I wake up with my legs tangled with Victor’s, and our arms holding each other tight. Even though I only had about five hours’ worth of sleep, I feel so alive, relaxed, and happy. I untangle myself from my wonderful lover’s embrace, and slowly climb over his sleeping body.
Gathering up my dirty clothes from yesterday, I put them in the laundry basket. I collect my running gear and head into the bathroom. Once dressed, I quietly head downstairs to meet Jasmine for our run. We exit through the back door and go straight into the woods.
Without a word we start off at a jog and run toward the cliffs. The morning sounds of the dawn chorus start up slowly as the birds awake. The rising sun infiltrates the denseness of the trees lighting our path, as a gentle breeze whispers hello, kissing our faces as it brushes past us, lifting the leaves and branches on the trees in a dance of happiness.
As we reach the cliffs, the morning sun embraces us warming our sweat-slicked skin. I take out my camera, and snap photos of the sun reflecting on the rippling water, of the cliffs, and woods. Of birds in flight as they search for food, and of Jasmine, as she stands at the cliff’s edge, her hair lifted by the wind, the sun shining on her making her look ethereal in the morning light.
“Do you fancy going to your house?” I ask breaking the silence.
Jasmine turns to me, surprise flitting across her beautiful features. “My house? You mean you were serious when you said…?”
“Of course I was serious,” I interrupt her. With a squeal of delight she launches herself at me, thankfully I’m closer to the woods than the cliffs, or we would have both gone over the edge! Instead, I topple backwards and land on the ground with her on top of me. With a laugh I push her off, and scramble to my feet, reaching down, I grasp her hand and pull her up.
Putting away my camera, I give her a big smile as she dances a happy jig in front of me. “So shall we go and see your house?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” she squeals excitedly, dancing about.
“Come on then,” I laugh, we run back into the woods toward the old ruins. The wind whispers and dances around us, sunbeams flicker in and out of the tree branches, until we arrive in the clearing of the old house.
The sun shines on the ruins and for just a second transforms them into a stunning redbrick two-story house, with slate shingles and flowers on every window ledge. In the blink of an eye, the ruins are back before us. With a gasp I look at Jasmine, realizing this is what she saw the first time we’d come. “We’ll get the house signed over to you this morning if you like?”
Shaking her head in denial, she turns to look at me. “We can’t do anything until this case is solved. We have too much to do.” Sadness laces her voice as she looks at the ruins with longing.
With an understanding smile, I cross to her and give her a hug, and whisper, “I’ll call my solicitor, and they can get the paperwork started. We can carry on with the case, and my solicitor can let us know when to sign the papers. This is your house. I don’t see a need to postpone the signing, just because of a killer. Come on let’s head back. I’m starving.”
I turn and jog back to my home, with Jasmine beaming beside me. When we arrive back, we find Victor and Kheda waiting in the kitchen. Without thinking, I cross to Victor and kiss him good morning. He quickly wraps his arms around me pulling me flush against him deepening our kiss.
“Good morning to you, too.” Giving me a wicked smile, a look of relief flashes in his eyes, when our lips finally disengage.
Laughing in embarrassment at my wantonness, I wish him a good morning back. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.”
“I hope you never can, because trust me, I like the way you say hello.”
With a shy smile, I disentangle myself as my stomach lets out a yowl of discontent at not having been fed yet. “I’d better get some breakfast, or my stomach will eat itself,” I laugh.
“We’d better go for our run as well,” adds Kheda as his eyes hungrily devour Jasmine. “Where can we safely run without the likeliness of running into anyone else?”
“If you go out the back door and head into the woods, you can follow a path of sorts toward the cliffs. Follow our scents to retrace our path. It’s a decent run and is part of my property. Also, you’ll see Jasmine’s house,” I inform them. I notice her beaming smile out of the corner of my eye.
Pouring myself a glass of milk, I drink it quickly. I pour a couple of glasses of orange juice for us as we prepare breakfast. Between us, we have it ready in no time. Crispy rashers, sausages, hash browns, eggs, tomatoes, toast, and a pot of coffee. Carefully removing the photos from the table, we put them in the sitting room. Setting the table, we finally fill our plates. We put Victor’s and Kheda’s plated food in the oven to keep warm. We’re hungrily eating ours when they return.
Getting up I remove their plates and put them on the table, then I carry on eating my food. After washing their hands, they join us at the table to demolish their breakfast. We eat in contented silence. With a laugh of surprise, I realize how at ease we are with each other. At their curious looks, I share my observations.
“You’re right, I don’t think I’ve ever been so at ease with anyone in such a short amount of time,” Kheda agrees in surprise.
“Especially considering the circumstances that brought us together, though I’m definitely pleased we met,” Victor agrees smiling at me. His smile grows bigger, as a pleased blush flushes over my cheekbones.
As a group we tidy up. Looking at the clock, I notice it’s ten past nine, so I phone my solicitor, instructing him to start the paperwork to gift the old ruins to Jasmine and the surrounding land from the road to the house, excluding the old grave yard. I inform him to contact me when the forms are ready, say goodbye, and hang up on the bewildered man.
Turning, I head into the sitting room, where everyone is waiting. With a sigh, I carefully lay out the photos, until the sitting room is filled with images of the cave’s entrance and the first three murder scenes. There’s not enough room for the final crime scene, and the cave with the stream.
****
Silently, we look at the grisly scene before us. The cold, damp, torch-lit caves illuminate the three victims. Staring at the scene, little things start jumping out at us. Hopefully enough things will add up to help identify the murderer. The faint outline of fingers can be seen on Mrs. Hayes’s beckoning arm, due to the pressure and position. Checking the other bodies, we realize each have the same bruising. The female werewolf also has slight bruising on her breasts, legs, and stomach from being kicked and punched.
We switch the photos to the last murder scene and back cave. The female vampire’s breasts have slight bruising from being roughly treated. The male vampire’s body clearly shows his had been pulled, pinched, and kneaded. The werewolf has the most bruising.
With a grimace of distaste, I notice Victor and Kheda turning slightly green.
“So we’re dealing with a psycho witch. These are her collections, which is why she lashed out at the female werewolf, and why she played freely with these three,” Kheda said swallowing a couple of times.
We move to the final cave scene. In puzzlement, I stare at the scene before us. Clearly shown is an indentation in the soft mud by the water’s edge, where the witch kneeled. The pressure from her knees, legs, and handprint is clearly marked.
“Please tell me that’s from getting rid of the blood,” I snarl as bile rises in my mouth to greet me.
“Dirty bitch,” snarls Jasmine in distaste.
“Fucking hell, how perverse can she be?” Victor mutters in disgust. “Unless it’s from draining the bodies?” A note of hope laces his voice, and I hope he’s right.
“We’ve got a handprint,” adds Kheda with a triumphant smile. “I’ll get a forensics team to meet us, and hopefully she has left us DNA…” He quickly leaves the sitting room to make his phone call. We listen unashamedly to the one sided conversation.
“Hey, Jimmy, it’s Kheda. Can you meet me in half an hour at the cave where we found the bodies please? Only bring members of your team you completely trust.” A pause as Jimmy replies. “Can you bring a cast mold as well?” A pause. “Thanks, we’ll see you then and be safe.”
Gathering the pictures, I put them face down in a corner of the room. I notice the relief flashing across Kheda’s features, when he spots the pictures in the corner of the room.
“Shall we go if everyone’s ready?” he asks.
“I need to go to the toilet first.” I raise my hand as if I’m back in school asking permission.
“I’d better go too, or I’ll need to go when we get there,” Jasmine agrees.
“Right, if it’s okay with everyone we’ll go in one car, so we’ll be together,” Kheda informs us to which everyone readily agrees.
We hurry upstairs, and I hear Kheda go to the downstairs toilet. Five minutes later, we pile into Kheda’s car. Jasmine and I in the back, while Victor sits in the passenger seat, and Kheda drives.
He zips down my lane, over East Bridge, through the streets till we arrive at Hunters Park, where he stops the car and we all climb out. After Kheda locks up, we hurry toward the cave, duck under the yellow police tape, and carry on to the mouth of the cave, where four police CSI techs are waiting for us.
Kheda greets Jimmy. At only five feet five inches with a slight build, he is a small man with neat close- cropped blond hair, sharp features with lots of angles, and pale blue intelligent eyes. Anyone underestimating him would be a fool, I decide as Kheda introduces us to each other. His handshake is firm, with just enough pressure to show his restrained strength. The other three techs grunt their hellos.