"We're approaching Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in ten minutes. Please return to you seats and fasten the seatbelts."
Elizabeth opened her eyes. She looked at George, who was still sleeping on his seat next to her. She poked him in the ribs.
"Wake up George, we're landing."
Still half asleep he fastened his seatbelt and then fell asleep again. Elizabeth looked at him and smiled. Sometimes he could be like a child.
Child.
She thought of Kate. She can't wait to hold her baby in her arms again. For a second she felt a twitch in her chest. But then she thought about Alec. He's such a good father. Nothing will happen to Kate as long as Alec is taking care of her. With this thought in mind she can enjoy her vacation with George in the city of love.
"Alec? Can you hear me?" The police chief was standing in front of the detective who was sitting in the interrogation room of the local police station. Alec didn't react on the question. The last few hours were like in a frenzy for him. He didn't even remember how he came into this room. His head was emtpy except one thought.
Kate is gone.
Kidnapped.
Probably at a place where he, her own father, couldn't protect her.
These thoughts are unbearable for him. How could this happen?
"Come on Alec. You have to speak ot me now," Chief Anderson tried it once more.
"The only thing I have to do right now is to find my daughter!" Alec shouted angrily. "Don't you understand? She's my everything! I need to find her! I just..." Alec's voice broke. He took a deep breath and looked up for the first time since he's sitting here. What he saw was the face of his Chief. He was visibly surprised about Alec's sudden outburst. He didn't see that coming. The Chief sat down next to Alec and laid his hand on his shoulder.
"I can totally understand you, Alec. But you know the system. You can't help us with our investigations as you're an immediate relative of..."
"What do you mean I can't help you? I am her father! It is my fault that she's gone! Do you understand? It is all my fault!" Alec was on the verge of tears. The feelings of guilt were killing him.
"Please Alec. You know that you can always call me. I will keep you up to date. But now I want you to leave. Go home, take some days off," Chief Anderson told the detective. Alec didn't react. He was staring on the floor again. He didn't want to take some days off. He wanted his daughter back. At any price.
Alec stood up and took a deep breath. He turned around and strode away. He didn't say anything to his Chief. He didn't even look at him.
"I will keep you up to date!" he heard his Chief shouting.
Alec Hardy closed the door behind him. It was a bizzare atmosphere in the house. No one was talking or laughing. No one was crying because the favourite toy went missing. No one was standing in the kitchen. No one was sitting in the living room. There was just daunting emptiness.
The detective leaned against the wall next to the front door for a few seconds, but then his entire body suddenly got weak. The legs gave in and he slid down the wall. He trembled in every limb. This was all too much for him.
"Why my daughter?" he said to himself quietly. Then he couldn't hold it anymore. He just burst into tears.
There he was. The usually self-confident detective Alec Hardy. Huddling on the floor like a picture of misery. Crying like a baby.
After about ten minutes the tears suddenly stopped. It was like they decided not to stream down Alec's cheeks anymore.
What am I even doing here?, the detective thought. I should be out there looking for Kate! I don't help her by lying on the floor.
Alec stood up, wiped his tears away and shook his limbs. He noticed that he definitely needed sleep. Or a strong coffee. He chose the second opportunity. As he waited in the kitchen for his coffee to get ready he checked the mail box on his mobile. Three new messages. Two of them were from Chief Anderson, who repeated the things he already told Alec at the police. He shook his head. Although the Chief's just being a kind of caring he can be really annoying. Alec pressed the button to listen to the last message. His mobile slid out of his hand when he heard who was speaking there. It was Eizabeth. His wife. The mother of Kate. He totally forgot about her! He was so concerned about Kate that he forgot about his own wife. He didn't even thought about where she has been all night and day, and he didn't thought about telling her what's going on!
Alec suddenly got throbbing headache. It was like his brain started to burn. He slowly bent down to pick his mobile up.
"...tell her that I love her. Thank you! See you!"
What the hell did happen? Where is she?, Alec thought. He pressed a button on his mobile to listen to the message again.
Akec wasn't able to do anything after he listened to the message. He ignored that the coffee machine was beeping. He ignored the electronic voice who constantly told him which buttons he had to press. He even ignored his pounding head. He just felt an odd mix of sadness and rage inside himself.
How should he survive all of this?
Someone knocked at the door.
"Yes?"
The door opened. In came Dr Donald Abraham, the forensic doctor.
"Ah, hello Donald. I was expecting you!" Chief Martin Anderson said. "And? What can you say about Louise Tallis?"
Dr Abraham was irritated about the Chief's cheerful welcome. Deaths of little girls and the disappearing of the daughter of his best detective were definitely not things to be that easygoing about. He frowned and decided to ignore the Chief's inappropriate good mood.
"Here's the full autopsy report of the girl and the rose which she held in her hands," the Doctor put both the report and the rose on the Chief's desk. "The autopsy proved it: Louise Tallis was definitely killed by The Rose Killer or by someone who exactly knows how the killer proceeded. There was water in her lungs. She died by drowning. I also found pressure marks on her neck. Therefore I would say that her head was pressed underwater forcibly." He sighed. Although he had been a forensic doctor for almost 30 years now murder victims still didn't leave him cold. "The water in her lungs was normal mains water, so I would say that she was killed in a bathtub or a washbasin. Open the report on page two."
The Chief did as he was told. On this page were six photos. They all showed roughly the same scene. Little girls in beautiful clothes lying on green grass with roses in their hands. They all looked like sleeping angels. But they're not. They all were brutally murdered.
Chief Anderson closed the report. He couldn't look at these photos any longer. They remind him of his own little granddaughter which turned five a month ago.
"Did you find anything else on the body? For example foreign DNA?" he asked.
"No, unfortunately no DNA," Doctor Abraham answered. "But there was another thing I noticed. She was completely healthy. There are no signs of abuse, except the pressure marks on her neck, and she also had enough to eat over the last weeks. She looked neat. So the kidnapper took good care of her before he murdered her." He looked at the Chief. "That's all for now."
"Okay, thank you Donald," the Chief said.
Doctor Abraham was just about to leave the office, when he stopped and turned around. "Oh, what I also wanted to ask you: Is there anything new in the Kate Hardy case?"
"Nothing new. I have sent out all the policemen and track hounds I was able to spare but still no trace of Kate." He lowered his voice a bit. "I hope she just ran away and we'll find her unscathed as soon as possible. Alec wouldn't survive it if anything happened to her."
Doctor Abraham nodded. He also thought about this. Without any response on what the Chief just said he turned around and walked out of the office.
"Where is my daughter? Do you hear me? Give me Kate!" Alec shouted from the top of his lungs. "Give me -" His voice broke. He was exhausted, his body weak and parched. He didn't eat and drink for days. The detective groaned with pain as he tried to get himself in a more comfortable position. He looked at his wrists. Dried blood was all over his hands and the handcuffs on his wrists. No wonder, he thought. I shouldn't have tried to get myself free by tearing. I am a bloody police officer, I should knew that this is impossible.
His thoughts were disturbed by the scream of a high-pitched voice.
"Kate!" Alec cried again. He saw a shadow coming out of the dark. "Kate?" he asked a bit less noisy.
"I am not Kate," the shadow said with a deep voice. He sounded amused. He was standing in front of Alec now. Alec could see that the shadow was a big, muscular man with an operation mask on his face. Although he couldn't see the man's face Alec had no doubt that he was grinning under his mask.
"Where the hell is she," Alec managed to say.
"You want to see her? You can see her!" the man said furiously. With a quick move he dragged a little girl who was hiding behind is back and brutally nudged her in front of Alec.
"Kate, darling," the weary father said quietly as he saw his visibly scared daughter and her dirty clothes. "What did they do to you..." The girl didn't seem to notice him. She was just gazing in abstraction. He tried to reach for his daughter, but again the handcuffs hindered him. The big man went behind Alec and violently gripped his hair and tugged him next to his face.
"I will definitely kill you both tonight. I just don't know in what order," he whispered in his victims ear. Alec cringed. "I think I will start with you. Grown men are not as much fun to kill as little girls." He chuckled. "I'm saving the fun for later." The man let go of Alec who was not able to say anything in response. He felt faint. The man stood up and went to Kate. He gripped her arm and pulled her up. Alec looked at them as they left the room.
"Kate...," he breathed. He wasn't able to say more than this. He wasn't able to protest. He didn't even try to put up some resistance when the man unlocked his handcuffs, violently pulled him up and led im into a small room with a bathtub filled with water.
"Kneel down," the man commanded. As Alec didn't follow his orders instantly, the man hit him in the popliteal. Groaning he kneeled down.
"Any last words?" the man asked. He didn't wait for Alec's answer. He pressed his victims head underwater. Alec tried to fight, but his weak and exhausted body had no chance. The man was too strong.
After a minute Alec gave up.
He saw his entire life in his mind's eye. He saw himself as a baby being born to wonderful parents. He saw himself growing up on a farm in Scotland. He saw himself going to school. He saw himself as a young policie officer who wanted to guard the ones who need protection. He saw himself marrying his beautiful wife. He saw himself holding his daughter in his arms for the first time. He saw his daughter going her first steps in life. And eventually he saw himself dying.
This is the end, he thought. This is my end.
So this was the third chapter (but definitely not the last chapter!)! I hope you enjoyed it! Please review!