Chapter 113

One week later.

It was visiting hour at Vredenburg private hospital. Craig drifted out of a semi-sleep state when he noticed Sarah and Emily next to his bed.

'How are you feeling?' Sarah smiled. She looked like an angel.

Craig extended his right hand and touched hers, 'the doctor said I'll be fine. I was lucky though. It could have been far worse.' Craig looked at Emily and smiled weakly. 'Come here my sweets.'

'Hi daddy,' Emily said touching Craig's other hand.

'How's the most beautiful girl in the world doing?' Craig croaked looking at her smile. She seemed to have gained a few years in the last few days. He noticed how Emily started to look more like Sarah in her younger years.

There was a blush on Emily's face as she giggled, 'I'm better than you.'

'Oh no,' Sarah said shaking her head. 'Emily is better than anyone on this planet. In fact, she's in the clouds.' Sarah smiled. 'Something happened recently.'

'Come on mom. I'm not telling you anything from no -'

'Oh yeah, what's that?' Craig asked regarding the small dimple on Emily's left cheek.

'A certain relationship developed over the last few weeks with Delmar,' Sarah smiled.

Craig could tell Sarah was enjoying herself. He was happy that he had his wife back after the devastation he had caused in their marriage. Sarah seemed to be her old self again and Craig realised how much he really missed her, the real Sarah. After all, it was his own fault. Craig knew he would never have an affair again despite his weakness for attractive women. That promise he made not only to himself but to God as well. There were many reasons really, but the main one Craig knew was for him to find God in the first place. What happened during the past few weeks was still like a dream. The fact that he was lying in hospital, lucky to be alive, was the only reminder that it was not just a nightmare. He looked at Sarah and realised that nothing in life gave him greater joy than to see his family happy. Sarah played a huge part in keeping the family together. He needed her more than he ever knew he would need anyone.

'Ah mom, was that really necessary,' Emily blushed.

'Oh,' Craig said. He lifted his eyebrows and opened his eyes wide to match his O-shaped mouth. 'Daddy's girl has grown up now.'

'Don't worry about it dad,' Emily said.

'I'm not,' Craig smiled at her and winked. 'How's Andrew and Patrick doing?'

'They wanted to come with me, but I asked them to stay home and rest. They're fine.' Sarah said. 'They asked me to say hello.'

Craig nodded, 'What about Brian and that other boy, what's his name again?'

'Bernard,' Emily said. 'They're all good. Uncle Brian sends his regards. He said he will visit once the dust settled a little.'

There was a faint knock on the door. They all looked at the door and see Morgan's face.

'Hey Craig, just thought I would pop in to check how you were doing,' Morgan said. He entered the room cautiously. 'The nurse said only two visitors at a time but I managed my way through though.'

'Come in Morgan,' Craig said, motioning for him to come closer.

'Hi ladies,' Morgan nodded. He looked at Sarah and Emily.

'You've met my wife and daughter -' Craig said.

'Yes, I have,' Morgan said cutting Craig off.

Craig looked at Sarah and said, 'replacing me already?'

'Hi Morgan. How are you doing?' Sarah ignored Craig's comment. When she noticed the uneasiness in the inspector's body language, she looked at Craig and added. 'We met the second day you were hospitalised. I suppose you were too out of it to remember anything.' Sarah chuckled.

'I guess I was,' Craig frowned. 'Can't even remember you were here.'

'Anyway, you look terrible,' Morgan said.

'Thanks a lot. I don't feel that bad though. The doctor said I can maybe go home tomorrow. Can't wait. Time to work on Sarah's nerves a little.' Craig winked at Morgan.

Morgan chuckled, 'I got something for you,' Morgan said and took out a folded newspaper from underneath his arm. He straightened it and started reading.

'The first-ever earthquake strikes the West Coast. Last week Saturday, Vredenburg was struck by the first-ever earthquake recorded in history. The owner of a farm just outside of Vredenburg said that he was surprised when he felt the earth shake the night before. The following day he found a large hole in the ground where a large warehouse stood for many years. The entire warehouse had been swallowed by the earth, leaving not one single trace of the large landmark. That was when he discovered something of great value, a large battle axe was lying not too far from the sinkhole caused by the earthquake. Experts say that they have never witnessed such craftsmanship in the existence of mankind. Apparently, the axe dated back over five hundred years and belonged in a museum. The experts had no idea how it got there for it seemed to have a Viking origin. They were also surprised by the axe's excellent condition. According to them, it should have been disintegrated over time due to the heavy weather conditions of the coast.' Morgan stopped and looked up from the paper. He folded it up again and handed it to Craig.

'That's great news,' Craig said. He took the newspaper. 'Thank you, Morgan.' He paused and looked at the door for a moment and then back to Morgan. 'I'm just concerned about the rest of the evidence that we might have left behind.'

Morgan smiled and said, 'What evidence?'

Craig shook his head in astonishment.

'It's not my nature, but in this case, I took care of everything,' Morgan said. 'You were right though. We went to Francois's place and what we found there was shocking. It was a major breakthrough in many open cases.'

'Yeah?' Craig said.

'Yes. Things seemed normal at first, but then we discovered a trap door leading to the basement. That's where things got pretty interesting. I remember the hair on my back rising when I walked down those steps. We found fully fledge satanic stuff down there including missing police files and dockets,' Morgan said.

'Oh my God,' Sarah said rubbing her arm as if she was cold.

'Missing dockets?' Craig frowned.

'Many of them including missing people, which brings me to my next point,' Morgan said. 'Maybe you should read it for yourself. There are quite a few relevant articles in there.' Morgan pointed towards the newspaper in Craig's hand.

'Rather tell us so that we all know about it,' Sarah said.

'Well, Craig,' Morgan said. 'Remember when we first met, you asked me and Francois to look into a case of a person you found on the R27?'

'Of course, I do. Why?'

'His name was Robert Griffin,' Morgan said. He looked from Craig to Emily who had an expression of shock on her face.

'Why does that name sound..? Wait,' Emily said. She looked at the floor for a moment in an attempt to retrieve the name from her memory. She looked up from the floor again. There was a spark of remembrance in her eyes as she looked at Morgan. 'Robert Griffin, that's right. He was the teacher in E.D.S High who went missing.'

Craig's mind drifted back towards that day on the R27. At last, it all made sense to him what the poor man was trying to tell him at the time. Craig remembered the words leave town followed by the numbers 666 and the letters Ro. He felt a little annoyed with himself for not having it figured out earlier because the signs were all there, but then again, Ro could have meant anything. At least Craig had closure for the sake of his overactive mind. Ro was meant to be Robert, but obviously, the poor fellow was too weak at that time to finish his name. He tried to tell Craig to leave town because there had been evil he obviously knew about. Although Andrew had told him about the mathematics teacher called Robert Griffin who went missing, Craig wondered why he was not able to put it all together. Craig knew immediately why Robert's tongue had been cut in two that day. The Satanists did not want him to tell anyone about their business and whereabouts. They most probably left him for dead but he made it to the R27. 'Did they find his body?'

'No, not yet, but we have plenty to work with. Francois left so much evidence behind as well as possible locations to start looking. I'm not sure if he left it in his place on purpose or maybe he was just obsessed with his hand in the satanic cult. Perhaps they were trophies to him, I don't know, but he gave us plenty to go with. We have a full team digging as we speak. Much of the evidence left behind pointed towards a specific place. Already the team discovered many shallow graves and many skeletons have been unearthed.'

'But the ambulance picked Robert up that day,' Craig frowned. 'I saw it with my own eyes.'

Morgan nodded and said, 'I know. These guys were well-connected. At that time they had already established a web of well-organised crime, so they knew what they were doing.'

'This is unbelievable,' Sarah said softly shaking her head.

'I know. There's one more thing which is not in there yet,' Morgan said pointing towards the newspaper in Craig's hand again. 'This is going to sting a little, but Lenard McCoy - '

'Our headmaster,' Emily interrupted with an astonished expression.

'Yes, headmaster of E.D.S High. He was arrested at his house this morning.'

'Arrested, why?' Sarah asked surprised. There was a deep concern growing on her face.

'His involvement in so many things. He was also part of the cult. There are probable cases of homicide as well as human trafficking.'

'What?' Emily snapped. She blushed a little for the sudden outburst not intended to be so loud.

'Yeah, I know. He was involved in some bad stuff,' Morgan said. 'Fortunately, it's school holiday because things are a little crazy at the moment. Not sure what's going to happen once school resumes. Please, don't say anything about any of this at the moment. We don't want the press to start running around spreading stories and contaminating evidence. We would like to unearth all bodies for identification before informing the press. For many parents, this will be a time of deep sorrow if their children are positively identified, but I think at the same time it will give them closure. At least their children have been found.'

'I suppose so,' Craig said. 'There's a word for everything in the world except for a parent who has lost a child. Thank God, my children survived this.' Craig swallowed hard for a moment. He realised that he could have lost his whole family. His wife was in danger and so were all three of his children.

'Yes. I can't imagine my life without my two babies. I'll lose my mind if something happens to one of them,' Morgan said looking at the floor for a moment. He looked up again and met Craig's eyes. 'Well, I just wanted to pop in and see how you were doing. I need to run again. The whole West coast is upside down like you can't believe.'

Craig looked into Morgan's eyes. He could see that they were glazed with emotion. 'Thank you, Morgan. Thank you so much for your help with everything.'

'You are the one that should be thanked, you and your boys, actually all of you,' Morgan said. 'You have saved the world from evil and I am privileged to know you personally.' There was sincerity in his voice.

'If it wasn't for you, we would have been sitting in jail at the moment,' Craig said.

Morgan thought for a moment and shook his head. 'Nah, I don't think so. If your boy Andrew did not have such a good heart, I would have been dead by now. He could have killed me in your house that day and no one would have known.'

Craig smiled and said, 'you're a good man Morgan.'

Morgan nodded once and said, 'well then, I have to go now. I'll see you guys around.' He looked at Sarah and then at Emily. He sensed the shock on their faces. 'Ladies, you take good care of this man and don't let him give you too much trouble.'

Sarah and Emily chuckled. 'Thank you, Morgan.'

Morgan looked at Craig again and said, 'If you need anything, please give me a shout. Also, send my regards to Andrew and Patrick.'

'Will do thanks, Morgan,' Craig said. He watched as Morgan walked out the door and he wished the world had more people like him. 'He's a good man.' Craig said absent-mindedly staring at the door as if Morgan was still standing there.

Sarah nodded. She smiled and said, 'so are you.'