Close to Memories (Shadow Man Book 3) Read online

  Close To Memories

  The Shadowman Series

  BY: B.P Stevens

  Mystery Thriller story

  Copyright © [2022] [B.P Stevens] – All rights Reserved

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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  Description

  After being suspended from the case she was leading, Harper starts independently searching for evidence, wading through secrets and lies to solve this mystery. With the unsolved disappearance of Beth and Gina, she risks being put off the case entirely if caught.

  When a suspect abruptly confesses to killing his own daughter, with no reason why, Harper gets suspicious. She now has to act fast before the actual perpetrator behind the disappearances strikes again.

  Tables of Content

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  About This Author

  Review This Book

  Chapter One

  Harper paced back and forth on her living room floor. She couldn't sleep, and she sure as heck couldn't sit still. Not with everything going on. So much was happening with the case of the Shadow Man that it didn't feel right to be left out like she was. Harper deserved to be at the precinct as much as anyone else. She knew more than they thought she did. She wasn't a hindrance to the case.

  She was the only one who knew that something was wrong.

  Dan had apparently confessed to the kidnapping and murder of Gina, but he didn't say anything about Beth or where Gina even was. He didn't offer any information and wasn't talking anymore. He was trying to work some kind of plea deal with his lawyer or something, but the entire situation felt like an itch that Harper couldn't scratch. Nothing was making sense. Dan couldn't have done this. Why would he confess to something like that?

  From what Harper could see from the news and social media, who got the story out as soon as they could, the court of public opinion wished to see Dan behind bars for life or worse. For everyone else, the pieces seemed to fit right into place. For Harper, nothing felt right.

  She groaned and rubbed her hands down her face.

  She had to at least see for herself.

  She grabbed her keys and her puffer coat. She knew that she was technically no longer on the case, so she had no business going to the precinct to look at anything that was being used there anyway. She didn’t care. She had to see the evidence.

  She drove down the road towards the precinct. She followed the speed limit, trying not to draw attention to herself. In a matter of minutes, thanks to the lack of traffic, she pulled into the precinct. The lights were on this evening – they always were – but there was only one car here.

  Jill’s.

  Harper inhaled sharply. The two of them hadn't spoken since the incident with Harper's confession, and that was Harper's fault. She didn't want to confront the truth and the fact that she couldn’t trust her best friend with it. She had been avoiding Jill for a while, trying to figure out what she wanted to say to her when she saw her again.

  Now, it was time to face the music.

  She walked towards the precinct doors after killing her engine and climbing out of the car. She took a deep breath once she got outside before pushing them to walk in, grimacing as if she was slapped.

  “Harper?”

  She forced a smile. "Hey, Jill."

  Jill was sitting at her desk with a coffee in hand. It was a Tuesday night, so there was only one cop on duty for emergencies. The precinct never posted one cop on duty, but it was such a quiet night in such a small town – and the cops had just allegedly busted a serial kidnapper. It made sense why everyone else was taking the night off.

  “What are you doing here?” She asked with a bit of edge to her voice.

  “I could ask you the same thing.” Harper tried to make small talk but was met with silence.

  Harper sighed, walking to the coffee pot.

  “Jill, I’m sorry.”

  Jill huffed. "It's one thing not to tell me that you were connected to the cold case that we were clinging to so hard, but it's another to ignore me for two days afterward. We missed an episode of the Walking Dead, you know."

  Harper sighed. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, Jill." She began to pour the coffee into a to-go plastic cup from the counter, thankful that her friend didn’t seem too angry with her. "It was hard for me to face you after what I had done and hadn't told you about. I didn't think it was fair before to dump my trauma on you, and now I wish I had done it before this mess."

  Jill sighed back. “See, this is what you could have told me. You didn’t have to ghost me.”

  Harper nodded. “Yeah, I know. I would say sorry, but I think I’ve beaten that phrase to death with a shoe, huh?”

  Jill laughed. "Well, at least you're self-aware. I'm glad."

  Harper rolled her eyes and stirred some sugar into her black coffee, leaning against the table.

  “So, do you trust me enough now to tell me why you’re here today?” She asked.

  There was a bit of bark to her bite, and Harper winced. She may have been forgiven to the point of Jill talking to her again, but the pain of the act that had previously been done still held a sting.

  “Yes, actually,” Harper offered with a strained smile. “Now, when I tell you what I’m about to do, I need you to promise me you won’t think I’m crazy.”

  Jill frowned. “I can’t make any promises, but I know you well enough to understand. And I trust you enough to bet you have a reason for what you’re doing.”

  Harper smirked. "How much longer will you throw this stuff in my face?"

  "Eh." Jill shrugged. "Until I think you've learned your lesson."

  "Well," Harper ignored Jill's sass, "I think something's wrong. I know you all think I'm too close to the case, and Dan supposedly confessed–"

  “Supposedly?” Jill shook her head. “No, Harper. He did. He confessed right here in front of the rest of us. He told us what he did. There was no way that he didn’t do anything.”

  "Jill, come on," Harper begged, "You can't tell me that some of this isn't adding up. How the heck could someone that skinny take a child? How could he do that? He lawyered up almost immediately, but he was telling me an entirely different story before. You can't expect me to think something isn't off here."

  Jill frowned. “What are you suggesting, Harper? Do you think Dan was framed or something?”

  Harper took a sip of her coffee, letting it burn her tongue. "Jill, Kaison identified the voice of Andrew, not Dan. Dan knew about the jingling sound that Kaison mentioned. There's more to this story than we think! I'm not saying that he's being framed or something. What I am saying is that it wouldn't surprise me if we were so determined to close this case that we didn't seem to check the facts and make sure everything made sense."

  Jill shook her head. “Harper, you’re overthinking it. He confessed.”

  Harper could feel the anger boiling up within her. She was trying to calm herself down since she was already treading thin ice with Jill, but
she didn't know if she could. She focused on taking two solid deep breaths before moving on.

  “Okay, fine. He confessed. You of all people know that doesn’t always mean they’re guilty.”

  Jill blinked slowly. "Yes, but nine times out of ten, it does.”

  "If he's guilty, why didn't he say anything about the bodies!?"

  "Leverage, Harper!" Jill's voice was rising. "Are you telling me that you don't know better than that? Come on!" Jill threw her hands up. "He's trying to strike a plea deal with the D.A. on a cold case and a case that copies the old one to a T. Are you telling me that he wouldn't withhold the information about where the girls are in exchange for years off his sentence?"

  Harper chewed on her cheek. "He's going to get in there for life if he's really guilty. Holding off on where the bodies are located isn't going to make any difference."

  Jill pushed her fingers against the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Okay, okay. Look, Harp, I don't want to fight you. I really don't. But you sound crazy. We aren't on some crazy cop show you watch on TV, we aren't in some thriller crime novel, and we aren't in a movie. Sometimes, these things happen. Sometimes, they don't make sense. Heck, Harp, they're criminals! What they do shouldn’t make sense to us, you know.”

  Harper sighed. Normally, she would believe that Jill was right and tell herself to calm down. Normally, she would smile and convince herself that she was feeling overwhelmed, and she'd forget their entire argument.

  Not this time.

  Harper knew something was wrong.

  “Maybe if I just see the interview when he confessed,” Harper offered. “Then I’ll be able to put it behind me.”

  Jill sighed, but this one felt lighter – as if Jill thought Harper was getting her head screwed back on correctly.

  “We have a copy of the interview as evidence for processing. Dan’s lawyer wanted to review it.”

  Harper nodded. “Thanks, Jill. For forgiving me.”

  Jill smiled and gave Harper a two-finger salute before stirring her coffee and picking up her paperback copy with a couple embracing on the cover. Harper knew that Jill read romance on slow nights like this. It helped her calm down.

  Harper made her way to the basement, where they kept the evidence. The chain of evidence list was on the wall, and Harper hesitated. She didn’t know how it would look for her to be checking evidence right now, but she also knew it would be breaking the law not to write her name down. That, and she also knew that Jill informed her about this. There was no use acting like she didn’t come down here for evidence.

  She just had to bite the bullet and sign the sheet.

  The sooner she could watch the interview, the better.

  Harper sighed and pushed herself to check the names of the people that had been here before her. She frowned.

  Andrew had been there a lot.

  She narrowed her eyes and stared at the entries where Andrew put his name down. He said to have taken something from different cases that meant nothing to this one, but the dates didn't match – meaning that he either fibbed about the evidence he grabbed – or he was lying about the dates.

  Harper pressed her lips together.

  She scribbled her name down on the sheet with the proper date – just because Andrew was doing shady things didn't mean she would too – and made her way to the evidence pile from the folder for Gina's case. Harper didn't like how little there was in it. Aside from the interrogation disk, there were only Gina's clothes and jewelry folded neatly in a pile.

  Wait.

  Harper grabbed the evidence bag and stared at the My Little Pony t-shirt and jeans.

  Harper grabbed the disk. She needed to know for certain if her hunch was right. Either way, she knew that she could get closure. She walked towards the TV in the evidence room and pushed the CD in, chewing on her nail in thought. She started tapping her foot as the footage began to reveal itself.

  Andrew was yelling at Dan, and Dan was covering his ears and looking like he was going to cry. Harper felt a scowl crawl onto her cheeks. Where was Dan’s lawyer? What was happening here!?

  “You know you took the little girl,” Andrew growled. “Just like you took the other little girl. You took both of them. You did.”

  Dan was shaking his head over and over again. "No, I didn't! I didn't! Where is Harper? I need to talk to her!"

  “You’re talking to me now,” Andrew growled.

  Something in his voice was different. He sounded like an animal, gruff and full of nothing but rage. Harper shook her head with her rage as Andrew slammed his hand down on the table.

  "LOOK AT ME, DAN! THE GIRL’S LIFE IS AT STAKE!"

  "I KNOW!" Dan cried. "That's why I'm trying to help. Let me talk to Harper. I told her some of the things I know, and I know I can be helpful! I have pictures–"

  "Let me guess. You helped the girls by luring them into the woods and killing them?"

  Harper paused the interview. Dan had pictures? Of what? And where did he keep them?

  Harper raced to the desk they had and searched for a piece of blank paper and a pen. She ripped the piece of paper and brought it to the desk that held the TV up, setting the paper down. She made a note of the comment about the pictures and the timestamp and then continued watching.

  “No, I told you, I didn’t do that! I didn’t!”

  “Just save yourself the time and tell us the truth.”

  "I am. You're just not listening!"

  "Look me dead in the eye and tell me you didn't take Gina. Tell me that you didn't feel like someone else needed to suffer after what happened with Beth. Like someone else needed to feel how you felt. That you didn't take her My Little Pony shirt off and blue jeans and put them away!"

  “Her what!?”

  “Her clothes, Dan!”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Harper paused the interview and raced upstairs.

  "Jill," she demanded, out of breath. "Jill, you have to come see this. Now."

  Jill frowned and bookmarked her place, eyes narrowed. She either sensed the fear in Harper’s voice or finally felt like listening to her friend as she dashed to her feet and rushed to Harper. She came down the stairs to find her.

  “What is it?” Jill asked.

  “Andrew messed up,” Harper cried. “The confession is inadmissible.”

  Jill shook her head. "What? No. We were all there, we heard–"

  She froze. "No, we didn't. We had to talk to the lawyer."

  “What!?” Harper ran her hands through her hair. “Why were you talking with the lawyer!?”

  “He wanted us to throw out what you two talked about after you admitted to being connected to the old case, and Andrew just kept pressing Dan because we thought we could trust him.” Jill pressed her fingers together and brought them to her nose. “How did he mess it up?”

  “He led Dan on,” Harper explained.

  She took the video back to the part where Andrew told Dan about the clothes Gina was wearing the night she was taken. Jill gasped and ran her hands through her hair, hissing.

  “Son of a biscuit.”

  Harper didn’t have time to laugh at Jill’s attempt at cursing.

  "He admitted to a piece of evidence that Dan doesn’t seem to know about. Not only is Dan swearing up and down that he didn't do anything, but Andrew also keeps pressuring him. He let the evidence thing slip, and now this whole confession is useless."

  “Well, you must be relieved.”

  Harper sighed but nodded. “On the contrary, Jill, honey…"

  She held her breath.

  “Can I tell you something?”

  Chapter Two

  Jill stared at Harper with a strange expression on her face, which was only fair. She had no idea what Harper would ask from her. Still, true to her loyal roots, Jill nodded.

  “Yes.”

  Harper tried to steady herself. She knew that what she was going to say would
make her seem insane, and it was probably going to also make her seem petty. She sighed and then leaned back on the heels of her feet.

  She had been thinking about this since she had been pacing in her home. She had run the evidence and the dates through her head, and she couldn’t shake the feeling from her body. She owed it to herself to say something.

  “Okay,” she offered. “I think something’s going on here. Something deeper than we think. I know you think I’m crazy, but you have to trust me. Since the beginning of this case, Andrew has been a thorn in our side. He’s been nothing but rude, mean, and actively trying to halt our efforts to solve the case.”

  Jill raised her eyebrow. “He said he was on a new antidepressant, though.”

  “Yes, but Kaison identified his voice. He knew Andrew. He said there was a jingling sound, and so did Dan. Cops have keys – and lots of gear on them. Kids trust cops. They are told to do so from a young age. The girls would trust someone who is a cop. They would understand that the cop had their best interest at heart–"

  “Hold on,” Jill shook her head. “Are you saying that you think Andrew is the person who took the girls!? You can’t seriously believe that!”

  Harper shushed her, waving her hands. “Keep your voice down! I don’t want anyone else to hear!”

  “Oh my God, you’re delusional! Literally no one else is here!”

  "Jill, please," Harper begged. "You have to believe me. You saw the footage. You saw what he did. If Dan really did this, he would have told Andrew about the clothes that Gina had been wearing the night she was taken – Andrew was a good cop, he would have known to ask. "

  “We all make mistakes with interrogation, Harper,” Jill snapped.

  “Jill,” Harper growled. “The evidence lines up. Think about it. Why else was he pushing for me to get removed? Why else would he bait Dan like this?”