Chapter 1

Emmy was miserable. Hardly able to breathe, she coughed sending a sharp shooting pain down her side. She let out a loud wince and clutched her side trying to ease the discomfort. She reached for the flu tablets and took two more as instructed on the packet, they didn’t seem to improve her symptoms, she still felt sick, cold, congested and weak, but  she hoped they’d eventually kick in.

There was a mountain used tissues all over her purple carpeted floor and more just kept accumulating. She placed her glass of water back down on her night stand and looked at the slice of yesterday’s pizza her room mates had placed there in case she was to get hungry whilst they were out. How thoughtful she thought cheerlessly. Deciding against eating it, she rested her head on her pillow and pulled her duvet around her tightly.

 The house was colder than usual, they’d had to cut back on heating and electricity bills because a few months earlier Jessica had made the phone bill outrageously high and couldn’t afford to pay it, so Natasha and Emmy had both chipped in to keep the line from being disconnected.

Shivering slightly, she wished she’d listened to her mum’s advice. Instead of saving her Christmas bonus, she had headed straight for Oxford Street and splashed the cash on a new winter wardrobe. Why did mums always have to be right? Closing her eyes she pictured the black lace dress and beige wool cardigan she’d bought but never worn, and cursed herself for being so irresponsible.  She snuggled up under the covers feeling the warmth envelop her and slowly drifted to sleep.

“Police! Open up!” Startled, Emmy sat up and looked around the dark room half expecting somebody to jump her. Her eyes slowly adjusted and she saw her dressing table covered in the paper work she was supposed to have finished last week. Her eyes darted across the room wondering what it was that had woken her and cringed as she saw her reflection in the mirror.

“Police. Open up. We have a warrant to search your house!” A man’s voice called from downstairs. She looked at her alarm clock, 3.28am. Surely they had the wrong house, she grab her bathrobe and climbed out of bed wrapping the robe firmly around her. As she reached the front door she heard a man, who presumably was another officer say “Nobody seems to be in, time break down the door.” She opened the door and blinked a few times to let her eyes adjust to the porch light.

“I am agent Middleton.” The man at the door informed her in a harsh tone. He was wearing a police uniform and flashed his credentials. There were policemen surrounding the house, with several police cars on the drive.  “Miss Taylor?” He asked frostily.

“No,” Emmy whispered her throat was sore from coughing; she shivered as she felt the ice cold wind. She gently moved one of her black curls away from her face and looked up at the officer. He was tall, about 6’2, with shaggy blonde hair and cold blue eyes.

He studied her for a moment. “What is your name?”

“Emily. Emily Jenkins.” She answered becoming more aware of the other officers moving closer to the house. “What’s going on? Did something happen to Jess?” Panic and fear started to set in as another officer stepped forward. This one was older, around mid-sixties with salt and pepper hair and a big beer belly preventing his shirt from staying in his trousers.

“Miss Jenkins, we have been issued a warrant to search this premises. Will you please step outside?” said the older gentleman. She nodded and slipped on her slippers before making her way to the door, she could see impatience in his eyes. “Step outside please.” He repeated, this time as more of an order than a question.

She had barely stepped on the porch before eight police officers were inside the house, she could hear them shouting but couldn’t quite make out what it was they were saying.

“What is going on? Is Jess okay?” She enquired. Her heart was racing as terrible images ran through her mind. Was she hurt? Had she been in an accident?

James Middleton looked her up and down with a mixture of caution and impatience “Miss. Taylor has been associated with the Harris family. We have reason to believe she is concealing transportation documents for a shipment containing illegal narcotics.” He stared at her intently. “How is it you know Miss Taylor?”

Emmy was speechless. This had to be some kind of mistake. Jess could not possibly be involved in something like that. She looked up at the man in front of her and answered in just a little more than a whisper "We met at University."

“What is it that Miss Taylor does for a living?” His gaze was firmly fixed on her. Emmy covered her mouth and let a cough she'd been trying to suppress.

 “Excuse me, I’ve got a cold” Emmy apologised. “I’m not sure. She used to work in the accounts department of a shipping firm, but I don’t know if she still does. ” She answered.

“What was the name of the company? And how long has she lived here? She doesn’t have any bills under her name.” He was scribbling everything she was saying down as though his life depended on it. Maybe she shouldn’t tell him until she found out what was going on. She looked at the officer standing by her Black Mini Cooper, he was shining a torch through the window obviously trying to find something.

“She has been living here for about six months, she found her boyfriend cheating on her and I offered her a place to stay until she found somewhere new. I’m afraid I don’t know what company. I just know it was in London.”

 “We couldn’t find anything,” The older man said to agent Middleton as he exited the house. It must have been about twenty minutes since they'd gone inside, but it felt like we’d been standing is a whirlwind of ice for hours. “Let’s get out of here.”

Why did that name Harris sound so familiar? Both officers nodded to me and turned to make their way back to their vehicles. It was when Emmy walked back into the house to find that they had completely totalled the place, that she realised how serious the situation was. They had tossed all the contents of their draws on the floor, the couch had been pulled apart and all their personal belongings were thrown around with no remorse. What was going on? She made sure to lock the door behind her before dialling Jess’s number.

 

Author's Note

I revised this chapter, any helpful advice/reviews would be much appreciated.

Reviews

[Dusty Female Cat]

Good start. Made me care about the character. Not a lot of the stuff on this website has that effect.

[josh B]

lol i tried to write a book i couldn't get more than a chapter less of a book look like a really long awkerd poem lol very nice tho!

[Shelly Braen]

This is really quite good. ^_^ You interested me from the start by giving me an interesting setting, and a good little background on the main character. You then reeled me in with a little thrill and some suspense. Great start!