*FIRST DRAFT* The Cover of Darkness (DCI Morgan Chester Series)

Chapter Nineteen

Cole parked his car on the kerb outside the semi-detached red brick house. One side of the house was hidden by a hedge, whilst the other showed off a large garage with a white pebble driveway that joined to the main road. It was perfectly kept; no stains marred the perfection. A police car parked in front of the garage.

A female police officer departed the front door as Cole and Rowan got out of the car. They held their identification to her, and she escorted them inside the property.

They stood in the vast hallway as the police officer went to inform the owners of their arrival. She returned swiftly.

"They're in the kitchen ready for you."

"Thank you. Is there anything we should be prepared for?" Rowan asked.

"I can't even begin to tell you. Just be prepared for a horrific story." She turned on her heel and trudged towards the kitchen. Rowan and Cole followed close behind her.

A young couple stood by the kitchen island and a girl sat at the pine wood table and chairs in the centre of the room. She gazed melancholy out the glass patio doors and into the garden. Her hair was pushed back into a neat ponytail and her blood-stained clothes replaced with black leggings and oversized grey t-shirt.

"Hello Laura. I'm Detective Inspector Rowan Anderson and this is my colleague Detective Inspector Cole Dawson. We just need to ask you a few questions if that is okay?"

"I told the police everything I know." Her gaze did not meet theirs.

"We're from a special department. Where extreme cases are examined."

Her body tensed and she balled her fists. "I don't want to be examined again."

"This will be a different type of examination. We look into different aspects of the crime."

"You will think I'm crazy." She finally broke her gaze and looked at Cole and Rowan.

"Wouldn't be the first crazy person we have dealt with." Cole chuckled and she smiled half-heartedly at him. She leant back in the chair and relaxed her shoulders.

"It started when I was looking to put my baby up for adoption. This couple approached me online, they seemed so perfect."

"Why was you putting your baby up for adoption?" Rowan asked as he clicked his pen and started to write notes on a piece of paper.

"I was too late to have an abortion. My stomach started to swell, and I thought it was a reaction to something. I went to the hospital and the doctor confirmed I was six months pregnant."

"And your parents?"

"They both died when I was three in a car crash. I was put in foster care."

"Was the baby conceived through consensual sex?"

"Yes, with my now ex-partner. He didn't want anything to do with me or the baby, so he moved on." Her bottom lip quivered.

"Did you notice anything strange about the couple who wanted to adopt your baby?"

"No. They were pleasant. They called to check up on me, and once they paid for the books I needed for university. Just as I entered the last few weeks, I met up with them for coffee, and my water broke. There was so much pain. They panicked and put me in the back of their car. Told me they were going to drive me to the hospital, but they just kept driving to the middle of nowhere."

"Where did they take you Laura?"

"To this farmhouse. I don't really remember as I was in so much pain. They put me on this bed in a room that smelt like lemon and bleach. I gave birth probably an hour later..." She trailed off and wiped the tears that fell.

"I had a little girl. They cleaned her up in this bowl, like the ones you see during Christenings. She had a healthy cry."

"Where is the baby now Laura? Did they take her away?"

Laura swallowed hard. Images of that night flashed through her mind. Her heart ripped apart.

"They killed her." She sobbed. Cole's eyes closed tightly, and he hissed. "I was then taken to the basement. They had other girls in cages. I was put in one next to this girl, her name was Amanda. There were two other girls in cages opposite. Amanda told me it'll get easier. She was pregnant with her fifth child."

"Holy shit." Cole muttered and Rowan glared at him. He quickly apologised to everyone and scratched his head. "They were using you as human breeders."

"The woman came and prepared me for a ritual. They put me on a table in a candle lit room. It had upside symbols and skulls with horns everywhere. There were five men, dressed in dark cloaks and wore masks. One read a passage in a weird language I couldn't understand. But they all said in unison Our lord, our saviour, Lucifer."

"How did you escape?"

"When one of them approached me, I bit into his neck. He pushed me away and I just ran as fast as I could until I got here."

Rowan nodded as he finished writing down his notes. He read them over briefly and passed them to Cole to check. Laura pulled her knees up to her chest on the chair. Her eyes wandered to the garden again.

"Is there anyone we can call?" Laura shook her head.

"Laura, was there another girl there? She may have had red hair."

"Yes, she was asleep when they brought her down, it was just before I had to go for the ritual. They put her in the cage on the other side of Amanda's."

"Her baby was found in Camden Market, thankfully whatever they were planning got interrupted. We need to find this girl before it's too late."

"Could you retrace your steps with us, and we can find the place?" Cole pressed and Laura nodded.

Rowan pulled up the maps on his phone. Laura's index finger pointed to the woodland at the top of the town. Rowan zoomed the image in closer and in the middle of the dense woodland, was the roof of a house and barn.

"I didn't complete my ritual." Laura muttered to herself.

"What does that mean?"

"The girl you're looking for, she will take my place. The ritual will be tonight."