Chapter Three

Daniel took a deep breath and put a hand to his forehead "what are you if not a ghost?" He sighed and dropped the file on a nearby desk. The room was larger than all of the others with at least three single desks and one large one. It's most unfortunate feature was the olive green and gold wallpaper, it made the already dreary room even more dull. Daniel opened the file and pushed around the notes and files searched for similar names or styles of handwriting. Andy leant on the opposite side of the desk and pulled the photo of her dead body towards herself.

"How are you doing that?" He frowned across at her.

"No idea" Andy smiled and shrugged "I can kind of touch things if I want to, for a bit. It takes a lot of effort. Well more than usual." She chuckled.

"Well, what are you for starters?" Daniel stood up, taking some of the notes and photos with him. He walked over to a free standing pinboard and began tacking them up.

"I don't know really. You called me a figment of your imagination. But I can think, at least I think I'm thinking… Unless I'm just thinking what you're thinking I'm thinking" Andy paced as she thought out loud.

"Ok, stop." Daniel turned holding out his hands "So assuming you aren't a figment of my imagination, then you can exist when I'm not around?"

"Yeah" Andy nodded, ceasing her pacing. "I don't need to be in the same room as you anyway, but I haven't tried to leave the station yet."

"Why don't you try?"

"I'll try later."

"You can try now if you want, I'll be here going through this for awhile"

"No way Law man! I'm staying right here. I want to find out what happened to me" Andy crossed her arms, defiantly staring back at the detective. Daniel just tilted his head, confused. Andy rolled her eyes "I told you I don't remember everything. There are, like, blackspots."

"Ok" Daniel nodded slowly and turned back to the notes strewn across the desk. "Let's get to it then" Daniel took out his small personal notebook and read from a list of names. "Anygthing with Byrne.T or Thomas Byrne on it separated first thank you"

"So now you're going to put me to work?" Andy chuckled studying the photos and documents.

"Well I did tell you to help me, now I know you can physically touch stuff, you're much more useful" Joked the detective.

"Gee thanks" Andy rolled her eyes, still smiling as she pushed some photos across the desk.

"You know I'm joking right? I don't need a ghost mad at me" Daniel picked up the documents and began sticking them up on the far left corner.

"I know detective, you're a father. Similarly to mine you tease to avoid the awkward silence" Andy laughed.

"How do you know I have a child?" Daniel turned, surprised.

"I stole your wallet, she's a happy looking kid" Andy took the brown leather wallet from her pocket and tossed it on the desk. It landed with a thunk.

"When did you get this?" he picked it up, checking its solidity.

"When I walked through you. I was curious how it worked. I think I can pass a small thing through certain things. Like one layer. But I couldn't pass it through you. Too many organs and layers of stuff." Andy shrugged, continuing to search the file.

"O..K.. That's a lot to process. Basically you're treating everything as an experiment?" He put the wallet back in his pocket and picked up the photo of Thomas Byrne's body. Sitting upright at his office desk, dead, with the same carvings on his hands as Andy. The rest of his body untouched.

"Yeah, I guess so" Andy looked up as Danielfixed the photo to the pinboard. "Detective, what's the point of the markings?"

"Not sure exactly. I'm hoping going through these ill organised notes is going to help us figure that out" Daniel scratched his chin, Andy was beginning to recognise this as a habit related to his thought processing.

"Got an idea detective?"

"It's just odd. It's very specific, like claiming ownership. Branding even." He picked up his notebook again "David Collins was next"

"Here" Andy passed over the crime scene photos as she found them, including some scribbled documents in the piles.

"Same again 'H' 'V', this time in a cinema… Even more brazen than just marking the body. So if they were this comfortable killing someone in public, why did it have to be so quick with you, what were they afraid of. What changed between last year and now." Daniel mused staring at the information they had fastened to the board so far. He hadn't heard the door open.

"Well Sir?" Sawyer cleared her throat.

"Hmm?" Daniel turned, his hand still on his chin. Andy stopped moving the photos abruptly.

"The previous suspect, Sir. He was of an older age than the suspect this year. Perhaps the murderer felt the police were getting too close?" Sawyer suggested, turning a blue envelope over and over in her hands.

"Good point.. It's possible" Daniel nodded "How did things go with the boys?"

"You were right, they did relax a bit together. They kind of forgot I was there after a while." Sawyer smiled.

"So what did you find out?" Daniel grinned "I figured you would give a more inviting vibe to them after me, sorry if I made you feel redundant. The truth is very far from it sergeant"

"Thank you Sir. It's nice not to have someone looking over my shoulder all the time. The boy's parents came for them and Samantha is now in room two. During their conversation I did overhear that their planning took place at one of the cafes in town."

"Great so half the town are suspects?"

"No. The boys said it was mostly empty except for them and one or two other punters. It was late in the evening and I only know of two cafes that operate late here. Mostly for the drivers of the livestock trucks that pass through on the main road. Judging by the time of their impromptu meeting it would have mostly been staff present"

"Good work, that narrows it down somewhat and gives us, well you, a better rapport with Andy's friends"

"Thank you, Sir" Sawyer smiles, still playing nervously with the letter in her hands.

"What's that?" Daniel inclines his head down at the envelope

"It was by the main door Sir" She handed it over. The envelope was blank with no stamp and sealed with a single strip of sellotape. Daniel immediately started making his way to the door, moving faster with each step.

"What time is the post round?"

"Em usually about eight am Sir"

"So this was hand delivered. Sawyer, call the city station at Anglesea. We need someone from forensics down here asap!" Daniel broke into a run. He stopped outside the main door, looking up and down the street. The station was situated on a crossroads, whoever dropped the letter off could have gone anywhere. Daniel strode back into the station and joined Andy back in the briefing room. Sawyer came back in a moment later.

"Anglesea said they would send a small team down immediately. They should be here in the next three hours" Sawyer informed him.

"Mmhmm" Daniel muttered, pulling what looked to be a woman's nail kit from his breast pocket. He took out a metal nail file and used it to open the envelope on one end, leaving the sellotape intact and in place. A lined piece of notepaper fell out. The words " Andy is your fault" in large printed letters stared up at them. It was signed off in handwriting, 'H.V' and a series of numbers. Daniel frowned and quickly began to write the numbers up on a chalkboard nailed to the wall behind the pinboard. '21322344' He turned over the letter, there were more numbers on the back '4121311317153213'

"Now what the heck does that mean.." Daniel stood back staring at the codes, confused and even more worried that this murderer was enjoying themselves.