Duskwood Mysteries

Part 53

Warning: The upcoming chapters may be graphic and disturbing to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

Please note that I will try my best to put the warnings on every chapter where this might be the case but caution is advised for all upcoming chapters.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me this Hannah. I could have helped you. We all could have helped you," Lilly said. With the strong expressions on the other people's faces, I thought that they were shocked as me. "I couldn't. No one would have believed me. I didn't believe it myself," Hannah said. "That is not important right now. What's done is done." Johnson said getting impatient. "How does Cleo fit into this?" Richy asked. It was a loaded question. Agent Grey continued, "We don't know exactly how they met or became "alliances", but it seems like Luke thought he could push the blame on someone else to get rid of the evidence. He knew Cleo liked him and he took advantage of that. He asked her to get rid of the bracelet. She pawned it off to Andy in exchange for drugs, but before Andy could actually sell it, he got fired and the bracelet remained in storage. Alan thought that the best decision was to send Luke away, however Cleo kept in touch with him. In fact, she also scouted women for him. Even Amy. If you guys remember she was in her class." "But why? Why would she do that?" I asked. Agent Calloway sighed, "The oldest reason in the book. For love. Luke stayed with her as long as she bought him "presents" and she diligently did that. Hannah, I think you can shed light on what happened after you saw the bracelet again?" "I saw the bracelet in the window, and it all came rushing back, that bracelet seemed to be the only thing that proved what I had seen was true, so I bought it from the pawn shop. I then went to Jennifer's home to meet Iris. I thought maybe the man I saw that day with Jennifer was Madruga, that's why I asked if she knew Madruga. The bracelet had her initials on it so I thought it was special. I also told Dr. Barrett that I was seeing the same nightmares again. I was getting depressed. Dr. Barret gave me some anti depressants, but they caused me to become hazy. Not wanting to make any more mistakes like the last time, I confided in Cleo about the bracelet. I didn't want to say anything to the doctor without proof. The truth was eating me from the inside. I then visited Madruga. He mentioned that he didn't even see Jennifer cross the street and he was driving late into the night to Duskwood. I asked about the bracelet and he had no clue about what I was talking. I didn't believe him that he didn't know Jennifer at all. But he said he had submitted all proof about not being in Duskwood before the accident and I could ask his lawyer about it. He gave me his lawyer's information. I called the firm, but the woman on the call said his lawyer had passed away. I asked if there was anyone else, I could contact about him. She told me to call back but then after I pushed her, she gave me his daughter's number. I was getting more and more paranoid, I was worried that someone was following me. I installed security cameras around my house to be safe. Fearing more for my safety I called the Police Chief. He asked me to meet him to discuss the matter. He was worried that maybe the department was hiding something, so he asked me to meet at the edge of Duskwood forest. And when I went there....." she trailed. "Luke was there instead of Alan. Cleo had probably told Luke first but then Alan confirmed it. And since Alan still didn't want his son to be convicted of a mistake, he had committed years ago, they planned to kidnap you," Agent Calloway said.

"When I was near the forest, I didn't see the Chief, nor his car. I had this feeling something was wrong, so I sent the one thing I had that was the last point where I had stopped – Jade's number. I thought Cleo would tell the others about what I had confided in her and maybe you guys could figure it out. I guess I was wrong. I saw a man in a mask who dragged me into the forest." Hannah said. "I think Cleo managed to stay in the loop and stray you guys pretty well. All the snooping and investigation was basically to find out how far you guys were getting. She also got into Hannah's apartment to get the bracelet. But then Thomas got to it first, so she had to tell you guys the story that he broke into the house because he was getting rid of evidence. And Thomas said he had found the bracelet in Hannah's bag on the day she got it, thinking that she was having an affair with someone, so when she went missing his thought immediately went to the guy who must have given it to her. I think the plan was to pin the blame on Thomas, as he was already the prime suspect. And they put that in works too. Cleo was the first person to be threatened, which was easy since she was working with Luke. That deflected suspicion from her. Next was Dan's accident..." "Dan's accident? I checked his car myself, it wasn't tampered with." Richy said. "You are right, his car wasn't but his drinks were. Dan did mention that he met with Cleo at the restaurant. She was just there and was surprised to see him. Slipping pills into his drinks was simple enough when his guard was down. Again they did not want to make it obvious that he was being targeted, just make it suspicious enough, so that they could swap him for the culprit. You see, Thomas was hanging out with Cleo to search for clues so making him a suspect would have been risky, as he could have caught on to it. Cleo also thought of pushing the blame on Phil and used Thomas to try breaking into his storage. That way Phil looked suspicious as well when he caught on to it and told that he wasn't hiding anything. They wanted to really scare you guys away, so they attacked Jessy. If you remember in the beginning, she went to "investigate" Alfie who was a witness to Hannah's kidnapping, but Cleo put it in his mind that it was the man without a face as Luke was wearing a mask. This was to push the blame on an old town legend and also for the next steps in their plan. Which was to start marking people. They started with Richy. That drove you guys to focus on the legend than look at actual clues. Pinning the blame on Thomas was becoming difficult and Amy was already abducted by Luke. Handling both of them was getting tedious, so they decided to get rid of Amy and tried to pin it on someone else. Phil. I must say the matchbox was too obvious however, which guess who brought to light?" "Richy and Alan?" Phil asked. "Yup. Richy was just a spectator. He just noticed it. Alan pushed it further with Cleo's help. She was the one who complained against Phil which led to his arrest. Then they marked Jessy's door to show how serious things could get. But luckily none of you guys backed down. And one just went off script which rattled them."