Novel Prologue - Hunter (Slight Adult Content)

CelticDragon7

Hunter

Prologue

When looking back at all that has happened to me and all that has brought me to this place, it is clear that it all leads from that case. I knew I shouldn’t have taken it. If I hadn’t maybe I would have left town sooner and I wouldn’t be where I am now. I knew that case would end the way it did. I knew I would find her dead. Even before I had begun I knew it.

Twenty-seven cases I had worked on before that one and only eight of them didn’t involve a dead body or the remains of what used to be a dead body. She was fatality number twenty. A young girl, only eighteen. Pretty, well she would have been but death flatters no one. Sarah was her name. Sarah Henley. Usually I try not to remember names. It makes it easier but my sister was called Sarah and so it is a hard name to forget. It was the girl’s mother who came to me looking for help; her daughter had been out late, partying. She’d had a good time, alcohol, drugs and sex. She was no angel. After the party she had walked home alone, only she never got home, the usual scenario. Broken family, poor family, cops didn’t care, friends didn’t care and I didn’t care.

But her mother - she cared, she had lost her little princess, the hope and dreams of a family, the one good child who was going to go to college and be the first one in the family to do so. Of course the drugs and the company that her daughter kept had long removed any dreams and aspirations of college and of a better life. But her mother didn’t know that and I wasn’t going to be the one to tell her. It was enough telling her that her daughter was dead and it was too much to tell her, that she had been raped, mutilated, strangled and then just left to rot in a dumpster at an old disused yard the far side of town.

But as is the case in any murder, it’s impossible to keep the grizzly details from the family. If I don’t tell them they’ll only hear it from somebody else or worse the newspapers. I myself am pretty heartless but reporters – they make me look like a saint. They will do anything for a good story and they will print and say anything no matter how horrible it may be for a victim’s family. I hate them almost as much as I hate the rapists, pedophiles and murderers that I hunt. Of course a shrink would say that I hate them because my ex wife is a reporter. But I say **** the shrinks. They judge people’s lives because they have no lives of their own and they try to create a diagnosis for everything, even murder. But if they did what I did and saw up close what I see then they would know that the only reason for murder outside of crimes of passion - is pure evil.

Sarah’s mother had came to me a week after Sarah had went missing. The cops had no leads nor did they seem to be in the process of getting any this side of Christmas. Considering this was July I understood her mother’s concerns at their lack of urgency. But rightly or wrongly I run a business and I only take on cases that pay. Time is precious and sometimes it takes a lot of time to find a person that no one else is looking for. A person that is almost certainly dead and whose body usually only one person knows where it is. Generally I find that person first and then I find the body. But that also takes time, effort and most of all money and so it costs money.

She came to my office on the Monday. She had got my name from a recent newspaper article of a young boy that I had helped find by accident (not officially a case). The young boy was kidnapped by his mothers ‘lover’. He had taken him after she had tried to end their affair. Needless to say he was a stupid man, real white trash. He hit my car with his white van outside Mulligan’s diner and if he had of said sorry perhaps I wouldn’t have needed to confront him but his arrogance made that impossible and so in our confrontation I almost instinctively sensed that he was hiding something in the van. He was in such a rush to leave the area. When I heard the boys screams my assumptions proved correct and my fist to the man’s face proved precise. I brought the boy home to his mother even though for the boy’s sake it probably would have been better to bring him to an orphanage. His parents had barely even known he was gone. But like I said I am not a saint and in my profession having a heart gets you killed or worse forces you into early retirement.

Sarah’s mother had read the story in the paper, the boy’s parents selling it to make a quick buck. I had told them to leave me out of it but reporters are persistent and although I try to keep a low profile people like to talk about guys like me. I’m not that hard to find but usually its reputation alone that sends people to my office door, not newspaper articles. I did try to warn Sarah’s mother that most of the time I find bodies, not people. She would have none of it, she was convinced Sarah was alive and she offered me her whole life savings and more to go and look for her. I told her I couldn’t help. Three simple words that I had told to countless others but this time after saying them it was different and she sensed it. I didn’t know why I changed my mind and I still don’t but perhaps she caught me at a good time or perhaps it was a sign that I was falling apart. In the end I told her I would look for her daughter and I told her to keep her money. I don’t normally do charity but I knew she couldn’t pay and well I was certain it would be a quick job, and no matter how much fake hope I foolishly gave her – I knew inside that her daughter was already dead.

And I was right; it would be a quick job. Two days was all it took and when I found the body I hated myself for being right. Again it didn’t take much, just my natural hunting instincts and my contacts in the neighbourhood. I was lucky that some kids had found the body two days after it was dumped. They were playing with their bikes in the disused yard when they should have been in school, and like all boys that age they were inquisitive and looking for adventure but their inquisitiveness found them no treasure only the cold, dead and mutilated body of Sarah Henley. They told their parents who of course told them not tell anyone else, not even the police. This was to be expected, the parents were afraid to get involved encase they got blamed and in this city people ignoring dead bodies is a common past-time. Lucky for Sarah’s mother people talk and they talk to me.

What I didn’t expect to find in just two days was the murderer himself. They do say that the criminal always returns to the scene of the crime – well from my experience that very rarely is true. But in this case it was. This man had heard the same stories and rumblings of a body in the neighbourhood that I had heard and so was afraid that maybe he had left something at the scene which would later identify him. He hadn’t but because it was dark when he first dumped the body he couldn’t be sure and so he returned just before I got there, he of course ran when he seen me, before I got a good look at him. But unfortunately for him, this time in his haste he did drop something – his wallet.

In an instant I had everything I needed. I knew I didn’t really have to check that the body was there, I could smell the death from yards away but I thought I had better make sure. So I walked over to the old green rusty dumpster and peaked inside. In my younger days I probably would have puked my guts out but the stomach gets used to things as much as the mind does. It was her alright, her she looked so small. Her naked body already decomposing covered in bruises from head to toe. It was no pretty picture but I had seen worse.

I then rang the police anonymously informing them of where the body was then I left - taking the wallet with me. I drove straight to Sarah’s mother’s house. It wasn’t that far. She had been in the kitchen and through the window she had seen me pull up to her drive. I got out thinking what way I would word things. I had done this so many times before I had almost a script prepared. As I walked up the steps Mrs Henley met me at the door and I was able to sense that she knew straight away from looking at me what I was about to say. I had broken news like this before to a mother many times and most times I got the same reaction.

I expected a flood of tears and an avalanche of screams. Mrs Henley did not react how I expected; She paused for a bit staring at my eyes but seemingly straight through them. Then she said thank you, hugged me, and took me by the hand inside and made coffee. Her reaction was perhaps strange but it was dignified. I explained to her in great detail how I found the body and then I told her that the police would soon arrive once they had worked out who the body was. I explained to her; that then they would tell her that, they would do forensics tests and that they would probably say to her that it was very likely they would catch the guy who did it. I told her that it was my opinion that the police would not find this guy. She asked why and so I told her the simple truth – the wallet I found belonged to a cop.

She took this less shockingly then I expected she would. But then again this city is full of dirty and corrupt cops, if it wasn’t I wouldn’t have as much business as I do. There was a period of silence while she took everything in and then I told her. I told her that with her permission I would kill him. She looked at me and didn’t say anything - she didn’t need to. I give people revenge not justice. Mrs Henley knew that and she wanted vengeance. Reluctantly I told Mrs Henley the name of her daughter’s killer and then I told her that it would be better if we didn’t contact each other ever again. She agreed. I handed her the empty coffee mug – she made damn good coffee.

She showed me to the door. As I was about to leave she asked me to wait a second. She went to her handbag and after rumbling through it she pulled out a silver necklace that had belonged to her daughter. She gave me it and said;

“Sometimes light must camouflage itself with darkness to win the battle of the night.”

I left and never said a word in return. That night in the darkness I paid a visit to an Officer Diego Diaz of the City Police. Officer Diaz lost the battle of the night. I don't regret what I did and I would do the same again. But after that I needed to leave the city, I’d had enough and well also I’d just killed a cop and even if he was a murderer and a rapist he was still a cop and he had plenty of cop friends. I knew it might look bad if I left the city as soon as his body was found. So I decided I’d wait a week – one week I’d sit it out, accept no calls or visitors and definitely no more cases. I sat in my office with a bottle of Jack and pondered. I sat idly when I should have left.

But in my defence how could I have known that daughter of the city’s most notorious mobster was to go missing and that he was to call on me to find her. How could I know that after Sarah Henley my next case would be one that if I refused would forfeit my life? I simply couldn’t have known and now I am where I am, stuck in this forsaken city, wanted by cops, watched by gangsters and still hunting for signs of a missing 9 year old girl – A mobster’s daughter.

I am James Hunter and the hunt is on.

CelticDragon7

Hey everyone!! If any of you actually managed to read it all without getting bored, I would like to know what you thought? Good or bad. And if you started reading and stopped I would also like to hear your views about why and how I could improve. Thanks

Kinski

When looking back at all that has happened to me and all that has led me to this place, it is clear that it all indirectly stems to I]sic[/I that case.

Should read "stems from that case."

A young girl, she was only eighteen.

Would trim to "A young girl, eighteen," or "a girl, just eighteen," or similar. Far as I got.

CelticDragon7

Kinski wrote: »

Should read "stems from that case."



Would trim to "A young girl, eighteen," or "a girl, just eighteen," or similar. Far as I got.

Thank you for pointing these out. Taking your advice I changed them around.

Thanks you for your input! =]

pickarooney

I'd lose 'indirectly' as well. The stem is the principal axis of a plant. Also, the narrator is looking back from where he is now to where he began so the logical link to the case actually leads to it rather than stemming from it in my view. Just don't go half and half.

The 'that,that' is confusing. Maybe lose the second 'that' and add a full stop after 'dead'. Trivial details but ones that give an indication to the reader that you know how to construct an opening paragraph.

CelticDragon7

pickarooney wrote: »

I'd lose 'indirectly' as well. The stem is the principal axis of a plant. Also, the narrator is looking back from where he is now to where he began so the logical link to the case actually leads to it rather than stemming from it in my view. Just don't go half and half.

The 'that,that' is confusing. Maybe lose the second 'that' and add a full stop after 'dead'. Trivial details but ones that give an indication to the reader that you know how to construct an opening paragraph.

Thank you for your input. What you said makes sense. I know that my writing needs A LOT of work and so I am greatly appreciative of the advice that you and Kinski have provided.

Thanks