Eye For an Eye For Another Eye (Book 1) The Lanhallow Series

Chapter One

The sun shone brightly through the trees as the mourners made their way to the church. The sun really had no right to be so bright on such a devastating day. The death of Emily Star had shocked the small town of Lanhallow. To have such a gruesome murderer in their midst was terrifying. Speculation was flying as to who could have done something so ghastly, to such a lovely and beautiful young girl. The raven-haired beauty had been found down a ravine, naked with bruises around her throat. She'd been missing two days when her body was uncovered in the foliage. They'd let the sniffer dogs loose in the end, they always found their target.

It had taken a while for the police to believe she was even missing. Her girlfriends had talked about some secret boyfriend she was planning on running off with. Except for one of the girls, Karina had come to the station later that night after the girls had given their statement about Emily running off.

Detective Lauren Ricketson had noticed through the interview, this particular girl did not speak a word. During the one on one interview with her, she claimed to have witnessed, along with her girlfriends, Emily being attacked. When the other girls had been re-called to answer questions, they had stuck together and told an elaborate story about how Karina had mental issues and probably just dreamt what she said. Because there was no proof, and no body to corroborate Karina's story, the girls were able to leave. But Lauren had noticed the lead girl, Hayley, whisper something into Karina's ear. Karina had bristled and begun to shake before running out of the station.

A black and gold hearse sat out front of the Lanhallow Baptist church, with a board depicting an enlarged portrait of Emily on an A-frame outside the entry. Detective Lauren Ricketson watched from across the street as the whole town entered the church. One of these people killed sweet Emily and she had an idea who. She now knew Karina's statement had been true. She just couldn't work out why her girlfriends were lying and who they were covering for. She made her way across the street to join the funeral ceremony. It was important for the town to see her being vigilant. She also wanted to keep an eye on Hayley, Kylie, and Tabitha. She hoped her being there made them nervous.

The church was rather full by the time she entered, so she stood at the back of the room to get a better look at who had attended and what their reactions were. There was one particular person she was looking for. As she scanned the room, she noticed that Karina was sitting with the other three girls, her auburn waves amongst a sea of blonde. She never could understand what Emily and Karina ever saw in the three blonde girls, whose reputations were well known. Hayley looked like the girl next door, sweet and angelic with her perfect long hair, pouting lips, and soft brown eyes. But everyone knew Hayley could be nasty if she wanted. Tabitha looked like the surfy beach chick with her short blonde hair, natural tan, and little makeup. She was tall with long tanned legs and was on the swimming team. Kylie, on the other hand, was petit with long blonde hair, pale green eyes, and a peaches and cream complexion. She highlighted her features with kohl-rimmed eyes and long dark lashes, and she always wore the darkest red lipstick to accentuate her plump, pouty lips. She was stunning, the better looking one out of the blondes. Of course, no one ever saw her without her makeup on. Lauren wondered when the girls had become friends again even though Karina did not look comfortable. The priest stood out front and began to talk. Everyone became quiet.

"We have a series of photos we are going to show through the ceremony of our town beauty, Emily. I've known Emily since she was born. She was baptized in this church by me and she was even part of our choir with her melodic voice. She will be dearly missed and..." All of a sudden a mobile phone began to ring. The song Raise your glass by pink was playing loudly through the church. Everyone was looking around. Then someone said quietly, but loud enough to echo through the church.

"That's Emily's phone." There were gasps all around as the priest backed up towards the casket and leaned in towards it. He jumped back as Emily's sweet voice echoed through the church from inside the coffin.

"Hi, you've called Em. I can't get to the phone, but if it's urgent, you might find me at the animal shelter. Tootles." Emily's parents cried out as did a few other people.

"Kurt, you need to call me. Where are you anyway? I need to talk to you, I know what you did." The recording cut out as everyone looked over at Hayley. Hayley's eyes were wide and she shook her head.

"It wasn't me. I didn't do that." She cried as Lauren made her way over to her.

"When this is finished, I want all of you at the station."

Emily's phone had never been found and to think it was now in her casket with her to be buried was a cruel joke. Lauren continued down the aisle, to the priest who was beckoning her towards him.

"The phone's in there, with her Detective." He said shocked. Lauren motioned the pallbearers to her.

"Wheel her out the back for now. I need that phone." Lauren turned towards the stunned friends and family.

"I'm sorry for the interruption folks. This will be fixed immediately." She stepped down towards Emily's parents and leaned in towards them.

"I will bring her back out Annie and Frank. We have been searching for her phone for a while, and this is a callous joke to play, especially today of all days." Emily's parents nodded at Lauren as she followed the casket out the back.

The priest stood rooted to the spot, looking lost for words. Emily's boyfriend Jason stood and walked to his uncle's side wrapping his arm around his uncle's shoulder.

"Hello everyone, most of you know me. I'm Jason Tavin, Em was my girlfriend." His voice choked up and his uncle, the priest rested his hand on his shoulder and nodded for him to continue.

"Em was sweet and beautiful. Everyone loved her. She was always involved in anything to do with animals. She wanted to be a vet so she could help them." Jason's lip began to quiver and he looked back at his uncle who had gained back his composure. He nodded to Jason to have a seat.

"Everyone here knew Emily and as Jason just said, we all loved her very much."

Lauren opened the casket. Even in death, Emily was beautiful. Her angelic features and stunning raven hair were what lured people to her. Lauren tried not to look at her pale beautiful face. She didn't want to remember sweet Emily like this. It was bad enough when they'd found her. She found the source of the noise and put her gloves on to retrieve it and popped it into an evidence bag.

"I'll find who did this to you Em, I promise." She told her and then put the lid back down.

Lauren headed back to the station with her new evidence. Someone had left it there to be found and she doubted there would be any fingerprints on them other than Emily's. But the fact was, the killer was still in town and it was most likely someone they all knew, like Kurt Little, who had mysteriously disappeared. She had an officer stay at the funeral to escort the girls to the station as soon as the service was over.

"I want these girls separated this time." She told everyone. "I'm getting to the bottom of this today." She stormed out of the room. She needed a cup of coffee. Actually, what she really felt like was a whiskey on the rocks and could not wait for her shift to be over. This little surprise at the funeral had just made her day a hell of a lot longer and this was her case. She was not leaving until she was done.