Chapter 2

Tuesday December 13th

2:55am

Writing another piece of information on to a post it note, I stuck it onto the wall with countless others. Taking a few steps back, I began to scan over all of the cluttered post it notes until only a few stood out.

One of them was a man in his mid-fourties humming a tune that I recognised but couldn't quite put my tongue on it. When I heard it in my dream, it made the victim feel scared. The second was a blurry reflection of the victim in a puddle just as she was kidnapped and drugged with a clothe, which I presumed to be chloroform.

Deciding to wake Mason up, I went to the living room where the sofa was, only to find he wasn't there. Looks like he took my sleep routine seriously. Walking towards the kitchen, I smelt the stale coffe and bacon butties. Wait - BACON BUTTIES!? I'm beginning to like him now.

"Morning, Lizzy. I made some breakfast and that awful coffee. But hey, I won't judge!" Mason chirped.

Cautiously walking towards him, I grabbed the bacon butty off the counter and began to bite a chunk out of it, not caring if it was poisoned. Come on, who can resist a bacon butty!? Moaning with delight, I began to wolf it down.

"Who's the child now?" he smirked.

Ignoring his remark, I finished the heavenly butty off and stuck the dish in the dishwasher.

"What is it you want? Tell it to me straight." I demanded.

Fiddling with his fingers, he began to quietly mumble with his head tilted down.

"Speak up!"

"I'm sorry for misbehaving yesterday. This breakfast is my apology to you. From now on I will help you when you need me, for that's what partners are for."

Is - is he apologising for his ego? Maybe he wasn't as bad as I thought.

"Follow me, and don't ask questions."

Leading him to my bedroom, I opened the door to reveal the post it covered wall.

"You must promise me something, Mason. What I say here must not leave this room, no matter how dangerous, okay?"

"Oh...kay!?"

"I have many enemies, but one of them is extremely powerful and connected. I cannot speak his name as that would mean I just signed your death certificate. Anyways, he will be hunting me for a while, so we will have to be extra cautious. If I disappear, don't look for me and don't tell the police anything, do you understand?"

"Yes, may I ask you a question?"

"You just did!"

"Smart-ass! What is with all the pieces of paper stuck to the wall?"

Glancing towards the wall, I willed myself to gain the courage to tell him about my investigation.

"I'm working on a case."

My ears started to ring, until it got so loud that I collapsed on the floor.

"Come, little fire, I'll put you out,

I'll be your last sound.

Join the other dying embers,

Fly with the feathers.

I see you, child,

I can see you from a mile."

The figure who sung came into view, his face was covered with a robber's mask but I could still see his toothy grin.

"It's your turn now, Lizzy."

"No! No! I don't want to die!" I begged.

Saturday 17th December

11:00am

Manchester Hospital

I woke up with a start. Where was I? Taking in my surroundings, I saw someone asleep on a chair. Looks like I'll have to leave without waking him up.

Looking down on my body, I saw myself in a hospital gown. Wait, a hospital gown!? Sitting up, I gently pulled a needle out of my arm. Let's not panic, Lizzy, let's just take it nice and slow.

Swinging my feet over the bed, I began to stand up. Only to fall over on top of the figure in the chair, making him groan in pain.

He jumped up, making me fall on the floor. Dopey bastard.

"Lizzy, are you awake? Thank god it's been four days!" He exclaimed.

Doctors came rushing in. Was I a miracle or something?

"I can see you from a mile."

"He's going to find me!" I screamed.

"Who's going to find you, the dangerous guy?"

"Yes. No. I don't know." I whimpered.

The doctors surrounded me and they had a scared look on their faces. I don't blame them, I've curled myself up into a foetal position and I'm having a panic attack.

"Miss White? I need you to do me a favour. Can you take slow deep breaths in and out for me? Focus on my voice."

Following the doctor's orders, I started to slow my breathing until I was fully back to reality.

"Here is the medication that Miss White must take to stop these hallucinations, Mr Ellis. She mustn't go to work for a week until she is mentally stable. Try and get her to open up to you, I can tell she has built walls around herself."

I felt myself being lifted up. Mentally exhausted, I fell asleep in warm arms.

5:00pm

I woke up for what seemed like the umpteenth time. Damn drugs. I could fell them waring off now thank the lord(!)

Cautious as ever, I slowly got out of bed and went for a shower and got into a new change of clothes. Not wanting to speak to Mason, I walked towards my wall of post it - wait a darn minute! That fucker took them! Sneaky bastard. Enraged, I stomped out of my bedroom.

"MASON!" I yelled.

"Shit, I thought she would sleep through the night. Coming!" He groaned.

When he came running over, he opened the door which lead to the living room and I just barged through.

"Do you want a cup of coffee?" He asked.

I just glared at him until he got the hint that I wasn't budging until he told me the truth, to which he just sighed.

"You were bound to find out soon enough anyway."

Walking towards the sofa, I fell back into it and began to look at the cluttered pieces of information, expecting to find it sorted in a specific way. But it was just as messed up as my evaluation.

"This case is quite tricky. The kidnapper chose a place that avoided all security cameras, also known as a blind spot. Unfortunately, there are many blind spots in Manchester, meaning it would be tricky to pinpoint the exact location of the crime scene. Did the witness see any details of the van?"

"The license plate belongs to a Mrs Rodgers as she owns a business called 'Design is in the Detail'. It checked out to be legitimate and based in Sheffield. The van was doing a delivery to Barnsley. So unless the van can clone itself, the witness was incorrect."

"Great! We can interview Mrs Rodgers and report back to the station - Lizzy!?"

As he was talking about how to handle the case, I left the house and locked him in. I needed to think alone. Ever since that memory I never knew about, his little song kept on playing in my mind. I had to find a way to trigger more childhood memories.

Whenever I am stuck on a case, I usually go to my private place. Unfortunately, Mason has gotten rid of the weapons that I was wearing that day I collapsed. Luckily, though, I stuck a few daggers underneath the car the day before. Placing them in my boots, I began my treck.

I always though of running away, changing my identity and so on. Dreaming of sitting on a boat in the middle of the ocean with the sun setting where no-one knows where I am or who I am. Having my fourth rum and coke and ignoring my precognitive dreams. It would just be me and my boat. No crazy psycho mafia leader hunting me down. No worries. Nothing but peace...

But something stopped me.

As I reached the river bank, I looked at my surroundings. An elderly couple having a picnic, two young parents and their child and a middle aged man fishing.

As I plopped myself on the sand, I began to survey the parents more. Lucky child. Having not one but two parents who adores them. I never got the kisses on the forehead. I never got a gift for my birthday. They never let me go to school or have friends. I've never had any of their love. Instead I've got a mafia boss who is obsessed with control so he calls me his.

Watching the sun set, my focus turned to the man from my memory. Why would an arsonist turn to kidnapping? Why would a cold-blooded killer turn to subduing his victims? He had something up his sleeves. How did I survive his fire? There were too many questions that I had no answers to.

I released a huge sigh. Slowly lowering my head, I looked at the ground, only to find a shadow behind me. Spinning around, I quickly grabbed the dagger from my boot and jumped up. Glancing upwards with my dagger in my hand, I saw who I least expected. The guy who killed DCI Blake.

"You have some guts showing your face after I beat your ass up last time. You're lucky I didn't kill you. Let me guess, you want revenge?" I sarcastically commented.

Shock spread across his face, then it was replaced with anger. Stalking towards me, he slowly reached into his jacket. Shit he had a gun.

"Police! Everyone off the river bank now!" I yelled while showing them my badge.

As they ran away, he started to shoot at me to which I just hit the bullets with my dagger. It kept on going like that until he fired all six bullets.

"How!?" He questioned in disbelief.

"I'm not your average police woman. Now, on your knees and hands in front of you."

They don't call me a weapons expert for nothing.

When he refused to comply with my orders, I just sighed out of frustration. Fine, hard way it is then(!)

As he was fiddling with putting his gun away, I side swept him in the back of his legs so they buckled and he fell on his knees. He makes it way too easy. Quickly grabbing my handcuffs from my pocket with my left hand, I subdued him in headlock with my right arm. They never learn! Grabbing both of his hands, I put the cuffs on.

Searching through his pockets, I found a burner phone. Time to call Paul. Looks like we will be having fun the next few days since I am reluctantly off work. Ringing him up, I collected the bullets and gun so no-one could trace me back to this crime or even find out about this crime. Well, apart from the witnesses but they will be too scared to say anything. At least they don't know my name.

Five minutes later Paul's pick-up truck parked up. Exiting the car, he came running towards me after he popped open the boot. Looping the handcuffed guy's right arm through my left arm, Paul took the other arm and did the same. We both grabbed a leg with our free arm and carried him into the boot of the pick-up truck. I gave him the bullets and gun to examine and saved the burner phone for Mason to track the call history.

"Drop by tomorrow, Lizzy. I've got the rest."

I pulled Paul into a bro hug and walked away. If I put that son of a bitch in jail again he will only be brought out again. I needed to find out who his helper was and give them hell to pay for trying to prevent justice. Paul is like a big brother that I never had and a great partner, we always took justice into our own hands.

Now, how was I going to explain the missing handcuffs?