I'll Protect You

Chapter 5

Oliver did receive another package, and as soon as he saw it on his front step called the police. It looked like the last package, a plain brown cardboard box, but Oliver knew that the mailman always put his packages next to the mailbox, and not in front of the door.

The police arrived and opened the package, only a bit surprised to see a severed hand, with a wedding ring still attached. It was once again surrounded by tissue paper, but there were no origami heart, just little bits of streamers tied like bracelets. Without having to do a DNA test they already knew the hand belonged to Ian, some of the more senior officers recognising his wedding ring, but they did the test anyway. Like before, there was a small note to Oliver that read:

'Dear Oliver,

roses are red,

violets are blue,

don't worry about the dead,

I'll protect you.'

The police tested the hand and found that it did belong to Ian, and Oliver apologised profusely for his death.

"I didn't know that they were targeting police now," Oliver said, standing next to the police car as Tom handed him a cup of coffee, keeping on for himself.

"Yeah, well, the murderer sure seems confident in his ability to not get caught, otherwise they wouldn't target police officers," Tom replied, still feeling grief weigh heavily on his mind.

"Have you guys got any idea who could have killed them? Who this murderer is?" Oliver asked, sipping his coffee while he waited for an answer, both to his question and to the unasked question of when the murderer will be caught and convicted.

"I'm not supposed to tell you but we talked to Richard and Jack, and it seems as if they're both innocent, but we still can't be a hundred percent sure," Tom explained, "was there anyone else at all you remember from when you were younger?"

Oliver's eyebrows drew in for a second, and he shook his head slowly.

"I didn't have many friends, and nobody seemed too interested in me anyway, it was just me and Henry's friends, although I don't keep too in touch with them nowadays," Oliver said before abruptly shifting gears and turning toward Tom, "Do you think I should get back in touch? I mean, this has all been a terrible tragedy and I think I want to have more people for help if I need it."

"I think," Tom started, gathering up everything he could think of, "that they still care about you, and it may be beneficial for all of you to reconnect. This must be scary for you, and they'll want to make sure their old friend is safe." Oliver nodded after this and settled back against the car. He finished his coffee before speaking again.

"Thank you Mr. Hardy, and once again, my sincerest apologies for what has happened to your friend," Oliver said, giving Tom a small wave as he wandered back inside his house to ask where the cops were up to.

The cops, as a matter of fact, were just packing up their equipment and going to check the security cameras.

Madeleine was whizzing through the footage until she saw something walk up to the door. She paused the video and rewound it to get the exact moment, for a while disappointed as she noticed that the person was wearing a mask, and so they couldn't see his face, or well they assumed the person was a man, as the figure in the footage looked very masculine. The mask was in the shape of a shark, and the person was wearing gloves so no prints were left on the package. She watched as the mystery figure dropped the package on the front steps before leaving. Madeleine noted down the time and then pressed fast forward so she could see when exactly Oliver opened the door.