Of Lights and Shadows (Book 4)

7) Threats and Apologies

'So what are your thoughts on this whole business?' Dastardious asked Silence and Susan as they sat down to dinner that evening. He had stayed mainly because he was hungry again and didn't have anything in his cupboards at home, and also because apparently Susan would like to see him.

Silence shrugged as he laboriously chewed his meal, but Susan had something to say.

'They're terrible things to happen,' she said, loading more mashed potatoes onto her plate before passing the bowl to Dastardious.

'What sort of person could do this? There is no reason to it, Dastardious. The person responsible is thoroughly sick! You've been in jail and so haven't been around in person while they've been happening to witness them first hand. I've been writing the stories so I know exactly what's going on, and the police have failed to do anything to help. These kidnappings will continue to happen until there are either no more children or he decides to move on,' she told them heartily as she stabbed forcefully at the mash on her plate.

'You don't believe the Force capable of bringing this person, whoever is it, to justice?' inquired Dastardious, settling his knife and fork on the side of his plate and sitting back.

'Three months and twelve children dead, including Mary Harrison, and not one single clue has been discovered from the start. The interviews I've had with the police have all been about assuring the public that they are getting somewhere. But they're not. Their failure to report anything assures me of that. But where is the evidence, Dastardious?'

'There is none that proves they're not getting anywhere,' he told her, swirling the wine left in his glass. It was a nice red, with a name he couldn't remember. Not that it mattered to him; he hadn't had any since his arrest so it would all taste the same to him.

'Actually, if you want proof that they aren't getting anywhere, you can look at me. You can even take it to the public, if you want. They are that desperate that they have called on me. As I said to Silence, though, personally I would have turned them down and let everyone continue to stew in their juices had not something else come up,' he admitted.

'Why?' demanded Susan. 'You used to work for the police, you had a child once! Shouldn't you want to help them? Imagine if she was still alive today and ended up being one of the ones taken, would you have tried to find the kidnapper then?'

As the words left her mouth, everybody froze and chilling silence descending over the three of them. The first to break from it was Dastardious, looking up from his wine to stare at Susan with a face to freeze whoever was caught in it.

There was one rule with Dastardious; you never speak about members of his family in his company. You could say whatever you wanted about Dastardious to his face as long as you stayed clear of his family.

Before Dastardious said anything, Silence reached quickly for his pad in the hopes of saying something to sooth the storm that was getting ready to blow but he didn't have a chance as Dastardious growled at him to leave it alone. Obeying, he removed his hands, placed on them on his lap, and waited for what was to come. He felt like a child who had been caught doing something wrong and was about to be told off, and there was nothing at all that he could do to ease the punishment. He sneaked a peak over at Susan and saw sadly that her face was white and her breathing was ragged as she waited.

'Abigail died almost the same way as these children have,' Dastardious said at length. 'Taken from her mother and killed instantly for what appears to have been for no reason. If I catch the man responsible I will do things so terrible that it will cause our killer to wince. But Abigail is out of this picture, she has nothing to do with it. I would appreciate it if you never include her in something like this again.'