Mary walked through the late autumn afternoon, the cold crisp air giving her cheeks and nose a slight pink hue. The two plastic shopping bags in her hands were starting to dig into her fingers. There wasn't much longer to go now until she was home. She smiled a small smile, despite the pinching feeling in her fingers. Home. She and her family had been through much trouble this past year but now everything was looking up. Everything was getting better. She stopped to put down the bags, shaking her fingers to get some feeling back in them. She had been in such a good mood this morning when she left for work that she had forgotten her gloves. Before picking up her bags again she looked to her left, to the window of the small cafe' she had stopped in front of. At the table in front of the window there was a man and a woman, discussing something that left a frown on both of their faces. Again she smiled. Discussions like that hadn't been had between her and her husband for some time now. Always happy she thought as she picked up her shopping and continued on home again.
As Mary walked through the front door she announced her arrival. Their two children were in front of the television and sang out a greeting as she passed the living room. She paused in the kitchen to leave the shopping bags on the table and made her way to the back of their apartment to check that the cellar door was locked and then further back to their small study where she knew she would find her Thomas, and there he was, tapping away at the laptop on the desk before him, exactly where he was when she left for work that morning. She quietly made her way over to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and nuzzled her nose into his neck. This was home. The comfort of her family, of her Thomas. She shivered at the the thought that she had nearly lost it all but was comforted when he brought his hand up to cover hers, turning his face to hers and kissing the tip of her nose. They exchanged a warm greeting and quietly chatted about their day, the sound of the television, in the living room, quietly wafting up in their lulls in conversation.
The clock in the hallway chimed six o'clock and Mary decided that was her cue to go and start dinner, before it got too late. Thomas promised to be out shortly to giver a hand, which he did. Before long the four of them were sitting around the table, chatting and laughing at the days events. Mary marvelled at her two beautiful children as they recounted their day at school. Her little boy was growing up so fast. It wouldn't be long before he was no longer her little boy. And her little girl. Or more like Thomas's little girl. She had always been Daddy's little princess and Mary knew she always would be. She grinned her toothy grin at Thomas as she explained about how she learnt to skip with a skipping rope at lunch time today, her S's coming out in a lisp due to the lack of her two front teeth, which Mary noticed that the left one was starting to grow through again.
After dinner was finished the table was cleared and the dishes were done. Then the children were bathed, homework was done, stories read and tucked safely into bed. It was then that the evening was left to Mary and Thomas. A quiet evening that was spent, with a glass of wine, cuddling in front of the TV watching old movies until their eyelids grew heavy. Quietly they made their way to their bedroom.
Mary checked the door to the cellar on the way to make sure it was still locked. It was. It was dangerous for the children to be down there.
Once in their bedroom Mary and Thomas climbed into bed where they fell asleep in each others embrace.
Each day followed almost exactly the same as the one before. Mary would go to work, leaving Thomas to get the children off to school, then continue running his business from the small office at the back of their apartment. Mary would come home, to find the children in front of the television, the cellar door locked and Thomas, again in his office, where he continued to work, then they would chat together while Mary cooked dinner. After the family was fed and the children were bathed and tucked safely in their beds, then Mary and Thomas would spend the evenings quietly. Together. Happy.
It was a week later that Mary's happy little life fell apart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Levin Harris had been on the police force for over 20 years and he had never seen anything like what he had witnessed in the past 48 hours.
They had received complaints from a concerned neighbour about a rather strong, and offensive, (according to Mr Jensen in apartment 43 b), coming from apartment 43 a and no response from the family living there. There had been no response to the police's initial enquiry. But a uniformed officer, also noting the odour, had glanced through a crack in the living room curtains to see what looked like two children sitting on the couch. Sitting very still, and not looking quite right.
Calls had been made, warrants had been issued and Levin and his team had entered apartment 43 a to something that hadn't been expected. Sitting on the couch, in front of the TV, were what had once been two children. A boy, Daniel, aged 8 and a girl, Elizabeth, aged 5, as they had later found out. But they were no longer children. They were now two small, lifeless corpses. At some stage their throats had been slit and they had bled out. Their small bodies, stiff from days of no life, had been awkwardly placed on the couch, dressed in their school uniforms, a plate of milk and chocolate chip cookies sitting next to them.
They had been dead for some time, but they had been kept clean, well, as clean as a decomposing body could possibly be kept. It was also evident that they had been moved on a regular basis. Further back in the apartment the body of a man, Thomas aged 39, had been found, propped against the desk in a small study, in front of a laptop open to a webpage titled Winston Architecture. It hadn't been adjusted in over a week. It appeared that Thomas had not only had his throat slit, but he had also been stabbed in the abdomen twice. He had also been cleaned and moved.
Further investigation had found the body of a woman, who had been reported missing, also over a week ago, at the bottom of the cellar stairs. She had multiple stab and slash wounds and a broken neck. The latter more than probably obtained from falling down the stairs. No care had been taken with her body, nor had it been moved. This had made it easy for the rats to start feasting on her rotting flesh.
At first glance, a murder scenes could not be determined, as everything had been thoroughly cleaned, but forensics had determined that the body in the cellar and Thomas had been killed in the kitchen. The children had been killed in their beds.
They were removing the last of the bodies when a Woman had appeared at the apartment, hysterical, screaming about her family, demanding to know where they had taken them. She had had to be sedated, but had then later been questioned and would probably later be committed.
As Levin had interviewed her it became clear that their was something seriously wrong with her mental state. According to the hysterical woman, Mary aged 38, she had left her family, alive and well, that morning, as she did every morning, to go to work. She had no knowledge of them being dead nor did she believe that they were, but she was in no condition to ID the bodies. Another relative, the mother of Thomas Winston, had travelled from out of town and had the daunting task of identifying her son and two grand children. Mary denied any knowledge of the body in the cellar. But it had been made clear that the woman, currently restrained in a hospital bed, had not only killed her family, but had then been living with her deceased family for over a week, in a state of delusion, as if everything was normal. Fine. Loving and happy.
As Mary walked through the front door she announced her arrival. Their two children were in front of the television and sang out a greeting as she passed the living room. She paused in the kitchen to leave the shopping bags on the table and made her way to the back of their apartment to check that the cellar door was locked and then further back to their small study where she knew she would find her Thomas, and there he was, tapping away at the laptop on the desk before him, exactly where he was when she left for work that morning. She quietly made her way over to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and nuzzled her nose into his neck. This was home. The comfort of her family, of her Thomas. She shivered at the the thought that she had nearly lost it all but was comforted when he brought his hand up to cover hers, turning his face to hers and kissing the tip of her nose. They exchanged a warm greeting and quietly chatted about their day, the sound of the television, in the living room, quietly wafting up in their lulls in conversation.
The clock in the hallway chimed six o'clock and Mary decided that was her cue to go and start dinner, before it got too late. Thomas promised to be out shortly to giver a hand, which he did. Before long the four of them were sitting around the table, chatting and laughing at the days events. Mary marvelled at her two beautiful children as they recounted their day at school. Her little boy was growing up so fast. It wouldn't be long before he was no longer her little boy. And her little girl. Or more like Thomas's little girl. She had always been Daddy's little princess and Mary knew she always would be. She grinned her toothy grin at Thomas as she explained about how she learnt to skip with a skipping rope at lunch time today, her S's coming out in a lisp due to the lack of her two front teeth, which Mary noticed that the left one was starting to grow through again.
After dinner was finished the table was cleared and the dishes were done. Then the children were bathed, homework was done, stories read and tucked safely into bed. It was then that the evening was left to Mary and Thomas. A quiet evening that was spent, with a glass of wine, cuddling in front of the TV watching old movies until their eyelids grew heavy. Quietly they made their way to their bedroom.
Mary checked the door to the cellar on the way to make sure it was still locked. It was. It was dangerous for the children to be down there.
Once in their bedroom Mary and Thomas climbed into bed where they fell asleep in each others embrace.
Each day followed almost exactly the same as the one before. Mary would go to work, leaving Thomas to get the children off to school, then continue running his business from the small office at the back of their apartment. Mary would come home, to find the children in front of the television, the cellar door locked and Thomas, again in his office, where he continued to work, then they would chat together while Mary cooked dinner. After the family was fed and the children were bathed and tucked safely in their beds, then Mary and Thomas would spend the evenings quietly. Together. Happy.
It was a week later that Mary's happy little life fell apart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Levin Harris had been on the police force for over 20 years and he had never seen anything like what he had witnessed in the past 48 hours.
They had received complaints from a concerned neighbour about a rather strong, and offensive, (according to Mr Jensen in apartment 43 b), coming from apartment 43 a and no response from the family living there. There had been no response to the police's initial enquiry. But a uniformed officer, also noting the odour, had glanced through a crack in the living room curtains to see what looked like two children sitting on the couch. Sitting very still, and not looking quite right.
Calls had been made, warrants had been issued and Levin and his team had entered apartment 43 a to something that hadn't been expected. Sitting on the couch, in front of the TV, were what had once been two children. A boy, Daniel, aged 8 and a girl, Elizabeth, aged 5, as they had later found out. But they were no longer children. They were now two small, lifeless corpses. At some stage their throats had been slit and they had bled out. Their small bodies, stiff from days of no life, had been awkwardly placed on the couch, dressed in their school uniforms, a plate of milk and chocolate chip cookies sitting next to them.
They had been dead for some time, but they had been kept clean, well, as clean as a decomposing body could possibly be kept. It was also evident that they had been moved on a regular basis. Further back in the apartment the body of a man, Thomas aged 39, had been found, propped against the desk in a small study, in front of a laptop open to a webpage titled Winston Architecture. It hadn't been adjusted in over a week. It appeared that Thomas had not only had his throat slit, but he had also been stabbed in the abdomen twice. He had also been cleaned and moved.
Further investigation had found the body of a woman, who had been reported missing, also over a week ago, at the bottom of the cellar stairs. She had multiple stab and slash wounds and a broken neck. The latter more than probably obtained from falling down the stairs. No care had been taken with her body, nor had it been moved. This had made it easy for the rats to start feasting on her rotting flesh.
At first glance, a murder scenes could not be determined, as everything had been thoroughly cleaned, but forensics had determined that the body in the cellar and Thomas had been killed in the kitchen. The children had been killed in their beds.
They were removing the last of the bodies when a Woman had appeared at the apartment, hysterical, screaming about her family, demanding to know where they had taken them. She had had to be sedated, but had then later been questioned and would probably later be committed.
As Levin had interviewed her it became clear that their was something seriously wrong with her mental state. According to the hysterical woman, Mary aged 38, she had left her family, alive and well, that morning, as she did every morning, to go to work. She had no knowledge of them being dead nor did she believe that they were, but she was in no condition to ID the bodies. Another relative, the mother of Thomas Winston, had travelled from out of town and had the daunting task of identifying her son and two grand children. Mary denied any knowledge of the body in the cellar. But it had been made clear that the woman, currently restrained in a hospital bed, had not only killed her family, but had then been living with her deceased family for over a week, in a state of delusion, as if everything was normal. Fine. Loving and happy.