Once Returned by Darcy Coates

Author:Darcy Coates [Coates, Darcy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-12-27T23:00:00+00:00

Part Five: Taken

The trip between my home and the station normally took eight minutes. I made it in seven.

The station was small but tidy. The front room only had a handful of chairs, a reception counter protected with reinforced glass and a board with announcements and bulletins pinned onto it. The woman behind the counter leaned forward and smiled as I approached. Her nametag told me she was Officer Reese. “What can I do for you?”

I stuttered out my name and began to give a confused explanation of why I was there. She stopped me before I was more than two words in. “Carol? We’ve been trying to get in touch with you all day. Please come with me.”

Reese sat me down in a quiet back room of the station. It was even smaller than the reception, and bare except for a table and two chairs. She indicated the closer one for me to sit in.

“I’m glad you came in, Carol. We weren’t able to contact you by phone so we sent two officers to your home, but the gentleman who answered the door said you were out.”

It must have been Jon. I clenched my hands in my lap but didn’t interrupt.

“There have been some developments in your husband’s case,” Officer Reese continued. “Yesterday and today, three people have gone missing from this area. Earlier this morning their cars were found at the entryway to Harob Forest Trail. You’ll probably remember this was where your husband’s car was left.”

I felt sick, but nodded.

“We have search parties looking for them now. An hour ago, we found a body in the woods.”

She reached forward and took my hand, giving it a squeeze. At that moment I realised what she was going to tell me, and why she had taken me to this back room to break the news. I began to shake my head to stop her, as though not hearing the words would prevent them from being true.

“I’m sorry, Carol, but we found Jon’s body.”

“That’s not possible,” I said. It came out as a whisper.

“The body has decomposed significantly, but we were able to get a dental match. It’s definitely him.”

I stared at her as shock, horror and fear burned at my insides. Reese gave my hand another comforting squeeze, but my fingers were almost too numb to feel it.

She had to be making this up. Jon had come back. He was changed; strange and frightening, but he was still Jon. There was no way he could have been found in the forest.

“I want to see.”

Reese shook her head. “That’s not a good idea, Carol. He… there’s not much left to identify him. You don’t want to see that.”

I took my hand out of hers and fixed her with the most determined stare I could muster. “I have to see him.”

“Carol-”

“Let me see him.”

She sighed and stood up. “Okay. Follow me.”

* * *

Harob Forensic Science Center was within walking distance of the police station. It was a large, unbranded building surrounded by a chain-link fence.

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