Greykin Mountain

| 41 | Mrs Godie

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Jackson took a deep breath as the hotel elevator descended towards the first floor. He tried his best to keep calm, but every time he remembered what happened in the evidence room, the angst simmering in his gut grew heavier.

          When the doors opened, he peered outside; to his relief, the reception area was empty apart from a cleaner wiping down the tables in the dining area. So, he hurried across the room and out onto the street.

          He flinched and grunted as a group of people shoved past him, but he wasn't going to yell. He'd stepped in their way, after all.

          Once the passing cars raced by, Jackson hurried across the road. He glanced over his shoulder, checked every corner, and glanced at the faces of all the people he passed as he headed up the street and to the Hunter's Emporium.

          There weren't too many people around the huge building when he reached it. He spotted a few hunters over by a truck with a large deer in the back, which made him assume most of the armed people he'd seen there yesterday must be out hunting.

          Jackson made his way inside. There were a few people here and there, but there wasn't a flurry of suited men flocking through the hall. Maybe it wasn't time for them to get into work yet—and Jackson wanted to be done and out of here before it was.

          So, he hurried over to the elevator, stepped inside once it arrived, and headed down to floor negative six.

          When the elevator reached his floor, he poked his head out and checked up and down the hall. It was silent and empty.

          He went down to the room on the right and pressed the bell on the desk. The same man from before appeared and then escorted Jackson to the evidence room.

          "Thanks," Jackson said, and once the man left, he started looking through the boxes he'd found before.

          He glanced at the title of each file—all he needed to see was something relating to the disappearances here: 'Could there be more than one killer?' 'Another man disappears!' 'Will the kidnappings ever end?' He stuffed the articles and files into his bag, along with photos, information about witnesses and crime scenes, and a few notes made by the officers who had been called to each incident. He stuffed it all into his bag until it was full, and then headed for the door.

          The elevator doors opened with a ding.

          Jackson froze and tensed up. He moved away from the door and stood with his back against the wall, his heart racing as he listened to the footsteps echoing down the hall. They weren't coming this way...and when he heard the door to the room at the end of the corridor open, he peeked out of the room and watched a woman head into the missing persons department.

          With a sigh of relief, he let himself relax a little and left the room. He navigated his way back to the elevator, stepped inside, and let it take him back up to the first floor.

          There still weren't any suited men hanging around, and Jackson wanted to get back before they started turning up for work. He'd got what he'd come for, and now, he was going to rush back to the safety of his room. There was a lot of reading ahead of him.

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          Over the course of six months, twenty-six people had gone missing and five others had been discovered dead. Eight of the missing were strangers, and the rest were citizens of Farrydare.