The footsteps on the beach

Chapter 1

Alice opened the car door and walked up the porch steps to number 27, "hello?" She called out as she rapped the door, "is anyone home?"She persisted "I have a lead on ur so..." Alice felt someone drag her in and heard the door quietly close behind her, feeling the fear in their hands. The light switched on and before her was Mrs Anderson pale and worn , her eyes glazed with desperation and weariness , Alice could see she longed her fight to be over. "What do you think your playing at stupid girl! Don't you realise what people think of me ?they have eyes on the back of their heads and ears on every corner! I live in enough fear , I don't need senseless police women to add to that!" She warned "Do you want the whole world against me is that it? You want people to make up stories about me that would give you reason to arrest me! Make your life easier would it? Well think about mine! Think about the years I have had to live with this curse, this accusation! I am left with nobody! when speculation is set in people's mind it evolves ,it turns into truth, it can't be unseen or undone , who believes me now?" Her tone had changed , she softened , whimpering between words her heart was frightened and lost . Her features became so delicate and light and the power in her eyes had burned out like a match , so quickly her strength had been diminished. Alice felt such sympathy for her she saw her pain and longed to make her eyes joyful again , erase the red rims round her eyes and stop the tears flowing. It reminded Alice why she did her job. to search for truth and justice to fight for a cause that was worthy to give peace to families who had been wrongly accused she always took the cases that had never been fully solved. "I'm so sorry Mrs Anderson I didn't mean to be so inconsiderate , I know I'm young but I am trying hard on this for you and like I said , I have a new lead on your son " Alice reasoned. Mrs Anderson had been so afraid that someone would hear Miss Light that she hadn't really paid any attention to what she had said "what? I don't understand how can you have a lead? Detective Letterman had been trying to find my son  for six months  and he found nothing, a lost cause is what he said..." and her eyes watered at the memory of her lovely child."Well i visited Calylough the beach where the boat appeared and I met a woman who saw I was a policewoman and asked if I was working on the case  with your missing son and told me that she thought it was silly the way everybody believed you were to blame. As she continued to speak I asked her why she believed that u were innocent and she looked away into the sea and pointed at the lighthouse.  I was surprised but also confused about what she meant so I..." Alice trailed off as she heard a knock on the door, the key scratched and turned and in walked a tall figure "who's that?" The shadow said which became a body in the light. " It's Miss Light dear remember the one I told you about who has agreed to help me since D.I. Letterman quit" Mrs Anderson explained to the man "Oh right yeah ok I'm going to bed night" the man said without a smile or even a glance in Alice's direction. To Alice he seemed cold , distant like he didn't want the case to be explored again she desperately wanted to know who he was. "Sorry , that's my son Darren " Mrs Anderson acknowledged " he doesn't talk to me much anymore since the police believed me responsible for Isaac." She added sorrowfully. "Oh I'm sorry that must be awful I can't imagine. I am going to try  very hard to solve this Mrs Anderson , you do understand?" Alice reassured, " yes I do and I'm thankful , I just worry I suppose that ur so young, I just don't want any more complications and mistakes , I've suffered enough." " I understand" Alice replied " could I just ask you a bit about Darren? When did you have him?" Mrs Anderson was a bit alarmed at the bluntness of Alice but it made her see that she took her job seriously so she answered. "34 years ago and as I'm sure this is what you really want to know , he didn't know about Isaac either,  him and his father were inseparable I couldn't have confided in one without the other finding out." "Thank you , " Alice smiled and continued "and your late husband how did Darren react to his death?"  "He took it hard he became angry at the world and when he found out about Isaac he became angry at me ,never violent just angry , he didn't speak to me for the six months that DI letterman investigated which didn't help my case and he still didn't talk to me for three years after because he believed me a murderer just like Letterman and everyone who read the newspapers"Mrs Anderson winced at the memories and clutched her scarf in her hands.
"Well thank you , any information helps anyway about the woman I was talking to on the beach , it turns out her name is Hazel and she was telling me that she was friends with the man who lived in the lighthouse , Mr brackley , she said they had been friends since they were school children and I asked if there was ever a romantic attachment but she dismissed it and said their might have been once but she got married at 21 so nothing ever became of it  because she was loyal and loved her husband. " "what does this have to do with Isaac?" Mrs Anderson interrupted impatiently, " Well she said she found Mr Brackely dead when she last visited him which was a week after your Isaac was found dead." Alice paused and gave Mrs Anderson a few moments to process before she proceeded " She said it was never posted in the newspapers and she just assumed it was because nobody except her really knew him, she described him as a bit of a recluse so she thought it understandable . but then when she read your story from the week before in the newspaper she believed they were connected , she said she didn't know how long the body had been lying there before she found it because she only visited Mr Brackley occasionally. She said she constantly walked the beach hoping to meet inspectors to tell them but she never saw any. All these years she has walked every day hoping to change the hate around your name" Alice finished , proud of her successful findings in only a week of continuing on this old case. she had found something important! She knew in her head that it was suspicious that 'Hazel' so strongly believed the cases were connected and that really she needed to dig deeper but she couldn't bear Mrs Anderson not having faith in her she just needed to tell her something to give her hope again that this case could be solved once and for all. Tonight she would research all she could find about this 'Mr Brackely' , Alice thought to herself, she didn't even know how he had died , this old lady might have just been paranoid , it could have been a natural death and really there was no mystery at all. She was starting to feel guilty now and a little bit foolish because if she stayed too long she knew that Mrs Anderson would start asking questions that she couldn't answer.