Little Red

information. The girl’s pictures bulged in his coat pocket as he had folded the six in half for evidence. Jack was unaware to his friend’s findings, believing that Nathan had a wasted scavenge in the girl’s room. He wanted to tell him, but he needed to see if the next room held any evidence.

They swung onto the dual carriage way and the accelerator was pushed to the floor. Jack wanted to make haste, the day was coming to an end and his body had felt restless since lunch time. His joints ached as his knees were bent in the driver’s seat, he adjusted his position on several occasions to find a new comfort zone.

‘Makes you sick doesn’t it?’

‘What does?’ asked Nathan, his attention to the black canvas of twinkling lights and a large full moon above been broken by his friend.

‘That right now, some sick bastard has a little girl……in his house….waiting to kill her’.

‘Yeah it does, I feel like I’m not doing enough!’

‘I hear you mate……I hear you’.

‘What gets me is what could drive somebody to act like this?’

‘It’s a fucked up world we live in Nathan, things happen behind closed doors, things that our nightmares show us. It’s worse when reality smacks you bang in the face and you realise that you’re living a nightmare, catching a real killer with real victims’.

Nathan played with the words his friend offered. He understood what was meant by the speech, he agreed with everything Jack had said.

The car took the next turn off and arrived in a small housing estate on the outskirts. The roads were lit well and visibility was clear. Jack motioned toward the left turn just ahead of them. He told Nathan that the house was up the narrow road, at the top.

Nathan looked around the area as they entered, it seemed very open. It was the type of place where people can see other people’s business.

‘Not the type of place you would attempt an abduction is it?’

‘No……….odd really, it’s so open……….no privacy at all’ stated Nathan as they pulled to a stop by the lamppost. They debussed from the vehicle and Jack lead the way to the front door. He depressed the button and the chimes could be heard from inside.

Nathan stood in the girl’s room. The walls were a faded magnolia which held small patches of missing paint. Nathan guessed that pictures had once being stuck to these walls but the parents had removed them, the adhesive had pulled small sections off the surface as the drawings were taken down.  He practiced the same ritual as before, studying the room as he entered. This time it was different though, the room was bare, totally empty. He entered the four sided shell and walked steadily around the perimeter. He stopped at the window and looked outside. Blackness surrounded the house, no rear lighting or streets to park on. He felt confused by what he saw. This was nothing like the second victims room. No parking spaces visible for the Wolf to pull in and spy on the girl. Which meant that he would need a different place to view from, another carefully selected location, but where? He sat down below the window, his back against the wall.

‘I don’t get it……….something isn’t right’ he said aloud to his open hands. He could hear the voices down stairs. Jack was speaking with the girl’s parents. The conversation was bleak, nothing of importance. It was just Jack offering some comfort as he sipped on another cup of better tasting coffee.

He rose to his feet, his knees offering a dull crack as he stood and walked from the sparse room. The hallway was narrow and offered a claustrophobic feeling, the pictures hung from nails on each side, all different sizes and shapes. Nathan felt as though he had to walk sideways so not to knock any of the frames. He stopped to observe each photograph. The family portrait was mounted in a large wooden frame. The faces displayed happy people, smiling…….their hands on one and other. He moved to the next, the young girl in a play. Her costume depicted an angel……her face offered a wide smile. He shuffled down the line and stopped when his eyes met the school photograph. He studied it carefully as he tried to find the young girl’s smiling face.

‘There you are’ his finger rested at the top right of the picture. The image was recent, the date shown in golden letters at the bottom. He flipped through his memory calendar and decided that the photograph had been taken four months ago. His eyes moved up slightly, he read the names along the bottom of the photo, four rows starting from the rear and working to the front. He noticed the back row held the teachers names, he scanned them slowly.

‘Mrs Lomax…..Mrs Day……Mr Tate……Mrs Cousins……Mrs Payton……….Mr Breen’.

He stopped. His heart began thudding as he recognised the name. His eyes fell upon the girl again, behind her stood the teacher and his hand was placed on her small shoulder, his smile was offered for the picture and it seemed welcoming. Mr Breen appeared young and had an athletic build, he looked well dressed. Nathan pondered the possible coincidence and decided to go with his instinct. He called from the top of the stairs and stepped back opposite the picture as Jack climbed each step.

‘What you got?’

‘Take a look’

Jack moved next to Nathan and both men starred at the photograph.

‘What am I looking for?’ Jack quizzed

‘Jenny…..the first girl that the Wolf took’ his finger on the girl, ‘Now look behind her…..that is one of her teachers, check the teachers name and tell me if a bell rings in your head because the ringing in mine is giving me a headache!’

Jack looked up and down several times.

‘Holy shit……….do you think it’s the same guy from the other school…..from Abby’s school?’

‘Could be, I think we need to take this picture back to the school and do some questioning……….if it is the same person…… then my friend, we could be starring right into the eyes of the Wolf!’ the tingling passed from Nathan to Jack, they both shuddered as it overwhelmed them.

They climbed into the car, the buzz still with them. The clock that was sunken into the dashboard had just gone eleven twenty p.m. Both men knew that the questions they had for the school would need to wait until the morning, but for now Jack had organised a vehicle to sit opposite the address they were given for Mr Breen, just in case anything should show up. The car sped away from the house and back towards the Met offices. No words were spoken and no ideas were fired from one and other. They sat in silence, the image of the teacher imprinted on their minds. Nathan pondered upon the question, can it really be that simple? The killer was precise, delicate with how he went about his hobby. The abductions were planned and carried out with a professional approach. This scenario they faced just seemed too easy, too quick. He had expected more of a fight, more trails leading to dead ends, the Wolf playing with their minds. He thought back to the perimeter of the house, the lack of viewing positions, the lack of lighting, all together meant the lack of an ideal observation. It just didn’t fit, it wasn’t like the killer to pick a location with unsatisfactory results, he liked to watch, to stalk them with his eyes. The pictures within his pocket had shown him that the Wolf sits and waits, the little girl had seen him watching her. The shudder snaked down his spine, the hairs upon his neck stood to attention. He couldn’t understand how another human being could do what this beast was doing. How could they watch an innocent girl, in the comfort of her safe place and then take them away from those who love them. Previous cases had hit him hard, the bodies he had recovered, the families torn apart. But for some reason, which he didn’t know why, this case ripped at his core. He felt more emotionally attached than before, he didn’t understand why. He planned the next day’s interviews and questioning. If they could finally identify the Wolf as Mr Breen then the case would have taken a giant leap forward to accomplishment, it was what they both desired…….a face to a name. Nathan peered up to the large light in the sky. The moon had shone down upon them for most of the night, its figure now slowly waning as more grey clouds pulled in. The white powder began to fall heavily, the wipers swished frantically to reveal the road.

Chapter Eleven

The elderly man shuffled through the recent snow fall. He followed the tiny prints scattered to his front, his Cavalier King Charles had shot off to scavenge the outskirts of the wood. The cold wind nipped at his fingers and he dug them deep into his pockets, searching for some warmth. His breath appeared as a mist, escaping the scarf which was wrapped tight around his neck and mouth. Chuntering a tune in his head he tracked the paw prints