Kenhardt - Secrets 16

Day four. Already his initial sense of being in Kenhardt was disintegrating and a new one was being formed. In fact, Joe O’Reily quite enjoyed it. The quietness of it all, the remoteness. It was a nice break being away from Riverton. Perhaps he could convince Jordan to move out here. Okay, perhaps not Kenhardt. But another small town would do. Joe quickly erased that thought from his mind. Jordan was all for the big city. She’d had her eyes set on Johannesburg for as long as he’d known her. It was her childhood dream to move to the city and make it big as a writer. Together, they’d find a quaint apartment in Germiston, get a cat or a small dog. She, a Jozie best - seller, he, JHBurg detective, best in the business. Joe had a list of things that the needed to do today. He was meeting with Tanner and Davis regarding their cult theory. Joe was opposed to it, but Frank was forcing him to hear what they had to say, get another opinion. It was ridiculous and Joe knew it. The entire town was already convinced that the girls had killed themselves, and now here was Tanner bringing yet another suicide - related theory forward; that the girls were involved in some sort of cult and their deaths were a sacrifice - martyrs, of sorts. But that’s not the kind of girls they were, and Joe was sure of this. It wasn’t an initiation and it wasn’t a human sacrifice. He needed to dig more, find out everything he could about those three girls, as well as everyone else in this small town. If the girls were pushed, then it was most likely someone at that school. Students, staff, teachers. At least that limited his range slightly. He had already spoken to the teachers. What more could they say? As of now, there was only one potential suspect with a motive, and that was Oliver Harris. What Joe also needed to find out was who Haddie was having this Secret love - Affair with. This mystery - Man was the father of her unborn child, and that in itself would be another possible motive - if he even knew about the pregnancy, that is. Joe would need to go back to the four friends - Gabriella, Rachel, Miera and Sadie. There would be more information to gain from them. Did they have anything to do with the girls’ deaths? He’d need to speak with them one - on - one to get a better sense, see if they left anything out. Joe arrived at the Kenhardt police station. It was cute, really, how quaint it was, the minimal staff they required. He walked down the hall and found Frank speaking with Kenhardt’s Chief Superintendent, John Richard. ‘Morning, gentlemen,’ Joe said as he stood at the door frame. ‘O’Reily,’ Frank motioned him inside. ‘Come,sit.’ Joe walked forward and took a seat at the desk across from John Richard. He was older - sixty, maybe? Dark hair that was on the fringes of grey. ‘How’s it going?’ John said to Joe. ‘Not bad. I’ll need to speak with more people today, determine more about the girls and their personal lives.’ ‘Just tell me straight, son,’ John said. ‘Murder or suicide?’ ‘I can’t say for certain as of this moment.’ ‘But what do you think?’ Joe took in a breath. ‘I don’t think it was suicide, no.’ John closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly unpleased with Joe’s response. ‘You’re hoping for suicide,’ Joe stated, not a question. John looked at him. ‘Do you understand how bad this will look when people start thinking there’s a murderer in Kenhardt?’ ‘John - ‘ Frank interjected. ‘Sir,’ Joe said at the same time. ‘I understand that. And I am doing everything in my power to figure out what really happened up on that rooftop. But in all likelihood - and we have to be realistic here - I don’t think that those girls killed themselves.’ John stared at Joe, studying his face, thinking of what to say next. ‘Alright,’ he finally said. ‘You do what you need to do. You need more resources, you come to me. I’ll do whatever is needed to get this case solved and under wraps already. Four days is long enough to be undermined whether this was a suicide or not.’ ‘And in the case of a murder,’ Frank said. ‘Well, we’ll need to crack down on this. Fast.’ ‘Will do, Sir,’ Joe nodded, then stood. ‘OH,’ he turned to John once again. ‘I just had one question.’ ‘What is it?’ ‘You familiar with the Sad Killer?’ ‘Course I am,’ John said. ‘The only serial murderer Kenhardt’s ever seen.’ ‘And never caught,’ Joe said. ‘You ever had any suspects?’ ‘A few’ John said. ‘Why the sudden interest?’ ‘A local mentioned it to me yesterday. It’s intriguing, that’s for sure.’ ‘I’m not sure if I’d call seven dead men intriguing ---’ ‘Sorry,’ Joe said ‘Lack of a better word.’ ‘What are you thinking. O’Reily?’ Frank asked, raising an eyebrow at him. ‘Perhaps we could talk more about this later,’ Joe said to John. ‘Go over some of the files?’ ‘Why? You trying to solve this thing or something?’ ‘Like I said, I’m just interested.’ John and Frank stared at him. ‘Sure. Come see me before end of day. You’ll need to give me an update anyway. Alright?’ ‘Sounds good. Thank you, sir,’ Joe said, and then he left. Joe met Jesse and Hal at the coffee shop down the street, Spread out on the table in front of them were images of what Joe could only assume to be the devil, as well as photographs of symbols; a star surrounded by a circle, more symbols and crosses. ‘Why are you so convinced this it ritualistic’ Joe asked Hal. Kenhardt was his town, after all. He would know more about the town’s history than Joe and Jesse. ‘The deaths at the same time. Of teenage girls? That just doesn’t happen around here. Only one logical explanation,’ He nodded to the photographs. ‘Well I’m sure there’s more than one …’ Joe started, then stopped when he saw Hal’s face. ‘Listen, Detective,’ Hal said. ‘You’re not from here. You’re from Riverton. I’m sure you’re used to seeing death all the time up there. But here, this is a big deal for us. Especially since it was young girls. They all jumped off that roof. They did it to sacrifice themselves to Satan.’ ‘I really don’t think so,’ Joe said, fiddling with one of the photos. ‘I looked around their rooms, talked to their parents and friends. None of them mentioned anything of the sorts. And there’s no hard evidence that points to it, I’m afraid. No photos, symbols, or anything like this,’ Joe gestured to the photos. ‘Around their personal belongings.’ He paused to gather his thoughts. ‘And even if they did participate in some Devil worship, wouldn’t they have left something at the scene? Something on that roof?’ It was quiet. Hal stared at Joe, clearly enraged by Joe’s disregard of his well thought out idea. ‘How about this?’ Hal leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. ‘You keep doing your thing, we’ll keep doing ours.’ ‘Perfect,’ Joe said as he stood. ‘All I hope is that we find out what truly happened to those girls.’ Joe was making his way back to the high school. He was planning on speaking with the four girls again, hoping they could provide him with more information. Perhaps one of them knew about Haddie’s secret relationship. He was about to turn onto the street of the school when his cell phone rang. He Didn’t recognize the number, but answered regardless. ‘Detective O’Reily,’ he said into the phone. ‘Hi,’ said a female voice. ‘This is Chloe Wilson, Anya’s sister.’ ‘Chloe, Hi, is everything alright?’ ‘Yes. I just,’ she paused. ‘You said to call you if I wanted to talk about my sister. I think I’m ready.’ He was at the Wilson’s house within ten minutes. Chloe answered the door, dressed in jean shorts and a white T-shirt. Joe surveyed the place to see if Pamela or John were around. Jonah, he presumed, would be in school. ‘Your dad or Pam home?’ Joe asked. ‘They’re out. Busy running around, confirming funeral arrangements.’ Right. The funeral was tomorrow. ‘What can I do for you, Chloe?’ ‘Can we sit and talk?’ she motioned to the kitchen. Joe nodded and followed her there. She must have been at least twenty or twenty - one, he presumed. Five years older than Anya. Chloe sat at the table, biting her lip and fiddling with her thumbs. Whatever she wanted to say, she didn’t know how to start. ‘Is everything okay?’ Joe asked. She looked up at him then, her eyes looking almost glassy. ‘Yeah,’ she forced a small smile. ‘It’s all just so much for me. Having Anya gone.’ ‘I can’t imagine.’ ‘She was my best friend. We did everything together, since we were little. And now it’s like a part of me is gone too.’ Joe remained quiet. What words could possibly relay his sympathy? Chloe sniffled. ‘I wanted to talk with you,’ she said. ‘Because I think you need to be aware of something.’ ‘What is it?’ ‘Anya. She had been acting strange these last few months. Not her usual self.’ ‘Did something happen?’ ‘I’m not sure. My sister had always been quiet. But it’s like something changed in her. It wasn’t just that she was quiet. She was distant. Comatose. Like she lacked her passion for life.’ ‘Do you think she was depressed?’ Chloe shrugged. ‘I don’t know. But …I think she stared hanging around with a new crowd of people.’ ‘What makes you say that?’ ‘Well, it was just…’ Chloe paused. ‘This one time, she told me that she was out with Haddie and Kiera. But then later that day I ran into the two of them at the mall, and they said they hadn’t seen Anya all day. So I started watching her, taking notice of things. She’d leave the house at random times, miss dinners with the family, show up at mom’s house when she was supposed to be at dad’s on certain nights. All of that on top of her strange behaviour - I was concerned.’ ‘Did you tell anyone? You parents?’ She shook her head. ‘No. They’re so busy and I didn’t want to worry them. And besides, I didn’t think that there was anything to worry about. Not until Tuesday…’