The Dark Places by R. Whitfield (novel24 TXT) 📕

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