced himself for what he was about to witness. He'd seen enough death and destruction these last couple of months. He worked so hard for this job, he couldn't quit now, so he decided to carry on. Jacob knew before he could think about quitting, he needed to find Barnes and have Lily behind bars.

  She ruined his life. The perfect life they'd built together came crumbling down the day her true identity and motive had been revealed. She was the love of his life and she killed him, not physically but mentally.

  As Jacob approached the tape, he could see Ally waiting for him just beyond. Sh
e stood with authority and pride but showed sorrow across her face. It suddenly brightened up with a smile as she locked sight upon Jacob. He returned the smile as he got closer.

  'Only an hour late,' she joked.

  'Sorry. So what's happened?' He noticed the forensic team coming out of Avi Hussain's house.

  'Mr Hussain was found dead this evening with extensive head trauma.'

  'Do we have a suspect yet?'

  'Can you guess?' she asked while looking across at Jack Roberts' house. 'The two had an altercation earlier this evening. Mr Hussain confronted Mr Roberts at his home. Nobody could tell us what it was about.'

  'Have you asked old Dorothy if she heard anything while emptying her bins?' he joked.

  'Already ticked that off the list,' she laughed, joining in with the joke. 'She didn't hear anything.'

  'Has anybody questioned Mr Roberts yet?' Jacob asked.

  'Not yet. I've been waiting for you.'

  'Did anybody see Mr Roberts approach Mr Hussain's house?'

  'Nobody,' she replied.

  'Let's bring him back to the station. I think we're best to get it on tape.'

  The two of them started to make their way towards Jack's front door. Jacob reached for the knocker and made three loud bangs.

  * * *

  Jack trembled inside. His forehead covered in sweat, knowing the knocking on his door was the police here to arrest him. He'd been peering outside through his curtains the last hour. He knew something terrible had happened and they were going to accuse him.

  'Go away,' he yelled.

  'Mr Roberts, it's DS Wright. Can you open the door please?' Jacob announced through the letterbox.

  'What, so you can arrest me? No chance.'

  'We just want to ask you a few questions,' Ally interrupted.

  'Who is this?' He was shocked to hear another voice.

  'DI Miller,' she announced herself.

  'Well, DI Miller, whatever it is you want to ask, you can ask it from there.'

  'We need you to come to the station,' Jacob continued.

  'No way. You're just going to arrest me as soon as I open the door.'

  Jacob tried to reason with him. 'Look Mr Roberts, we need you to come with us and answer a few questions down at the station. There's no cause to arrest you. Nobody has seen you leave your house since your altercation with Mr Hussain, so if...'

  'What altercation?'

  'We have multiple witnesses confirming yourself and Mr Hussain had a disagreement outside your house earlier today.'

  'He slept with my wife and has been for months. He came over to confront me and accuse me of killing my wife,' he explained.

  Jacob and Ally took a second to look at one another. They had just heard what the disagreement was about.

  'Then you should come to the station so we can record your statement on tape to help with our investigation.'

  It went silent. Jacob took a glance at Ally, unsure of what Jack was doing inside his house when they heard the door unlock and their suspect stood in front of them.

  'I'm coming to answer a few questions and then I can come home, right?' Jack asked.

  'Absolutely,' Jacob said, unsure of what the forensics would find.

  Ally and Jacob escorted Jack to the police car, with the whole neighbourhood watching. Jack walked with his head down, embarrassed about what was happening for the second day in the same week. As they crossed the police tape, news reporters pushed their cameras in their faces, while the paparazzi were taking photos with the flash blinding them.

  'Stand back please,' Jacob yelled while putting his hand out to cover the cameras in front of them.

  Reporters yelled out questions about who the suspect was and what had happened on that street, but Jacob and Ally ignored them and carried on back to the car. Jack was going to be all over the news and he'll be labelled as a killer for the rest of his life.

  Chapter 8

  Jack sat quietly inside the interview room, listening once again to Simon Ballard blabbering, awaiting the two detectives. His hand tapped nervously on the table while all he could think about was the fact his wife and her lover had both been murdered. The mystery man was the only person Jack could think would be behind it, but he didn't know why. Why would this man want them dead? Why does he keep following me and want to kill people around me? He had no idea.

  'Jack, you need to realise that you've been here twice within a week over two different murders,' Simon explained to him.

  Jack just carried on tapping his fingers on the table, before moving them towards his mouth and nervously biting his fingernails. Ally and Jacob entered the room. Jacob entered the tape into the machine while Ally informed the recording of all the usual relevant information.

  'So, Mr Roberts. Could you please explain for the tape what your altercation was with Mr Hussain earlier today?' Ally asked.

  'He came over to my house and started accusing me of murdering my wife,' he explained.

  'Why would he do that?' Ally continued questioning him.

  'I don't know why.'

  'Some of the neighbours heard shouting coming from your house the day before your wife's murder. Could that be the reason why he thought it?'

  'Possibly, but...'

  'But what?'

  'He and my wife were having an affair while I went out running,' he continued to explain.

  'How long would you be out running?' Jacob asked.

  'Probably about an hour or more,' Jack replied.

  'How many times a week would you go running?'

  'Pretty much every day, until...' he paused.

  'What is it? What's wrong?' Ally asked him.

  'Until I came across that man, the one with the disfigured face. Then I stopped going out.'

  'And is this man still following you?' Jacob threw a question at him, already knowing the answer, but he wanted Jack to answer honestly for the tape.

  'Yes. I saw him earlier today. I think he's the one doing all of this, but I don't know why.' He started to cry.

  'Do you have any cameras in your garden or around your property?' Ally asked.

  'No.'

  'What about your neighbours?'

  'I don't know,' he replied.

  Jacob started to write down a few notes. One was to make sure they check any of the surrounding houses for cameras. Ally announced to the tape the end of the interview with the current time, before standing up to shake Jack's hand.

  'Thank you, Mr Roberts. We'll be in touch as soon as we know more, though we might need you to help one of our sketch artists with the description of our suspect.'

  'No problem,' he agreed while shaking her hand.

  Ally showed both Jack and Simon out of the room while Jacob remained seated, thinking about what Jack had just said. Ally glared at him.

  'Are you coming or what?'

  'Yeah, I'm just thinking.'

  'Oh yeah, about what?'

  'This mystery man. Who is he to Jack?'

  'That's what we're going to try and find out,' she replied.

  'I just don't believe him,' he admitted.

  'Why?'

  'It just seems like whenever he's questioned he brings up this man from out of the blue. It just doesn't seem right, that's all.'

  'Come on,' she laughed at him, before ushering him out of the room.

  * * *

  The next morning arrived, and Jacob couldn't help but think about the letter his father had left for him. Something didn't add up. He sat inside his car, pondering about the letter. Why did Dad write numbers in words and digits? He read the note again, trying to make sense of it.

  "My son.

  If you're reading this, then you know I'm gone. You have made me the proudest father in the world along with your brother and sister. There are parts of my life that I have kept secret from you all of these years. You and Adam, my 2 boys. Sinc
e your mother died, I am so proud of how you two adapted to carrying the weight of my depression, and helping me and Maria when your little sister arrived. The 3 of you are the best children a father could ask for.

  My secret life I tried to keep well hidden from you, but I fear you will soon learn the truth. Barnes will fill you in. He's 1 of the only people I truly trust.

  I love all 3 of you very much.

  Dad."

  Then Jacob remembered the receipt he found in his father’s office. An annual payment for a storage locker. He rummaged through his coat pocket for the receipt. Maybe he's giving me clues to something.

  Jacob put his foot on the accelerator and drove to the storage locker. He phoned Ally.

  'Ally, it's Jacob. I need your help with something. Meet me at the storage lock-up facility on Clyde Street,' he requested.

  'Isn't that where Lily's locker was? What's going on, Jacob?' she asked.

  'I'll let you know when you arrive. Don't bring anybody else, this is important.'

  He hung up the phone and carried on his journey. He wasn't too far now, and he hoped to get some answers about his father’s secret life.

  * * *

  Ally pulled into the car park not long after Jacob and approached him standing by his car.

  'So, what's so important?' she questioned him while folding her arms.

  He showed Ally the receipt. 'I found this in my fathers home office.'

  'So, he has a storage locker. That's not so odd.'

  'It is when Lily had one in the same building,' he explained. 'I need your help. I want to search my dad's locker, but I don't want anyone to know about what we might find. My father has been keeping secrets about his family’s history, that only he and Barnes knew.'