Justin Cairns - Little Red

‘When was he noticed missing?’

‘Well, it would be after lunch. We complete a head count every time the children return from outside. We noticed he wasn’t in the classroom when the receptionist had set out to collect the numbers……that’s also when we noticed that Abby had gone’.

Jack had been taking notes throughout the whole conversation, barely raising his head to face the man.

‘I see. Can you arrange a copy of Mr Breen’s personal details please?’

‘I’ll ask Anne to get it for you…….Breen, Oliver Breen…..that’s his name.’

Jack extended his arm, thanking the mole like man.

‘Afternoon, I am Chief Inspector Dawson, you are the girl’s parents?’ he asked, talking to the couple.

‘Yes, what’s going on….where’s our daughter?’

‘We are doing everything possible right now. I will see that a member of the team speaks with you, I will be speaking with you both at a later date also, there is information that I can possibly act on now. So I apologise if I seem abrupt, it is not intended!’ he offered a small smile as they exited the room.

‘Is that it?’ Nathan quizzed.

‘What?’

‘We were in there less than five minutes!’

‘Look, I’m not wasting time here. We have a team to continue with the interviews…..and we may have an address to go to!’

Nathan followed Jack to the reception as he requested the address for Oliver Breen. Anne had finished printing the personal information and handed Jack the pages, he winked and folded them into his pocket as they left the scene.

The female constable met them at the school gate, she stepped towards Jack as they neared. Her posture showed that she awaited another task, Jack gave her one. He assigned her the objective of door to door enquiries, as many PC’s as she needed. He believed somebody on the street must have seen something. He confirmed that the task was understood and climbed into the vehicle, Nathan stood at the driver’s side the whole time, observing Jack as he buzzed with adrenalin. The navigation system beeped as Jack entered the details of the address into the locate menu. Several seconds later the destination appeared.

‘Forty minutes away, the other side of London’ he said to Nathan who was sat in the driver’s seat.

‘Roger, just give me the heads up if we head off course…..it’s being a while since I drove in London’.

‘Brilliant’ the sarcasm created a war of stares between the two men. The car pulled off slowly leaving the pandemonium behind. They could feel the familiar buzz of closing in on a lead. The excitement showed as Nathan’s foot began to push harder down onto the accelerator, Jack allowed it……he also felt the thrill pulsing through his veins. It had been a long time since the two had worked side by side. The partnership was a strong bond, one that was impossible to break. They fed upon each other’s rush of adrenalin, boosting one and other further into a case. They both hoped that it worked this time.

The car came to a halt as they caught the tail end of traffic. The snow had caused a vehicle to spin and collide with another. The holdup aided in the recent adrenalin rush to expire. The men found themselves moaning, Nathan slapped the steering wheel with his hand as the other rubbed his forehead.

‘Well, we have a bit of time to kill……….how about you fill me in with the reason you were choking in the room!’

‘You want to know now?’

‘Why not, it’s a better time than any’

‘I suppose’ Nathan shuffled in his seat, pulling the small black lever by his left leg, the chair reclined slightly.

‘Last time you asked for my help…..whilst Elle and I still lived in London, there were a few issues I….no, we had to deal with. That’s why we flew to Spain, to get away from the past’.

‘You’re on about a fresh start yeah?’

‘Pretty much yeah, well, I suffered from severe nightmares for close to twelve months. I mean these things were in full detail, I would wake up dripping and soaked in sweat…….sometimes I would sleep walk and Elle had to find me when she realised I wasn’t there.’

‘This is what was happening in the room?’

‘Similar……..they started the first night I landed’.

‘The same dreams as before?’

‘No. Not quite the same but there are similarities. When I worked on the Golden Boy case, remember the house I located him in?’

‘I think so, the derelict building?’ his memory fuzzy.

‘Yeah, well, the old dreams were based in that house. The detail was exactly the same as what I saw…..so good I even smell the same stench from where the bodies were found in the cellar and the walls. The dreams I am having at the moment are the exact same house, same smell…..same everything, apart from the room.’

‘The room?’ his eye brows raised slightly.

‘I get to the top of the stairs and there is a door to a room. That is the room where I found the killer and young boy. But this time the room is bright, I mean I can’t see shit to start with……….but I can hear the song.’ he shuffled once again.

‘Hey there little red riding hood….you sure are looking good….you’re everything a big bad wolf could want. It’s on repeat too. I can see a figure at a table, but it’s blurred and I can’t make out who it is. I get closer with a weapon in my hand. On the table is one of the Golden Boy’s victims. Not the last one, it’s a boy we didn’t save…..second or third I think. Well he looks at me and mouths the words help me………….’

‘Jesus Nathan’ Jack bewildered by his friends story.

‘Yeah I know. But the figure then does something to the boy and a shit load of blood starts flowing onto the floor. The figure turns to me as I drop the wheel brace and walks up slowly…………I can’t breathe or move. That’s when you woke me!’ he told the story looking through the windscreen, he felt his friend’s eyes watching him with every word he spoke. He then realised it was the first time he had told anyone apart from his wife.

‘Nathan…….that’s deep. But its normal mate, some people suffer from it for long periods of time……some never get over it!’ he tried to reassure.

‘Suppose’

‘What happened in that house though mate?’ he knew it was wrong to ask but the moment was perfect. His friend had just opened up to him for the first time in their history together………he was intrigued to know more.

‘Jack……..you don’t need to know mate. Elle doesn’t even know the whole story. All she knows is that I went to catch the killer and save the boy. Then I ended up with severe lacerations and shock trauma. To be honest I’m not sure what happened!’ he lied.

‘Right………but you did save a boy’s life!’

‘Yeah……Theo Jameson…..poor fella.’ he remembered the boy well. His golden blonde hair was cut in a mushroom style. His weak body was battered and bruised. The small cut to his chest was bleeding lightly, allowing a constant trickle to escape the hole.

‘Well I suggest we keep it under wraps……last thing we need in this case is Doctor fucking Lime screwing things up when he requests to perform a Psycho Analysis on you!’ his tone attempting to create a slight humour. It failed.

***

The van’s engine offered a light purr as the ignition was switched off. It rumbled to a halt, the working parts inside tinkered as they cooled down. The Wolf climbed out of the seat and gave a glance over each shoulder, checking his surroundings, all clear. The van had been backed up as far as possible, laying ten feet from the rear entrance to his house. The previous kidnap had gone well up to this point, he had miss-judged the parking and had to carry the girl double the distance to hide her inside. This he wanted to avoid as it was still daylight. He gave another check to confirm his concealment and pulled on the back door handle, the clunk told him that the catch had been released. The doors swung open and he entered the back, being sure to duck slightly to stop his head colliding with the wooden interior. The girl was still unconscious as the Chloroform had been a high dosage, especially for someone so young. He imagined it swirling around her lungs like small puffs of smoke performing a dance. He reached down and grabbed her wrists and her torso was heaved up into a seating position. She slumped forward unaware of her current situation.