The Dark Places

by R. S. Whitfield

  “Thank you, Officer.” She smiled. “Is this everything?”

  The man looked at her and tried to hide his eye-rolling, unsuccessfully. “Everything you asked for,” he replied with a droning tone. “All reported incidents, including Peeping Toms, indecent assault, animal cruelty, domestic disturbances, and loitering, for the past twenty years.”

  She put her hands on her hips and stared at the pile of dusty paperwork. “Righto, I’ll get started.” She dragged the box over to the table.

  “Good luck,” he yelled over his shoulder as he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

  “Talk about trying to find a needle,” she mumbled and pulled out the first pile.

  37

  Wendy was waiting in the doorway when Parker arrived. She had her arms crossed over her chest, a questioning look covering her tired face. He jogged up the path.

  “Thanks for seeing me again, Mrs Sutherland,” he said as he once again shook her hand.

  “Wendy, please,” she replied.

  “What’s this about, Detective?” she added, gesturing him inside.

  He had not yet decided how to approach the subject, but looking around the living area that was a shrine to her dead son, he made the snap decision to approach with caution.

  “Surin came to see you earlier today?” he questioned and took a seat, leaning forward, elbows on his knees.

  “Yes,” she said, offering nothing further.

  Parker sighed. “Wendy, I need you to tell me what her visit was all about.”

  Wendy shifted in her chair. “Well, it was about Eamon.”

  Parker waited, doing everything he could not to reach over and shake the woman into action.

  “Yes,” she said quietly. “She came to apologise for Eamon.” Big silent tears began to fall down the woman’s cheeks.

  Parker tilted his head. “Apologise for what?” he asked, obviously missing something.

  “Well, for breaking his heart to start with,” she spat out and covered her mouth quickly realising the tone.

  Parker sighed. “They were just kids,” he said as Wendy started to shake her head.

  “You don’t understand, he had it all!” she yelled as angry tears began to flow freely. “Every girl wanted him; every boy wanted to be him.” She stood and started pacing. “He had a scholarship. His life was set.”

  Parker leaned back, hoping his distance would calm her.

  “When she left him, he never recovered.”

  Parker finally understood. “You think Surin ruined his life?” he asked incredulously.

  Wendy looked at him — guilt distorting her features. “For a long time, yes, I did.” She sat back down with a thud. “I blamed her, God forgive me, but I hated her with every fibre of my being.” She wound her fingers into her apron tightly. “When he died, and the necklace was found, I was certain she had been in the car and left him there to die alone.” Sobs wracked her body.

  Parker reached out and took her hand gently. “She wasn’t there, Wendy,” he said quietly, and she nodded, wiping her nose.

  “That’s what she was here for this afternoon,” she said. “To tell me she had loved him and that she was sorry.” She continued quietly, retelling the story. “Something had happened between them, and she had to let him go.” Parker continued to hold her hand as she slowly stopped crying. “You know whenever they were together, Detective, there were fireworks.” She smiled, her eyes twinkling. “I don’t think he ever expected anyone to have that effect on him.” She shook her head sadly and smiled. “He certainly did not see Surin Elliott coming.”

  ***

  Madison was not quite sure how she ended up being the person sitting on her butt, covered in dust, in an ancient office in the smallest fucking town on the planet. But here she was. She looked up at the window that provided absolutely no ventilation and sighed. She had set aside two cases that only remotely matched what she was after.

  Man caught looking through the window of the girls’ locker room at North East High, history of shoplifting and juvenile delinquency.

  Madison put this one down to a stupid dare handed down by stupid boys. The perpetrator in question was now an accountant at a small firm in town.

  Animal cruelty case involving a teen caught skinning a deer in the woods that weave through the town.

  This one was pretty uninteresting as well. Boy caught by a group of other teens, skinning a deer. When questioned by officers, he explained that the deer was already dead and he was taking the pelt home for his mother.

  Madison sighed and grabbed her phone, checking to see if Parker had sent a text that she may have missed. Nothing. She threw it back in her bag in frustration. Looking over at the files again, she spied something minutely unusual. Standing up and straightening her skirt, she opened the office door.

  “Excuse me?” she yelled, probably a bit louder than necessary.

  “Yes?” the smart-ass deputy answered, poking his head around the corner of the kitchenette.

  “Can you tell me why this file exists?” she said, holding up the folder containing the animal cruelty charge.

  The deputy sighed and walked over at a snail’s pace, adjusting his crouch on the way. He snatched the file out of her hands. “What are you talking about?” he said, not hiding his indifference.

  Madison smiled tightly. “Well, these charges were dropped and looking at the timestamp of the report” — she pointed to the top corner of the paperwork that showed the date and time of filing — “they were literally dropped less than an hour after the alleged charge.”

  The deputy quickly skimmed the report and slapped it shut, staring at Madison. “The chief wanted it on record,” he stated, matter-of-factly.

  Madison put her hands on her hips. “What?” she asked, rather rudely. The deputy shifted his weight and handed the report back to her.

  “The chief wanted it on record,” he repeated.

  “Oh, for God’s sake, I heard you, Officer,” she said, rolling her eyes, feeling the frustration of the last couple of weeks begin to surface. “Can you explain to me what was so important that the chief wanted a file kept of charges that never actually came to fruition?”

  The deputy stared at her for a beat, blinking slowly. “Well, ma’am,” he started, not even slightly affected by her little outburst, “the kid was a weirdo.”

  She stared at him. Am I in an alternate reality, she thought to herself. When he didn’t continue, she smiled. “Yes, and…?”

  The deputy shrugged. “The chief wanted us to keep an eye on him, that’s all.”

  Madison nodded. “Weird, how?” she prompted.

  “Well, he spent a lot of time in the woods.” She nodded, encouraging him to continue. “He was quiet, withdrawn, had no friends, just, you know, just strange,”

  Getting information out of this cop was like getting blood out of a stone. She decided to try a different tactic. “That is so smart of you,” she said with a smile and pulled her shoulders back ever so slightly to allow the top button of her blouse to gape open a little. The movement was not lost on the officer whose eyes immediately angled down.

  “Well, we thought it best to keep an eye on him, that’s all,” he said with a smile.

  She nodded enthusiastically. “Did he ever get up to any other mischief?” she queried.

  “Nah, his ma kept him in line,” he continued. “Actually, come to think of it,” he said with a wide grin, “he’s a big shot lawyer in the city now, did real well for himself.”

  Madison sighed. “Well, this has gotten me nowhere,” she mumbled and put her hand up, rubbing her eyes.

  “You could go talk to his mum if you thought it might help,” the deputy added. “She still lives here in the family home, real proud of him. Tells anyone who will listen actually,” he said.

  Madison reached down and checked her phone again, nothing. “I guess it couldn’t hurt,” she said with a shrug. “Same address as on this file?” she asked and grabbed her handbag.


  “Yes, ma’am,” he replied politely. She smiled, amazed at what a little bit of boob could accomplish.

  ***

  Parker walked down the path, back towards his car, every nerve ending on high alert. Where the hell was Surin, he thought to himself. He glanced back at Wendy, who waved sadly from the front patio, before closing the door. He felt sorry for her. Clearly, Eamon had been her entire world and still was. He reached into his pocket, grabbing out his car keys when a taxicab came to a stop directly beside where he was parked. Looking up casually, he watched as Madison exited the car and slammed the door. They stared at each other in confusion for a full minute before anyone spoke.

  “Stalk much?” she said with a grin.

  Parker frowned. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  She walked towards him, subtly increasing the swing of her hips. Shame rushed her face when she realised, he knew what she was trying to do. “Relax,” she said. “I’m following the flimsiest of flimsy of leads,”

  Parker was in no mood for her games. “Madison, tell me what you’re doing here.”

  She took the hint and explained. “A kid called Alexander Dellion was accused of animal cruelty, the charges were dropped, but the local sheriff wanted tabs kept on him because he was, and I quote, ‘weird’ so here I am.” She shrugged and dropped her arms to her side. Parker nodded, waiting for more. “He lives and works in the city, but he grew up here,” she said, pointing over her shoulder to the slightly dilapidated house directly next door to Eamon Sutherland’s.

  ***

  Surin stared into the blackness and closed her eyes, but Parker’s face forced its way into her mind. A tear slid down her cheek. Please don’t hurt him, she said to herself. The problem with being alone and in constant mind-numbing fear is that you can’t control your imagination. She thought about the first time she saw Parker, sitting stiffly in the chief’s office, a crooked grin on his face. The memory almost made her smile. She thought of his touch, his kiss, and shook her head. Why the hell was I running away from this man? Just as she began to drift off again into the abyss of her mind, the door creaked open gently.

  “Wakey, wakey,” he said in a creepy sing-song way. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, Sury,” he added and sat down beside her. “But you will never guess who’s in town!” He laughed. Surin tried to look nonplussed, but it didn’t work. “Oh, don’t be mad at me,” he whispered, leaning towards her seductively. “I don’t like competition, never have, and I see the way he looks at you.” She turned her head away from the warmth of his breath. “And most importantly, I have seen the way you look at him.”

  She closed her eyes and replied through gritted teeth, “He will fucking tear you apart.”

  The sound of the slap registered a split second before the immeasurable pain. Stars burst behind her eyes, and tears poured down her cheeks as her skin felt engulfed in fire.

  “Don’t you ever fucking talk to me like that again,” he yelled, so close to her face that she felt his spit hit her mouth. “I’m going to make him watch us, do you hear me?”

  Surin whimpered, trying to turn her entire body away from him.

  “Then you will see him die and then finally you’ll understand that you belong to me.”

  ***

  Parker sat on the lumpy sofa and pretended to sip the tepid tea that had been placed in front of him.

  “Oh yes, my son is a fancy lawyer, quick as a whip and makes real good money, Detective,” the lady sitting opposite him said and smiled, displaying a set of slowly rotting teeth. “All those folks thought we were no good, eating their words I tell ya,” she added and sipped her own beverage loudly.

  Parker sidled forward and smiled kindly. “Your son went to high school with Eamon?” he asked innocently, glancing briefly at Madison who looked extremely uncomfortable perched on the edge of what was once a chocolate-brown La-Z-Boy.

  “Yep, a few grades apart. Of course, real sad what happened to him,” she said without a morsel of sympathy in her voice. “Everyone assumed he would be the town success story; little did they know.” She smiled menacingly.

  Parker nodded like he understood. “What about Surin Elliott?” he continued casually. “Remember her?” It was minor, but Parker immediately noticed a change in her demeanour.

  “Sure,” she said cautiously. Madison must have noticed the shift as well because, out the corner of his eye, he saw her sit forward slightly. “Eamon’s girlfriend, vapid cheerleader type,” she said and waved her hand dismissively in the air before casting her eyes downwards.

  “Actually,” Parker continued shrugging his shoulders, “we’ve been told she was the opposite of the stereotype: kind, popular for the right reasons.”

  The lady in front of him tilted her head. “Maybe at first, she did defend my boy once.”

  Parker held his breath.

  She looked around as if she were afraid someone might hear. “He got in trouble, some stupid thing with an animal, and she stood up for him.”

  Madison and Parker exchanged momentary glances.

  “After that, he told me she looked out for him, that they were friends.” She smiled. “Then, Eamon and her became an item, and she went back to ignoring him, like the rest of the town.”

  Parker pulled out his notebook. “Mrs Dellion—”

  “It’s Ms,” she added quickly, “the Mr left long before Alexander was born.”

  He nodded. “Ms Dellion, have you seen Surin Elliott lately?”

  She paused and stared at them, not entirely sure how much to say.

  Parker leaned forward. “Ms Dellion, I am a homicide detective, you understand that, right?”

  She fidgeted with her cup. “I don’t know what the hell you want from me,” she replied.

  “My question was very simple,” he said. “Have you seen Surin Elliott?”

  She looked at him with venom, her entire composure slowly slipping before them. “I saw the bitch yesterday,” she growled and sat back, entirely happy with herself. “Alex was very amused to hear she had come back to the very town she hated,” she continued, not realising her error. “I watched her waltz out of Wendy Sutherland’s house this afternoon too, smiling like she had never ruined the lives of two boys.”

  Parker sat back, heart pounding. “How did she ruin Alexander’s life?” He glanced at Madison quickly. “You just told us he was the town’s success story!” he added with a small smile.

  Her spine instantly straightened, knowing that she had revealed too much. She attempted to backpedal quickly. “I only meant that Alex liked her when he was young and—”

  Parker started shaking his head. “No, no, you meant something else entirely.”

  Dorothy Dellion stared at him, and an evil grin spread over her face. “She thought she was too good for him. Well, Detective, look at him now.”

  Parker and Madison stood on the side of the road out front of Eamon’s house.

  “This can’t just be a coincidence,” Parker said and ran his hands through his hair.

  Madison nodded. “Did you catch what she said?” she asked.

  Parker reached into his bag for his notebook. “The part about Alex being amused that Surin was back in town?”

  Madison nodded. “Yeah, so thanks to Mumsy, he knew exactly where she was and that she was asking questions.” Parker opened the car door as she went on. “Maybe he got spooked and grabbed her?” she suggested throwing out a theory.

  Parker shook his head. “No,” he replied abruptly, “this guy doesn’t get spooked.” He handed Madison a piece of paper. “This is the address of Michel and Erin Elliott.”

  She looked down at her hand. “No way, are you side-lining me, Rhodes!” she yelled.

  He grabbed her shoulders roughly. “You need to go to them. I need you to be with them.” Madison started shaking her head in disbelief. “Madison,” he started and looked down at his hands that were trembling slightly, “this guy doesn’t make mistakes.” He looked her directly in the
eye, and for the first time, she saw his fear for Surin mixed with another emotion that made her unashamedly green with envy. “I think that taking her was his plan all along.”

  38

  Parker watched Madison get in a cab bound for the Elliotts’ house. Once she was out of sight, his head fell into his hands. “What the fuck do I do?” he whispered to no one, then realising that sitting on the side of the road wasn’t going to find Surin, he mentally pulled himself together. “Where would you take her, you, sick fuck?” he said aloud, and at that moment, his phone rang. He fumbled in the back seat and grabbed it quickly.

  “Rhodes,” he answered.

  “Yeah, this is Deputy Peters.” Parker rolled his eyes in frustration.

  “Yes, Deputy?” he replied irritably.

  “The lady that was in here earlier,” he said, “she left not only a big bloody mess in interview one but also the file she was looking at about the animal cruelty—”

  Parker sat up straight as his nerve endings started buzzing. “Yes?” he said quickly.

  “Well, I remembered something else and thought she might want to talk further.”

  Parker shook his head and imagined exactly what the deputy wanted from Madison. “She is unavailable,” he said dryly, “but I’ll take that information over the phone, thank you,” he added.

  “Oh,” the deputy replied, and Parker could feel his disappointment. “Well, it’s nothing super important, Detective,” he murmured.

  “Important enough to call, though,” Parker added.

  “Yeah, I guess,” the deputy stuttered. “It’s just the complaint about that kid was for animal cruelty, but the person who made the complaint also mentioned that she thought the boy was living in the woods, whatever that means,” he concluded.