Callum & Harper (Sleepless 1)

“We need to ask you both a few questions, if that’s okay?”

I couldn’t help but yawn. Four hours of sleep just wasn’t setting well. “Of course, we’ll be right there,” I answered and hung up.

I shook Harper gently. “Harper, honey, wake up.”

She groaned and looked up at me sleepily. “What’s wrong?” She asked, studying my face.

“Detective Carson asked us to come up to the station.”

Harper

The station was teeming with people, the smells of lunch permeated the air around us. The girls, who always thought I dressed a bit too lax, were true to form when they purchased a change of clothes for me. I was so grateful to them but they picked the tightest pair of skinny jeans they could find, a pair of grey boots to wear over, and a ridiculously low cut and tight t-shirt. I thanked God that I still had my jacket from the night before to cover up. I giggled to myself slightly as I thought about how much I wanted to kill them and hug them both at the same time. Kill them because I felt ridiculous but hug them because of the amazing look I got from Callum when I came out of the bathroom at Charlie’s. I needed to rethink my boy wardrobe slightly if I was going to get looks like that.

I was tired of waiting to tell him how I felt. I refused to wait until after graduation as I’d planned. I knew I couldn’t make it that long. I’d decided that night, I’d spill my guts. The night of the fire I couldn’t believe where our conversation had gone. My stomach flipped just thinking about it and it gave me more hope than I dared to dream. Every time he held my hand, touched my skin, hugged me, now had a very different meaning. I wondered now if it wasn’t just as one sided as I’d always thought it had been.

“Mr. and Mrs. Tate?” An officer asked, breaking my train of thought.

The giddy, crazy feeling I always got when someone called me his wife would never leave me, I thought.

“Yes?” Callum answered, standing up, sending a deeper thrill coursing through my stomach.

“If you’ll follow me,” he said.

Now the nerves took over. I wanted to stop in the middle of the hallway, beg Callum to run away with me and start fresh in another state just so I wouldn’t have to deal with the crap we were destined to deal with very soon. We rounded a corner and entered an older looking gentleman’s office. This was not Detective Carson. Carson was younger, maybe mid-twenties, had light blonde hair and bright eyes. This man was much older, maybe sixty, pudgy around the middle but had a very kind face.

“Hello,” he said, standing, holding out his hand for each of us. “My name is Detective Lewis. Carson needed some shut eye and I promised him I’d go over the evidence with you. I’m the second detective on the case now.”

“Hi, nice to meet you,” I said. “I’m Harper Tate and this is my husband, Callum.” Callum winked at me when I’d called him my husband. It was the first time I’d ever done that.

“A pleasure,” the detective said and we all sat. “I’m not looking to alarm you but the box the investigator found, you have suspicions it is John Bell, correct?”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

“Okay, we found prints on the box but they weren’t John’s.”

“What?” Callum asked. “That’s impossible...”

“Wait,” the detective interrupted. “They belong to a woman who 's been missing for several weeks now and is now believed to be deceased.”

“What?” I asked, all the breath leaving my body at once. I was choking on the news he’d given me. If I wasn’t already sitting, I would have trouble supporting myself. “Why do you believe she is deceased?” I asked, not really wanting to hear why.

“Well, unfortunately we found her fingers inside the box he left at your home.”

“Oh my God!” I said, clutching Callum’s jacket sleeve.

The detective shook his head. “Yes, terrible and I’m so sorry to be the one telling you this but we’ve had a slew of missing persons cases over the past six months, right about the time John Bell was released. Now, we suspect him in most of the cases because the timing just fits.”

“Why else do you suspect him?” Callum asked, reading into his statement.

Detective Lewis sighed loudly and fell into the back of his chair, making me sit up ramrod straight in mine. “There are characteristics that each girl possesses that we feel may be a common link.”

“And...what would these characteristics be, Detective Lewis?” I barely asked.

“This girl, the one who’s fingers we’ve found in the box, well, her name is Harper as well.”

I began to sway in my chair. Callum gripped my shoulder to keep me from falling forward.

“And the others?” I asked.