Within the Shadows Read online

  Jack glared down the alleyway, uncertain of who was calling him into the dark. Tears of fear filled his eyes. He was terrified. Is this that guy again? he wondered, but not remembering what their face looked like. He wiped the tears from his eyes, put the fear to the back of his mind and followed the sound of whispers into the dark alleyway. The moonlight revealed a shadowy figure in front of him. His hand began to tremble, but he tried to forget about it, wanting to move forward.

  The whispers kept calling to him as he continued to walk forward. The voice sounded familiar. It was the same voice from that night. The same voice he'd been hearing in his dreams.

  'You're almost there, Jack,' the whispers continued. 'A few more steps.'

  As he got closer, he was able to see the person's face. Maybe the reason I can't remember their face is because it's disfigured, he thought. As he glared at their face, his vision became blurry, and he began to slowly lose feeling in his legs.

  'What do you want?' he asked before dropping to the floor.

  But he didn't get an answer. He passed out before the person could speak. Laying on the floor in front of his stalker, who he’d been scared of for weeks, Jack was now in a vulnerable position.

  * * *

  An hour had passed and Jack came back around. The floor was cold and wet. His body ached as he pulled himself onto his feet. What happened? he asked himself. He was all alone in the alleyway. Only the sound of passing cars could be heard. No whispers, and nobody stalking him. The fear crept back into his mind. Jack stared down towards his hands, which were shaking viciously from fear. He started to sprint home, though he couldn't run for long as his legs ached.

  As he reached the end of Russell Road he turned back into The Russells and continued down the street until he reached his house. He stood at his front door for a moment, turned his head to stare back down the street before entering his home.

  Before he could shut the door behind him, Charlotte came rushing towards him with a face full of anger.

  'Where have you been?' she shouted at him. 'I've been sat up, worried sick about you.'

  'I just went out to clear my head,' he responded with sadness in his voice.

  'Why did you just walk out like that? What's going on in your head?'

  'I don't know,' he cried, placing his face in his hands and sitting on the floor.

  'I just want you to talk to me,' she pleaded, changing her tone with her husband. She sat on the floor beside her husband and held him tight within a hug, caressing and comforting him.

  * * *

  Back at the CID, Jacob and Ally were still on the hunt for Barnes. It was late, but Jacob remained focused on the task at hand. They were awaiting the results from the blood found in the cemetery, even though they already knew who it belonged to.

  Officers were still patrolling the streets, looking out for Barnes' car. Jacob wondered if he'd ever see Barnes again. He saw him as a father, especially since his own father had been murdered by his fiancee. The fiancee who had become their number one suspect for Barnes' disappearance, let alone for the brutal murders that took place before that. Lily deceived Jacob and his entire family. She crushed his heart the day she decided to kill his father and step-mother and he learnt the truth about who she really was.

  Ally patted him on the shoulder. 'I think I'm going to go home,' she informed him. 'Good night, Jacob.'

  'Good night, Ally,' he replied.

  She swiftly stepped out for the night, leaving Jacob all alone in the office. The lights were off and he was working in the dark. The only light he had was from the computer monitors. But Jacob didn't mind. He quite liked the dark lately. His life had become very much the same since the beginning of the last case. Darkness seemed to follow him wherever he went.

  He moved his eyes away from the monitor and onto the clock. Oh my, look at the time. Jacob shot up off his chair and logged off the computer, before exiting the station for the night.

  He entered his car and drove home. He couldn't bear to think he used to share his home with that monster. His entire life with her had become a lie just so she could get close to his father and seek her revenge. Now his home and life felt empty, even though it was far from it. He had his family, his friends. But the feeling was always there, no matter how he felt.

  * * *

  Thirty minutes had passed before Jacob pulled up outside his apartment. He sat there for a minute before leaving his car. Thoughts kept playing on his mind. Where would she take Barnes? She must have found a place well before any of this.

  He pulled himself out of the car and strutted into the building. No ghosts following him, no stuttering lights, just Jacob. He placed his key inside the lock and entered his apartment.

  Everyone was in bed. The apartment was silent and dark. He felt the wall for the light switch. The light beamed brightly as the bulb flashed on, blinding him. He glanced around at the surprisingly clean apartment. Wow, Belle must have been busy, he thought.

  Jacob headed for his bedroom, stripped off his clothes and entered the bathroom. He stared at himself in the mirror, noticing how tired he looked, before hoping in the shower. He washed the day off, before breaking down into tears. His mind couldn't stop thinking that the nightmare he was living. Lily was set out to destroy him and his entire life. He hoped Barnes was alright wherever he was.

  Jacob got ready for bed. He stood there once again, staring at the bed he once shared with Lily. A tear released itself before he wiped it from his cheek. Deciding to sleep on the sofa for another night, he pulled some blankets out of the wardrobe, before leaving the bedroom. He lay down on the sofa and placed the blanket over his tired body. His head hit the pillow and he was gone. He had fallen asleep within seconds.

  Chapter 3

  It was freezing in the abandoned warehouse. The temperature had plummeted since the sunset. Barnes hung from his wrists, with as little as just his shirt and trousers on. The handcuffs that bound his wrists had created cuts. His arms ached from being raised above his head, but there was nothing he could do about it. Small amounts of blood trickled from his wrists from where the handcuffs cut him.

  His shirt had been ripped open so cuts could be made on his chest. Barnes' breath created smoke as it left his mouth from the drop in temperature. He was so cold, but his captor didn't care, in fact, she relished in the idea of Barnes being frozen.

  Barnes was out cold. He had been most of the day. Lily sat watching him, knowing she was in the final stage of her plan for revenge. She pondered on what she was going to do to him. Barnes was the last person to be a part of her plan and she wanted to make him suffer.

  Lily lost patience in waiting for Barnes to come around. She picked up a bucket of ice-cold water and threw it over him.

  'Wakey, wakey.'

  Barnes sprung back to life and gasped for breath as the freezing water took his breath away.

  'What? Where am I?' he asked, trying to catch his breath back.

  'You're at my new crib. What do you think?' she joked.

  'Why am I here?'

  'I think you know the answer to that.'

  'I had nothing to do with your sister’s death,' he tried to explain, but she wasn't having any of it.

  'Oh please. I remember you were both there that night. I watched your partner push my sister off the rails of that car park.'

  'What? He never pushed your sister, she jumped,' he informed her.

  'She wouldn't do that,' Lily dismissed what he'd told her. 'She wouldn't leave me behind.'

  'Well, she did. No matter how much you try to deny it, she had no choice. It was either that or be put away for the crimes she'd committed. We'd have preferred her to have come with us, but it was her decision in the end, and that was the decision she chose, whether you like it or not.'

  Lily didn't like the comments coming out of his mouth. She retaliated, smacking him in the cheek with the back of her hand, resulting in her engagement
ring making a cut across his face. Barnes became mad.

  'Do not talk about my sister like that!' she yelled. 'She loved me and she'd have never committed suicide. You're just covering your own arse.'

  'Why would I lie? I've got nothing to gain. You're going to kill me either way. I know I'm not getting out of this alive.'

  'Well it's nice to see you’re right about something,' she smiled. 'I've got another question to ask you, Joe.'

  'Fire away,' he replied.

  'What did you do with the diamonds you found at the last crime scene?' she asked him.

  'I don't know what you're talking about,' he lied.

  'I know you took them into evidence. Where are they?'

  'Look, I don't know what diamonds you are talking about.'

  'Don't play stupid with me, Joe,' she raised her voice. 'I need those diamonds, so I'll ask you again before I get really creative. Where are they?'

  'As I've already told you, I don't know!' he yelled back at her.

  Lily pulled a surgical knife off a metal tray filled with other objects and pointed it directly at Barnes' chest, before making an incision. Barnes held back a scream of pain. He didn't want to seem weak, but Lily knew how to torture someone. She had been thinking about it for weeks. It was all she thought about.

  'Now, I'm going to ask you again. Where are the diamonds?' she shouted.

  No one was around to hear her shouting at Barnes. The warehouse had been abandoned and empty for years, deserted in an empty industrial section of the city. Holes in the roof let drips of rainwater splash on the ground below. Nobody would ever know Barnes was being held there.

  'I don't know how many times I need to tell you this. I don't know what you are talking about.'

  'Wrong answer,' she replied as she opened up a new cut in his chest.

  Barnes kept his screams silent again and moved his head away from her line of sight. He didn't know how long he'd be able to hold out before giving her the answer she needed.

  'You're stronger than I imagined, Joe. I honestly thought you'd have broken by now,' she laughed slightly.

  'You're crazy, you know that? You threw away everything, just for revenge. Jacob, his family, they treated you like you were their own.'

  'It needed to be done.'

  'No, it didn't,' he retaliated. 'You could have just lived your life, knowing what your sister did was just plain evil. But you didn't and acted just as awful as she did. Jacob loved you. He still does love you, but you've broken his heart and completely destroyed the life you both built together.'

  'I wish things could've been different, but they couldn't. I needed to do what I did. I owed that much to my sister. I needed to bring my mother back.'

  'Back? Back from where?'

  'My mother worked for a company. You must already know she worked with Ava's parents. Daisy found my mothers research, which is how she knew what she was doing would bring our mother back,' she explained.

  Barnes laughed. 'What a fairy tale. Let me guess, this story doesn't have a happily ever after?'

  'Not yet anyway,' she turned away from him.

  'So where is your mother?' he asked.

  'I have no idea. I don't even think Daisy knew. All I know is the diamonds are the key. That's what was in my mother’s research.'

  'But why the ritual killings? What do they have to do with the diamonds?'

  'I never had the diamonds to begin with. The ritual was to bring the diamonds to me. It was the only way I would be able to get them,' she explained. 'So I need you to tell me where they are now.'

  'I don't know,' he continued to lie.

  She turned back around with a larger knife in her hand. 'You're doing this to yourself,' she said pointing the tip of the blade into his stomach.

  It penetrated its way past his skin making a small incision. Barnes couldn't resist but to yell out in pain. His screams echoed throughout the warehouse, but only he and Lily could hear them.

  Chapter 4

  Another sunrise woke Jack from his slumber. 8.17 am displayed on the clock next to his bed as he decided to drag himself out of bed and make himself and Charlotte a cup of coffee.

  He slowly made his way downstairs and into the kitchen, boiled the kettle and waited. His eyes couldn't help but stare out of the kitchen window. Minutes had passed and the kettle had boiled, but Jack continued staring out the window. Charlotte entered the kitchen and saw her husband standing completely still.

  'So much for the coffee,' she joked.

  Jack snapped out of his trance. 'Sorry honey,' he replied.

  'What were you thinking about?'

  'I don't know,' he stared at her with a confused look upon his face.

  'What do you mean, you don't know?'

  'I can't remember,' he admitted, trying his best to remember.

  'It was only a few minutes ago, Jack. How do you not remember?'

  'I just don't!' he raised his voice at her again.

  'I think there's something wrong with you, Jack,' she expressed her concern.

  'What are you talking about? I'm fine.'

  'Then why have you stopped running? You used to go out every night for a run, but now you don't. Why?'

  'I just don't want to do it anymore, okay?' he continued shouting at her.

  'You're scaring me, Jack. You've never behaved like this our entire marriage. What happened that night?' she asked him, knowing something about it was bothering him.

  Suddenly his head began to pound with an ungodly headache. He held his head in his hands and cried out in pain.

  'Jack, what's wrong?' Charlotte asked with concern.

  'My head is killing me,' he yelled.

  'We need to get you to a doctor.'

  'It's just a headache. I need some paracetamol and I'll be fine.'

  Charlotte grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with tap water, before grabbing the paracetamol.

  'Here you go,' she said as she handed it to him.

  * * *

  Jacob shot up, sweating from his nightmare. Nightmares have become a common thing for him lately. His current nightmare was about his mother's murder. He and Adam were just kids when their mother was killed, and they could hear the whole thing from the closet they were hiding in. John Wright always believed she was murdered by Daisy Blackwood's crazy killing cult, but there had never been any evidence to prove it.

  Jacob could see Belle in the kitchen making her breakfast. He nipped off to his bedroom and headed straight for his en-suite bathroom. Jacob's body was covered in sweat. The nightmares he'd had, terrified him. It felt as if his own brain was trying to torture him as much as possible. His life wasn't getting any easier.

  After Jacob got dressed, he headed for the kitchen. Belle was already halfway through her cereal when he joined her and noticed she was dressed in a uniform for the local cafe.

  'How come you're dressed like that?' he asked her.

  'Got me a job, didn't I?' she replied with a huge grin.

  'Well done, Belle,' he congratulated her. 'I'm guessing it’s for the cafe down the road?'

  'Yep.'

  'I'll have to pop by sometime.'

  'Have you found your boss yet?' she asked, before pushing another spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

  'Not yet. We've got no leads. I just hope he's still alive,' he answered her question while placing his head in his hands, trying not to get too emotional.

  Belle patted him on the back. 'You'll find him. You're a fantastic detective and an awesome human being,' she comforted him. 'You took me in after Alex's murder. You didn't know me and could have thrown me into the system, but you didn't and I'm so grateful for that.' She hugged him.

  He replied to her hug with open arms.

  Jacob's phone began to beep. He glanced down to see an email from his father’s solicitor. It was a date and time for the reading of his father’s Last Wil
l and Testament.

  'I'll see you later,' Belle said while cleaning away her bowl.

  'Yeah, I'll see you later,' he replied, not removing his eyes from his phone.

  Belle left the apartment and headed to her new job. Kate still hadn't woken up. She took her parents death just as hard as Jacob and had stopped eating. She spent most days locked away in her room with the only contact she had being Belle, only because they shared a room together.

  Jacob rose up from his seat and strutted to Kate's room, knocked on the door and waited for her reply.

  'Come in,' he heard a muffled voice say from the other side of the door.

  Jacob opened it. 'I've just had an email from dad's solicitor. His Will reading is tomorrow at noon. Make sure you're ready. They want all three of us to attend,' he informed her.

  'Okay,' she replied.

  'I'm off to work now. Are you going to be alright?'

  'I'll be fine.'

  'Are you sure?’ She nodded. 'Okay. I'll see you later.'

  Jacob left the room shutting the door behind him. He didn't know what to say to her, just like she didn't know what to say back to him. They were both mourning the loss of their family.

  Jacob picked up his wallet and keys off the side before grabbing his coat. It was time for him to go to work.

  * * *

  Jacob pulled into the station at 9.34 am. He was greeted by Sarah who pulled in just after him. She exited her car and made her way towards him.

  'Hey, Jacob. How are you?' she asked, already knowing the answer.

  'I'm fine,' he lied. 'I had an email from my father’s solicitor this morning. We've got to attend his Will reading tomorrow.'

  'That's a bit late notice isn't it?'

  'I know, but I don't mind. I just want to get it over and done with.'