Page 63 of Every Sunset
“Deep breaths, Anna,” Logan prompted quietly, then he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and led me further into the living room. I could feel my whole body shaking and my heart was pounding so hard it was making me feel lightheaded.
Logan led me to sit on the other sofa, opposite the agents, and I almost cried in relief when Madd stood and instantly took the seat at my free side. I found myself squeezed in between them, the both of their bodies making contact with my own at every possible point.
“Miss Hart?” One of the agents asked the second we were all settled across from them.
There was a male and female agent. It was the woman who had spoken. She looked around my age, slim, with short dark hair, wide rimmed plastic glasses and dressed neatly in a fitted navy suit, with a paler blue shirt beneath. The lanyard hanging from an ID around her neck identified her as FBI. Her partner had the same ID around his neck, but he also wore a thin jacket with the letters emblazoned across the back. Underneath he wore slacks and a white shirt. He was older than the woman by some years, his grey hair thinning slightly at the front. They both looked friendly, but it didn’t matter when I was so worked up.
“Yep,” I replied with a single nod, even that one word quivering as it came out. Madd took my hand in his and clutched it tightly.
“We need to keep this short. Anna underwent transplant surgery last year, so we can’t risk her making herself ill with this,” Madd said firmly, looking to the two agents.
“I…I’m okay, Madd.”
“We’ll try to keep it short,” the male agent agreed as the female looked to me with sympathy, which I hated. Yes I was shaken up, and likely looked a state, but I didn’t need her damned sympathy.
“This is about Callum, isn’t it?” I asked.
“Callum?” the male agent questioned.
“The man who I…who h-hurt me,” I admitted.
“Is that the name he used to message you? Callum?”
“Yes,” I nodded. “Callum Smith. He…he t-told me he was a teacher.”
“We’re here about a string of murders, miss Hart. The oldest one dates back four years and the most recent was two weeks ago. There have been six in total, all in different states. The connection was made between them all after a murder in San Diego three months ago, and since they took place across state borders, we have taken over the case,” the female agent explained.
“A-and you think…Callum? You think he killed those people?” I uttered as horror filled me at just the thought of being at that monster’s mercy.
“Women, Miss Hart. They were all women, around your age, and with very similar looks to you too. We made the link to a dating site recently, and we were able to link messages to what appears to be the same man, with each of the victims. They each spoke to someone with a different name, and all of the accounts were deleted after the murders, but our tech team were able to recover enough information to prove the messages all came from one person on the same computer. We’ve been unable to recover anyimages of him, but we did find messages to and from you to this man. We’ve been searching for you since.”
“I…I went on a date with him. He drugged me and I….he held me for several days. Tortured me. He enjoyed causing p-pain,” I stuttered emotionally.
“Easy, baby. Just take your time. You’re here with us, safe,” Madd whispered to me as he used my hand to pull me closer into his side and wrapped his arm around me. I went easily, pressing my face into his arm as I fought not to fall apart.
“We can take a break if you need to?” the male agent offered, but I shook my head. I just wanted it all over and done with. I took one deep breath, then lifted my head from Madd so I could look to the agents, but my body remained firmly pressed against him. Logan was right beside me too, and running his hand up and down my back soothingly.
“Thanks, butt I…I’d rather just finish up now,” I told the agents.
“Can you tell us how you escaped?” the female agent asked.
“My son…Max. He was away that weekend…camping with h-his friends. He came back on Sunday evening and he…he heard me crying out. He…he was scared. He came in with his bat…from baseball. He hit Callum and then he freed me. There was a struggle and I hit Callum with the bat. He went down and hit his head on a dresser,” I lied. There was no way I was telling them Max hit him more than once. Who knew what they would do with the information? Where I grew up, you never trusted the cops, no matter what, and I couldn’t get that out of my head. If anyone was going to jail for hitting that fucker, it was me, not my son. “I wasn’t thinking straight. I was in a bad way, and we were both scared. I just grabbed Max and we ran away. We hid out for a while, but when we went back to our place, Callum was gone.”
“So your son saw him too?” the male agent asked. They were both taking notes in little notebooks as I spoke, which was fine by me. I didn’t want to have to tell them it all again.
“Maybe. It all happened so fast,” I hedged.
“Do you think you’d both be able to sit down with a sketch artist? We really need an image of this man before he strikes again. As far as we know, you are the only person who has escaped him so far, Miss Hart,” the man told me, and my eyes instantly pooled with tears. If Max hadn’t have come home when he did…
“Anna, you have to breathe for us, sweetheart. You’re here. You and Max are both safe, and you’re gonna stay that way,” Logan told me. I didn’t even feel myself being moved, but when I looked around for him, I found myself sitting in his lap, both of his arms wrapped around me and Maddox was gone.
“Max…please, Logan. I n-need him home I need him to…to be safe,” I whimpered shakily.
“I’ll go and pick him up, Anna. Try to drink some juice for us, okay?” Maddox said, and when I looked behind me he was standing there with a tall glass of orange juice held out to me. I realized he must have passed me to Logan so he could go to the kitchen, and I hadn’t even noticed any of it.What was wrong with me?
“You’ll be careful?” I panicked.
“Always am, baby. Stay with Logan. I won’t be long.” With that he leaned in and kissed my lips chastely, then handed the glass off to Logan.
