Legacy (9 page)

Even with me shaking with shock after what had just happened to me, Harran didn’t hold back one bit.

              “What the bloody hell is going on around you?” he asked me forcefully with a face that made me feel like he was about to punch me in the face.

The only reply that I could give was an inaudible stammer before bursting into tears, but Harran was unimpressed and continued with his onslaught.

              “I want to know right now and you are not leaving this room until you tell me everything! Whatever is going on, it’s endangering the lives of this force and I am not going to stand back and do nothing while more lives are being lost! Every time I see you, there’s nothing but death and destruction!”

Short had to step in and physically pull Harran back, giving me a moment to readjust after once again being face to face with an angry man – but a part of me knew that Harran was doing so for the right reasons, not like the man who tried to kill me outside me house.

But another part of me did become scared because I don’t know if I can ever trust another man again.

              “Sir,” Short said as he calmed Harran down a little, “losing your temper is not helping matters right now.”

It was at this very moment that the emergency alarm that had been continuously ringing in the background ceased, filling the air with an eerie silence and sighs of relief, but as each officer stood down, it became apparent that there was bad news.

The man who helped me in the car park was dead, and his attacker had managed to flee the scene without even being captured.

A female police officer stepped into the room to tell Harran and Short the bad news and without saying another word to me, Harran walked out of the room.

Short looked over to me with a look of displeasure as he followed Harran, leaving me alone with the female police officer and I began crying like I had never cried before.

The whole station stood united in shock and grief at the news and immediately the hunt for his killer was underway and while I sat in a small room crying in front of a complete stranger, the forensics team were once again called upon to gather as much evidence as possible from the car park while Harran and Short checked out footage from the closed circuit cameras to see what happened and hopefully obtain a good image to identify the killer.

What was on the tape shocked everyone who saw it and those who did, found it incredibly difficult to believe what they were witnessing on the screen.

Harran and Short looked at each other in complete and utter disbelief at what they had just witnessed and if they thought that the killing during the night was strange, then this one was bordering on paranormal.

No amount of police experience or detective training could ever prepare anyone to rationally explain what they were actually dealing with right now.

Two killings in less than 24 hours and they had no leads to go on whatsoever.

Harran turned to Short and began speaking quietly, checking that nobody else was within earshot.

              “Short – be prepared because the amount of shit that is going to come from all this will be immense. It’ll be flying from all directions, it it’s not the public baying for blood, it’ll be from within our own ranks. Everyone will want answers there and then and we haven’t got a bloody clue what’s going on ourselves! We need to get hold of ourselves and make some sense of all this so we can comfort the public and not cause mass panic.”

Short nodded his head.

              “I understand, Sir.”

Harran drummed his fingers on the desk for a few seconds – something he always did when he was slightly anxious.

              “Short, you’re a great police officer and whatever happens in this case, I know you’ll give me 100%”

              “You can count on me, Sir.”

Harran stood up and stretched his arms into the air.

              “At this moment in time Short, you’re probably the only one I can trust. Whatever the outcome, I’m under extreme pressure to close this case as soon as possible or face the wrath of the old boys network who will have the greatest of pleasure in choosing me as the proverbial scapegoat. Now that one of our own is a victim, I’ll get no rest until we catch whoever did this.”

Short was amazed at how candidly his superior had spoken. In the time that they had worked together, he had never seen Harran so tense and he stood too and spoke as he did so.

              “Well, Sir. The one major factor in these killings is sitting in the room opposite. As long as we have her under watch, then we could catch whoever is responsible.”

Harran nodded in agreement.

              “Believe me, when she leaves this building, I’m going to have her under 24 hour watch. That woman won’t be able to fart without me knowing! We have nothing at all to charge her with, but I’m sure she is hiding something from us and I’m willing to keep harassing her until she gives in and tells us – and this time Short, you won’t be holding me back this time! Now, bring that Gallagher woman out here now so she can see the CCTV footage for herself. I really hope she can explain what the Hell we have both witnessed.”

Short knew from Harran’s tone that he meant business.

CHAPTER NINE

Every inch of my body is beginning to ache and I can’t seem to find an end to my tears.

These last twenty four hours have been the worst of my life and the only hope I can cling onto right now is that all of this is one of my nightmares and very soon I am going to wake up in my warm comfortable bed to relative normality.

But I have to face the harsh reality that all of this is real and I have to face it all alone – I have no family and my only friend seems to have done a runner just when I needed her most.

I know those policemen are trying to pin all of this on me.

I look across at the female officer opposite and notice a window behind her – at least I’m not in a cell, so I can catch a glimpse of the outside world while being cooped up in this building.

But the world outside is far from how I am feeling right now.

The world is full of life and laughter and beautiful sunshine, while I feel flat, scared, unhappy and full of darkness.

I watch the cars drive past and wonder when I could travel in one in order to escape from all of this shit in some far away beautiful tropical island where all your cares just drift away.

And just when it feels like my mind is starting to clear, the door opens and Detective Sergeant Short enters the room.

              “Miss Gallagher,” he says sharply, “follow me please. Detective Inspector Harran would like a word.”

That was all he said and he waited in silence for me to get off my seat and walk towards him.

The female officer accompanied me as we followed Short to the front desk, which I thought was a strange place for us to be. I expected some kind of Interview Room, but at least here was a lot less claustrophobic.

I heard a buzzing noise and the door at the side of us opened, allowing us to walk behind the desk where Harran was sitting.

He was of course his normal arrogant self and he hardly looked at me as he directed me to sit in the empty chair next to him, which I did, with Short standing between us – the female officer hadn’t come in with us.

I felt really uncomfortable right now and the silence between the three of us was broken by Harran, who spoke in a professional manner, but still with an undertone of hidden anger.

              “I would like you to watch the screen in front of us, Miss Gallagher. I am about to play you the CCTV footage of the police station car park. It is imperative that you watch it carefully and when it is finished, I will ask you a few questions.”

Harran pressed a button and the monitor came to life.

I could see the man who helped me leaving the building briskly, but he comes to a sudden stop a few yards later and almost immediately a woman comes running towards him – that woman is me, but I know for a fact that whoever had been chasing me almost got hold of me as I reached the car park.

But there was no sign of him whatsoever.

The footage just showed me and the other man who helped me standing together staring into thin air for a few moments until I turn and make a run towards the police station.

If that wasn’t strange enough, the next part of the footage took it into the realms of unbelievable.

Only one man was to be seen on the monitor and I sat there dumbfounded as I watched him being lifted off the ground by some invisible force before being launched through the air until his body slammed against a car.

It continues to throw him around repeatedly from one car to another until he suddenly freezes in the middle of the car park, his feet inches off the ground.

His head turns to his right sharply and he remains in that position for a few moments before slumping to the ground lifeless.

I put my head in my hands as my brain tried to digest what I had just seen and as I did so, instantly felt that I was now being watched by both Harran and Short.             

The sound of Harran’s voice confirmed it.

              “Can you explain to me what the bloody hell happened in that car park because I have seen it twice and I can’t even come up with one sane reason for what that footage shows us.”

All I could do was shake my head to which Harran continued.

              “In the last twenty four hours you have managed to be involved in the deaths of two men – you are either incredibly unlucky or I believe you know a lot more than what you are letting on!”

I took my hands away from my face and turned to look directly at Harran, who was sat on the edge of his seat staring at me.

              “You don’t fool me for one minute, Miss Gallagher! There are two bodies lying on cold slabs right now after enduring the most horrific of deaths and apart from them, you are the only person who has managed to catch a glimpse at their killer, but yet you can’t even describe him to us! Do you walk around all day and night in such a daze that you can’t even take in what’s happening around you?”

What I said next changed the cocky expression on Harran’s face to one of shock.

              “The man who chased me into the car park just now was not the same man I saw last night.”

I looked across at Short who looked just as shocked.

              “You mean to tell us that there are two killers at large out there?” Harran exclaimed.

“How are you so certain that this man was different because you told us earlier that you were unable to get a good look at the one in the alley last night?” Short asked, finally coming to life.

              “Their bodies were different!” I answered.

              “How were they different?” Short asked.

              “The man who followed me through the streets just now was not as tall as the one I saw last night. Besides, I managed to get a number of glances at him as he followed me and his features were definitely not the same.” I replied.

Harran brought up a good point.

              “But you told us that you were on the ground in the alley so maybe you miscalculated the man’s height?”

I thought for a second, realizing that he may be right, before I spoke again.

              “Maybe so, but whoever he was last night, he made no attempt whatsoever to hurt me in any way – quite the opposite – but the guy who followed me all over town gave out a completely different aura which scared the hell out of me. It definitely wasn’t my imagination because when I made a run for this place, he was hell-bent on trying to catch me to do God knows what to me.”

              “But someone else ended up paying the price!” Harran added deliberately trying to hurt me, but before I could retaliate, Short stepped in.

              “Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt you in any way? Someone you may have fallen out with recently perhaps?”

Until last night, I didn’t have one enemy in the whole world, but suddenly nearly everyone I meet wants to harm me in some way.

              “That man was most certainly not someone I knew!” I replied, “Don’t you think that if I knew who he was, I would have reacted entirely differently and not make a bolt for here screaming for help? No offence, but this is the last place I would want to be right now! I could think of a million better things to do than sitting here putting up with your sarcastic remarks!”

Harran stood up.

              “May I remind you that this is a murder investigation and I am in charge of it.”

I just looked up at him.

              “Well, maybe you should stop wasting valuable time and get out there to find these men before you have another dead body on your hands!” I returned, unafraid of what reaction may come.

But Harran’s reply was fierce.

              “Being around you could make any of us the next potential victims! In all my years on the force, I have never come across anyone who was so dangerous to be around as you. The CCTV footage just completely astounds me – all I know is that someone I knew who worked so hard to fight crime became a victim himself. But even though I witnessed his death on that screen, I also witnessed something that was completely unexplainable.”

But no matter how Harran defended the coroner, he was completely unaware that the report that had been compiled into the cause of death of the first victim in the alley omitted vital pieces of evidence into the true cause of death.

It may have sounded far-fetched on paper, but with the CCTV footage, it could have made a lot more sense.

Like it or not, these two murders were not committed by two very strong and cunning individuals who could be caught soon through good policing – this could be the beginning of something more – something that could only be described as paranormal.

And as Harran pressed a button to let him through the door leading out towards the other side of the front desk, I caught a glimpse of a figure standing outside the front door.

Someone who I recognized instantly – not by looks, but through his hypnotic blue eyes.

And within a second of seeing him, the last thing I remember was the floor coming up to meet me.