Haunted in the Night

Chapter Twenty-Two- Part Two

“I understand your scared Claire but I need you to do this okay, if I question him, if I have to interact with him and he angers me, especially with Helena, if his the one who killed her, I don’t know what I’ll be capable of doing” he admitted his concern to her and she looked at him sadly.
He had loved Helena and now they could be questioning the person who killed her, she understood his anger, understood his pain.
“I’ll do it” she replied, watching him sigh thankfully, his body relaxing slightly, he had obviously been very concerned.
“Good morning guys" Chad said as he stirred, waking up and sitting up, the blanket falling down, showing off his chest and abs.
“Good morning Chad, there’s hot coffee” Bob said, pointing to the coffee pot to which Chad smiled slight at.
Pulling on a tank top he climbed out of bed, walking over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup before joining them, placing a small, sweet kiss on Claire’s lips before sitting down.
A slight blush crept up Claire’s cheeks when she saw Bob smile at them, she knew he was happy for them, to finally see Claire finding someone who could help lessen her pain and bring joy and love to her life.
“So you two are questioning Josh Hardgrove today?” Chad asked curiously, his eyes flickered to Claire, slight worry appearing in them.
“Yes, we need to know if he is at all connected to what has been happening here" Claire replied, she knew how worried Chad was about her, especially with her questioning the man who had possibly kidnapped her family, he was worried how it would effect her emotionally, she had already suffered enough.
But he kept his mouth shut, he knew trying to convince her not to do it would only hurt her more, he understood that it was something she has to do, so instead he decided that he would just support her and be here for her if she needs him.
“Honestly I don’t have much of an appetite this morning so what do you say we just head straight to the station?” Bob asked her, it was clear he was nervous and just wanted to get through with it as soon as possible.
“Sure, I’ll just grab an apple" Claire said, looking over to the bowl of fruit on the counter, Chad must have gotten them when he did some shopping, she had noticed the fridge had been recently stocked yesterday.
“Okay, I’ll let you get dressed and I’ll wait for you out in the car" he told her, getting up and putting his coffee cup in the sink before he walked out of the cabin, closing the front door behind him.
“I’ll be at the hardware store if you need me" Chad made sure to tell her, knowing today would be another hard one for her.
“Thanks" she replied as she got up, grabbing some clothes and got changed, she didn’t mind changing in front of Chad, he had seen it all anyway, she made sure to put on her warmest clothes, including her big white knitted jumper, it went down to her thighs which were clothed in blue jeans.
“I’ll see you later" she said as she walked up to him, kissing him softly, he could see the nerves rushing over her, he could feel it in her kiss.
Grabbing an apple she left the cabin, slowly making her way over to Bob’s police cruiser while eating her apple.
“All ready?” Bob asked as she put on her seatbelt and nodded, she couldn’t say anything right now, she knew if she did her voice would quiver and give her away, so she kept quiet, quickly taking a bite out of her apple to pretend she wasn’t speaking because she had a mouthful of food, hoping Bob wouldn’t see right through her.
It didn’t take long for them to pull up at the station, Claire watching it with unsure eyes, slowly she reached down and unclipped her seatbelt, reaching over the grab the door handle and opening it, before climbing out at a steady pace.
It was almost as if none of this was real, as if she was walking toward the police station in a dream, slow but absent minded.
“Claire?” Bob asked her, placing a hand on her shoulder, making her jump as she looked at him confused.
“Are you alright?” he asked and she looked back at the police station, unsure of the answer to that question.
“Let’s just get this over with" she replied as she threw what was left of the apple in the bin before she tried to walk with confidence toward the station, but with each step she got closer, the more the nerves came back.
“Hello Miss Claire, Chief Bob" Officer Lewis spoke happily to them when they entered and they found themselves wondering how he could be so happy with everything that they had discovered yesterday.
“Morning" Claire said, flimsily waving at him as she walked straight past, towards the interrogation room, Bob following close behind her as he grabbed the file off of the counter.
Claire froze at the door, she could feel the presence of the man inside, a man who could have possibly killed her parents, it made her breathing get heavy, her heart beat loudly, all the while it felt like there was something heavy weighing on her chest, crushing her lungs.
Gradually she stretched out her arm, gripping the handle, gulping before she turned the door knob and pushed the door open, revealing the table and chairs, on the opposite side of the table sat the man who was suspected of killing her family.
The man was fairly chubby, his hair was grey and very short and he has brown eyes, he looked very different from his previous picture of when he lived here.
Back then he had been 39 years old, now his 56, he used to have a healthy body, although he wasn’t overly strong, he had had long shoulder length brown shaggy hair, he had changed a lot in the years since he had left Meadows Ville.
Carefully Claire stepped into the room, Bob close behind her as they made their way over to the two chairs on the other side to which Hardgrove sat.
“Mr Hardgrove?” Claire asked as they sat down, slowly his eyes crept up onto her, the coldness in them sent chills through her entire body and she shivered, this did not escape Bob’s notice.
“Who are you? I recognise Bob over here but I don’t know you, state your name immediately” Hardgrove spat, his eyes suspicious, glaring at her, it made Claire shift uncomfortably in her seat but she tried her best to keep her face confident and unreactive to his rude behaviour.
“My name is Claire Handerson, I’m assisting Chief Bob with this case, you are aware that you can have a lawyer present right?" she stated, her voice loud and clear and she watched for his reaction.
The moment she had spoken her name his eyes flinched slightly and he looked at her with surprise before he quickly recovered himself, his eyes returning to being cold and void of emotion.
“Ah yes, your parents went missing when you were just a little girl, I remember reading about that, and I will not be needing a lawyer, I have done nothing wrong" he replied, looking back down at his hands which were handcuffed to a metal rod in the table.
“You kept updated on the case?” Claire asked curiously, Bob pulling out his notepad, taking notes.
“I don’t see how that is any of your business" Hardgrove suddenly said, worry flashing over his face for a quick moment, he obviously thought she wouldn’t have picked up on that so quickly, or easily, she had taken him off guard, just what Bob had wanted.
“Actually it is our business as you are considered a suspect in these kidnappings" Claire declared and Hardgrove quickly glared at her, his eyes growing angry.
“I haven’t even been back here since the day I left" he growled, his muscles in his arms twitching as he pulled his wrists slightly at the cuffs, showing clear signs of wanting to get away from her.
“There is no full proof of that at this moment, and we have a witness who said you were quite obsessed with the first victim, Mary Scather" Claire spoke and fear instantly flashed across his face.
“I don’t know what your talking about" he declared, quickly looking to the right, away from them, trying to hide his emotions but he was too late, Claire had noticed them all.
“You kept pictures of her on your bedroom wall, now if that isn’t classed as stalking then I don’t know what is" Claire said, probing for more reactions out of him.
“I don’t know what your talking about” he tried again but she wasn’t giving up.
“We never found her body, we found other victims but hers was nowhere to be seen" Claire told him, however made no mention about how they didn’t find her parents either, she was trying to mainly focus on Mary Scather as he had been most obsessed with her.
Fear instantly flashed over his face, his body tensed, fists clenched and his breath caught in his throat.
“You... no.... that can’t be" he stuttered, trying to make sense of his thoughts on what she had said.
“Where is her body Hardgrove? Because it obviously isn’t where you left it" Claire questioned, she didn’t tell him where they had found the other bodies, there was a chance there was a second location and she hoped that if he didn’t know what location they found that he might give up the other.
“No, it has to be, she couldn’t have survived" he whispered to himself, his mind growing foggy as he began to grow paranoid.
“She couldn’t have survived what Hardgrove? So you admit you did kidnap her" Claire declared, Bob scribbling everything down, there was also a video recorder taping everything in this room.
“What? No, your crazy, your setting me up” he shouted, becoming overly paranoid and Claire opened up his file, reading about his life since he left Meadows Ville.
“It looks here like you had a hard time after you left town Hardgrove, you developed a drinking problem, got diagnosed with paranoia, your wife of two years left you 6 months ago, is that because your being haunted? Haunted by Mary Scather?” she asked and watched as she made him unravel.
“No, no, she couldn’t have survive, she can’t be haunting me, she can’t be, she should be dead, dead at the bottom of the well, but then, who else would be kidnapping and killing? She couldn’t be a ghost, she couldn’t, it’s not natural" he cried as he tugged and pulled at the handcuffs and Claire quickly stood up from her seat, Bob doing the same.
“We’ve gotten all we need" she said as she began walking out.
“No, no, you can’t leave me here, she’ll come for me, don’t you understand, she’ll come for me" he screamed as they walked out, closing the door behind them, hearing the faint screams still through the door.
“So where is she?” Bob asked her slightly confused, looking at her curiously.
“He had said she should be dead at the bottom of the well, where is any wells around here?” she asked and a light bulb practically lit above Bob’s head.
“There is a well a small distance into the woods, in a clearing, nobody ever goes out there as the well is dried up, there was another access point though, in a small cave, it was where a lot of the water used to go down into the well" Bob realised.
“I think we just found our next crime scene" Claire replied, it was obvious that Hardgrove thought Mary's body should be down there, the only question was, was her parents? And if he kidnapped Mary Scather, how come he only mentioned where she should be, not any of the other victims?