let sleeping dogs lie

Murder. Mystery. Thrill. Who haunts the Small Liners town? Read me and see.

 

 

Let sleeping dogs lie

By kheagan eckley

 

 

Part 1

 

 

 

 

A man in a suit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1

Jasmine tripped onto a rock tearing the soft flesh of her leg open, but she jump back up, quickly pushing herself off the ground. She could hear the panting and barks close behind. The huge dog was gaining on her. She had to think. She could jump down the cliff into the river, or maybe try arm herself with a rock? No the dog would run after her, overpower and devour her �"she had seen it all before.  What if she could climb a nearby tree? She look back to the dog then up ahead. Not too far away, there was a tree with a branch low enough to climb onto. She dashed toward it.

Minutes behind, the dog raced. Underneath the tree was the dog’s next meal. Its nostrils flared as it smelt the blood from her leg, drool dripped from its knife like teeth. It growled and barked. It had to make its master proud. Suddenly a branch broke and the girl fell to the jaws of the dog, ripping her open.

A little way back, a man in a neatly pressed suit laughed at the little girl’s screams. 

 

 

Chapter 2

 “Thank you very much,” daisy smiled at the waiter. She quickly opened her coke and gulped it down. It had been a long walk from the school. And beads of sweet were now trickling down her forehead. So she sat outside the local restraint underneath the shade. A local boy smiled at her. That kind of awkward perverted teenage smile. Daisy knew some people considered her attractive even pretty. But all she saw was a girl with a flat bum and flabby b***s. She didn’t care about all that though. In her school back pack was homework that would keep her busy for the next couple of hours. She was a dedicated student. And she had bigger things planned than the small town that she had been trapped in all her life.  But for now, she stood up and began her walk home.

A man in a suit peeked over the morning newspaper at Daisy, and sipped on some coke. He watch her walk away from the restraint and licked his lips.

 

 

Chapter 3

“RING, RING, RING!”   I opened my eyes. The room was dark. My bedside clock read 2 am. “RING, RING, RING” this was just another part of the job I hated. I reached for my phone knocking down some empty beer bottles.

“What!” I mumbled.

“Detective Lavin, I need you to go to the woods, out on 55 and 7^th interstate. There have been reports of a woman screaming.  I know that it’s late but as you know, we are short staffed. And that means some of the detectives have to do patrolmen work.  So it’s up to you to investigate.”

“Yeah, yeah. Heard it all before. On my way captain”

I stumbled out of bed and pulled on my jeans, a white T, and my trusty old boots. I didn’t care about my hair and all that �" being 2 in the morning. 2 in the morning! And who was the captain anyway calling me in so early? I snatched my gun from the bedside table and headed for the door.
Outside my mustang (Shelly , I called it) shun in the night sky. Shelly  was black with two blue strips running down the beautiful machine. It looked like she was ready to do some damage. I stumbled toward her a little dizzy, complaints after last night’s beer binge.
It had been 9 months snice Cindy (my ex-wife) left without a goodbye. And I guess I thought I could find happiness at the bottom of the bottle. I remember those first weeks when Cindy had left. What a joke? I thought she had been kidnaped or worse.  So I launched a missing person’s investigation with a R500000 reward to whoever could tell me her whereabouts. It wasn’t money I had. The job doesn’t pay well despite the long hours. But I was willing to mortgage the house and even sell Shelly .  The funny thing is, one day I did receive a call. And it was her.

“Lavin?” She whispered

“Who is this?” I asked confused, then I smiled and teared up “is this Cindy? Cindy, where have you�"“

“-- Lavin. I am leaving you” there was a pause. ”You’ll get the divorce papers on Monday.”

“What? I don’t understand. No Cindy. Come back to me. We can work this out. Whatever I’ve done to make you so mad, I am sorry. Come�"“

“Beeeep” she had hung up. It was the longest most defining beep I’d heard in all my life- and it just got louder and louder as the tears came pouring down my face. Of course, I tried calling back but it went to voicemail “the caller you received is not available, please leave a message” I threw my phone hard against the wall.

A little while after, I found out that the call came from a payphone. So there was no tracing where she was. And sure enough, that next Monday, there was a yellow package lying on my desk from Sun Liner’s lawyers. Inside were divorce papers that I had to sign, and a note from Sun Liner’s lawyers explaining that Cindy didn’t want any of my belongings- (figures I thought we didn’t have much to split.) �" I was just to sign the divorce papers and end our five year marriage.
 Which brings me 9 months later to today, at 2 am, my head still slightly spinning from last night and on my way to a woods because some kids had probably decided to prank the office. F**k my life.

 I arrived at 55 and 7^th at 3 am and parked Shelly  near the entrance of the woods. The moon and the starry night offered little light. So I took out my flashlight from my glove box and marched to the dark entrance of the woods. Tall pine trees sored from the ground, and the mist engulfed everything. I couldn’t see further than a couple of meters. And except for the rustling of the trees everything was deathly quiet.

I switched on my flashlight “.Well, here goes nothing.”               

 

 

 

Chapter 4

The entrance of the woods lead to a path that went on for about 400 meters or so and then divulged into two. So my guess is that if there was in fact any screams, they would have come from somewhere in-between there. I walked on a dirt track with the occasional ditch and fallen branch. There was no sound besides the rustling of leaves, and the occasional crack of a twig underneath my boots. It gave the woods an ominous feeling, as if someone was watching. I took out my gun and cocked it. Yeah, I was a little scared.

“Hello.” I ventured.

 But no answer. And of course there would be no answer because which idiot would come to the woods at 2 am I thought, oh yes that would be me. Another ten minutes and I am getting the hell out of here.

“Hello!! Anyone there!” I shook my head. I guess there was a little part of me that wanted some danger. Not anything that spectacular even, maybe just a girl hiding from a stalker in the woods, or a jealous ex wanting her ex feel the pain he did. I don’t know. Just something that would give this job meaning.
I called it, I turned around and headed for the wood’s entrance. It was time to get some sleep or finish off the left over beer back home.
Just then I saw some red material caught under a rock. I bent down, lifted the rock, and inspected the oddly shaped red material. There was something printed on it. It seemed to have some golden thread that made part of a flower. Although it was difficult to make out with only half the espoused flower. Maybe there was someone who did scream earlier. And they tripped over the rock running from someone. But from who? 
I stood up and shun my flashlight at the surrounding tress. What did the red material belong to? I wondered. I looked far into the woods and, no, it couldn’t be. I thought I imagined it but it looked like a red shape in the distance.  I walked toward it, hearing the flow of water nearby. The Sun Liners River.
As I walked toward it, I could make out the figure and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Then I smelt it. It smelt horrible. It was the smell of butchered flesh.
Underneath a tree a young pretty girl lay, half eaten, blood smeared across her smooth soft skin.

 

 

Chapter 5

4 am.

“Who is she?” the captain asked rhetorically.
I looked at the half eaten girl: she had a red dress with golden flowers that only covered her stomach and chest. She had big brown eyes, full lips, and long black hair. She was about sixteen year old girls, muscular with a small waist.  Her legs, belly and neck had been gnawed, though. And her index figure had been ripped off. She defiantly blead out. You could tell because all her vital organs were still intact.  
I’d seen my share of dead animals in the woods. During my serves at the police force, people always called to remove carcases from the woods trails. Mostly small animals: rodents, eagles, snakes and once even a monkey. But this was different. The predators in the region wouldn’t-couldn’t kill a human. Could they?

“This is Jasmine, Captain.” I said. The town only has about 100 or so people in it. So it’s quite easy to know who’s who. “She’s Robin’s daughter. Lives about 10 minutes out of the town. They stick to their own. ” I looked at the body then the local coroner Rick, “what do you think Rick?’ 

“I will still need to do a full investigation, detective. But I think that a dog killed Jasmine. The set of bite marks match those of a dogs. Plus the depth of the bite marks are much larger than the local predators. The dog first bite into Jasmines neck then went for the rest of the body. The dog also torn off Jasmines index figure. … The time of death was only a couple of hours ago. Her skin is still slightly warm. ”

I nodded then looked at Jasmine again. I had met her once at the local schools career day.
Yes, I was once the upcoming, dashing detective Lavin. I gave the class a whole presentation on how police work was dangerous but rewarding protecting the good citizens of Small Linings. Then to much applause, I showed them how to clean a gun properly, disassembling and resembling it. Their teacher did not like that though. Afterword I asked if anyone had questions and Jasmines hand shot up. “Yes, you.” I smiled.
“Have you ever killed anyone?’

“Only the bad ones. “ I winked at her, Jasmine giggled, and their teacher showed me the door. 
But that was a lie. I had never killed anyone or for that matter even seen a kill.
But that’s what I believed had happened to Jasmine.  Dogs normally only give warning bites and wouldn’t necessarily kill humans unless threated. And what threat did Jasmine pose anyway?  No, someone trained their dog to go after humans and kill them.

“Captain I suspect that someone killed Jasmine with their dog. A dog wouldn’t kill a sweet girl like that unless ordered to. I would like to question Jasmines mother, Robin, and see if I can find out anything.”

The captain looked at me and gave a solemn nod.” report back to me afterword”

 

 

Chapter 6

I revved Shelly , the magnificent machine purred and we blasted off.
Once I got back home it was around 6:30 am. And I still hadn’t had a wink of sleep. My eyes felt heavy but I knew that it was no use trying to sleep. Besides I wanted to question Robin before 8 0’clock and see what she knew. So I threw off my cloths and got into the shower. The water was hot and hammed into my skin. I breathed in and held the air in. Pictures of Jasmines half eaten body flashed across my mind. Who would want to kill a 16 year old girl? I felt blood rushing through my body. My face felt hot. I punched the wall “, f**k you world.” 
I breathed in and out. Then I turned the shower off, got out, pulled on my clothes from earlier, and grabbed my gun from my bedside table. It was time to time find some justice for Jasmine. 

***

I switched off Shelly  engine near Robins house. The dash board said it was 7:30. So most likely Robin was in her house getting ready for work. Her kitchen light was on. I sat in Shelly  and watched Robin’s house. It was a double story wooden house with a porch that had a multitude of pot plants. Robin was single mother and had still provided Jasmine with a good home. She drove and fetched Jasmine every day to school and was there for all her hockey games. Jasmine loved hockey-she wasn’t half bad either. Once I rung that doorbell everything would change for Robin. 

I got my police badge from the glove box, hopped out Shelly , and went to ring the doorbell.

“Ding dog! Ding dong!”

Robin opened the door with a smile. ”Aah good morning detective Lavin. How can I help?” then she saw my expression “Is something wrong detective? “.

“Um, Robin would you mind if we took a seat inside.”

She looked at me. She had brown kind eyes “Detective, is it Jasmine? Has she gotten herself into some trouble? Well, all I can say about that is that you know what teenagers are like“

“Robin I think we should take a seat now.”

“Um, well okay.” she said and lead me to her lounge: big leather couches and an ebony coffee table. She sat down, titled her head and looked at me. Deep into my eyes”, so what’s this all about?”

“It’s Jasmine. We found her dead in the forest. We think she was killed.” Robin looked at me blankly, and stayed like that until tears came crashing down her face. ” I’m sorry” I leaned forward, and wrapped my arms around her.

A while later we slowly dis-embraced, and sat back up. I looked at her “I know this may be hard but I have to ask some questions?” She nodded.

“Ok. Where was Jasmine the last you knew about?”

“She was saying at her best friend, Daisy’s. “ I made a metal not of that. Then I continued “Do you know anyone who want to harm Jasmine?”

“What? Not my Jasmine. I mean who would want to kill my sweet Jasmine?” Robin was still crying”….I mean something did happen lately that complicated things.” She looked down at the floor “Jasmine met a boy, Max. He was a little older than her. I always told her that he was trouble. But I guess that only helped his cause. He was that punk, rebel type. “She shook her head”, He works as a mechanic at the Mike’s garage and has a Harley himself.” I made a mental note of that“, He would come by late at night and sneak her out. I knew cause I caught them once or twice. I tried grounding her. But it didn’t work, cause 2 months ago she came to me and told me that she was pregnant. She told me that it was her body, that she didn’t care what I thought. She was having a baby.”

 

Chapter 7

He carried a long knife with him. It glistened in the night. And his trusted best friend trotted behind him.  He bent down behind a bush hiding him from view of the house. His friend licked his face. “Not now. Sit.” He whispered. He wore a neatly pressed suit.
He smiled. He could see Daisy in her home. She wore some pink pyjamas with unicorns on. Daisy left her window open probably because of the heat. Sun Liners was always hot. It made things easier to see daisy. He put his knife back in his back pack and took out Jasmines phone. Something he quickly nicked off Jasmine once his dog was done with her. He remembered how she was barely breathing. Her voice, raspy, whispered “go to hell f****r.” The man laughed it had been fun.
He turned Jasmines phone on. It used a finger print system so it was easy gain access to the phone   with Jasmines cold little finger. The joy of modern technology. He was a bit old fashioned himself though. He went to Jasmines contact list and clicked on Daisy. He began typing away.              

 

***

Daisy took off her shirt and PJ bottoms. The summer heat was too much even at night. She didn’t care that the window was open. Now if Jasmine was here it would have been a different story.  “Jasmine, Jasmine, Jasmine” she shook her head. Jasmine was always worrying about people stalking her. I guess that between herself and Jasmine, Daisy thought Jasmine was the prettier one. But not so much more so that she would be stalked like some celebrity. She probably just told our friends at school that because it would be scandalous. The prettiest girl in school being stalked. What a poser Daisy thought. She loved Jasmine but sometimes she thought she should just flippen chill and just be a kid at school. Life isn’t that melodramatic.
Daisy shook her head again. She was done studying for the night so she jump into bed, and switched on her phone. It pinged. One new message, an hour ago, from Jasmine.

Hey daisy. Sorry for acting like such a b***h lately. I know that sometimes I am one. Meet me at 55 and 5^th tomorrow at 6 so I can make it up to you.

Huh Daisy thought that was unlike Jasmine to apologise and to be so hard on herself to call herself a b***h was totally unlike her.  Daisy frowned. She guessed that she was a bit hard on Jasmine sometimes. They had been friend since they were babies. They were basically sisters. Daisy typed a message and sent it.

Lol It’s chilled. Yeah sure. But we can’t stay to long. Cause class is at 7: 30. Goodnight Jasmine. Luv  u.

***

“Ping!” Jasmines phone notified the man in a suit of the message from Daisy. The man smiled. “See you tomorrow, Daisy.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part 2

Man’s best friend.

 

Chapter 8

The woods was engulfed in mist. It was early in the morning.
The man in the suit bent down. “Kill!” he commanded.  The dog bolted. His pupils dilated, muscles tensed, and his breathing deepened. He was ready to attack. He bolted down a path with the occasional ditch and fallen branch. He could see a girl in the distance. She had her arms folded and tapped her figures. It looked like she was waiting for someone. He barked, drool dripping everywhere.

 

***

 

Where was Jasmine anyway? Daisy groaned. She said she would be here by now. Daisy sighed and turned around. Then she saw a dog bolting toward her. ” Hey boy, Have you lost your owner?” She bent down to her haunches. But the dog did not slow down. He leapt for her. She put her arms out and pushed the dog away. The dog landed on its legs. She pushed herself of the ground and sprinted. She didn’t know where she was going. Why was this dog attacking her? She thought and where was Jasmine?
Daisy looked ahead and saw that the path lead to a river with a bridge across.  She could try arm herself with a fallen branch and hit the dog off the bridge? Yes, there were plenty of branches around and not much place to hide, plus the dog was gaining on her. This was the only way she would escape the encroaching dog.  She grabbed a medium sized branch. It was not much bigger than a hockey stick. And she knew how to use a hockey stick. She was the striker in the Small linings high school.
She sprinted to the middle of the bridge and spun around. The dog leapt at her again, mouth wide open and revealed his set of shiny teeth. She wacked the dog. He howled. But he jumped straight back up. His nostrils flared and he barked loudly. He was angry now. He was a magnificent creature.  
Daisy parted her legs and stood her ground, brunch raised. She was ready for a second attack. The dog encircled her growling.
“Well come on! Have at it.” she spat.  The dog leapt again. He was fast. But she was faster. “Wack!” she hit him down off the bridge and into the river.
She turned around, dropped the branch, and sprinted back on the path she had come from. The bridge was only a meter or so off the ground. So she doubted that she had injured the dog. He would come after her again.
She focused all her strength on breathing, and her muscles in her legs. She dodged and jumped over ditches and fallen branches keeping her balance. Her legs cramped up. She winced. But that only made her sprint faster. She was not going to be eaten up by some mad dog.
Daisy saw the entrance of the woods. “Just a few more meter” she painted.  The dog lunged from the trees to the side of daisy. He knocked her over. She cut her leg on a rock and screamed. The dog lunged, again, but this time he went for Daisy’s neck.

 

 

Chapter 9

I smiled and parked Shelly  in front of the local school. I was finally at daisy’s school. So I could do some real police work. We had our first actual case and the captain had me filling police reports and other bull-reaucratic nonsense. The whole of yesterday. But that didn’t matter now, Because Daisy would be in the school. And I would question her, and I would hopefully find some leads on Jasmines kill.

I hopped out of Shelly  and headed for the schools doors. I noticed that Shelly  had attracted some attention. The mustang was indeed a beauty.
The receptionist was busy jotting down something on a note pad in front of her computer.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes” she said still jotting down something.

“I am detective Lavin. And I would like to question a student who goes here. Daisy should be about 16 years old.”

“Hold on” she typed away on her keyboard” she is absent today detective. If that’s all. We are really busy if you don’t mind.”

“A kids f*****g dead so I do mind” I walked through the schools front doors. Just firkin perfect. I hated people like that. It was all a power trip. They thought just because they were in charge of something, no matter how small or big, they could treat others as they wished. I guess I shouldn’t have snapped at the receptionist. I just needed some sleep, is all. Then again, the receptionist could have shown a little respect.
I figured it was better to question Daisy at her school away from the watchful eyes of her parents. Parents are always so over protective of their children. So I’d go to the school tomorrow. For now I could question my other big lead Jasmines boyfriend-Max. Maybe I would have better luck there. I hopped into Shelly  and blasted off to Mike’s garage.

Mike’s garage was old with the side of the building open. It revealed a bunch of cars torn apart with nuts blots, tools, and stripped engines lying around. And in the middle of the mess, was a kid. Max really was the punk, rebel type. He wore old ripped jeans, a white T, and a studded leather jacket. He had black messy hair, and piercing eyes. He was bending down patting a black bulldog with a collar made of spikes. The dog barked at me when he saw me revealing a set of knife-like teeth.    

Chapter 10

“Hi. I am detective Lavin. I was wondering if you could answer some questions” I said. Max looked up at me. He was patting his dog while the dog licked his face.

“Yeah ok, detective Lavin. What do you want to know?” He stood up wiping some grease off his jeans. Max was tall. But I had an inch or two on him.

“You were close with Jasmine. So I wanted to know where the last place you saw her was.”

“Is that right?” Max looked into my eyes, sizing me up.” That’s a nice car. She yours? “

“Yeah she’s mine.”

“Let me guess, a 6 cylinder turbo charged.” He walked over to Shelly , folded his arms and whistled. “I could do some serious damage with this beauty.”

I nodded.

“I used to have a doge challenger but I traded it in for my Harley.” Stupid rich kids I thought “Max, where was the last time you saw Jasmine?”

“What’s it to you detective?”

This kid was starting to really get on my nerves” Jasmine was found killed yesterday, half eaten, and torn to shreds in the middle of the woods. That’s what.”

He looked at me blankly. Either the kid had nothing to do with Jasmines kill or he was a good actor.

“Oh. I didn’t know.” He shook his head. There was something about max I did not like. It wasn’t that he had an attitude or that he was some punk. I just didn’t like max. “I saw her last week Detective. I wanted to take her out to the woods with my Harley. We were gonna have some smokes under the stars, and fool around a little. But when I got to her house. She was in tears. She said someone had been watching her. I told her she was imagining things. She could be very dramatic sometimes.”

I just nodded again “I was told that you were having a baby with Jasmine.”

Max smirked” you can’t keep a secret in this nothing-for-good town…Yeah we were having a baby. I told her not to. Hell, I pleaded her not to. It would be easier if we just aborted that thing. My dad would cut me off his money if he found out that I got someone pregnant.” Max looked at the garage” I work here because I like it. It doesn’t pay for the Harley though. No, that’s all my Dad. Jasmine and I had dreams and the baby would get in the way of everything. But Jasmine was too much of a goody Issues. At the end of the day though, it was her body. But I wouldn’t be that things father. So last week when she told me that someone was watching her. I told her I couldn’t take her drama anymore and I dumped her. And, well detective, I haven’t seen her since. And you know what? Good riddance. Maybe it’s not the worst thing that she’s dead”
I clenched my first and looked deep into Max’s eyes. He had motive. His dad would take his trust fund away and he had a murder weapon. I looked at Max’s bulldog. It barked at me, viciously. I just needed proof.

“I’ll be back for you Max.”

 

 

Chapter 11

I hopped into Shelly  and swung Shelly  out of mikes garage. It was 5 o clock. Almost night. And I needed some alcohol pulsing through my veins. The image of Jasmine kept flashing threw my mind, half eaten and torn to pieces. I knew it was still early in the case and that I didn’t have much experience with murder investigations. But Max was our guy. He killed Jasmine. I was almost sure of it. I headed to the local store, and grabbed two 6 packs, and some steaks. The cashier looked at the two 6 packs of beer and shook his head. Everyone thinks they are better than you or, more precisely, that their sins aren’t as bad as your ones.
When I parked Shelly  at home, it was 7 o clock, the sun was setting. I walked inside and threw the steaks I bought in a pan with some butter and let them simmer. I walked to the porch and sank into my rocking chair.  The house was falling apart. Hell, it was a mess. But it overlooked a great view of the woods. And the sun was setting which put a golden glow on everything. Spectacular. I opened up a beer. “Here’s to the small things in life.”
Just then an old blind man appeared with a walking stick tapping it in front of himself obsessively. He wore dusty torn clothes. But he was smiling.

“Hey Jacob” I said. Jacob made his way up the 3 stairs to the porch. I would have offered him some help, but he had climbed up those 3 stairs everyday even before Cindy had left. And he was too proud to accept any help. “Hey Lavin. How is it going?”
“Good. Want a beer?”

“Heard you had a case? “ He ignored my offer. He didn’t approve of my drinking. He had tried to get me into a 12 step program. It didn’t work out though. I guess anyone else would have stopped caring about me. A lost cause. But Jacob was just like me-we didn’t have anyone else except each other.

“Yeah. The worst thing, a girl was found killed in the woods. She was eaten up by a dog and was only 16 years old Jacob. “

Jacob sat in the other rocking chair on the porch” That’s terrible Lavin. Got any leads?”
“Yeah. This kid who works at Mike’s garage. A real piece of work. I just don’t have any proof yet. If I just had a little poof. I’d put him away for good… But enough of that for now. How is Truly, Jacob?”

“Oh she is doing just great. Nearly better. They just need to keep her for a couple�"“

Just then we saw an ambulance speed past, red and blue sirens flashing everywhere. My phone vibrated” Ring! Ring! Ring!” I took my phone out my pocket “Yes captain. Did I fill in one of the police report incorrectly or something? “

“It’s Daisy. She was found in the woods half eaten. She is still alive though, barley holding on. We need you to come hospital now.”

 

Chapter 12

When I arrived at the hospital, daisy was in ICU. The captain and I waited on a small metallic bench outside the operating room. Their parents sat opposite us.  Everything was quite except for a clock on the wall. It slowly went “tick, tock.” My hands were shaking. I was getting edgy. In the last few days id seen more action than I’d seen on the entire job. I was not prepared for this. It was like I had no control. First Jasmine, now Daisy. Who next? I shook my head.

Just then a doctor came outside the operating doors. Everyone stood up. The doctor turned to Daisy’s parents “The operation went well but her wounds are sever so she might not make it. You need to be prepared for the worst. She is sleeping now“. The doctor walked away. Daisy’s father put his arms around Daisy’s mother as they cried. I watched. Daisy and Jasmine were not the killer’s only victims.
I hoped that Daisy would make it and tell us what she knew about the killer. The captain and I sat back down on the metallic chairs. Daisy’s father walked to us pointing his finger at us, and spat “you should be ashamed �"the both of you- sitting here while the monster who did this is on the lose.”

The captain cleared his throat”, we are so sorry.” But Daisy’s father shook his head, disgusted, and walked back to his wife. I wanted to do something. Daisy father was right. What were we really doing to catch the killer? Nothing. Sure I thought Max did it. But I had no proof to and basically that meant I had nothing. Damn, I really hoped Daisy would hold on just long enough to tell us something. Anything. Just something to go on.
I looked at the wall clock” tick tock” it just kept on ticking for the longest time. I thought it would never end. My eyes started to feel heavy again. I hadn’t slept at all for two days now. Just then, everything went dark.
“Mister, mister. You need to wake up.” My eyes opened wide. A nurse was tapping my arm “she is not going to make it. But she is awake for now. So if you want to question her detective, now is the time” I nodded and headed for Daisy’s room.

Daisy was smiling. A warm kind smile. That was the first thing I noticed about Daisy. Then I noticed her bandages across her body. They were damp with blood. She looked like she had been butchered to pieces and then had been stuck together by a mad scientist.
I walked to her and smiled, trying not to look at her wounds “Hello Daisy. I’m detective Lavin. How are you holding up” I didn’t know what you say.

“Nice to meet you detective. Could be doing better if I’m honest.”

I nodded”, Daisy we have reason to believe that someone ordered their dog to this to you. So would you mind if I could ask you some questions so that we can put this monster away?”

”Really?” Jasmine frowned “I can’t believe it. Jeez. Ok I’ll try, but I don’t remember much.”

“Any piece of information would help. Let us start at the beginning. What was the last thing you remember?” 

“Everything is a blur detective, as I said I don’t remember much. I’m so sorry. I wish I could be more helpful. The last thing I remember was receiving a text from Jasmine last night to meet her in the woods. And that is all.”

I stared at her blankly. How could that be Jasmine was espoused to be dead?

“Are you sure it was a message from Jasmine?”

“Yeah it was Jasmines. That much I am sure of. I thought it was odd actually, because she apologised to me for the way she had been acting lately. And she never apologises. “

I smiled. The killer had sent Daisy a message. It still wasn’t public knowledge Jasmine was dead so the killer had been texting Daisy in Jasmines name. I could send the killer a message on Daisy phone, set the killer up, and find out who committed the crime.

 “Daisy I have a huge favour to ask you. I would like to borrow your phone please. I think it might help us catch the killer”

She frowned” Anything to put this monster away for good. The password is Dasling!.”

 

Chapter 13

Outside Daisy’s room, I headed for the captain. He was still in the waiting area asleep on the hospitals metallic chairs.

“Captain wake up! Wake up! I have great news.” I grabbed the captain’s arm. “We going to catch the killer.” The captain opened his eyes, sat up, and rubbed his eyes. ”What? What did you find out?”

“  The killer has Jasmines phone, and under her name, has been texting daisy. So we can catch the killer.”

“Really? But how detective? Just because we have Jasmines phone that doesn’t mean we can catch the killer. Explain yourself.”

“Simple we tell the killer to meet daisy somewhere. Then whoever comes to that room is the killer.”

The captain frowned. ”Hmmm. It would implicate whoever came to the room of the crime. Yeah, it’s worth a shot.”

“Ok captain. Let’s do it now. The longer we wait the more suspicious the text will seem to the killer.”

“Alright then let’s find a room that we can use.”

We walked down the corridor and found an empty room. Room 119.  The captain told the head nurse that no one should disturb us in the room that we were operating in an official capacity, as the captain showed his badge. The head nurse just nodded.

Room 119 had two wooden chairs, a hospital bed and a view of Small Liners. I took out Daisy’s phone, unlocked it with the password she gave me. Dasling!. I went to Daisy’s contacts, clicked on Jasmine, and typed away.

Hey Jasmine. Something horrible happened. I was injured by a dog. I’m in hospital. It would be amazing if you could come see me. Room 119.  

5 minutes later, Daisy’s phone pinged. It was Jasmine.

Hey daisy. Gosh that is terrible. I’m on my way right now. Hold on. Luv u xoxo

Luv u xoxo I thought this guy had some balls. We sat in Room 119 and waited. It was hot. And all I could hear was another wall clock go “tick, tock”. I clenched my fist. This was maddening. The waiting. The anticipation. Then, after the longest time, I sighed. It didn’t look like the killer would show up after all.
But then we heard the door handle creek open. And the killer walked into the room 119.

 

Chapter 14

The killer wore ripped jeans, a white T, and a studded leather jacket. He had messy black hair and piercing eyes. “Hey there“. Max said with a smirk “, it looks like I’m in the wrong room.” Max spun around and ran.

“Police. Freeze In the name of the law” I pulled out my gun and badge, and sprinted after Max, the captain shortly behind. Max ran to the end of the corridor and turned down the stairs. I ran after him. Just as I turned the corner a tray flew into my face. Max had hit me.  I fell to the ground-the world went a fuzzy white and black. I felt dizzy. But I wasn’t going to let Max win. Never. I pushed myself off the floor and sprinted around the corner and down the stairs.
“Max it’s over you are not getting away with this. ” I shouted and shoved past a patent in a blue gown. I saw max at the bottom of the stair case. He was just there. The monster of the woods. I jumped from the stair case to the floor and fell to my knees. Pain shot though my body. “Freeze max” I raised my gun. Max winked at me but kept running. He knew I would not shoot inside a hospital with patients milling about. Damn him.
 I pushed myself off the ground again and sprinted. I skidded past the main doors of the hospital. The daylight blinded me but I kept running. Images of Jasmine and Daisy were flashing across my mind. Max ran for the gate of the hospital.

“Stop that man!” I shouted at security guard at the gate. The security guard looked at me then max. “Yes stop that man!”  The guard lunged at max but max side stepped him and pushed him over. The guard fell with thump.  Max was beating me.
There was a 400 meters stretch of road to the woods, with suburban house all around. There were few civilians about. But there were still civilians about.  I took my gun out and cooked it. Shoot first ask questions later I thought.  Sweat trickled down my face. “Max stop. I will shoot you. I am not letting you get away with this. You killed Jasmine. And have you seen what Daisy looks like? ”
Max had 50 meters left to the woods. It would be a difficult shot but I could do it. I came to a halt. My gun felt heavy all of a sudden. But I steadied my hand. I could feel the trigger on my finger. Some little children in the street gasped at me. I tightened my finger. The trigger was about to give way. But max stopped.
He slowly put his hands on his head and dropped to his knees. I ran to him and grabbed his arms and cuffed them behind his back” you have the right shut the f**k up “I spat. “You have the right to an attorney if you can’t-“

“I’m innocent detective Lavin. I didn’t commit those crimes. I never killed Jasmine. “Max looked deep into my eyes afraid. And for a brief moment I believed him. But then I shoved him “Let’s go” I walked max to Shelly  at the hospital. Everyone’s eyes were on us. They were pointing and covering their children’s eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part 3

Friend or foe?

 

Chapter 15

 

“I am innocent!” max banged his hands on a metal table. He was hand-cuffed to his chair with a long heavy chain. A patrolmen guarded the door.

“What do you think Detective? “The captain looked at me. We stood outside the guarded room. I had pictures of Jasmines and daisy with me.

  “He’s guilty Captain. He had motive: he didn’t want his dad to find out about Jasmines pregnancy. We have physical evidence: we texted the killer to come to room 119 and guess who appeared? Why else would Max have been there? Just look at what he did to Jasmine and Daisy.” I flashed the pictures of the two in front of the captain. “…Not that we need it but we can even find some DNA evidence. We should get a warrant from the local judge to test the hair of Max’s bulldog against any DNA evidence our coroner found. We have a solid case. “

“Okay, okay. I’ll get the necessary proceedings ready for a trial. Meanwhile try squeeze a confession out of Max.”

I nodded and made my way through the door. I sat down with my hands spread evenly on the metal table in front of Max. “You killed Jasmine and look what you did to Daisy.” I spread the pictures of butchered bodies of Jasmine and Daisy on the table.

“I keep telling you I didn’t not do it. Why doesn’t anyone believe me?”

“Max shut up. And look at the pictures. You did that! And you going to tell me that you did it. Who knows, if you confess now then we can talk about a reduced sentence? Who knows, maybe you’ll even get to see outside a prison’s walls one day? I’ll say it again, who knows.”

Max shook his head violently, veins popped up and down his now red face “I keep on f*****g telling you I did not do it!!”He banged his hands on the table” Get me out of these f*****g chains now. You-”

“A real nice mouth you have their Max. “ I stared at him blankly,” If you were innocent why run from the cops?”

He sighed “Look I thought you guys were busting me for selling drugs. I was set up”

 “Oh it all makes sense now Max. You were set up.” I snickered “Now tell me, if you didn’t kill Jasmine and do that to Daisy, who did? You see max, that’s the problem. No one else but you had motive. “

“You have not even asked me if I had an alibi”

“That old game.” I laughed. “Max people lie all the time. I believe in evidence not lies. “

“I was selling drugs. Merry Jane. Dope. Weed. Just go and ask Jasmine and Daisy’s friends at school. I was doing that the whole morning when Jasmine’s was killed. I wish I never met that girl. This is all happing because of her. That little-“

The door opened, and a fancy lawyer came in.  “Not another word Max. I am Max’s lawyer. So if you have any further questions detective, you can talk to me. “
I looked at Max then the lawyer. “ Daddies come to save his little boy Max. No that won’t be necessary. I’m done here. “

  

 

Chapter 16

The station was busier than usual. It was late and my eyes were sore. I walked out of the stations doors. Rain poured down on me. I was soaked.
 I hopped into Shelly  and switched the engine on. It purred and I blasted home. It had been a long week and I was glad that it was all over. Sure there were some loose ends. Like what motive did Max have to try kill Daisy? But I was sure that during Max’s trial everything would come to the light of day and justice would be served.
I parked Shelly  at home. The dash board read 7. I hopped out the magnificent mustang and was �"again- instantly soaked. But I liked the cold. It was a nice change compared to the constant heat of Small Liners. And when it rained in Small liners it didn’t stop. It would be like this for a while.
Inside, I changed out of my wet clothes and pulled on some sweet pants and an old jersey with some holes in it. Home clothes I thought and smiled. I was home and could finally rest now that everything was over. 
I put some left over steaks in pan with some butter and let it simmer. I realised I hadn’t eaten much in the last couple of days and my stomach growled. I walked to the porch and sank into my rocking chair. And guess who I saw?

Jacob was tapping away in the distant. He must have seen me drive past in Shelly .” You stupid old man. It’s raining” I ran to him and put his arm around my shoulder. “You could have slipped and fell Jacob! You are a blind old man. You have to be careful.”

“Leave me in peace Lavin.” He shrugged my arm off his shoulder. I shook my head”, fine! Be like that” I walked next him up the 3 little stairs just in case he did slipped.  

“Sorry Jacob I was a bit harsh there but honestly you have to be more careful. “We sat back in the rocking chairs. Jacob ran his hand through his grey hair” You worry too much Lavin. You need to learn how to relax. Now let’s change the topic to something more cheerful. “He turn to me and smiled” Truly is all better. She is resting at home. I would have brought her here with me but she gets scared of the thunder and lightning you know.”
 Truly was Jacob’s guide dog. She had pink collar and was one of those dogs that always looked like they were smiling.  The two of them were inseparable. Once Jacob told me that they sometimes showered together. It’s much easier way to clean Truly, Jacob reasoned.
 

“That’s great news. I know that Truly being away has been rough.”

“Yeah it has been. But she’s safe at home now “Jacob smiled.” So I heard from some people at the pharmacy when I picked up some pills that you had made an arrest.”

“Yeah we found the killer. It was Max.”

“Goodness, I think I met him. Is he that kid who works at mike’s garage and has a Harley?”

“Yeah that’s the kid.”

“Looks like today is our day then Lavin.”

“Looks like it Jacob”

We sat in silence. I watched the rain pour down. A streak of lightning hit the ground with a flash. Thunder echoed. It was beautiful in its violence.
Suddenly everything went dark. I saw a girl. It was Cindy. “Come with me to the woods I have something to show you.” She held out her hand. I took it and held on tightly. She walked me down a dirt path with tall spiny pine trees. “You look amazing “I smiled at her. She smiled back. Just
then I saw lightning”, bang” the lightning hit the ground splitting it into two.  She whispered something into my ear. I couldn’t believe it “wait Cindy what do you mean-”
“I have to go now. I’m sorry my dearest Lavin” Cindy fell into the ground.
No!”  I screamed as my eyes opened. I was wide awake and I knew Max did not do it, the killer was still out their.

 

 

Chapter 17

Meanwhile.

The man walked in the pouring rain.  Jasmin was dead. Max was going to prison. And that just left daisy. She had been lucky but her luck was about to run out.
They had made it easy for him after they arrested Max. Because they took her guard away.

Inside the hospital, the man walked to the bathroom and locked himself in one of its stalls. He changed out of his old torn cloths and pulled on a blue hospital gown. He folded his walking stick, put it in his back pack and headed upstairs. He wouldn’t need a suit as a disguise this time.

Daisy was in room 129 at the end of the corridor. She was asleep and had tubes going in and out of her, hooked up to all sorts of beeping machines. She was on life support.
The man had thought about unplugging the machines which would kill daisy instantly. But then the staff would be paged about Daisy’s death, rush to Daisy’s aid, and he would be standing there like an idiot �" a 100% guilty. No, he had decided to go for a method that required more tact.
The man had been subscribed pain pills for back pain, Midol in a diuretic form, a water pill. Each Midol pill contains 500mg of acetaminophen which is responsible for pain relief at low doses. At high doses it is deadly. So if the man made a Midol liquid solution of 15 Midol pills that meant there would be 7000mg of acetaminophen in the solution, that when injected into daisy system would cause liver failure and then death. Daisy would die in 1 or 2 days. Symptoms included coughing out blood, seizing, vomiting and much more.  It would be a painful. He smiled at the thought. Justice was being served and it felt good.
Daisy lay asleep. She was silent. Her chest moved up and down. A little bit of drool trickled from her mouth. He had watched her from afar for months now and appreciated her features up close. She had curly hair, long eye lashes and high cheek bones. Her lips weren’t as full as Jasmines but all the same, Daisy was beautiful.
The man took an injection out of his back pack. It had a long pointy needle. He searched for a vein with his fingers on Daisy’s smooth neck, and injected the needle deep into daisy’s neck. Daisy flinched in her sleep.

The man smiled, put his injection back into his bag, and walked away. 

 

Chapter 18

Daisy doctor looked at her watch 7:30. Every morning at this time she checked up on daisy. She had been worried that Daisy would die but in the last day she had made progress on her recovery. And the doctor believed that Daisy would live. She also wanted daisy to make it. She liked Daisy. Every morning daisy smiled at the doctor despite being butchered to pieces. She even asked the doctor how the doctor was doing. Who does that?
The doctor sighed. She loved her work but there was never rest. It was life and death. And all those years, late at night, up studying came to these moments. These �"horrible- moments were you had to look into yourself to countless memorised books, memorised words and try figure out how to save someone’s life. And you wanted to do your best but you are just human so you make mistakes. So people die. Their bloods is on your hands. But the next day you have to wake up and go back to work, unaffected, so you can try save someone else. No rest.
 But sometimes you do get it right and you save a beautiful life like Daisy that makes it all worth it. The doctor smiled.
She turned a corner and walked to daisy room. “Beep! Beep!’ the doctor’s pager vibrated.” Quick someone call a doctor! The patient is seizing!” a nurse ran out of daisy room.
The doctor’s heart stopped. No, not daisy she thought and sprinted to Daisy’s room.
Daisy was shaking violently. She coughed up clumps of black blood. And her eyes rolled back into her head. A nurse gave me an injection with a long needle. It was a sedative to relax her muscles.  Two nurses held Daisy down but she was still twisting and turning. I snatch the injection and stabbed Daisy’s chest, the needle went deep into Daisy’s chest. Her body relaxed. Blood dripped down her chin. The machines hooked up to daisy beeped fast. She was losing blood. Then one of the machines gave a long drawn out”, beeeeeep!” It was her heart. I took out the defibrillator.” clear!” I shouted and jammed it into Daisy’s chest. It sent an electric shock through Daisy’s body that jolted her up then down. “Beeeeep!” I jammed the machine again into daisy. She jolted and then relaxed. Why was this happing to Daisy?  Why was she dying all of a sudden? Think damn it. Think. The doctor thought. Nothing.

She jammed the defibrillator yet again into daisy. Daisy jolted up and down. “Beeeeeeeeep!” the sound wouldn’t stop. Tears streamed the doctor’s face. “No Daisy. Don’t you dare leave me” the doctor wiped her face and looked at the pretty face covered in blood. “Smile for me daisy damn it. Ask me how I’m doing? I’m not doing well because I need you back” She jammed the defibrillator back into daisy.  Daisy body jolted up and down “Beeeeeeeep!” The nurses stopped and looked at daisy then the doctor.

The doctor sank to the floor, put her arms around her legs and whispered” time of death 7:30”

 

 

Chapter 19 

I did not know how to explain it but I knew Max wasn’t the killer.  But more than that I knew who the killer was. And I couldn’t believe it. How could he be the killer? I thought.  I didn’t want him to be the killer. I wanted Max to be the killer. Max was the punk rich kid.

“Ring! Ring!” my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out.
“Yes captain. It’s Daisy.” chills went down my back. “She just died. We need you in the hospital now” I threw my phone at the wall and shattered it into a million glass shards. I Ran to Shelly  and skidded out my drive way. “F**k!” I hit the driving wheel. “F**k.”
The killer had killed Daisy before I had put him away. I wouldn’t make that mistake again. No, I would go to the hospital then I would put him away for good.
I hopped out of Shelly  and was soaked. It was raining outside the hospital. I ran through the doors. The captain was waiting for me with folded arms. 
“Captain what is going on?”

“At 7:00 this morning Daisy seized up and shortly after she died.  We think that the killer had something to do with it. Come with me.” The captain led me through a maze of corridors and closed doors to the hospital’s dungeon. “This is where the hospital keeps dead bodies.”
Two big doors loomed over me with mist coming from the corners. We went through the doors, the cold overwhelmed me. Then I saw a familiar face. 

“Hey Rick what do you have for us?” Rick was the coroner that worked on Jasmines dead body earlier this week.

“Hello detective. I was hoping that I wouldn’t see you again in such a setting. Daisy was poisoned. This morning daisy’s doctor visited me and told me that Daisy would have made a full recovery and that it was suspicious, especially under the circumstances, that she died all of a sudden.  So I did a full investigation and even though there were some similarities with death due to organ failure- that wasn’t the cause here. I considered the colour and texture of Daisy’s organs and the way that she died. A recent dead body that I autopsied, had the same symptoms. That person had overdosed on pain killers, Midol specifically. So I tested Daisy. And guess what I found.”

“No doctor, you mean to tell me that Daisy was poisoned and �"poisoned by pain killers to be precise.”

“Exactly. Each Midol pill contains acetaminophen that when ingested in large doses will cause death.”

I shook my head. I knew who the killer was. And I knew that the killer had access to Midol. He had a regular prescription at the local pharmacy. Things were starting to fit in to place. I knew the who and some of the how. But why did the killer do it?

The captain shook his head” It looks like we have our work cut off for us. And just when I thought we had caught a break, that Daisy would survive and that we had the killer behind bars…This is going to be bad. Everyone is going to know that the police screwed up. That we screwed up. That Max was not guilty. We really have messed up. But enough mopping around, we need to fix this and fix this now. Detective Lavin I want you to head back to the station and-“

“Actually Captain I have to go. I’m going to put this guy behind bars” I headed for the doors, and didn’t look back.

 

 

Chapter 20

The rain soaked me as I walked to Shelly . Thunder roared in the background and I saw a flash of white hit the ground. It was time to get some justice for Jasmine and Daisy. I hopped into Shelly  and spun out the hospital that left a set of tire marks.

I had to make a pit stop before I headed home. I parked Shelly  at the local mall and walked to a hunting shop. I didn’t believe in hunting and I didn’t believe in tranquiliser darts. But if the dog attacked me I had to be prepared to defend myself. Survival of the fittest was a cruel game, because the dog had no part in this. The dog just followed orders. It should have been me against the killer. Who knew maybe it would be though?
The tiller had a red bandanna and tattoos up his ripped arms. A real badass.
“Hello Sir. What can I do you for?” He folded his arms.

“I’m detective Lavin. I need a small tranquiliser gun. Easy to conceal but powerful enough to shoot a dog”

“I don’t believe in hunting dogs.”

I smirked “But hunting big game is ok?”

“I don’t like you” he sized me up.

“What happen to good old fashioned customer service” I shook my hand” I am not hunting any dog quite the opposite. I might need to defend myself against a neighbour’s dog. I need to be prepared for the worst. “

“I don’t like it at all but I understand. Ok come with me. “He led me to a rack of guns on one of the walls.
“This is what you need. Now it’s powerful but it’s only effective in a 10 meter radius. If you need something more powerful buy the rife tranquiliser. It has a 100 meter radius.”

“No that’s ok. The hand held tranquiliser is perfect. “I picked it off the gun rack. It was heavy. It looked almost like a normal pistol. Yes, it was just that. Perfect. “Ok, let me pay.”
“It’s R2000 sir.”

“Do you accept credit card?”

“Yeah” he gave the machine to me. I paid and walked out the shop. I hopped in Shelly  and blasted off. I parked Shelly  in my drive way and breathed in and held it there. Everything was about to change. I hadn’t ever actually fired a gun on the police force. And my hands were shaking. My forehead was sweating.
I climbed out of Shelly  and walked to my porch. I put my hand held gun on the one side of my rocking chair and the tranquiliser on the other. The rain had calmed. But I was still wet. I didn’t care. I sat on my rocking chair.  It didn’t look like I was sitting on two guns, but if I needed to use the guns, they would be there. I tapped my finger on the edge of my tranquiliser and waited for the killer to pop by.

 

 

Chapter 21

Jacob walked with his guide dog Truly in the distance. Truly stuck her tongue out as if she was trying to taste the rain. She was wet. She had a pink colour on with a device so that Jacob could hold onto while Truly lead the way. I always wondered how Truly wouldn’t lead him astray to some tasty snacks or something. But she never did, because Truly was a great guide dog. And more than that, she was Jacobs’s best friend.

“Hello Lavin. How are you today? I heard your car drive past so I thought I would pop by.” Jacob smiled at me.

“Could be better” I smiled as I felt the cold edge of my tranquiliser against my warm fingers. I slid my finger over the trigger.

“Oh yeah? Well I haven’t had the best of days too. My back is killing me. It’s all from this bending to try figure out were Truly wants me to go. I thought that the break while Truly was away at the vet, might help me heal a bit so that when Truly came back the pain wouldn’t be as bad. But it didn’t help at all. “

“I thought the doctor gave you some pills to numb the pain.”

Jacob nodded “Yeah in the beginning it numbed the pain completely. But you know pills, your body adapts.”

I watched Jacob climb the stairs behind Truly. I didn’t offer any help. He sank into the rocking chair next to mine.

 “Cut the s**t Jacob! I know what you did.” I spun around in my chair.” I know that you killed Jasmine and daisy” I looked the monster straight in his eyes. “And I know that you can see.”

Jacob looked at me blankly and then laughed “Lavin the stories you can pull. Are you even listing to yourself? A blind man killed two girls? We have been friends for years Lavin. You know me. And wait, are you saying that I used my sweet Truly to commit the murders. Just look at her.”

I looked at Truly. She smiled at me, yawned, and lay her head on the ground.

“Fine Jacob, you didn’t do it. Just show me your Midol pill box, because you were at the pharmacy when I arrested Max so you should still have most of the pills in your pill box. But you won’t because it would have taken 15 Midol pills to kill Daisy. I spoke to rick our stations coroner about it” I raised an eyebrow.
“I am so offend! You think that I killed those sweet girls Lavin. And now you want me to show you my pill box to prove my innocence? How about the years and years of friendship with you, does that not say something about my character, that I wouldn’t have it in me to kill those girls. I was there after Cindy left, after everyone left you. You had no one, but I was there for you.  You are like a son to me Lavin.” He stood up, quickly followed by Daisy.

I stared at him blankly “I also know that you can see. I had my suspicions before Jasmines death even. The other day we sat on the porch and watched the rain. And that was just it, why where you watching the rain. Normally you pat Truly or look at me. But because you didn’t have Truly, you did what any person would do with a set of eyes, you watched the rain and lightning. And I knew you were watching the rain. The view was breath taking after all. “I faked a punch. Jacob flinched. “Are you going to deny it now Jacob? That you did not kill those girls! “Jacob locked his jaw and clenched his fist. Truly growled viciously, crinkled up her nose, and revealed a set of razor sharp teeth.

“The one thing I don’t know is why you did it Jacob. What does it take to turn a good man into a killer? To a monster?”

“You think you are so smart Detective Lavin. But you don’t know a thing. Those kids aren’t innocent. Jasmin, Daisy and Max are monsters. They blinded me. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was tending to my garden. It was encased in green box. It was the phase back then the green box gardens. I had tulips, lilies, daisies, roses and various ripe fruit. The colours were amazing. I pruned them, sprinkled flower foods on them, and plucked the fruits. But then I heard a crash. A cricket ball hit my head. I fell to the ground and some glass from the broken green box fell into my eyes. I was blinded instantly. It was a one in a million freak accident. Then I heard girls voice. ‘Why did you have to hit the ball so hard?’
 Then a boys voice ‘And why do you have to be so annoying?’
 ’ Guys, it’s chilled. Ill quickly climbed over the man’s house and get the ball. No problem’ �"another voice. There were three of them. I heard someone climb over my fence and a thud as they fell to the ground. Just then they screamed. They must have seen me. The person quickly climbed back over the fence.
‘ We need to run away from here now. The cricket ball hit that dude’s freaky glass box thing. Some glass went into his eyes. And he’s just lying there dead. ‘
‘Stop kidding around.’

‘I am not kidding around!’  The kids must have run away because I didn’t hear them again. Once I was blind everything changed. I had a family a wife a kid that loved me. But I had no way to work, no way to provide for the people I loved. We had debit. Lots of debit. The bank took our furniture, our car, and finally our home. And that’s when my family left me. They couldn’t take it anymore you see, the burden of a blind man. My family left me and it was all because of those kids. They thought I was dead. But wasn’t and I vowed that if I ever had a chance I would kill those kids. Then one day the universe gave me my wish and I could see again in my left eye. It had been years since the accident so it was extremely unlikely they would recognise me. But I still put on a disguise just in case: I made my hair different and put on a suit. Then I sat in the local park every day for months and listened to various kids searching for the voices of the kids how blinded me. I nearly gave up until one day I heard one of the kid’s voices. I followed the kid who led me to the other two. I stalked them for months until I knew everything about them. Then I waited for a moment to strike. And well you know the rest. “

“You should have told me. I would have found you justice! Why didn’t you tell me? We were friends Jacob. “

“Well I guess it’s too late now. Truly kill! “ 
 I raised my tranquiliser and squeezed the trigger as Truly lunged.

 

 

Chapter 22

The dart missed as Truly lunged at me. I ducked, rolled off the porch, and ran. I had two options I could run for the house or the woods. I decided on the woods because I didn’t want to struggle unlocking the house door. A waste of critical time.
Lightning stuck the ground and thunder echoed. I was soaked.  I ran in-between pine trees, dodged and ducked incoming brunches. Everything was dark deep into the woods. Bushes, sticks and thorns cut into my legs. It sung. I could hear the rustling of trees close behind. Truly was gaining on me. I couldn’t out run her.  I had to think. Think damn it!  I still had my pistol in one hand and my tranquiliser in the other. I could spin around and try shoot Truly. But I would only have one shot or Truly would rip me open so I had to make it count. I needed to find a place where the trees were less dense, where I could quickly turn around. Just then I tripped on a rock and fell. I turned around in mid-air with my tranquiliser and aimed. Truly lunged at me, mouth wide open, and drool dripped off her knife life teeth. I squeezed the trigger.
There was a massive thud.
Truly lay on my body fast asleep. I gently moved her off of me, and stood up. “Bang!”

I looked down at my white T where a red stain growing. I felt numb. I covered the stain with my hand as if it would make the stain go away. But the blood dripped off my figures onto the ground. I fell. It felt like I was falling forever. Like I was trapped in time. I saw my life flash before me. If I died no one would care. I had been consumed by grief after Cindy left me. I was nothing more than a drunk. The only thing I had left was to put Jacob away for killing those girls. But now he would be free. He would leave me in the woods like the others and no one would know. “Thump” I hit the ground.
“Well what do we have here?” Jacob sighed waving his gun about. “I didn’t want it to end like this Lavin. You gave me no other choice. You were like a son to me. “He bent down and whispered in my ear. “ What a disappointed you are. When I met you, you were the proud detective of Small Liners now you are nothing. Just some drunk. Maybe it’s better like this. Now at least you can die with some dignity. That at least, you died in the line of duty defending the good people of Sun Liners. Not like a drunk. You probably would have killed yourself in that mustang of yours �"Shell you call it right. This is best. It’s all going to be over. All that pain you have will be gone. Rest now my friend”.
“Bang!” I fired my pistol at his chest. Suddenly he stopped smiling and frowned. Jacob was right in my face. I could see his grey hair and cold blue eyes. I could smell him.  Then he fell on top of me- dead.  I could hear sirens in the background.

 

The end

 

 

 

 

 

Epilogue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My eyes opened. Where was I? How did I get here? I looked around. There was two brown chairs and a small table, and a beautiful view of a clear sky.  I was lying on a bed. A hospital bed. It all came back to me that Jacob was the killer, that I had run away from Truly to the woods, tranquilised Truly, been shot by Jacob, and then shot Jacob. It had been a long night. Hell, it had been a long week.  

“Knock! Knock” the captain peered from the door” Can I come in?”

“Yes captain, come on in.” I tried sitting up. Pain shot through my body.

“No detective. Lie down. Yu need your rest. “I nodded and rested my head. “ You’ve had a rough couple of day’s detective but it’s all over now. You are probably wondering how you got here. Someone in your neighbourhood heard guns fired. So we sent a patrol man and found you and Jacob lying on top of each other in a pool of blood. We rescued you but Jacob was already dead. We took his hair samples and matched it to hair samples the coroner found on Jasmines body. Jacob was the killer as I am sure you know. You did a heck of a job Detective. Well done.”

“What about Truly?”

“Well we figured that when word gets around that it was Truly who attacked those girls. No one will adopt her and we’ll send her to the pound. I love dogs but maybe it serves Truly right.”

“No captain, she was just being loyal to her owner. She is misunderstood. If no one will take her, I will.”

The captains eyes opened wide“, detective, am I hearing this right? You want to adopt the dog that tried to kill you?”

“Yes that’s right.”

“Well ok then, I’ll give you a number you can call but for now sleep.”

I nodded. I wanted to adopt Truly right away. Jacob had been my friend for years and when he came over he always brought Truly along. I had come to love the dog even despite recent events, I still loved the dog. I was not about to let her be put down at some pound. No, I would adopt Truly. But it would have to wait another day because my eyes, all of a sudden, felt heavy. I hadn’t slept for days now. I closed my eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

 ****

Dogs barked all around me at the local vet where they had kept Truly for the last couple of days. But they were happy, excited barks. I loved dogs. I should have done this the moment Cindy left and learnt to move on. But at least I was doing that now. And it felt great. Someone opened a door that revealed a Labrador with a pink collar.   Truly, she was smiling just as she always did. She looked afraid though. But I had come prepared, I had her favourite snack, Beano treats. I placed one treat in front of me and one in my hand then I sat. I wanted to show Truly that I meant her no harm, that I was still her friend. But Truly didn’t budge. But I didn’t budge either. We waited like that in the middle of the vet. Until Truly stood up waged her tail and came to me. I had an old friend again.  

 

The end