The Rabbit Hole

Chapter 8

The police arrive on the scene at the Bridgewater house, their patrol cars positioned up and down the driveway to the house. The neighbours out of their homes, assembled behind the police barricade, watching and waiting in anticipation of a body being stretched out of the house, trying to understand what may have happened the night before. Casey, still in shock, sits by the kitchen counter and answering the officers questions about what she found, which is nothing in her standards.

A car pulls up on the driveway to the house, the driver jumps out of the vehicle and flashes his badge as he steps inside the house. He scans the living room with one glance around and follows the trail to the witness, Casey. He gives the officer doing the questioning a nod to clear out, and favour's Casey with a reassuring smile as he comes around the kitchen counter and sits across from her. "Hi." He says. She just nods at him. "What's your name?" he asks in a calming tone.

"Ca-Casey."

"Casey. How are you holding up?" She shrugs and looks away from him.

"My name is Collin Edwards. I'm a detective."

"I know you." She says under her breath.

"You do?"

"Yes. You're that detective who appeared on TV. The one chasing after that killer, right?"

"Yes, I am."

"So why are you here?"

"I'm here to ask what it is you saw?"

"I already told the other officers, I didn't see anything. I just came here looking for my friend and found the place like this. I pressed the panic button as soon as I saw the blood."

"Okay. When was the last time you saw your frien-"

"Her name is, Heather." She states.

"Okay, when was the last time you saw Heather?"

"Yesterday."

"And what made you come to this house to look for her?"

"We were supposed to meet up today. I kept calling to see where she was but she wasn't answering any of my calls. So I went to her house to look for her but she wasn't there, so I came here."

"Why here?"

"She accepted a job to housesit for the owner. To feed her cat at a scheduled time, so I came to see if she was here."

"And the owners of the house, where are they?"

"Heather said something about them going on a second honeymoon or something."

"Was Heather acting different somehow?" Her eyes widen up a little. "Different like how?" She asks.

"Out of the ordinary."

"No she wasn't. Why are you asking me these questions? Aren't you supposed to be trying to find out what happened to my friend?"

"I am trying to find that out."

"No, you're not. You're digging for holes where there aren't any."

"These questions I'm asking may lead to where your friend, Heather, might be. If I know something or anything she may not have wanted anyone to know, a secret she may have been keeping, I might find a lead."

She turns away from him again. "Do you know of anything she may have been hiding?" she shakes her head. "Anything at all?" he persists.

"No, nothing." She says. "Are we done here?"

"Okay, Casey, yeah we're done." She gets up and walks out of the house. Behind the police barricade and among the curious horde of neighbours is Mrs. Brooks. "Heather!?" she calls out and tries to push herself through the barricade.