"Chief!" Sergeant Daniel Manning came rushing into Chief Anderson's office. He seemed to be very upset.
"Can't you knock before storming my office?" the Chief said with an undertone of sarcasm in his voice. The Sergeant ignored his Chiefs words and came straight to the point.
"Two pedestrians found DI Hardy in the park! They first thought he's dead, but luckily he was alive, even though unconscious."
The Chief stared at the young police officer. He was clearly shocked.
"They brought him to the hospital. His current state is critical but stable," Manning continued.
"But why... what did happen to him? Was he assaulted?" Chief Anderson asked, although he knew that it will be the job of the police to find this out.
"We don't know anything yet. We don't know how he got there and we don't know what happened before that. The forensics are already in the park to ascertain possible evidence."
"Fine." Chief Anderson stood up and took his jacket. "I'm driving to the hospital now. You stay here on the phone to keep me up to date about the investigations." The Chief left.
Chief Martin Anderson parked his car in front of the hospital. He looked at the clock. It's 9 in the morning. It's been 4 days since he told Alec to go home and take some days off. He didn't hear from him in this time, but this wasn't necessarily a reason to worry about him. Suddenly he felt guilty. Maybe if he had called him more often he wouldn't be here right now. But on the other hand, Alec never answered the calls. Anderson always had to speak the current status of the investigations on the mobile mailbox.
The Chief got out of the car and walked to the reception desk of the hospital to ask in which room Alec is. Room 245. He knocked at the door.
"Please come in."
The Chief walked in. A doctor who was holding a clipboard in his hands was blocking the view to the only bed in the room. Anderson coughed slightly as nobody was paying attention to him. The doctor turned around.
"You must be Chief Inspector Martin Anderson. I was already expecting you. One of your colleagues called and told us that you're coming," the doctor said and extended his hand. "I am Doctor Michael Smith, I'm in charge of Mr. Hardy."
The Chief shook the doctors hand and surveyed him. He was tall, slim and grey-haired and wore rimless glasses. Somehow he reminded him of his own father.
Dr. Smith looked at the detective, who was obviously sleeping. An oxygen mask covered his face. "Let's go in my office. We can talk there," the doctor said a bit less noisy.
Chief Anderson followed Dr Smith into his office.
"Please, take a seat." Dr Smith pointed at one of the chairs in front of his desk. They sat down. The Chief started to talk first.
"Will he pull through?" he wanted to know. For him, this is the most important question right now.
"His current state is still critical but stable. We can say more when he's awake. He will wake up within the next few hours," the doctor answered.
"Can you tell me something about his injuries?"
"When the ambulance arrived at the park he wasn't breathing anymore. They successfully resuscitated him. He coughed up water. This and the fact that his hair was wet are the reasons why we think his head has been pressed underwater violently," Dr Smith explained.
"So you're saying that someone tried to drown him?" Anderson asked with a gravelly voice.
"That's what I'm assuming. Mr Hardy also has pressure marks on his neck. This would confirm this suspicion. Also his wrists were bloody. He was possibly handcuffed. But unfortunately that's not all. His body was deeply dehydrated. He hasn't taken in any liquids for at least three days. The same applies to solid food." Dr Smith sighed. "I'd say he has been held captive by a very cruel person."
Chief Anderson nodded. He had the same brutal thought in mind.
"Is there anything else that could help us to find the person responsible?" he asked.
"Maybe you find something on his clothes," Dr Smith said and put a plastic bag with clothes in it on his desk. The two men stood up.
"Thank you for the information, Dr Smith. Please call me when DI Hardy wakes up. I'd like to talk with him then."
"Of course I will," Dr Smith answered. They shook hands, and Chief Anderson turned around and left.
"Is everyone here?" Chief Anderson looked around. Five police men and women gathered round the table in the conference room of the police station. The team seemed to be complete. "Then let us start. First thing I want you to know it that DI Hardy is alive and he's stable."
Relieved sighs could be heard. "So does this mean that he will fully recover?" asked Julie Lucas, one of the youngest officers in the town.
"We're not sure about that yet. The doctor said that we have to wait until he wakes up," Anderson answered shortly.
"What happened to him actually? I mean nobody informed us about that yet." This question came from one of the older officers.
"Yes, this is the second point I wanted to tell you. It looks like Alec has been held captive. His wrists were rubbed sore and bloody. It looks like he has been handcuffed. Furthermore his body was dehydrated and he didn't have anything to eat within the last few days. When he was found in the park his hair was wet and he coughed up water. That's why we assume that his head was pressed underwater forcefully."
"Someone tried to down him?" Julie Lucas asked in disbelief.
"Yes, that's what we, Doctor Smith and I, think," the Chief confirmed.
"If you ask me, this all looks like the Rose Killer decided not to only kill girls," Sergeant Manning piped up. Chief Anderson looked at this man on his left. So he was not the only one who thought about this.
"And let us bear in mind that Alec's daughter Kate is still missing. Maybe the Rose Killer kidnapped her and then decided to abduct her father too?" Sergeant Manning continued.
"But why would he do that?" It was Julie Lucas who asked this fair question. "This makes absolutely no sense!"
"I think so too, Lucas," Chief Anderson agreed. "This definitely makes no sense. And let's not forget that we still have no proof that the Rose Killer did also kidnap Kate." He looked at his team. "It rests with us to find out what happened. Let's start with the thing we know for sure. Four days ago we found Louise Tallis in the park. She has been drowned, just like five girls ten years ago. We still assume that they all were killed by the same person, the so called Rose Killer. Then, while DI Hardy was inspecting the victim, his daughter Kate was abducted. She was in his car which he parked nearby the crime scene. He took her with him because her mother didn't come home that night. We found out that Elizabeth Hardy, the mother, flew to Paris the morning Louise Tallis was found. Oh, before I forget: Did the police in Paris already find out anything about Elizabeth?" The last question was towards Manning.
"No," the Sergeant answered. "The only information we have is that she and her travelling companion flew to Paris. They are untraceable. They don't answer calls and they never withdraw money. I've sent our French colleagues a photo of Mrs Hardy. They said that they will contact us as soon as they find them."
"Okay, this means that she remains disappeared. What happened next... ah, yes. On the same day, it was around 12 pm, I told Alec to go home and take some days off. He couldn't have helped us anyway as he's the father of a possible victim. We haven't heard of him ever since." Chief Anderson looked around. "That's all you need to know right now. Now we have to work." He stood up.
"Manning, you stay in contact with the French police. Inform me as soon as they find Mrs Hardy," he told the young Sergeant, who nodded and quickly left the room. The Chief looked at the rest of the group.
"Lucas and Warren, you try to find out what Alec did after I sent him home four days ago. Maybe he did some phone calls of went out to meet someone or something like this. Brown and Lancaster, I want you to look through all the documents we have of the murders ten years ago again. Maybe you'll find some important hints or relevant information which we haven't noticed yet."
The team immediately got down to work.
"Don't you finally want to answer the call?" George asked as Elizabeth's mobile rang for the apparently fiftieth time. She looked on the display. It's always the same number.
"I don't know this number. And, as you know, I never answer unknown calls. And," Elizabeth said, "no one is allowed to disturb our romantic breakfast."
"If you say so...," Georg said. He smirked. "But if you're not going to answer the calls anyway please switch off your phone."
Before Elizabeth could answer she saw two police men coming up to them. They stopped in front of them.
"Elizabeth Hardy?" the taller one of them said with an unmistakeable French accent.
"Yes?" the woman answered, "Is there a problem?"
The police man ignored her question. "You must come with us. It is important," he added as he saw Elizabeth's sceptical look which suddenly changed into worried.
"What do you mean it's important? Is there anything with my husband or daughter?" Elizabeth asked. She sounded concerned.
"I can't tell you anything about that. You will get all information at the police station." It's still the taller one who's speaking. The other one is just standing beside him.
"Fine," Elizabeth said. She stood up and took her jacket and purse.
"Wait, what about me?" asked George. He looked at Elizabeth. "Do you just leave me here like this?"
"Sorry," she said and kissed him slightly on his forehead. "I will call you when I'm finished." Then she walked with the police men.
While George was waiting for Elizabeth's call he went for a walk in the inner city of Paris. He looked on his wristwatch. Elizabeth has been gone for two hours and she still didn't called. What could have happened?, he thought. I bet something happened at home. Maybe her husband got suspicious when he heard her message and called the police? No, this isn't a thing he'd do. Although I wouldn't confirm that. I mean I only know the things Elizabeth told me about him. And this wasn't much."
He fumbled in his pockets for his phone.
"Fucking shit," he said to himself as he noticed his phone wasn't there. "I'm such a bloody idiot!"
He ran back to the hotel where they were staying and found his phone on the bed table. He looked on the display.
5 missed calls.
Elizabeth stepped into room 245. She looked around. There was only one bed inside this room. And in this bed was Alec, his face covered by an oxygen mask. He was still unconscious. On the right side of the bed was a machine which was constantly beeping, but on the left side was a chair. Probably for visitors. Elizabeth sat down on this chair and put her hand on his hand.
"Hello Alec," she said. She knew that although he didn't react, he could possibly hear her. But she didn't know what else to say so she decided to be quiet.
She sat there for almost two hours. She held her husband's hand and stroked his hair affectionately. After a while she started to cry. She didn't cry about what she did. She didn't cry about what happened to Alec. She didn't even cry about her daughter who's still missing. That last thing was a thing she hasn't quite realised yet. She was crying about the two things which were bothering her most at that moment: the feelings of guilt and helplessness. What if she hasn't flown to Paris? What if she has stayed at home like a good wife and mother should do? All this would have never happened.
"Mrs Hardy, the visiting hours are over." Elizabeth looked up. She didn't hear that nurse coming into the room. She wiped away her tears.
"Yes, of course," she said with a still tearful voice. She stood up and stroked her husband's hair once more. Then she left the room.
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