COLDER

= SIX =

Nightmares! 

Nina hated nightmares! 

She hated how she would wake up drenched in sweat, gasping for breathe with her heart pounding restlessly against her chest. 

But what she hated most about nightmares was how real they felt. And how completely drained she felt the moment she woke up. 

She sat up on the king-size bed, swiftly  switching on the lights. 

It was still very dark outside. 

2.00am in the morning. 

She glanced at the side of the bed where Caleb slept. It was empty. 

Her heart dropped. 

Where could he be? 

She couldn't hear him in the toilet so he was definitely not there. So… Where was her husband? 

Fear started to creep in. 

"Caleb?" She called out in fear. 

She heard some movements from the livingroom. She slowly crept out of bed, her night gown sweeping the floor. She started to search around the room for anything she could use to fight an 'intruder'. 

A baseball bat stood just beside the closet. 

She quickly grabbed it, ready to go find her husband. 

In her head, she was convinced there was an intruder in the house and they had taken Caleb and now they wanted to take the kids too. 

She couldn't let this happen. 

The creaking of the doorknob made her hide behind the door quickly, a baseball bat swinging in her hand, ready to strike. 

The door swang open and she raised it. 

Screams erupted. 

Nina screamed. 

Caleb screamed. 

"What are you doing!" he asked in total confusion. 

She heaved a sigh of relief and let down the baseball bat. She stood there, stricken by paranoia but feeling relieved at the same time. 

Caleb had never seen this side of his wife before… He had never seen her so gripped by terror… 

He glided toward her and took her in his arms. He engulfed her in his arms, holding her warmly and passionately. 

Hysterically, she broke down in his arms and he lay her head on his chest, completely shook. 

"What's wrong?" he asked gently. 

"I don't wanna lose you and the kids!" she cried on his chest. 

He cupped her face in his hands. "What would make you think that?" 

He would think she's crazy so she chose to stay quiet. She pulled away from him and went back to the bed. He took the baseball bat and put it in the initial spot. 

He followed her wife to the bed, lay beside her, rocking back her hair. 

"Baby, you know you can tell me anything…" he said. "Tell me why you would think that you would lose me and the kids…" 

She shrugged. "It's nothing… I just woke up from a nightmare and I was paranoid and anxious when I didn't find you in bed… Thought something bad had happened…" 

It was still perplexing why his wife would blow a nightmare out of proportion. 

"Why weren't you in bed?" she asked abruptly. "Where were you?" 

He froze. 

"I… Uh…" he stuttered. "I had gone to fetch some water in the kitchen…" 

He switched off the light, pulling her closer to him. 

"Let's get some sleep." 

===

It was 2:30am.

Megan still couldn't get some sleep. 

A train of thoughts crossed her mind about the disappearance of Ray Ripper, not giving her the chance to get some sleep. 

By the time dawn broke, it would be Saturday. Saturday meant it was the weekend. The weekend meant she was supposed to rest, lazy around and not work. But she was not about to do that… 

Not when the prime suspect was planning to elope… 

Not when she didn't have any physical evidence tying him to the recent disappearance of Ray. The only thing she had was circumstantial evidence which obviously wouldn't be strong enough to put him behind bars for life… 

Tensen had sexually assaulted and killed three little boys in the previous town he lived in. Somehow, he'd managed to get just five years for his heinous, evil crimes which didn't make any sense… 

Megan wanted to make sure this time, he would rot in prison. He was a danger to children. 

Her stomach grumbled. 

God! 

She was starving. 

She dashed to the kitchen, quickly prepared some noodles and poured herself a glass of wine. She ate greedily when she resumed to the livingroom, still going through the files and scrapbooks. 

The interview earlier in the day had not gone as planned. 

Now Tensen knew that the police were onto him on the disappearance of Ray. He was surprised when they brought him up and he looked very suspicious. What was even more suspicious is why he suddenly didn't want to talk. Why he didn't want to cooperate. 

And the smoke in his backyard… 

What had he been burning? 

Was it a dead body? 

Lord! 

Was it Ray's body? 

She and Darren had asked the department for permission to obtain a search warrant. She just hoped the process would be a little faster… 

Within a few minutes, she was done eating her 'supper' with just a little wine left in the glass. 

Her eyes were heavy and blurry as she slowly started to drift to sleep. The ringing telephone wrenched her awake. 

An unknown number. 

The fog of sleep slowly lifted as she answered the ringing phone. 

"Det. Megan Wolf. Who am I speaking to?" 

"Hallo Detective," The voice was cold. "I have some information on Tensen Truce…" 

She quickly took a pad and pen, ready to take some notes. 

"Could we speak face to face?" 

"Can you please come down to the station?" asked Megan. 

"I will be there…" 

She paused. 

"I'm Ellie Truce, his ex-wife." 

===

Det. Valerie Fox woke up in the king-size bed in Darren's bedroom. 

How had she found her way to the bedroom? 

The last she remembered was drifting to sleep on the couch as she waited for her fiancé to come home. He was very late and he wasn't picking calls. 

He must have come home and carried her to the bedroom. That warmed her heart and a smile lit up her face. 

But she was still pissed. 

Where the dickens was he last night? 

Had he been with that Megan? 

She could hear movements from the livingroom. 

She found him already dressed up in a suit, ready to leave for work. He grabbed his watch from the table and put it on his wrist. 

"Thanks for tucking me in bed last night," she said. 

"It's nothing," he replied dryly, busy packing some envelopes in his briefcase. 

"You are going to work?" she asked "It's a Saturday…" 

"I have an interview…" 

"You're doing it with Megan?" she asked, irked. 

"Yeah…" 

She leaned on the wall, dressed in a night gown and crossed her arms against her chest. She frowned. 

"You came late last night. Where were you?" 

He stopped and fixed his stare on her. 

"Valerie, you are not my business and I am not your business. So stay as far away from my business as you can. Kindly." 

"You were with Messy Meggy, right?" 

"Her name is Megan. And if you haven't noticed, she doesn't give the slightest f**k about you. I think you should do the same. You'll be happier."

"I'll be happier when she's out of our lives for good!" 

He scoffed. "She is out of our lives. You're the one that's trying so hard to be in hers." 

"So you were with her, last night?" 

"I was not!" he snapped. "But I wish I was! But wishes just exist in fairytales, right!" 

That stung. 

He continued. "And you know where I was! I was at the bar! Yes I was drinking! I prefer staying up late at a bar in town, all alone with a beer on the table! That feels a million times better than having to spend time with you!" 

Tears sheened in her eyes. 

"And you know why? Because I hate myself everytime I look at you. I hate what I've done to you! I hate what I've turned you into! You're a beautiful, smart and sweet woman and you deserve better than me! It kills me that I can't love you enough! That I can't give you all the love you deserve! So yes, Valerie! I hate coming home because you're a constant mirror that reminds me how horrible I am as a partner! But I am determined to be better as a father… Our child deserves that… "

He had been mad at her for revealing to Megan about the pregnancy… But then… He had no right to be mad at her, he thought. He was the reason she was pregnant. He had put her in that state. 

She quickly brushed away the tear on on her cheek. 

"You're a good man, Darren," she said. "You'll be the best father to this child, I know it." 

He sighed. "Can I ask a favour, please?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Please stay away from Megan. That will make work easier for me and her on this case. Don't bump into her office or my office uninvited. It might get you or both of us fired. You don't want that…" 

She nodded. 

It was going to be hard watching them working together on a case. She wished it was her in Megan's shoes… 

But Darren was right. She had to keep things official and very professional at work or else they would lose their jobs. 

" And, will you do me a favour too?," she asked. 

"Yeah?" 

"Come home early to me at night…" 

===

Jenny Charles, The Rippers house help, clutched onto her bag tightly under the table. She tried her best to come off as a calm, cool person but her body language was betraying her. 

Det. Megan noted just how uneasy and nervous she looked. 

Something she found really odd. 

She was not here as a suspect. She was here as a witness. But she acted more like a suspect than a witness. 

"Jenny Charles, is it?" 

"Yes."

"I guess by now you know why you're here…" 

"This is about little sweet Ray, right?" 

"Yeah…" she nodded. "I just want you to know that you're here to just answer questions. No one is going to arrest you, Jenny. And you're not in any kind of trouble. So just keep calm. Consider this as a girl talk…" 

Megan tries to sound as convincing and amicable as possible. 

" So tell me about little Ray! " she started." Were you two close? "

She nodded. " Yes, ma'am. I'm close with all the kids. Little Alyssa and Ray… "

" Tell me about that… "

" I play with them… I read them bedtime stories… They even share secrets with me… "

" Ray shared secrets with you?" 

She nodded." But most of it was just him grumbling about kids bullying him… But he once told me about this man that had tried to lure him in his house… The man is a neighbour and had been teaching Ray some riding tricks… One time he tried to force him to his house but little Ray had screamed and run back home. "

" Did you report this incident to the parents or any local authorities? "

She faced down and shook her head. "No…" 

She wrote in her scrapbook then looked up at her. 

"This neighbour? You know his name?" 

"Ten…" 

"Why didn't you report him though?" 

Embarrassed, she admitted, "Because I was in a relationship with him… It was a secret relationship and he convinced me that Ray was lying… But maybe he was telling the truth… Maybe Ten has something to do with his disappearance…" 

She scribbled then looked up at her. "Are you still in a relationship with him?" 

"I broke up with him…" 

"Why?" 

"I found some weird stuff hidden under his bed; ropes and knives and a hammer… I found that really odd and creepy. Plus, he's always burning stuff in the backyard."

"Stuff? What kind of stuff?" 

"Clothes… I guess…" 

"Whose clothes?" 

"I don't know…" 

"When did you break up with him?" 

"About a week ago…" 

"How did he take the breakup?" 

"He didn't give a s**t. He said I'm a nobody and he doesn't give a fuck." 

She went silent, biting her lower lip. 

"He's a new neighbour, right?" 

"Uh-huh…" 

"How long has he been there?" 

"Almost two months now…" 

She noted and asked abruptly, "The day that Ray disappeared, did you see Tensen Truce?" 

"I didn't see him the entire day. His house seemed empty during the day. But then late at night as I took out the trash, I saw a glimpse of his car pulling into the compound." 

Megan hoped the information was accurate. 

This didn't look good for Tensen Truce.

When she was done with the interview, she hadn't even sank back on the couch when a knock came on the door. 

It was Darren. 

"Ellie Truce is here."

Tensen's ex-wife. 

===