Betrayal at the House in the Woods

The Men in The Dark

Hannah and I talked until the cafe staff had to politely ask us to leave because they were going to close, so we continued our conversation in the car. She confirmed a lot of my deductions for me.

She and Amy were playing truth or dare with Richy. They lost and got asked to walk into the woods at night. Just 100 steps, and then walked back. So they went in together, hand in hand. And that was when they heard noises and saw two men busy digging a hole. It was dark, so they couldn't really see. But they could hear them. They were arguing about how the other person almost missed the target. Then when they carried up the dead body to put into the hold, they couldn't help but made noise. The men stopped what they were doing, so the girls freaked out and ran as fast as they could.

They told Richy everything, but he was reluctant to believe them. He thought they were just imagining it out of fear. It was not until a week later the news about Jennifer's disappearance hit the town, and not another two weeks until they found the body. The girls almost gave up about what they witnessed, until they heard that they found the body buried in the woods. Hannah and Amy rushed to Richy's house to talk about it. Richy's father overheard them and laughed, definitely dismissed them. They really wanted to go to the police, but based on Paul's reaction, they weren't sure if the police would believe them.

She also confirmed about them seeing a therapist and moved on until they came across the bracelet. Amy was the keen one to investigate, led to link it to the legends, and then went missing with the sign on her door.

Hannah paused with a sigh. "If only I believed her earlier, she probably wouldn't have..." She burst into tears.

I tried my best to calm her down, but what could I possibly say? So I just waited there in silence and gave Hannah the time that she needed. I wasn't even sure what I would've done if I were her...

I offered Hannah tissues and after she dried her face, she continued. How she kept feeling she was being followed but all the therapist did was prescribing her more antidepressants. The police also didn't believe her, but when Amy had been missing for a few days, the chief police, Alan, finally agreed to take Hannah to see Iris. But that wasn't too fruitful. Alan also told Hannah who would have pawned the bracelet. Ted Madruga, Jennifer's father. He was given the bracelet after Jennifer's death and had kept it with him ever since. But it was on the tenth anniversary of her death when Ted asked to get rid of it. After filing an application to visit Ted, Hannah felt more and more in danger, so she requested to be put on witness protection program and asked for Jake's help.

I thanked her for taking the time to explain all that to me. I felt bad that I had to make her relive those bad memories again, and now had to face even worse stuff.

I believed Hannah would have recognised the two men from their voices if she knew them. But she could also be so scared back then that she didn't. It also made more sense if it was someone she knew because if not, the killer shouldn't have panicked like this. I needed to somehow jog her memories... also, there were two men, while I had about 4 suspects. I needed to eliminate 2.

"Now Hannah, I know this is going to be really weird for me to ask, but do you mind if you go to the pharmacy to buy me some painkillers? I'll explain to you why later."

Hannah was really confused but followed my order without any questions. Ten minutes later, Hannah came out of the phamarcy, pale as snow. Just like that other time when Mrs. Sully saw her.

"What happened?" I asked her the moment she opened the door.

She didn't answer. She sat down and was shaking. "I... I..."

She took a deep breath and tried her best to get a hold of herself. "I thought I was imagining it at first. When I went to get antidepressants the last time, I thought I heard the voice of one of the men who buried Jennifer. It was coming from inside the office behind the pharmacy's front counter. But then I heard it again, just now. And this time, the man came out of the office."