Unexpected Reality: Book 1: Gamer Girl

by L. Foster

  She turned to face him and he kissed her on the nose and the lips and she woke looking into those wonderful dark brown eyes. “Mmmm” She murmured. “What a lovely way to wake up.” He smiled and ran his hand down the length of her back and she moved against him. They made love slowly and gently and looking into each other’s eyes, rolled over that hilltop together and stayed close together afterwards, holding onto each other and savouring the happiness.

  A huge breakfast buffet delayed the visit to the police department but they managed to see the officer who had taken note of what had happened before. “So it looks as if the threats have actually moved closer to home and are becoming a reality.” They said that it looked that way and told him that she had left her house and moved into the hotel, that the dog was safe at her cousin’s house and they were staying together as much as possible. “I have taken my blog off the internet and not put anything on Twitter.” He agreed that it was probably the best thing to do and took the photos. “If the IT people can enhance that last shot and put it through face recognition, we might get lucky.” He said. “We have passed it on to the people who deal with this specific sort of threat and we’ll let you know if they come up with anything.” There was nothing more to be gained and he gave them a direct number in case they needed to give him anything else. At the door Adam and Claire went to their separate cars. Adam said he would go and collect her things and come to the office. Claire had thought about some tests she could do to trace this troll on her account and she needed to use the equipment. “See you there in about an hour.” He said and kissed her on the cheek but he waited in his car until she drove away safely before leaving for the house.

  Kassie was delighted to see her friend but said. “I thought you were taking holiday and where is the gorgeous Adam?” Claire smiled and gave her colleague a hug. “He’s gone to my house to collect some gear and then he’s coming on here. I thought of trying the software that tracks hits to see if I could match up my Twitter feed and the comments on the blog. If it throws p some matches, I might spot something to trace the bastard.” She told the story about the ship and her friends were duly horrified. “I’ve been to the police and they’ve got the photos. You never know what might come from it.” Karl handed her a coffee and she found the software she needed to start her search. Kassie came and whispered in her ear “What was the sex like?”

  Claire laughed and said that on a scale of one to ten it was a hundred. “Wow.” Kassie answered. “Wow.”

  Adam used Claire’s remote to open the gates and drive inside. He left the gates open because he was only collecting some equipment and leaving again. He glanced around the garden and wondered if she would sell and move elsewhere. He could understand the need to do that after being targeted so precisely on the internet. How many millions would have access to this address. “Shame.” He thought. “Her favourite plants could be taken up and moved but she had taken a lot of time and trouble to get the place the way she wanted. The thought flitted across his mind that he would like to be part of her future and he climbed the three steps to the front door and took out the key. The door moved at his touch and he froze. Then he saw the marks that told him the door had been forced open. He looked around and listened. There was no sound at all as he gently pushed the door open. The hallway was empty and silent. He stepped inside and found his heart was pounding. When he pushed open the door to the living area he saw the back of a man and even in the shock of seeing someone there, he thought it looked like the back of the man he had photographed on the pier.

  Adam Osoracsos was in good shape and had taken martial arts classes at one point in his younger life. He was six feet tall and at that point furious that this moron would be ransacking Claire’s house. He stepped inside. “Easy to threaten women and steal their things.” The man turned around in an instant. He had a mask on and moved with enormous speed and on an immediate reaction. The intruder sprinted across the room straight at Adam and he was holding a very nasty knife. Adam was taken by surprise as the man bowled directly into him and slashed with the knife. It sliced across his face and he felt the blood spurt out. He stumbled backwards with the weight of the assailant but as he went down he reached out and grabbed. The intruder was going to run for it but Adam’s hand grabbed at the leg as it was leaving the room. He held on and the man went down on the floor. Adam hauled him back into the room by the leg and threw him across towards the window. The guy was pretty tough because despite this treatment he jumped up and came at Adam again. He was still holding the wicked looking knife and slowed down to approach with a threatening motion of the weapon. Adam braced himself and waited for the man to get close enough for a judo hold and when the attack came he didn’t move back but took hold of the clothes that he could grip. He attempted to turn the assailant around for a throw but it was a long time since he had done any martial arts and the two of them swung each other about. Adam did bang the guy against the window and his head broke the glass with an enormous crash. Adam let out an almighty roar and started to shout in the hope that someone outside would hear him and then the intruder picked up a heavy ornament from the windowsill and smashed it over Adam’s head. The world went black and he knew no more.

  Two hours later Claire had found some clues but looked at her watch and rang Adam’s mobile. It went to voicemail and she told the others. “I’m worried now.” After a few more tries Karl asked her if she would like him to come to the house with her and Claire nodded and grabbed her purse and jacket. After a fast drive where she imagined all sorts of horrible scenarios they arrived at the drive to find the gates open and three police cars in the drive. “Oh My God.” Claire screamed and ran to the door. An officer caught her before she rushed straight in. “It’s my house. What happened? Where’s Adam?”

  “Calm down miss.” He said and held her shoulders. The man who was here is in hospital but he will be okay. Stay here till I get the detective in charge. It’s a crime scene.”

  “Oh.” Claire said and grabbed Karl’s arm. He put an arm on her shoulders and told her the man said Adam would be okay. The detective was the man they had seen at the precinct and reassured her that Adam had sustained blows, cuts and bruises but would be alright.”

  Karl asked what happened and the detective told them that apparently Adam had disturbed an intruder and in the ensuing fight he had shouted and the neighbour heard the commotion and raised the alarm. “By the time we arrived the intruder had gone and Mr Osoracsos was stunned and lying on the floor. He’s at Mercy Cuthbert.”

  “Can I come inside?” Claire asked but he said no because the place had been messed up and they would have to go over it for DNA and fingerprints. ”I have your phone number. We’ll secure it when we finish.”

  Karl kept his head but drove as fast as he could to the hospital while Claire just closed her eyes and prayed that Adam would be fine. She could not bear it if anything happened to him and as the car screeched to a stop outside of the emergency entrance, they left it there and ran inside. She had to take a deep breath to get out the questions to the receptionist and when she was asked if she was related, she said had the presence of mind to say she was his wife. They were directed to the room where Adam had been taken. She slowed down and opened the door. Adam lay against the pillows with his eyes closed, bandages across his face and his normally olive complexion was very pale. “Oh My God.” She said, walked over to the bed and took his hand. Adam opened his eyes and gave a half smile when he saw her there. “They took my phone away so I couldn’t let you know.” He apologised.

  “How are you?” Karl asked and Adam said he had got a blow on the head so he had a bit of a headache and he slashed my face with a knife but nothing that won’t get better.” Claire sat down with a jolt beside the bed and Karl said he would go and move the car and come back.

  “Thank God it wasn’t worse.” She said and Adam said that he thanked God it was himself and not her that had opened the door. She dropped her head onto his chest and a few tears slipped ou
t. He stroked her hair and said “Shh. We’ll get through it all.” The nurse put her head around the door and said “Five more minutes, Mrs Osoracsos.” Adam looked at her and smiled and she said that she had to say she was related to get in to see him. He lifted her hand and kissed it. Karl came back in with two coffees and sat beside them. “I’ve got a text from Kassie to say that she followed up your connections on the emails and she thinks she has a clue to the blogger.

  “You’ll have to go and see to it.” Adam said. “I’ll be fine here and they might let me out later. I’ll demand my phone back.”

  She kissed his cheek and said she would be back as she and Karl headed for the car to go back to the office. Kassie and the others were trying to get through on the mobiles but he drove fast and said they would explain when they arrived. Karl headed straight for the coffee machine and the others clustered around to hear what had happened. Claire had got through most of the tale and was explaining how Adam was at the hospital when the detective, Ed Jones, arrived with his partner and a uniformed officer. He looked serious.

  Chapter 7

  “Ms Costas.” He started. “This has turned into a very serious case and we feel you need a police officer with you at all times. This is Officer Jon Bradley and I am assigning him at the moment. He will stay with you until he is relieved or we catch this man. There are links that suggest he may be someone we are looking for in connection with other crimes.”

  “Murder, you mean?” Claire asked and the detective nodded and said it looked a possibility. Kassie broke in at that point and said she was sorry to interrupt. “Claire had started some software off this morning checking if her Twitter feed and the comments on her blog might throw up the same person and we think maybe it does. Well three of them actually but one is a woman so probably not her. Here are the other two.” She handed over the paper that had printed out the details.

  “You mean.” Jones asked . ”That we might be able to trace them from details on the web?” Claire nodded and showed him the links. His partner flipped out a smartphone and sent the details straight to the IT department at the station. “Both of these men live in this vicinity and have the same style of blogging.”Kassie continued. Claire took the paper copy and flicked her tablet on. She looked at both of the people that Kassie had spotted and nodded her head. “Both of them hate women as well. I remember both of these two.” She looked at one of them and showed Jones. “This one in particular is very like the one that made the threats. If we go back over his tweets and blogs we will get a clue as to his interests and where he lives.” She passed that to Jones as well and he sent it straight on to his tech department. “I’ll keep on searching.” Claire said .

  “Keep in touch.” Jones said. And do not go anywhere without Bradley here. I’m serious. If this is who we think it is, you cannot be too careful.” He and his partner left and Bradley asked if he could watch her do the search. “I would like to know how to do this.” She agreed and offered him the use of the office coffee machine. The place settled back into work mode and Claire got lost in the concentration of the search. Bradley asked the odd question and watched intently. He took the odd note and after awhile she rubbed her eyes and said. “Look at this.” She flicked three screens up at the same time. “These are all tweets and comments supposedly made by different people but are almost word for word identical.”

  “Can you trace any of them?” Bradley asked and she told him that one of them had no personal stuff at all but the other two both hinted at different times about the area where they lived. She put in a command to find the tweets to do with location and several appeared. She asked for pictures related and up came about six. They looked at the views that appeared. Bradley said. “I know that place. It’s near the recreation woodland.” He rang his boss and passed this on. Jones replied that the tech people seemed to be on the same track and had triangulated it to a certain area.

  The door opened and Adam Oscorascos stepped inside. “Oh wonderful.” Claire said and jumped up to give him a hug. “Have a seat.” Kassie urged. “I’ll get you a sandwich and a drink.”

  “How do you feel?” Karl asked and Adam told everyone that the hospital had told him was fine and just to take things easily for a few days. He took the offered sandwich and sat down. “This.” Claire said looking at the police officer. “Is Officer Bradley who is instructed to watch over me like a hawk.” Adam held out his hand. “Pleased to meet you.” He said and asked what the situation was.

  Bradley said “Call me Jon.” And related what they had found so far. Once Adam was brought up to date and took in the implication of a possible murderer on the loose, he looked at the pictures they had found, he asked if they had a name for these people who tweeted and Jon Bradley brought them up on the tablet. “If we look in the local directories, he might be using his real name.”

  “Why the hell did I not think of that?” Bradley said and Kassie was already speeding her fingers across the keyboard. “Yes.” She shouted. “In that area. Same name and the address at a wood yard.” Bradley rang his boss and relayed the information. The police department found that a man and wife and son were registered at that address.

  The police department came back with the information that the man lived at home with his parents. They were going to check it out.

  Adam said “I suppose there is no chance of the three of us going to watch.” Claire grinned at him and asked if he would recognise his attacker if he saw him. He said “I would know his build and size, even if I didn’t see his face.” They looked hopefully at Bradley who said “Okay but you two do not get out of the car.” They nodded and picked up jackets.

  Kassie said. “Keep me in the loop.” And gave Claire a quick hug as she left. ”Could you do me a favour and ring my cousin, Val. Just bring her up to date please?” Jon Bradley did ring in and tell the department what he was doing and where he was going.

  The area pinpointed by the police and the telephone directory was out of town and very rural. The wood yard was set apart from other properties and Adam remarked that if you used heavy machinery, it would be as well to not have neighbours. They pulled up behind two police cars already at the property and Jones came out to see them. “As far as we can see this place is deserted. Doesn’t look very lived in. I’ve sent someone to question the nearest neighbours.”

  “Can we look?” Claire asked. Jones thought about it and nodded.

  “Be careful and stay together. It looks deserted but you never know.” They approached the drive with caution. Everywhere was quiet and still. There certainly did not appear to be any signs of life. The trappings of a wood yard were everywhere around the property with big piles of heavy looking logs. They were felled trees in huge numbers stacked everywhere and the machinery that was used to move them was standing still, rusty and silent. The remains of a big wagon stood lopsided and falling apart. It was eerie and disused.

  Claire held Adam’s hand and Bradley walked on the other side of her as they slowly stepped around the outside of the property. The detectives had already been this way and were now checking the outbuildings and heavy machinery. They had knocked and shouted with no response at the house and had no real reason to make a forced entry. The officer who had been to the nearest neighbour came back to say that the man and wife who lived here and ran the business had moved away a year ago and not been back since. “The son stayed here?” Jones queried and the officer agreed and said that the business did not operate any more.

  “Looks like the son doesn’t live here either.” Jones observed and then Claire screamed. She held her hand to her mouth and pointed with the other one. “Look. Look.” They followed the direction of her finger and Adam gasped. Bradley saw it at the same time and picked his radio up. “Boss you’d better get back here.” He said and Jones came at a run. Jon Bradley pointed and Jones saw the human hand that could be seen squeezed between the logs in one of the huge heaps. The hand had been there for some time by the look of it and Claire was trying hard not to be
sick. ”Take her back to the car.” Jones directed and rang for forensics and someone who could operate timber moving machinery. Then he said “We can force and entry now.” The team entered the property by force once they had shouted a warning and went in back and front at the same time with guns drawn. From the car where Adam sat with his arm around Claire and Jon Bradley stood guard, they saw the team exit the house empty handed. “Nothing.” Jones said “But it must be connected because of the hand.” He bent his head into the car. “We’ve got a lot to see to here and you can’t be any help. You’ll be more useful going over the internet stuff again. Go back and keep yourselves safe. ”I’ll send someone to relieve Bradley later on.” There was little else to do so Claire rang Kassie, told them to lock up and go home. She and Adam were going to the hotel.

  “That seems the safest place for you. I can sit outside the door.” Bradley told them and when Ray comes to relieve me, I’ll introduce you so you know he’s the real deal.”

  Adam sent for food for all three of them and Claire went back to looking through old tweets and comments to try and find any more clues. They met Ray and said thanks and good night to Jon and then slipped into bed. Claire clung to Adam and shivered as reaction set in from the shock of discovering a dead body in the wood stack. He wrapped himself around her and held her close. He stroked her hair and kissed her gently until she settled in his arms. She turned towards him and asked. “Make love to me, Adam. I need it.” Adam ran his hands over her arms and kissed her lips. There was nothing fast and furious here. They came together and moved slowly until they reached the top of the hill and gently gave each other what they needed. She pressed her face to his shoulder and as she felt that final fall knew that she loved him. “I’ve waited for this man.” She thought. Adam knew he had fallen for this beautiful woman. She was strong, clever and sassy but even strong women are upset by finding dead bodies and he had needed the comfort himself. They lay in each other’s arms and stayed joined together as they finally drifted into sleep.