Terror in the Night

Epilogue

Epilogue

“Remember, the Confessor is a dangerous woman but she may be injured,” the Captain could tell the tired men in the back of the SWAT van, all men looked dead on their feet but all had put in more hours just to come on this raid. “We couldn’t get hold of Faye Sparrow, and Elaine Black couldn’t be here today because of her working hours, but she has left the back door open for us and has informed us that the only people who should be inside are the cleaners. She is only letting us in with her consent because she believes that we are wrong. I really want to be wrong but with the tip we received, I highly doubt we are.”

Detective Chaplin felt sick when he looked at the shot gun on his lap. He knew he had done the right thing; he did his job even if it was a hint at the truth, but while he thought over everything that had happened over the last few months, the more he couldn’t think of a reason why the Confessor should be arrested.

“Our main goal is to take the Confessor alive. If she is injured we’ll take her to the hospital in police custody. If she’s not and goes for a gun or any type of weapon, we shoot to injure; not to kill.”

Colin felt at peace when he told the Captain that he found the Confessor’s lair. He didn’t say who the Confessor really was or what state she was in, but he had seen how badly Faye was injured and couldn’t shake the image from his mind. He couldn’t force the image of Faye onto the Confessor; to him the two were two different people not the same person. He just hoped that Faye wasn’t in the building, but that too could just be a delusion.

“Alright, let’s move out.”

The volunteers jumped out the back of the van and ran to the backdoor of the club in formation.

Colin stood one side of the backdoor with the Captain standing the other side counting down from three for the storm.

At one, the Captain threw the door open and ran inside with his gun raised. “Police, show yourselves,” he shouted, chorused by every man who followed behind him.

The bar, dance floor and store rooms were cleared without finding anyone but the cleaner. The office and the VIP bar were also cleared without finding anyone else.

“Okay Chaplin,” the Captain shouted when there were the police left in the building. “Where’s this secret lair you found?”

With a heavy heart Colin lead the group back into the storeroom to the secret door at the back. He noticed that Abby or Sam had cleared up the blood trail leading to the door, probably in an attempt to confuse him or hope he would forget how to find the secret panel; but Colin never forgot anything important, they even cleared off the bloody fingerprints on the key code. “I’m sorry Faye,” he whispered so no-one would hear him as he punched in the code.

“Police, let’s see your hands in the air,” the Captain shouted as he shoved the door open and ran down the stairs.

When Colin brought up the rear, his heart was slamming in his chest as he thought over every possibility he would find at the bottom of the stairs. Faye wasn’t in the best of shapes when he saw her last night, maybe what they found was Sam and Abby crying over her body; Sam was asking about blood after all, what sort of vet would have human blood on him.

But he found nothing; just a group of cops around a blood pool. They were all staring at the back wall.

When Colin looked around, he realised Faye hadn’t just escaped before they arrived, she cleared out altogether, taking everything with her.

On the back wall someone had painted a cross with dots joining it like a rosary and the word through the middle; CONFESS, with a note stuck to the bottom. The Captain felt obligated to read the note but quickly handed it over Colin after he finished:

Colin,

I’m sorry this had to happen and I’m sorry for leaving this as it is but I’m not ready for prison just yet.

See you in court,

            C x

            “Do you know who the Confessor is Chaplin?” the Captain demanded.

“No sir,” Colin replied, still fixed in his mind was Faye at his house waiting for him and the Confessor as some shadowy figure of the night; they weren’t the same person.

“Then why would you see her in court?”

“I’m not sure sir, maybe she’ll be at someone’s case or something.”

The Captain sighed and looked around the empty room again. “Okay people, if the Confessor was here it look as if she won’t be back any time soon. Let’s go home and get some sleep; we all looked like we need it.” He clasped Colin’s shoulder on the way out but said nothing; he knew what it was like to have a suspect slip away when they were so close.

Colin waited for the last of the officers to leave. He wanted to be alone in the lair for a moment longer where he last saw Faye. He stared at the painting of the rosary that Faye probably painted on months ago and felt as if he had betrayed someone. It couldn’t have been Faye because he didn’t give her away and he didn’t betray his bosses because he called it in, but still the guilt ate away at him.

He managed to drag himself back to the group for a lift back to the office when he felt his spirit sink even more. Faye had left him, she pretty much said so last night, but he still thought she would be waiting for him at home yet he still had that glimmer of hope that she was still there waiting for him.

The Confessor had gone into hiding, taking Faye with her. But one day he would see her again and when that day came it would destroy him but he would get her to confess to the crimes she had committed and maybe he would have the courage to confess what he had been hiding from her for so long.

The End