"He said I didn't have to tell anyone, and I was planning to hold him to that.
Mrs. Gordon sounded bitter, bitter and stubborn and her lawyer couldn't get anything more out of her.
"I am here to help you. I can't if you don't trust me and tell me everything."
Her piercing eyes reminded him of rats. The rats in his shed he shot at.
"You have my number if you need anything..." He took his business card out of his pocket, placed it on the table as he left the room. He had more important things to do as defending an elderly lady who already had one feet in the grave. She was clearly not willing to say more and he didn't feel to ask further. He knew why she was taken in, read the newspapers and the only thing he could do was waiting. So far no one had pressed charges against her and neither did she. It all depended on what pathology stated and the police decided.
Fidelo greeted the lawyer on his way out. Defending a, what he saw for, a monster was not his type of job but he respected the man. Someone had to do the dirty work.
"Any news?"
"Not more as what you read in the papers. The case of the missing child is closed, finally closed. It's a relief. It took long enough."
"And the father?"
"He's fine, won't press charges. Your client has nothing to fear from him."
"Have a good day."
No handshake just a nod to each other. Both would know soon enough what case they had to deal with.
The ones that were still left were crawling up his neck. Grub! He was glad no one saw him but he had to do it. It was the only way to know, feel what the victims had felt. Bricked into a wall like a pharaoh did with his complete staff after his death only in this case the pharaoh himself most likely didn't die. Or she didn't die, he corrected himself. The maggots...some must have died long ago. Not all of them were buried alive. That unconscious had enough time to panic, panic, and die. Perhaps that larva could make them any wiser.
The men who worked at the walls were sent home. The next day was early enough to report what they found. They all need help and each other. Not only to close this case but to get over it as well.
He sat at the stairs in front of the house. A house is not that different from the others in this street. Did none of those neighbors know what was going on? The gossiper wasn't liked and usually, people keep an eye on each other, try to find something to make the other's life as miserable as possible.
"You're alright?" He asked the young officer who had the task to guard the place on his way out.
"I'm fine, sir."
"Are you alone?"
"No, sir. One colleague at the back and one upstairs."
"Upstairs?!"
"Watch out, needs to warn us in time for the media or..."
"You know him?"
"No sir, he's not from around here."
He searched the entire house but couldn't find anyone. From a window upstairs he saw a second cop. It was his only way out of here. The first one bought it, the second would too.
Ben was on his way to the city hall to pick up the list of names he asked for. The weather changed. It was hard to believe only two days earlier it still felt like summer.
"Good morning sir, leaves are falling early this year", the doorman greeted him as he swung the door wide open.
"Indeed. Suddenly it is as if we didn't had any summer at all. Strange how fast we get used to the cold."
He observed the oak in front of the building.
"It doesn't look very healthy, did they spray it with something?"
"Not as far as I know. I am not a tree expert but it looked fine to me till a few weeks ago."
The two men watched the tree and waited but only more leaves covered the street.
"It will be cleaned up, the leaves I mean."
Ben nodded and went inside. The tree had remind him of something. Something he had noticed in the hole, more specific the walls of the hole.
At the front desk he received the list of names and flipped through them hoping one of them would ring a bell. Single people, families, couples, no single parents. Not even Jim was registered as such. Where had Magda given birth?
Back at the office he had a meeting with Fidelo. It was time to discuss how to proceed. The case of the missing girl was closed but the one of the monster house opened.
"More missing children", the chief inspector said as Ben handed over the list.
"If you ask me the children are found we better look for those missing adults, the parents."
"Did they ever report their child was missing?"
"I work on it, I try to trace each one of them and I have this." He held up the doll. "Who owns it? There are more people we need to find. Mrs. Gordon's son and the pharaoh, the person who killed and buried these children. I doubt it was Mrs. Gordon."
"What do we have so far?"
"Mr. And Mrs. Gordon, divorced. He was chief inspector and had a way to lay his hands on foster children."
"She left behind in the house."
"They should have a son. Unknown son."
"Her basement is a tomb, the worse one I ever saw."
"She protects someone "
"She won't press charges to anyone, accept the help of a lawyer."
"Tough lady."
"Indeed."
"Weak spot?"
"The one she fears most or... protects."
"Her ex husband?"
"Possible but not likely.He was here, doesn't seem to be interested. She's no danger to him."
After the coffee break, the tasks for the day were divided. Fidelo would visit Magda's daughter, inform about her wellbeing, and show the doll.
Ben would call the names on the list and ask for some assistance if needed. At 4 p.m. they would meet at Ben's place. It wasn't said Jim was safe plus he might know more about his neighbors, those who came and left.
The story above is a story in series and a freewrite with given prompts.
It all starts with Jim who reported his little girl is missing and isn't believed by the police officer two decades ago l. No file is made.
The new chief inspector and his younger colleague Ben follow leads. The missing child is found. She is safe and sound. Something that can't be said of those children found bricked into the wall of the monster house. The same house where Jim paid his neighbor Mrs. Gordon a visit, was attacked and captured in her basement.
"The case of the missing girl" is closed but therefore the one of "the monster house" opened.
Amaizing Story