Lost In Darkness

Chapter 4: Aftermath

Pain. Pain everywhere. Jessica tried to sit up, but something was preventing this simple movement. Opening her eyes wearily, she looked around her. Great. No clothes. She didn't need to be brilliant at maths to put two and two together. The taste of the alcohol from the night before left a bitter taste in her mouth. Finally working up the willpower to sit up, she looked to the right of her. Oh look, no man there now. Not entirely surprising. She couldn't really say much, she struggled to remember his name through the whole ordeal of the previous evening.

'How did I convince myself that going out and drinking was a great idea?' She thought to herself. Pulling herself from the save haven of her bed, she noticed something poking out the covers. Heart dropping, she shuddered as she picked up the dreaded object.

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"Calm down, Jess! Repeat what you just said, slower this time." Caruso hoped against hope that he'd heard wrong. There was no way that sick son of a bitch had been that close without him even knowing. He always seemed to be so close, yet miles away.

   "I'm sorry, Sam." Jessica sounded detached, distant. He needed to help her.

"Can you take me through the events of last night? Every single detail. Even the tiniest little thing might help." Caruso lit another cigarette. This was gonna be a long day. Jessica took a shaky breath.

   "I can't remember times, but last night I decided to not let that man get the best of me. I got a taxi into town, no I do not know what the driver looked like, or what the licence plate was. I know you're about to ask...." Jessica sighed. "I bumped into Alison Mitchell, we had a bit of a heated discussion because I haven't spoken to her since, well, you know. She said to make it up I should go out with her, have a few drinks. We met her boyfriend, Jake and his friend, Tim. I have no idea what their last names are."

   "What was the bar called?"

"Er... The Bronze? That new one. I got quite drunk either way. Please don't judge me on what I'm about to tell you..."

   Caruso paused. Why would he judge her? She couldn't have done anything too reckless. "I promise that whatever you tell me, I will not judge you. I need to do my job, Jess. Please, carry on."

   "I kinda went home with that Tim guy. Alison made me! I really didn't want to," She hurriedly said.

"Oh so she physically forced you?" Caruso snapped. "I'm sorry Jess, please continue."

   "I know, it was stupid, but I was intoxicated. Well, the rest you can draw a picture for yourself, no need for me to get into the gritty details. I don't want to give you nightmares. But back to the point, I woke up this morning and he wasn't there."

   "That bastard! What was his name again?"

"I haven't finished yet. That's not even the bad part. I received another note."

   Swearing softly, Caruso realised that he had, indeed, heard right earlier. It could be a coincidence though, Jessica could have quite possibly be overreacting, which in her situation was understandable.

   He asked the dreaded question. "What did it say?"

"Thanks for last night, Jessica. I'll see you soon."

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Ring. Ring. Ring. Burrows shot up from his desk in his home office. He'd done so much research last night on Jessica Willows, trying to get down to the last detail so he knew what he was dealing with, he'd obviously fallen asleep without realising it. Looking at his phone, he saw 25 missed calls. Caruso. The phone buzzed in his hand.

   "BURROWS! What the hell have you been doing? This is an emergency, I've been trying to ring you for the past hour." 

   Sighing and pushing his hand through his hair, he anticipated the abuse his fellow coworker was going to throw at him.

   "Well, quite obviously I was asleep. That sadly, cannot be helped. What's happened?"

After being filled in on the details, he hung up and got dressed in record time. Ten minutes later, what sounded like a battering ram hit his door. Caruso had arrived.

To say the drive was uncomfortable and slightly frosty was an understatement. Through all the time Burrows had been working with Caruso, he'd never seen his anger directed towards him, at least not to this degree.

   "So.... where we heading?" Burrows asked, slightly nervous.

"Office." One word answers, great.

   "What about the note?"

"Got it." This was going to be one hell of a day, Burrows thought dryly.

   The car stopped. Burrows looked up, confused. The Bronze?

"Bit early, isn't it Sam?"

   "That's Caruso to you, boy!" Burrows didn't realise people growled in real life. Apparently Caruso's mother had consumated with a bear and this was the end product. "We're taking a detour anyway. This is for investigation purposes."

   "From what you've told me, would the best person to talk to not have been Alison Mitchell?"

"Funny story about that actually, she reckons he left town about an hour ago. He must've left Jess' fairly early. Nobody can get hold of him. Suspicious eh?"

   "Has anybody ever thought about putting Jessica into protective custody? This guy, whether it be this Tim or anyone else for that matter, is serious. He's also intelligent and knows what he's doing."

   "You think we haven't thought about that? When he did it all those years back, we thought it was a one off. We offered it to her. She refused, didn't want to 'cause unnecessary trouble'. He stopped, that was it. Though that's a thought... You're good with people, right?"

   Not liking where this was going, Burrows cautiously asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"You're gonna be the one to convince our lovely, stubborn young lady that she needs it..." Caruso grinned darkly, knowing that the task ahead for the younger DI was not going to be a fun one.

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Memories. I savour how close I managed to get last night. She didn't even know. Assumptions lead to failure. I could've had her last night, right where I want her. But why rush things? Things have only just got started. It's taken me years to perfect this plan. Nobody will ever be able to take it away. Oh Jess, if only you knew...

Shoving my hands into my pockets, I walk the streets of London. This town doesn't even know what's about to hit it. Finally. I see my next victim.

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"So, you have no idea who that guy is?" Burrows tried again.

   "How many times do I have to tell you, hundreds of people come into this bar, I serve hundreds of people. Funnily enough, I don't know the life stories of all of them. No. I do not recognise him. He looks exactly the same as everyone else."

   Burrows nodded his head and muttered a thanks to the barman. Spotting Caruso hanging up his phone and stubbing out a cigarette, he advanced towards him. A satisfied smile was planted on the elder mans face.

"Good news, boy. Just got off the phone to the boss, the bastards been spotted near the Camden Locks in London. We're heading there now."

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Not brilliant, but the best I can do :P

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