Haunted in the Night

Chapter Sixteen- Part One

Chapter Sixteen.
Claire gasped as she just stared for a moment at the old man who stood in front of her, as her mind tried to understand the words that had just came out of his mouth.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” she asked, just wanting to make sure she had heard right.
“I said I know who is behind all of these kidnappings" he told her and she gulped, her stomach knotting, her heart beating so hard it felt like it might burst.
“Please come inside out of the chilly air" Claire said politely as she motioned towards the door which Chad continued to unlock and opened it wide for them as Claire followed the elderly man inside.
“I’ll get you both a chair to sit on” Chad said as he walked past them to the back area.
“Would you like a cup of tea or something?” Claire asked the man as they stood there awkwardly, it wasn’t the real question that she wanted to ask him, no she wanted to ask him who he thinks is behind these kidnappings and why, however she wasn’t really certain that she wanted to know, for all she knew it could be someone that she was close to when she had lived here as a little girl.
And then if they did find the person she would find out what happened to her parents and godmother, and then she would more than likely find their remains, she didn’t know if she could live with that, however she knew she couldn’t live with not knowing either.
“I’m alright thank you” the man replied as Chad came out with two wooden chairs and placed them over by the counter for them.
“So you never told me your name” Claire said as she pulled out her pen and pad from her handbag, to write everything down so she could remember it all to tell Bob.
“Charles, Charles Smith” he told her as they sat, the man’s body relaxing as the shaking in him subsided slightly and Claire scribbled it down.
“So you say you know who is behind all the kidnappings?” she asked slowly, trying to mentally prepare herself for what she was about to hear.
“I do, his name is Josh Hardgrove” Charles told her and she quickly wrote it down before looking into the mans serious eyes.
“How do you know that he is behind it?” she asked and the man sighed sadly.
“He used to be my neighbour, you notice things about your neighbours you know, every little suspicious act” he replied and she watched him patiently, waiting for him to tell her more.
“The first victim, Mary Scather I believe her name was, he is the one who took her” he told her.
“What makes you think that?” she asked when he didn’t speak anymore.
“He was the one stalking her, he was obsessed, would always be writing creepy love letters to her, he would even take pictures of her and hang them in his bedroom, I saw them once, when he left the curtain open, I know his the one who done it” Charles stated while Claire wrote down what he was saying.
“How do you know his the one who kidnapped the rest of the people?” she asked him curiously, so far he had only spoke of how he was obsessed and had kidnapped Mary.
“Because he disappeared suddenly, no one has seen him since, there is something evil living out in those woods Miss Claire and I guarantee you it’s Josh Hardgrove” Charles swore to her as she continued writing.
“I’ll get to Bob as soon as I can with this information, thank you so much for coming forward with it, but why did you wait so long? Surely you’ve had these suspicions for years” Claire wondered and the man before her frowned slightly.
“Bob hasn’t done a very good job on this case, everyone in town is doubting him but now that you’re here and we all know that you have been studying Criminal Psychology, we have more of a chance of the kidnapper finally being caught” he answered her and she looked at him in a bit of star struck, to hear that most of the townsfolk were believing in her was something that Claire had never expected to hear.
“Trust me Mister Charles this case haunts Bob just as much as it haunts me and this town” Claire tried defending her dear friend but Charles just frowned slightly, like he didn’t fully believe her.
“I’ll be leaving now, you take care Miss Claire” Charles said as he wobbly got to his feet, bracing most of his weight on his walking stick before he bowed slightly then made his way to the door to leave, he was definitely old fashioned.
“Chad I’m really sorry but I have to go, I need to tell Bob” Claire said when Chad came out of the office, hearing Charles leave from the bells at the door.
“I understand, do you want me to walk you?” he asked, his eyes filled with concern.
“No it’s alright, it’s just up the road” Claire replied before she placed a chaste kiss on his cheek before leaving.
The main street was busy now, people bustling about all over the place, many of them glanced at Claire and whispered amongst themselves but she paid them no mind as she rushed up the street to the police station.
When she got there she was a bit out of breath, she had sped walked, in a rush to tell Bob as soon as possible.
“Good afternoon Claire” Officer Lewis said as she walked in, he stood behind the front desk where he normally was, he smiled at her politely.
“Good afternoon, is Bob here?” she asked even though she had seen his car out the front but for all she knew he could have gone out for lunch and not come back yet.
“Yeah I’ll go get him for you” he replied before walking off down the hallway, it only took a moment before he came back with Bob.
“Claire what is it? Is everything alright?” Bob asked when he saw her, she was pale, her body frigid and tense, her knuckles white from gripping onto her notepad.
“I just had a man come to me with information, he said he knows who is behind all the kidnappings” Claire stated and Bob looked at her with utter shock before motioning her to follow him.
They went behind the counter and sat down at his little desk, it only had a small computer and a cup of coffee on it, everything else Claire was guessing would be neatly in the draws.
“Who was this man?” he asked her curiously, watching her intensely, Claire could see he was uncomfortable that the witness had gone to Claire and not him, he had already began to doubt himself and this hadn’t helped.
“His name is Charles Smith” Claire told him, watching him, trying to gauge his reaction as familiarity glowed in his eyes.
“I know him, good man, he used to teach cadets here back when we had a raff cadets club here, long time ago that was” Bob told her.
“So who does he believe is behind this? Charles is a smart man, if he is claiming to know who is behind it then he would have a lot of reason to believe it” Bob said, obviously having a lot of belief in the elderly man who had came to her.
“A man named Josh Hardgrove” she answered but disappointment fell upon his face and he sighed sadly while her stomach knotted, she needed to know why he was disappointed by this information.
“What is it?” she asked him, her voice quivering slightly, her nerves firing up.
“Josh Hardgrove moved away 17 years ago, right after the first victim went missing, said he didn’t want to risk being one of the victims, many people left town back then and as more people have gone missing more people have moved away, can’t say that I blame them to be honest, but my point is he couldn’t be behind these kidnappings because he isn’t even in this town” Bob explained and Claire’s shoulders slumped at this new, her body was been tense with hope that they finally had something, now it seemed that they may not.
“But Charles said this man was obsessed with Mary Scather, the first victim, he stalked her, Charles once saw into his bedroom and he had his walls covered in stalking pictures of her” Claire told him and he did frown slightly at this news.
“I must admit that is worrying to hear but like I said he isn’t here so how could he be kidnapping the rest of the victims?” he asked her and she thought for a moment before answering.
“Do you know exactly where he is? How do you know that he moved away? He could have just made it look while he did but has ended up living in the woods” Claire stated and Bob considered her question.
“Lewis, search in Josh Hardgrove, I want bank statements and current address” Bob told him and Officer Lewis nodded before he got typing at the computer on the counter.
“Thank you for coming to me with this straight away, any lead is better than no lead, also I have organised the trip to the mountains with the rangers, they were very unsure about it but I told them your theories and even they couldn’t argue with your logical point” Bob told her and she smiled at him gratefully.
“Sir Josh Hardgrove has been living in Sydney and has receipts for all sorts of places throughout Sydney, many on the days and nights of the kidnappings, there is no way he could be behind it” Officer Lewis told them and they both sighed sadly at this new.
“Thank you Lewis” Bob spoke with disappointment, Claire’s hope had bloomed hope in him but now they were both let down.
“What if he was behind the first kidnapping but then when he left someone else, a copycat or something took over for him, maybe a partner” Claire offered as a suggestion but it was just wild speculating at this stage.
“I don’t know Claire, we would need more evidence then just guessing, at this stage there is nothing that we can do” Bob told her.
“Can we bring him in for questioning?” she asked hopefully, maybe if she spoke to him he would reveal something or it would prove one hundred percent that he had nothing to do with it.
“We could only hold him for 48 hours but then if nothing comes of it we would have to let him go but I can have Sydney officers pick him up and transport him down but I don’t see much point to it” he told her.
“Please Bob just give me a chance to speak with him, it’s better than just sitting on our butts” she pleaded and he sighed before nodding.
“Alright, I’ll see to it” he said as he began typing on his computer, Claire figured he was emailing the police in Sydney.
“Well I best get back to the shop, I’ll see you later?” she asked as she stood up but suddenly Bob stopped typing, smiled and look at her happily.
“So things are going well?” he asked, meaning between her and Chad, he was glad to see them both getting along so well, especially if it was helping Claire to move on.
“Goodbye Bob, have a good day Officer Lewis" Claire said as she rolled her eyes at Bob and waved to Officer Lewis as she walked out, not bothering to answer Bob’s nosy question, however she knew later at home he would probably ask again and then she would more than likely not be able to get out of it.
The walk back to the hardware store was short but the whole time questions wracked her brain, who was this Josh Hardgrove? Had her parents known him? She couldn’t remember him but then she had met many people in the store that she couldn’t remember, there was just too many and as a child she never paid much attention, she was always to busy off in her own little world.
It bugged her, there was something about this man that just made her feel like something was crawling under her skin, maybe it was the fact that he had been stalking the first victim, maybe because Claire knew what it felt like to be stalked, however she just chalked it up to bad memories.
“Hey how did it go?” Chad asked as soon as she entered the store and he came out from the office, Claire however just shrugged and he looked at her with concern.
“Are you alright?” he asked, walking up to her and putting his arms on her shoulders, attempting to comfort her.
“I don’t know, there is just something about this guy that makes me shiver, but he has alibi’s, tight ones” Claire sighed looking down at the floor, she felt exhausted, all the adrenaline had drained from her, it had built up while Charles was telling her what he knew, then as she rushed to tell Bob but now that she was back at the store it had drained away, leaving her tired and wishing that something comes from it.
“Why don’t I take you back to the cabin? It’s quiet in here, most of the customers have already been while you were out, it won’t hurt for me to close the store for the rest of the day” he offered but she shook her head.
“I can’t make you do that, you need the business” she argued but Chad just smiled softly at her.
“It’s alright Claire, come on, let me take you home” he insisted and Claire sighed giving in, she was too tired to continue fighting for them to stay.
“Let me just lock up and then we can go” he said as they walked out the little store and he locked the door behind them, checking the door handle once he did to make sure it was fully locked.
Once he was happy that it was they made their way to his truck and climbed in, Claire leaned her head against his shoulder once they put on their seatbelts and he started the car.
Before he started driving though he looked down at her caringly, seeing her eyes get heavy as she began to fall asleep on him.
He tried to drive slow, he went the long way around, so then she could sleep on him longer before she would have to wake up to go inside the cabin, he would have carried her but she would wake up when he moved his shoulder away from her anyway, he had noticed how a light sleeper she was.
“Claire we’re here, time to go inside” he said softly once he pulled up out the front and gently shook her shoulder.
She mumbled, opening her eyes slightly, a sleepy look on her face, Chad found it cute.
“Huh?” she asked him tiredly and he smiled at her affectionately.
“We’re here babe” he told her again, this time he called her babe and it didn’t slip her attention, even with how tired she was, he had never called her that before, but she liked it.
Slowly she sat up then climbed out of the truck, her feet hitting the ground heavily under her weight, before they made their way to the cabin.
Chad unlocked the door for her once she finally managed to fish out the keys from her handbag and they went inside, Claire instantly laying down on the couch.
“I’ll get a fire going” he told her and she smiled softly at him as he got down on his knees in front of the fire place and she admired his lean body.
His broad strong shoulders, his toned back, leading down to his butt, his hot butt, his jeans only showed it off more, and then his legs, strong muscled legs, just like his strong arms, and Claire found herself suddenly more awake, as she wanted to feel his body, feel those arms around her.