Within the Shadows Read online

  'What are your first thoughts?' Ally asked him.

  'The husband might be involved,' he replied.

  'Exactly what I was thinking,' she passed over her initial thoughts.

  'Easy. Case closed,' Jacob joked.

  Jacob and Ally strolled over towards Jack Roberts, who was covered in a foil blanket. Tears still streaming down his cheeks and his nose still sniffling.

  'Mr Roberts. I'm sorry to bother you, but we need you to come down the station with us to answer a few more questions,' Ally asked him nicely.

  'Can I not come tomorrow,' he sobbed. 'I've just lost my wife.'

  'I know and we are deeply sorry for your loss, but this cannot wait,' Ally continued.

  'Okay,' he replied.

  Jacob led Jack to the police car which would be escorting him to the station and placed him gently inside before shutting the door. Jacob then met his partner back at their car and they started their journey back to the station.

  * * *

  Jacob and Ally arrived back at the station just before 9 pm. Jack Roberts had already been processed by the escorting officer and placed inside an interview room. He sat waiting patiently for his lawyer to arrive.

  Jack kept processing the night’s events. Why do I get the feeling they are going to arrest me? It's got to be that guy who's been stalking me. No matter what he thought, he knew it was strange that he was sitting inside a police interview room waiting for his lawyer.

  The door opened and Simon Ballard walked in. Simon had been Jack's solicitor for seven years. And in that time, he'd never been sat with Jack inside a police station. Simon had also been Alex Baker's lawyer as well as his friend.

  'Simon, thank you for coming,' Jack said, holding his hand out for Simon to shake it.

  'What a mess you've gotten yourself into,' replied Simon, as he shook Jack's hand before sitting down beside him. 'So what's going on?'

  'My wife was murdered,' he sobbed his answer. 'I believe they think I've killed her.'

  'And did you?' he asked.

  'Of course I didn't,' he yelled at him, upset that he'd even think that.

  'Okay. You know I have to ask to see what I'm dealing with. It's the best way for me to help you.'

  'I know. I'm sorry, it's just been a really stressful day.'

  * * *

  Jacob and Ally sat inside the briefing room discussing what questions they were going to ask Mr Roberts. Ally had another investigation board brought into the briefing room to help with the investigation into Charlotte Roberts’ death. Two boards sat next to one another. Two open investigations. The team still had to investigate Barnes' disappearance as well as their new case.

  Ally was pinning photos of Charlotte's murder onto the new board, listening to what Jacob had to say. Their only real lead was her husband who was currently sitting inside the interview room with his solicitor.

  'So, her husband comes back from work and finds her dead on the kitchen floor. Neighbours heard shouting earlier that morning between the pair. Do we have a time of death on our victim yet?' Jacob asked her.

  'They suspect she died around 9 am. We need to ask Mr Roberts what time he left for work this morning,' she replied, still pinning information to the board.

  Jacob continued writing things on a sheet of paper. Their list of questions was growing, even though they both felt this was going to be an easy case to close.

  'What does Mr Roberts do for work?' Ally asked Jacob.

  'He's a manager in the car industry or something along those lines.'

  'He mentioned a stalker,' she continued. 'We need to ask him more about that. Description, build, stuff like that.'

  'Do you think he could have just been making that up, to help with his innocence?'

  'Maybe, but we still need to get as much information as possible,' she replied.

  'Has his lawyer arrived yet?' he asked.

  'Yes, he's currently in the interview room with Mr Roberts.'

  Jacob stopped what he was doing for a moment, realising he'd totally forgotten about Barnes the past couple of hours. Barnes had been on his mind the last couple of days. His disappearance hit Jacob hard, especially after the death of his father.

  'Ally, we've totally forgotten about Barnes,' he said. 'He's out there somewhere waiting for us to find him, and here we are, pushing his case to one side.'

  'It's not like that, Jacob. We haven't forgotten about him, we just have no new leads. As hard as it sounds, we have to continue our jobs otherwise when the time comes, we'll never have the resources to find him,' she tried her best to comfort him, knowing full well, it wasn't working. 'Officers are on full alert, looking for anyone matching Lily and Barnes' descriptions.'

  'I know. I just feel incredibly guilty.'

  'I know what you mean. I do too.'

  'I've got my dad's Will reading tomorrow,' he informed her. 'It's just been a hard couple of months.'

  Ally sat beside him and placed her arm around him, pulling him into a hug. The pair of them sat there for a moment, embracing one another. Neither of them wanted to pull away. Jacob felt warmth and happiness from Ally, but every time anything happy flew into his mind, the memory of Lily came flooding back, making it harder for him to get close to anyone.

  Jacob pulled away first. His eyes gazed into Ally's. She replied the gaze and her face gradually leaned in closer to his. Their lips were moments away from touching. Ally's eyelids slowly began to close.

  Jacob jumped off his seat and grabbed his notes, alerting Ally that he'd moved further away from her. She opened her eyes to see Jacob standing on the other side of the room.

  'I think it's time we interviewed Mr Roberts,' he told her.

  Ally, all flustered, replied, 'Okay. Let's do this.'

  The pair of them left the briefing room and continued their way towards where Jack was being held. Ally didn't know what to say to him. She felt extremely embarrassed about what had just happened. She didn't understand, thinking Jacob felt the same way about her as she did about him.

  * * *

  Jacob opened the door to see Mr Roberts sat next to his solicitor, who he recognised. He remembered Mr Ballard from when they had Alex Baker in custody.

  'Mr Ballard,' Jacob held out his hand. 'Nice to see you again, despite the circumstances.'

  Simon reached for Jacob's hand and engaged in a handshake. 'Nice to see you too, DS Wright.'

  Ally placed a tape inside the recording machine and waited for the loud beep to end before speaking.

  'This is Detective Inspector Ally Miller, with Detective Sergeant Jacob Wright on January 3rd at 9.36 pm, interviewing Jack Roberts on the death of Charlotte Roberts. His lawyer, Simon Ballard, is present,' she introduced for the tape. 'Mr Roberts, can you run us through your actions for today?'

  'What do you mean by that?' he asked.

  'We need an account of your day, from the moment you woke up to the moment we arrived,' Ally answered.

  'Well, I woke up around 8, went to the kitchen and boiled the kettle...' He paused.

  'And?' Ally noticed he'd zoned out.

  Jack's eyes felt as if they had gone elsewhere. His blank expression made Ally, Jacob and even Simon feel scared. It was as if he'd gone somewhere else within his mind. After a few seconds, Jack snapped back to reality.

  'I just remember having this excruciating headache. I can't really remember anything after that,' he explained. 'Though I do remember being at work but I can't figure out how I managed to get there.'

  His eyes rocked from side to side. His forehead began to dribble with sweat. Jacob noticed how quickly Jack's behaviour had changed.

  'Are you okay?' he asked Jack.

  Jack didn't answer. He started to pant, gasping for breath. Jack lifted his head and gazed towards the ceiling with his mouth wide open, breathing as hard as he could. He felt as if he was losing air and not being able to breathe.

&nbs
p; Jacob turned to Ally, she glanced back at him. She knew something wasn't right.

  'Mr Roberts, are you okay? What's wrong?' she asked.

  Jack again said nothing.

  'We need to get someone in here,' Jacob informed Ally.

  But then Jack stopped gasping and panting. He returned his head to look at them. Jacob and Ally were confused about what had just happened. So was Simon. Jack wiped the sweat from his forehead and interlocked his fingers on both his hands, placing them on the table in front of him.

  'Are you okay, Jack?' Simon asked him.

  'Yes, I'm fine,' he replied calmly.

  'Are you sure?' Ally continued to ask. 'You gave us quite a scare.'

  'I'm absolutely fine, DI Miller.'

  'Are you happy to carry on?'

  'As happy as I'll ever be.'

  Jacob was noting down the change in Jack's behaviour, beginning to think maybe there was more to Jack Roberts than meets the eye. One moment he couldn't stop crying, mourning the death of his wife, to then having what seemed like a panic attack, and then ending with a strangely calm and blank expression.

  'Earlier when we asked you some questions outside your house, you told us you had been followed by someone. Are you able to describe them to us?' Ally continued with the questions.

  'A male. About six foot. Disfigured face,' he explained, keeping his eyes looking at the desk while trying to picture him.

  'And where had this man been following you?'

  'The first time I was out running on my normal route. He stood right in front of me, blocking me from getting past.'

  'Then what?'

  'I can't remember.'

  His facial expression changed again, this time he looked confused. Jack tried his hardest to remember, but he couldn't. The rest of that night was blank like someone had deleted that specific memory from his brain.

  'Don't worry, that's fine. You've had a very stressful night. We'll let you get some rest and we'll pick this up another day,' Ally comforted him, knowing she wouldn't get much more out of him at the moment. Ally ended the tape. 'Have you got anyone you can stay with tonight?'

  'Don't worry about me. I'll book myself into a hotel for the night,' he replied.

  'I'll call you when we're ready to ask you more questions, Mr Roberts,' she informed him while holding her hand out to be shaken.

  He nodded and replied the handshake, before leaving the interview room with Simon Ballard. Jacob remained seated until the door closed behind them. He gave a strange gaze at Ally and she knew something was up.

  'What is it?' she asked.

  'What was that all about?' he answered with another question. 'The strange behaviour in that interview.'

  'I know. It was like he was having a panic attack,' she discussed her view.

  'I mean the calm and then the sweating after crying and sobbing. He was all over the place,' he explained.

  'So you think he's lying? That he's making up the stalker story?'

  'I don't know what to believe, but something's not right. If he's innocent, he might know more about who killed his wife than he's saying.'

  * * *

  Barnes was left hanging by his wrists. Unconscious and alone in the dark warehouse, where the only light he had was that from the moon that peeped through the hole in the roof. Dried blood left a trail downwards towards his feet from his wounds.

  The electrocution hadn't killed him, but it had definitely weakened him. His body ached from his head to his feet. The cold January air chilled him to the bone.

  A dim light from the other end of the warehouse made him open his eyes slightly, seeing the mysterious man and Lily sitting down together eating something in the distance. I'm starving, he thought to himself. His stomach rumbled at the thought of food.

  He needed to get out of there. His eyes scouted around once more, looking for anything that would help him cut the rope from his wrists. As he tried his best to get closer to the tray of tools, he heard footsteps coming towards him.

  'Oh, you're awake,' Lily spoke as she gained closer.

  'Just in time to see your gleaming smile,' he continued to joke with her.

  'I know you're not going to tell me willingly about where those diamonds are. I've tried to break you, but you're more resilient than I first thought.'

  Barnes coughed a laugh before it became uncontrollable. He'd hoped that would have been the last part of the torture, but it was far from it. He caught a glimpse of a tattoo on the man’s arm, featuring a horse with a man on top, holding a flag. The man stared back at him with that frown of anger. The same angry frown Barnes had seen earlier that day.

  'Tomorrow is a whole new day, and you are going to talk,' Lily continued in a forceful tone.

  Barnes decided not to say a word. He knew his luck was about to run out. Lily wanted him dead and he knew it and no matter how long he kept it up, she'd kill him eventually.

  * * *

  Jacob arrived home around 11.30 pm. Tired and drained, he decided to go straight to bed. But as he opened his apartment door, he could see Belle staring right back at him.

  'Evening,' she greeted him with a huge grin on her face.

  'Why are you so happy?' he asked, forgetting it had been her first day in her new job.

  'Are you not even going to ask me how it went?'

  'How what went?'

  'My new job,' she answered, holding her hands up at her side.

  'Oh Belle, I'm so sorry. I totally forgot,' he replied, lowering his head in shame.

  'It's okay. You've had a lot going on lately.'

  'So how did it go?'

  'Brilliant,' she shouted with a massive grin on her face. 'Made new friends, and I love the job. The boss is good too.'

  'That's great to hear. I'm glad you enjoyed it.' He smiled at her excitement.

  'And soon I'll be out of your hair.'

  'What do you mean?' he asked her.

  'Well, now I've got a job, I'll be able to find my own place,' she replied.

  'You can stay here. You don't have to move out.'

  'Come on, Jacob. You've been really nice to let me stay here as long as I have, but it was never going to be forever. Anyway, I think Kate needs a bit more space.'

  He moved in closer towards the kitchen where Belle was leaning on the kitchen island. He placed his keys on the side and leaned opposite her.

  'You know I meant it when I said you can stay here for as long as possible,' said Jacob.

  'I know,' she smiled. 'Thank you, but I need to do this.'

  She kissed him on the cheek before strolling off to her bedroom. Jacob began to feel upset. Why does she want to leave? Knowing he had an early start at the solicitor’s office in the morning, he decided to head to bed.

  His bed felt cold and empty since he'd been sleeping in it alone. The hatred he had for Lily was still inside of him. He tried to replace the feelings he had with hatred and anger, but it was hard. He still loved her.

  Then his mind wandered to earlier with him and Ally inside the briefing room. He had felt a connection to Ally since she joined the team. She feels the same way I do. Why did I walk away? he asked himself.

  Jacob asked himself questions all night, keeping himself awake again.

  Chapter 6

  It was 9.15 am. Jacob, Adam and Kate were all sat inside their father’s solicitors office. John had split everything equally between the three of them. One thing that wasn't shared, was a letter to Jacob left by his father.

  Jacob was intrigued but at the same time, worried about what he was going to find in that note. Adam and Kate glared at Jacob wanting him to open it. After the Will had been read, the three of them jumped back inside Adam's car.

  'Well, are you going to open it?' Adam questioned him.

  'I will when the time is right,' he replied, not taking his eyes off the envelope.

  'But why did dad leave
just you a letter?'

  'I don't know,' replied Jacob. 'I'm worried about what's in this envelope.'

  'Just open it then!' Adam shouted, wanting to know what it said.

  'I don't know why you're so desperate for me to open this damn letter. It means nothing. Dad is gone and he's not coming back.'

  'I know, but are you not a little curious about what he's written?' Adam asked.

  'A little,' he replied. 'But I'm not ready.'

  'Okay, brother. I'll stop pestering you.'

  'Thank you.' He turned his head to face out the window.

  Ten minutes passed before Adam pulled up outside Jacob's apartment. He jumped out without saying a word, his focus stayed upon the letter he possessed in his hands. Kate thanked her brother for the ride, before following Jacob back to the apartment. Why's he written me a letter? Why is it just for me? He kept asking himself.

  Both Jacob and Kate entered the apartment to see Belle lifting a spoonful of cereal to her mouth before she stopped and realised she had an audience.

  'How'd it go?' she asked.

  'Jacob got a letter,' Kate answered before Jacob could, and opened the fridge to see what there was for her to eat.

  'Everything went equally between the three of us,' he finally answered.

  'So what's this letter?' Belle continued asking questions.

  'I don't know. I haven't opened it.'

  'What do you mean, you haven't opened it? Are you not a little bit curious as to why your father left only you a letter?'

  Kate peeked her head around the fridge, 'He said he would when the time was right.'

  'What harm is going to come from opening a letter from your father?' Belle put it simply.

  'I think you're right,' he replied.

  Jacob entered his bedroom, closed the door behind him, and sat on his bed. He took a few deep breaths before ripping into the envelope to retrieve the paper inside. Nerves flooded his body, creating a sick feeling inside his stomach. Jacob desperately wanted to know what his father had to say, but at the same time, he didn't want to know.