The Life of the Wife

Chapter five

CHAPTER FIVE

DET. MORRIS

After hours of questioning and lots of calls back and forth to the precinct we had concluded that there was a copycat killer on our hands. I bought a pack of cigarettes and smoked like a train throughout the process. I'd given up smoking a couple of years ago but having to go through this once more gave me the taste for tobacco all over again. Jerry was one of the detectives to have come into the hospital as he was the detective responsible for arresting the original correction killer. Jerry was my mentor of sorts; he's younger years had past him and silver hair had replaced his orange locks. Dullness had taken over his once bright blue eyes and they sagged with fatigue. He looked after me and when he arrived at the hospital he immediately made sure I was okay.

The ride to the station was silent. Neither of us didn't want to say anything, let alone talk about this case. Jerry just exhaled heavily every now and then uncomfortably.
The precinct was buzzing with excitement and horror, everyone was rushing around and talking about the case and with every staring eye I passed I noticed a trend in emotion towards me; pity.

Sitting at my desk gave me a sense of familiarity and I could finally correct my breathing to normal. It gave me a chance to think about the sudden events that had me whirl winded into the second biggest case of the century, nothing had ever been so horrific before the correction killer came, there was only accidental murders, and over doses and suicides, never serial killers.
I got up to basically run to the psychiatrists office when Jerry stopped me. His eyes filled with guilt.
'We have to go to the August's residence to question Aiden.'
'Jerry, I can't do this again. You know what it did to me last time!' I can feel the pressure of tears threatening to roll down my face.
'Then resign now because captain isn't giving you an option. His not giving anyone an option with this one.' I could see by his words he didn't want to be with this case either and I felt an overwhelming sense of relief knowing I wasn't the only one feeling this way, and with that I decided to continue as much as I could, after all, the wife is renovating the kitchen and we can't afford to not have an income.

Jerry informed me that Aiden had bought a cottage just outside of town where he had married Johanna greaves. I was relieved he didn't stay on the property where his father committed his crimes so I didn't have to go back there.
'Do you think it was Aiden August?' Jerry wasn't surprised by my question, he almost expected it.
'I think that August had a lot of followers and any one of them could have continued this rampage of inhumanity, Aiden was just a teenager when it happened, he seemed clueless that his father was even a murderer. I think he may know who it could be though.' His words soothed me, I had seen Aiden a lot of times over the years and he was obviously broken but such a sweet boy.

The driveway was long and dusty and coming up to the cottage you could see the appeal of the place; it had beautiful wooden slats painted white and the windows were large with blue trimmings, the smell of the air was different here, almost like it was cleaner. We walked onto the old squeaking wooden balcony and towards the door. I looked around to see no car parked anywhere.
'There's a note on the door.' Jerry pulled open the screen door to reveal a large white piece of paper taped to the door.

Miranda,
Aiden is taking me on another great adventure! Don't know how long I will be, but sorry I missed you for brunch this morning, talk you soon, love Jo.

This wasn't good.
Jerry called the precinct and we waited for the team to arrive. I sat in the car while he canvassed the surrounding yard. I pondered how much I had really missed whilst catching up with Aiden those few times, nothing seemed out of order; he finished college and went on to be a dentist and didn't seem to have the mentally ill side his father had. I can remember the day his father was arrested and the court days there after, the man was a lunatic, screaming that he was a god amongst infidels and Aiden seemed, at the time, to not have those delusions.

The team of officers and other detectives had arrived and one showed me the warrant explaining that the correction killer had taken that judges daughter and she couldn't sign the warrant sooner.
They all split up into teams between Jerry and I, and I was the one to canvas the inside. When we got the door open I was overwhelmed by darkness of the lounge area, I had expected it to be bright from the large windows.
You could see it was lived in. Worn furniture and beautiful decorations surrounded the area. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.
'Ah boss, Michael is calling you from the cellar.' The young officer looked shaken with her words and directed me to a now opened door that was just by the front door.
Going down the wooden, creaky stairs felt like stepping into a horror movie. As I reached the bottom I could see a pool of dried blood on the dirty cement floor. This was now officially a crime scene.

The cellar didn't smell like the rest of the house and sure didn't look like it either. One light hung from the roof and pipes hugged the walls around it. A rusty tin bathtub filled with dirty water sat in the far left corner and a rotted wooden cupboard to the right. Pieces of rope covered in blood was tangled on the ground and a large piece of writing was etched onto the far wall:

The corrector will cleanse you, and you will be thankful for his blessings for he is a god. Passage fourteen.