"I don't know why we are bothering with this Jeff, she isn't gonna be there, we all know that, we are just wasting valuable time here"
"I'm not expecting to find her there Shan, but we can collect her personal file and have a quick check of her locker, there may be something that can give us a clue"
"Yeah, you're right, I'm sorry... I'm just worried about her is all"
"Um guys, I don't think H is the only one we should be worried about"
At Matt's words, Jeff and Shannon stopped talking and followed his gaze.
"Oh.My.God"
Shannon gasped as he saw the front of his shop, H's house wasn't the only target it seemed, the door was hanging off its hinges as if it had been moved in a hurry and the wind blew through the shattered window. Walking inside, glass crunching underfoot, the three friends surveyed the damage to the shop, designs lay scattered on the floor, in the back room all three workstations were overturned, pictures that had been placed lovingly on the walls now lay haphazardly across the counters and floor. Moving over to her workstation, Shannon's eyes immediately began searching for the note she had taped to it, it had been taken, the tape attaching it to the metal still present.
"Shan…I think you need to see this"
Shannon moved towards the sound of Matt's voice; it was coming from the back, which meant either the staff room or his office. Walking into the staff room, Shannon saw no obvious damage, not that he cared about the shop right now, he just couldn't understand what Matt and Jeff were looking so nervous about, until they shifted slightly to the left revealing the lockers.
Pinned to the front of H's locker were a photo and some dog tags, on closer inspection the photo was of a family, a happy family, they were all smiling and hugging each other raising their glasses in celebration, Shannon blinked and had to look again as he spotted H in the photo, H with her arms around a dark haired man, lips pressed to his.
"What? I don't understand, if this is what she was hiding, what she was running from, then why would whoever did this pin it here?"
"Shan, maybe all this is the revenge of a spurned lover. I mean think about it, her house, this shop, the photo, don't you think that maybe…maybe this is sending you both a message?"
Jeff stopped talking and took a look at his best friend, he hated having to be the one to say it to him, he knew it was breaking Shannon's heart just contemplating it and it was killing Jeff inside to see him in so much pain. Shannon was visibly shaking; his hands balled into fists, tears were falling freely down his face as he took Jeff's words in. If, no when, they found H she had a lot of explaining to do.
"Shan, come on dude, let's get you home"
Shannon shrugged Jeff's arm off his shoulder and walked closer to the locker.
"Why the dog tags? What relevance do they have? These are military tags, Pte D Landon, who the hell is that?"
Reaching into his pocket, Jeff extracted the item he'd retrieved from the grass. Handing it to Shannon, he took a deep breath before addressing him.
"Shan, I found this lying in the grass outside H's house when we were there earlier, it matches this one on her locker, only the one I found has writing on the back, H's handwriting"
Shannon turned the photo over in his hand; sure enough there on the back was H's beautifully curved script. 'The infamous Landon New Years Eve Bash2006' it read, From left to right: Mum, Dad, Gayle, Chris, Danielle, Anthony, Baby Adam & James. Landon? The same name that was on the dog tags.
"Landon...Private D Landon, D for Danielle"
"Count across Shan…Danielle is the fifth along, or should I say H?"
"I don't understand what's going on here. If she was just running away from a partner, why would she take the trouble to change her name? And the military tags? Why would someone in the military be working in a tattoo shop?"
"Shannon, Jeff, in here"
Shannon and Jeff went through to Shannon's office as Matt requested. Matt was sat behind the desk, looking at something on the computer screen, turning the screen round, Matt looked at Shannon.
"This is not a revenge attack by a spurned lover, that man is dead, in fact everyone in that picture is dead… except for one"
Unable to comprehend what he was reading on the screen, Shannon tried to concentrate on Matt's words. Jeff, however was picking it up faster, the article that Matt had up on the screen was titled 'Agony of War Hero as entire family massacred', it told of how the entire Landon family were tortured and butchered in their own home a little over 9 months ago now. There was only one survivor, Danielle Landon. Jeff looked up at Matt quizzically.
"Matt, do you think…?"
"That H is Danielle? The sole survivor who watched her family die one by one?"
Shannon stood stock still, his brain piecing things together, remembering little things she had said "nobody calls me by my real name" , her words the first time they had spoken.
"So, she changed her name and moved to America to get away. But why here?"
"Because it's the safest place we could find for her"
All three men whipped around as they heard the voice behind them. Standing in the doorway was the officer they had met earlier outside H's house; he was looking at them with a concerned expression on his face.