The Whitechapel Case [abandoned]

Part 2: The Connections (Chapter 11)

The Whitechapel Case
Fox-Trot-9

PG-13
Horror/Suspense/Mystery (How-Catch-'Em)
Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt or Death Note. 

Part 2: The Connections
Chapter 11

Day 2—Martin got up and leaned on the sofa's arm, then inhaled and exhaled and said, "Noll, I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this; in fact, I was hoping your mother and I would take the horror of our encounter to our graves, because there are some things children should not learn about their parents. And this goes for Lin and Madoka, as well. Especially you, Madoka. When you first came here nine years ago, you were very nosy, indeed." (Madoka blushed a little.) "But given the current circumstances, it seems I don't have much choice now. Noll, do you remember when I told you of your mother's stalker yesterday?"

"How could I not forget?"

"Well, that's not the first time your mother had a stalker." (Mai gaped but didn't bother to cover her mouth, while Madoka bit down on her lower lip. Noll and Lin took it without flinching, but you could tell they were worried, especially Noll.) "I know it's hard to believe, but this happened before. It was 1977, during the murders in Spitalfields. I was nineteen then, and your mother was eighteen. We were both still at Trinity College at Oxford then. But before I go into the particulars, I must add that this was before the death of Maple Carmyne. When your mother and I had this encounter, there were just two victims, Sherry Mason and Sora Weathercook; at the time of the encounter, Weathercook's murder hadn't yet been identified as a serial murder for the next three weeks, at least."

"What happened afterwards?" said Noll.

"Eh... After the event, I got into a bit of a ruckus with the authorities. Up until that time, it was the worst experience I've had. Of course, when I reported it to the police, a few of them had their suspicions, but Mr. Meiler protected me. When he interviewed me, I was a nervous wreck; but who wouldn't be after being held at first as a 'person of interest,' as Mr. Meiler called it? After that, I made it a point never to let Luella walk alone during the evening or even during the day. In essence, where she went, I went too. We sometimes drove each other nuts, but in the end, I was right to be so vigilant. Because that night, when your mother and I were...um..." Martin stopped, blushing; the kid found it unnerving to see his old man act so touchy-feely like this.

"Mind out of the gutter, Martin," said Luella.

Noll sighed. "What exactly happened?"

Martin continued, "Your mother and I were dating at the time; I think it was during spring break. Anyway, we were young and carefree, and looking back on it now, we were also very naive. Stupid, you might say. You see, there was a lover's lane thirty years ago called Mary Anne's Hollow, several miles from the grounds of the college on the outskirts of Oxford near Boars Hill, where all the young kids used to go and make out. I'm sure you know what a lover's lane is, don't you, Noll?" He saw his son rolling his eyes, so he went on, "Well, that night we brought along our college friends and did all the things that love-struck teenagers did. When we were done, we went to go see a movie, while our friends went home. On our way, however, we had two flat tires, and we didn't have a spare, so we were stranded.

"And when I say stranded, I mean truly, we were stranded. The city limits of Oxford didn't reach as far then as it does now. In fact, the nearest post of Oxford was twenty miles away, and Mary Anne's Hollow was quite rural, at some points very bumpy. It wouldn't do any good running on rims over it. Of course, it had to be nearing sunset, and the once beautiful place turned into a very dangerous place. So we decided to wait it out in the car, and just to make sure, we turned on the radio to hear what was going on. We stayed that way until midnight, I think, listening to music and trying to catch some sleep. I think we were sleeping when a news bulletin came on and woke us up. And we listened to an update of Sora Weathercook's murder. As it turned out, it was a serial murder done by the same killer. That got us scared; we just found out about her death a few three weeks before."