Haunted in the Night

Chapter Four- Part Two

Is it human? Is it animal? Does it just kidnap? How does it kill it victims that it takes? Does it eat them? Tear them to shreds? Or does it keep them alive locked away somewhere to torture whenever it pleases.
“Claire are you alright?” Bob asked, worry all across his face as he pulled her from her thoughts and she looked at him confused.
“You looked scared, like you were thinking of something horrid" he explained why he was asking and she gulped before attempting to smile slightly at him.
“Oh I’m fine, I just.....” she trailed off, she couldn’t think of what to tell him but suddenly they were interrupted when his phone went off and he politely apologised before answering it.
“What? Where? We’ll be right there" Bob was near frantic, his whole body suddenly went stiff as he spoke into his phone and Claire instantly felt a wave of dread wash over her as she knew something bad had happened.
“We’ve got to go now" Bob stated to her the minute he hung up his phone but before Claire could even ask what had happened he was out of his seat and rushing for the door.
“Sorry" Claire said to Coral who had just started wandering over with their order, as she pulled out some money and handed it to Coral then chased after Bob.
She only just got into her seat when he started the engine and the second she closed her door he took off down the road and Claire scrambled to get her seatbelt on quickly.
“What’s going on?” Claire painted out, she was scared, she had never seen Bob like this in the time she had been with him, he had always seemed rather calm and controlled, now he was erratic and almost to the point of panic.
“Another person has gone missing, but we haven’t received any reports of anyone getting a note” he spoke with confusion wondering why no one would report it if they received one.
“Helena didn’t tell me either, she probably knew what was coming for her, knew it was inevitable and didn’t want to put me in that position of trying to save her, but why wouldn’t this victim report a note?” he wasn’t talking to Claire and she knew it, he was questioning himself, trying to work out what was going on but he had no answers for his questions.
“This is it" he said once they pulled up in front of the library and they quickly jumped out of the car and rushed inside.
“Peter what have you found?” Bob asked his second in command as they walked up to him where he was questioning a elderly lady.
“A lady named Katherine Pearl has gone missing, she works here as a librarian, this is the owner of the library" Peter stated and they all looked at the owner.
She was a thin frail looking lady, long silver hair with light blue eyes, she wore an old suit that had greyed from many years of use, you could still see patches of where it had been darker.
“My name is Haley Penborn, Kathy is my best friend, she was going to inherit the library after I’m....” the elderly lady trailed off.
“Has she received any threatening letters?” Bob asked trying to calm himself down and speak evenly but Claire could see he was struggling with it, his body still tense.
“Yes, yesterday morning, I tried to convince her to go to you but she refused, said that you wouldn’t be able to help, that you haven’t been able to help the others so she was better off alone" Bob cringed, what Haley had said would have felt like knives to Bob, he already blamed himself enough but now everyone else was blaming him too.
“When was the last time you spoke to her?” Claire butted in, giving Bob time to compose himself.
“Last night, she told me she wasn’t going home, that that would be where the monster was waiting for her, she decided that she was going to spend the night here, she figured if everyone was being taken from their homes that she might stand a chance here, obviously I was wrong, there is no sign of her, and she told me she would meet me here in the morning, I arrived but she was gone" Haley was starting to cry now and she covered her face with her hands as she sobbed into them.
“I’m sorry, I know this is hard, Peter do you think you could help Haley find that letter for us while Bob and I have a look around?” Claire asked and Peter quickly nodded as he led Haley away into the office.
“What do you know of this victim?” Claire asked Bob now that they were gone as she looked around and she noticed a pillow and blanket on an armchair in the corner of the room next to a big bookcase, this must have been where she had planned to sleep for the night and she picked up the camera that Peter had left behind and took a picture of it, she wasn’t sure if he already had but she just wanted to be sure.
“Katherine Pearl is a 44 year old, she’s worked in this library since she was 16 years old, she loved it here, however she wasn’t the nicest lady you could get along with, she was very cocky and vain, very often was rude and considered to be stuck up, she has shoulder blade length blonde hair with a short front fringe, brown eyes and high cheek bones with thin cheeks, she always wore lots of fancy fake brands of shoes, clothing, handbags and jewellery, whenever I came in here she always had her makeup covered face in a fashion magazine, Miss Haley is one of the few people in town who actually got along with her, most people tried to avoid her if they could" Bob explained to her and she nodded, noting that she wasn’t liked much amongst the townsfolk.
“Could we run a background check? Find out everything about her, personal records, bank statements, anything and everything, I don’t want to leave any stone unturned, even if we don’t think we’ll find anything I still just want to check" Claire told Bob and he nodded understandably, admiring her professionalism, especially with the circumstances of what this would be bringing back for her.
“I’ll get on it right now" he said as he walked out leaving her to scope the place out a bit more.
She scanned the bookshelves but found nothing standing out at her, no blood, no force of struggle amongst those, it was almost like this place was too clean, in fact in was, there was no evidence that anyone besides Katherine was ever here, except for the threatening letter, just like all the other victims and Claire found herself becoming even more frustrated then she had been earlier with the case files, because now she was in Bob’s position of looking for evidence but coming up short handed.
It was then that Claire spotted something out the corner of her eye, it was a book, stuffed under the armchair that had the blanket draped over it and Claire quickly took a picture of it before putting on a pair of gloves and sliding it out to review what she had found.
It was a self taught book, on how to tie knots and Claire looked at it curiously, from what she had heard about this lady she would have no interest in reading a book of this material.
“We’ve got the note, I’ll send it off for processing once we get back to the station" Officer Peter said as he walked out of the office with Haley right behind him.
“Thank you, Haley I found this book under the armchair here, are you certain this was where Katherine was going to sleep?” she asked the old lady.
“Yes, she had done it previously before if she was too tired to go home, always said it’s the most comfortable in the whole library" Haley explained to her.
“Did Katherine have any interest in knot ties that you know of?” Claire inquired.
“Oh goodness no, she hated working with her hands, especially something that could ruin her nail polish, she would have no interest in that" Haley stated in a matter of fact and Claire looked down at the book again intrigued.
“I’m afraid we’re going to have to confiscate that book ma'am, it’s now official evidence" Officer Peter said as he grabbed a new evidence bag and held it out for Claire to pop it in.
“Does Katherine have any family or partner we can notify of what has happened?” Claire asked Haley and for a moment she looked at her strangely before realising just who she was and that she wouldn’t know everybody here anymore or all of their business.
“No, her mother died when she was a little girl and her father passed in early May of last year" Haley explained.
“Any partner or boyfriend?” Claire inquired hoping to find some sort of connection through the people Katherine knows.
“Well there is something, I’m not quite sure what though” Haley spoke but looked unsure about whether or not she should continue.
“Please, every little detail helps" Claire probed a little, really needing something to go on.
“I suppose then, you see she was acting rather strange these past few months, I mean everyone always does around this time of year, not sure of who is going to get snatched up next or when but it wasn’t like that, she was leaving work early, doing her makeup and hair even more than usual, I thought maybe she was going on some dates but when I asked her she just shrugged it off and would say ‘I still want to look my best on my way home’ but she’d never been that consistent before" Haley said and Claire thought about it but didn’t want to risk telling Haley of what she suspects, if she did the whole town would know in five minutes and that could interfere with the investigation.
“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind, thank you for all your help" Claire spoke kindly before leaving the old dusty building, the smell of musty old books lingering with her however.
Bob was standing on the curb, his hands in his pockets but his shoulders and neck tense, he was exhausted, physically and emotionally and Claire knew that he couldn’t continue on like this for much longer, that it was eating away at him, at his sanity.
“I think Katherine may have been having an affair” Claire said as she walked up beside him, trying to pull him out of the thoughts that were torturing the poor man.
“That’s not an easy thing to do in this town, main prying eyes and nosy neighbours" Bob sounded intrigued but also sceptic.
“Can we get a list of her financial records first? I want to know for sure before we rule anything out, even with how nosy the neighbourhood is" Claire asked and he nodded in agreement.
“I’ve already organised for everything, it’s being faxed over to the police station, you ready to head back there now?” he replied as he glanced over at her.
“Not quite yet, I might do that tomorrow, as for now there’s something I have to do" her voice was quiet, nervously shaking, she tried to keep her face expression blank and eyes emotionless, it was just her voice that was betraying her.
“Alright, do you want a lift?” he asked, uncertainty in his tone.
“No that’s alright, I like walking" she replied, she did like to walk but that wasn’t the reason behind her declining the offer, she actually didn’t want him to take her because then he’d know where she was going.
“Okay well call me if you need anything or when your safely back at the cabin" he told her kindly before he slowly walked over to his car and she watched him drive away, concern on his expression the entire time until he was out of sight and Claire let out a sigh, not that it helped relax her much, not with where she was going.