Chapter 8: Letters from hell
A week after Danielle Kline's body had been found flack started receiving threatening letters through his letterbox. The first was a Death threat towards him. Flack had woken up then gone down to collect the mail from the mailbox. He took their mail out and flicked through it as he headed back up to their apartment on the 34th floor. He found one that wasn't consistent with the others, instead of being addressed to Mr Donald Flack or Miss Jamie Lovato or to both of them it was addressed to Detective flack. None of the mail he received was ever addressed that way. Curious, he peeled it open as he stepped out of the elevator on their floor and his eyes widened with horror at what was scrawled on the page:
Detective flack
Enjoy the good days while they last
Because I'm going to rip your whole life
TO PIECES.
I'M GOING TO TAKE EVERYTHING GOOD AWAY
THEN I'M GOING TO TAKE YOUR LIFE THE WAY
YOU TOOK LAYLAS.
"Don what is it?" asked Jamie seeing flacks face contort with horror.
"It's a death threat from Hayden Jackson" flack replied simply handing it to her. He knew it was from Hayden because he had made the point he was going take his life the way he had taken Layla's; by shooting him.
"The kid who beat me up then shot those three girls and murdered their babies? The kid whose hell bent on making you pay?" said Jamie before reading the letter. "What does he want?"
"I don't know but whatever he's going to do it isn't good" said flack.
Flack took the letter to the lab in hope they would confirm Hayden had written it, which they were able to. His prints were all over it.
The next morning another letter arrived. It was a death threat towards Jamie. A threat of how he was going to hurt her. It was disgusting and vile and frankly stomach churning.
Detective flack
Better hide that pretty lil thing of yours
Cause I'm gonna hurt her
I'm gonna tie her down and rape her
Then I'm gonna stick three bullets in her chest
And you're gonna watch so you understand
What you did
Flack turned his head to look at Jamie who was making herself some breakfast in the kitchen, he was going to use her to punish him. It made him feel so guilty, the guilt crippled him and made him so angry. He had done what he'd done because it was the only thing he could've done in that situation, there had been no talking her down. He'd had no other choice than to shoot her in self-defence. Yes he did feel slightly guilty for taking that baby's mom away that was the only part he did feel guilty about. Well until recently. Since talking to Leon Johnson and learning the situation hadn't been as clear cut as they had first thought. He was starting to think she may have been genuinely scared. That she had killed joseph Jackson in self-defence and shot them because she was so terrified. But the thought of someone hurting Jamie because him really made him feel guilty because he really loved her, she was everything to him and the thought of losing her hurt, it angered him.
"Don was is it?" Jamie's soft voice sliced through his thoughts.
"Nothing" he shook his head, he didn't want to show this to her. It was horrifying, he knew it would upset her.
"Don't lie to me" she cut through his words "What is it" she walked over to him and took the letter out of his hand and read it. As she did tears formed in hers and she clamped her hand over mouth. She dropped the letter on the floor and looked up at him as tears started to roll down her cheeks. "He sent this didn't he?"
"Yes" replied flack. Jamie stood there for a moment in silence before bursting into tears. Flack pulled her into his arms and held tightly. "It's gonna be ok. I'm not going to let him hurt you" he kissed the top of her head as she sobbed into his chest.
"He's going to kill me Don" she sobbed "I know it, you know it. He's going to do what he wants and he doesn't care"
He didn't know what to say. He knew somewhere deep down she was right. It was an awful moment of realisation. They didn't know where he was so there was no locking him up before he could hurt someone. They didn't know when he was going to strike so there was no getting away at that time. They were two steps behind and it was frustrating.
Over the next five days more letters arrived, each one becoming more graphic. These disgusting, vile letters contained graphic descriptions of what he intended to do them, detailing how he wanted to slice Jamie up, rip the twins out of her body and stab them to death. How he wanted to send flack their dead bodies to him in a cardboard box. How he was going to chuck Jamie's body in the river and let the fishes eat her flesh but not before he skinned her, dead or alive, he wouldn't care.
He then made threats towards another person within flack's life, his sister Samantha.
Detective flack
Better make sure your sisters ok
Because I'm going pin her down and rape HER
Then I'm gonna slit her throat open and
Drink her blood.
Your own flesh and blood
Then you'll know how I feel!
Flack didn't know how Hayden knew he had a sister and it chilled him to the bone to think how he had found out. They weren't closest siblings in the world and he only had one picture of them up in their apartment. But then again he was stalking them, he had probably made it his priority to know things like that. So he dropped round to see Samantha on his way to work to make sure she was ok. "Sam are you ok?" he asked going inside
"Yes of course I am" she smiled rolling her eyes "Why what's wrong?"
"If anyone suspicious comes round or tries to attack you, you call me ok" he replied
"Don what's going on?" she demanded. Reluctantly he handed her the letter. "What's this?"
"Read it" he looked down. So she did. She read it then looked up at him before shoving the letter into his chest. "You know sometimes I hate you. I've been dragged into this mess now as well!"
"I'm sorry ok!" he said feeling slightly angry with her. "I never meant for this to happen!"
"Go. Just get out!" she snapped pushing him out the door
"Sam please!" he pleaded with her as she shoved her out "I'm sorry. I never meant for you to get dragged into this. I don't know how he found out about you!"
"GO!" She yelled. Flack took the hint and left without another word. He spent the whole day worrying, agonising over what Hayden intended to Jamie and to Samantha. The thoughts made him feel incredibly sick.
Every letter and envelope was examined forensically examined by Adam, dusted for prints and DNA trace. All the envelopes had the same unidentified fingerprints on them. Just the envelopes never the letters inside. Which led them to the conclusion that Hayden was writing the letters and was getting someone else to post them. But who was perhaps the biggest mystery. Flack had a theory though. He guessed there may be another person who would help Hayden, Layla's brother, Taylor Harrison. After all he had supplied Layla with two different guns and obviously knew how to use one. The guns that had ended the life of joseph Jackson and led to her being shot down by flack. But he couldn't prove this.
A few days later another threatening letter arrived, which specifically detailed how Hayden intended to hurt Jamie and Sam. When Jamie read it she broke down in tears. They had really struggled over how to talk about the letters and it was really making things rocky and pushing them both to breaking point. They just didn't know what to say to each other anymore and the effect was their whole relationship was falling apart.
A few days after the latest threatening letter had arrived a new lead arose in the case. A letter which had specifically detailed how he was going to rape, beat and kill both Jamie and Samantha. Which had made flack feel physically sick. An arrest which meant they could finally put a face to the unidentified fingerprints. A young man had been caught punching a guy in the face and had been quickly arrested by cops who had been patrolling the area. When he was brought in the precinct flack instantly recognised him as Taylor Harrison, Layla Harrison's older brother. "Taylor Harrison? I don't think your parents will be pleased will they? They've already lost their daughter and now their son may be off to jail" said flack as he was led into his cells. Taylor smirked at him. Up in the lab Adam had matched the fingerprints to some which had only just been put on the system. He rung flack minutes later with a match to the fingerprints; they belonged to Taylor Harrison. "Flack I know who's been leaving those letters in your letterbox" said Adam
"Oh yeah. How come nothings shown up before?" replied flack
"Because the person whose prints match those on the envelopes only just arrived on the system. Literally within the last twenty minutes" explained Adam.
Flack looked towards the cells. Taylor Harrison. "Taylor Harrison?"
"Yeah. How did you know?" replied Adam.
"Because I saw him being led to the cells" said flack "He looked me in eye and smirked at me. Well thanks. I'm going to go have a little talk with him." The he hung up on Adam and went to the custody area. "Can I have Taylor Harrison for interview" said flack.
"Sure" replied the custody officer. He moved Taylor to the interrogation room where flack was waiting. "Hey Taylor" he said walking over to the table "I have to tell you getting yourself arrested has got you in more trouble than you excepted"
"What d'you mean?" asked Taylor fiddling with his hands.
"When you were brought in you were printed. Those prints go on our system." Replied flack "Our lab techs matched them to prints found on ten separate letters"
"I don't know nothing bout no letters" said Taylor
"So how come your prints were found all over the envelopes next to Hayden Jacksons?" asked flack
"Maybe someone planted them" smirked Taylor
"No one planted them. You touched them because you're working with him" said flack.
"I don't know nothing" sneered Taylor, yet still smirking.
"Ok Taylor. Where's Hayden Jackson" asked flack
"I don't know" shrugged Taylor
"Yes you do" replied flack "You've been leaving letters from him in my mailbox. Your fingerprints were found all over the envelopes. He wrote them and you delivered them"
"Yeah well you killed my sister!" Taylor spat "She did nothing wrong and you murdered her"
"I shot her in self-defence" defended flack "She shot two cops and killed a man!"
"YOURE A MURDERER!" Yelled Taylor.
"Where is he?" Demanded flack, not in the mood for this snarky teenager's bitter and twisted attitude.
"Why would I tell the man who murdered my sister where her boyfriend is hiding?" sneered Taylor.
"WHERE IS HE?" Flack slammed his down on the table.
"If you think I'm going tell you then you can go and get fucked" snarled Taylor "YOU FUCKING MURDERER!"
"Fine if that's how you want to play it" flack calmed slightly. He went to leave but…
"I do know something" Taylor said quietly. Flack closed the door and turned round so he was facing Taylor. "Go on"
"He is writing the letters" Taylor began "And I have been posting them. But I don't know what's in them"
"So?" flack shrugged, it least it was a confession, least he knew he was responsible for leaving the letters and for writing them.
"I know he wants to make you pay. But swear down I don't know what he's planning… not completely" Taylor continued "I know you killed her and I want to hit you for it, I really fucking do. But I understand, well sort of, why you did it. I know it wasn't in cold blood. She did kill cold blood and she did try to kill two more people in cold blood. But he doesn't. He thinks you're a coldblooded killer and he wants you to pay for taking away her and their baby. He hates that you'll get to live happily ever after with your girlfriend and your baby when she won't because you took everything away from her and from him. All I know is that you need to keep Jamie safe."
"Do you know what he's going to do to her?" asked flack.
"No. all I know is he's going to kill her and he wants to make you watch." Replied Taylor
"Tell me where he is" said flack
"I don't know where he is" replied Taylor "I really don't. He gave me an address to pick the letters up from but I never see him. I don't know where is."
Flack went to leave again but Taylor spoke again "And you need to protect Rose and Leon"
"Rose and Leon?" asked Flack "Why?"
"I think he might try to hurt Leon and run away with Rose" replied Taylor.
"Ok" flack bit his lip before he left the room and Taylor was taken away and bailed with a caution. Flack spoke to his boss then to mac. "He doesn't know where Hayden is and I think he's telling the truth"
"So we know for sure he's writing them and Taylors sending them but we still have no idea where he is" said mac "Every time we get a lead we hit another dead end"
"Yeah and he thinks Hayden might go after Leon Johnson and Rose" explained Flack "He thinks he might try to hurt Leon and run off with Rose"
"He doesn't know that Rose isn't his?" asked Mac
"No. I think Leon just got custody of her as well" replied Flack "I'll talk to my boss see what he can do"
"Ok" agreed mac before flack left to go back to his precinct where he spoke his boss and they sorted a phone line alert for Leon.
After this the hate mail stopped but things were rocky between flack and Jamie. Jamie, who was very emotional at the moment, was so scared because someone was out to kill her and her unborn babies and because of this she was pushing flack away. And the more she did this the more he tried to get close. He called her a few times a day and texted a lot, after Taylor had warned him to keep her safe. But all this did was push her away and push their relationship further towards breaking point. He did try to understand but he felt like he was losing her. "I feel like I'm losing her" he sighed to Danny as they headed out to question a witness
"You got to give her space" replied Danny "She's going through a lot at the moment"
"I suppose" said flack, his mind now somewhere else completely.
Jaime was at home resting on the sofa when her phone started ringing. She picked and saw the caller ID, Don Flack. Sighing she ignored the call and placed her phone back on the sofa. She loved flack she really did but she couldn't deal with all the phone calls and text messages. It was constant and it made her feel so suffocated. She didn't know how to tell him how it made her feel because at the moment everything was so rocky and delicate. All the letters and threats had made their lives ten times harder because they were constantly watching their shadows, making sure a killer wasn't lurking in them.
One night they were in bed together and he tried to get close to her. He went to kiss her but she pushed him away "No please flack. I don't want to. I can't carry on like this. Like nothing's happening. We can't pretend nothing is happening"
"I'm not" flack shook his head "I just wanted to comfort you"
"I know but I don't want it. I just need to think" she replied "I need space. I feel suffocated by you. I feel like you're trying to bubble wrap me and I don't like it."
"I'm trying to protect you" said flack, feeling slightly hurt
"I know but I feel you don't think I can take care of myself" said Jamie
"I do but he wants to hurt you and I can't bear the thought of him hurting you. All I want to do is keep you safe" replied flack
"I know" she looked down "I just feel so suffocated. You call me all the time and text me every five minutes. I can't cope with it"
"WHAT SO I JUST PISS OFF TO WORK AND FORGET ABOUT YOU. NOT WORRY ABOUT YOU?" snapped flack raising from the bed. He just snapped, the whole thing had pushed him to breaking point. He was a cop, he was good with dealing with serious problems under pressure and he was good at it. But this was different. This was his personal life and it too was being attacked and ruined, he just couldn't take that. Not anymore. He had been trying to so hard to hold things together but they were just falling apart, slipping away too quickly. Everything they'd once had, had slipped away because of one mistake. A mistake that a turned the world upside down and wrecked it. The good days had vanished and now it was like they were living in fear of having their lives ended every single day. "THE YOU'D COMPLAIN I DIDN'T GIVE A SHIT"
"No I wouldn't!" she shouted standing up off the bed too. He heart was feeling the strain, her whole body was. The strain of being stalked and attacked for a mistake. The strain that was on their relationship was absolutely massive, because neither had really been in this position before they didn't know how to cope with it and they just pushed each other away. Well she was doing far more pushing than he was. She knew he cared, she knew he loved her but it was too much. She was just so confused and frustrated at the whole thing that she didn't know how to react to him or to anything really.
"TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO AND I WILL DO IT!" he shook his head angrily.
"I don't know what I want!" she replied
"FANTASTIC!" sneered flack "I FEEL LIKE PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER 1!"
"THIS WHOLE THING HAS TAKEN OVER OUR WHOLE LIVES. HOW THE HELL ARE WE MEANT TO CARRY ON AS NORMAL WHEN WE'RE RECEIVING DEATH THREATS THROUGH OUR MAILBOX AND SEEING PEOPLE MURDERED AS AN ACT OF REVENGE TOWARDS YOU!" she shouted
"OH SO IT'S MY FAULT SHE KILLED HER DAD, IT'S MY FAULT SHE SHOT DANNY, THEN SHOT ME KNOWING I WOULD SHOOT HER?" flack fumed "IT'S MY FAULT HE STARTED A FUCKING HATE CAMPAIGN AGAINST ME BECAUSE I SHOT HER IN SELF-DEFENCE!"
"I DON'T MEAN THAT!" said Jamie
"WELL WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEN?" hissed flack
"I DON'T KNOW!" Jamie cried "IT FEELS LIKE EVERYTHING IS FALLING APART. WE'RE PUSHING EACH OTHER AWAY BECAUSE OF THIS AND I FEEL LIKE WE HARDLY CONNECT ANYMORE"
"YOU'RE PUSHING ME AWAY DON'T YOU MEAN? I WANT TO BE CLOSE BUT YOU PUSH ME AWAY!" shouted flack.
"I know" she looked down at the floor. He took a deep breath then left the room. He went into the living room then out onto the balcony.
Jamie stood for a moment, thinking about all the good times they'd shared, all the laughs they'd shared together. There were so many. But it all seemed to be fading now and slipping away. She realised she couldn't let everything slip away, she loved him and she wanted them to work. This was not worth throwing away because of a few stupid threats, true they were deeply psychotic but they couldn't throw everything away because of them. So slowly she walked out into the living room and onto the balcony where flack was.
Out on the balcony flack was having pretty much the same epiphany. He didn't want to lose her, not now. They had shared so many memories and one stupid boy, with a ridiculous desire for revenge could not ruin that. They couldn't let him; that would be like admitting defeat. They could get through this and somehow they would. He felt her soft hand touch his back and he turned around. "I'm sorry" she whispered
"Me too" he nodded.
"I'm struggling with this at the moment. I go over it all the time in my head. Every time we get another letter I get a little bit more scared about what he's going to do to me" she admitted "I don't know when he's going to strike and there's nothing I can do to stop him"
"I know" he whispered taking her in his arms and holding her tightly. "We'll get through this"
The next day they sat down together and talked, talked about everything that needed talking about. Everything they both needed to say to the other was said and the air was cleared. Finally they were able to start understanding each other more and that did help. It helped a lot because they stopped pushing each other away and started being a bit closer again. They started talking more and that made things so much easier.
