Shadow Watcher (Sly and Hokey #2)

By Anna Ryan

Two dead police officers. One faceless Shadow Watcher, lurking behind the trees, ready to kill again. Will Sly and Hokey be able to catch him before he adds to his body count?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anna Ryan
• Release date: Aug 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463565834

Anna Ryan

My name is Anna Ryan; I'm 25 years old and live in Wanganui, New Zealand.My love of writing started when I was at primary school when we were allowed to write stories. I can remember that I was really proud of one that I had written because I wrote: “and then a sudden gust of wind picked up its speed!” At the time I thought it was the best line I had ever written.It wasn't until my late teens, after I read ‘Change of Heat’ by Jodi Picoult (that book changed my life), that I started taking writing seriously. Since 2017, I have found my comfort zone writing in the horror, mystery and crime genres.To date I have written three novels: The Lady in the Coat, Amelia (The Sly and Hokey Detective Series #1), Shadow Watcher (The Sly and Hokey Detective Series #2).Recently I published my first short story collection, Deceptive Cadence.Stephen King, Jodi Picoult, Shirley Jackson, George R.R. Martin, Sophie Kinsella, J.K Rowling, Suzanne Collins and Agatha Christie are some of my favourite authors.

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Copyright property of Anna Ryan 2018.

All rights reserved.

The right of Anna Ryan to be identified as the author of the Work has been asserted to her in accordance with the Copyright Act 1994.

No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Anna Ryan.

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

The Shadow Watcher symbol/signature is legal property of Anna Ryan.

Paw Print Publications, Wanganui New Zealand.

The song Good Morning Baby is written and recorded by Bic Runga and Dan Wilson. Released via Uptown and Universal in 1999.

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Anna X

SHADOW WATCHER

Chapter one

‘Remind me again why we have to check out this house in the middle of nowhere?’ Marshal asked Kat as they cruised along in their police car; driving deeper and deeper into the deserted country. The space country with its slowly dying fields of grass screamed at them to leave, but the obligation to protect the homeland ran deep and strong.

‘Why?’ Kat replied innocently with a grin on her face. ‘Are you scared?’

‘What? Me?’ Marshal asked, shocked. ‘Fuck off. It’s just a house, Kat.’

‘So I take it you’ve heard the stories then?’ Kat asked casually.

Marshal ignored the question, looked straight ahead and took a deep breath.

‘Alright, I’ll take that as a yes,’ Kat said. ‘I’ve heard them too. The stories, I mean; though I don’t know how true they are. It could just be that a tonne of people have laid complaints about that house, and from there have made up crazy stories.’

‘Or,’ Marshal interrupted, ‘the stories about the guy living there could be 100% true. How he just stands under a tree that keeps him in the shadows so passersby can only see the dark shadow of him, and just watches.’

Kat thought about it for a moment. Gosh, she had heard some stories. And she didn’t hear them through the grapevine, either. She heard these stories from the horse’s mouth, as the saying goes. At the time, she reasoned that people told her these things because she was a police woman, and could possibly reassure them with her supposed insider knowledge. She told the question askers the truth; that she couldn’t comment on something she knew nothing about. It wasn’t until about two or three weeks ago when she really started to think that what people had been saying and speculating was true. To start with, he mother had specifically invited her over for dinner to tell Kat that she had ‘seen something the other day that was haunting’ her. Her mother hadn’t gone into the details, but had only said that she had ‘driven down Rictor Road and had passed that house and had seen the man in the shadows watching.’

That was the first incident that got Kat’s brain into gear. She knew her mother wouldn’t spin a yarn for fun – especially a yarn like that. Nor would her mother play the joker.

The second incident happened when she herself was driving down Rictor Road. Basically, she saw what her mother had seen.

She shook her head to try and break up her current thoughts, and feebly attempted to slot another, happier thought into her brain.

‘We’re almost there,’ Marshal said, his voice quieter than it usually was. Marshal, too, had heard stories about the house down Rictor Road (number 27 to be exact). He had mainly heard stories from fellow officers who said that when they were called out to 27 Rictor Road, they would park their cruiser, look to their left and see a shadowed figure standing under a big tree just watching. They said that that was enough for them, and turned the ignition on and drove back to Headquarters as fast as the law would allow. Marshal had only been in the police force for a tad over two years (as had Kat), but the guys that told him that those stories had been in the force for many many years. They had probably seen it all, and were probably scared of very little; but they were afraid, scared, frightened of 27 Rictor Road and whoever or whatever lived there.

When Marshal had pressed them for more information about who lived there, they simply said ‘some old guy.’ They may have known his name, but did not say it. Hell, they didn’t even make Marshal play the good old guessing games.

He was about to ask Kat what she knew about 27 Rictor Road, and if she knew anything about the old guy that apparently lived there, when she abruptly switched off the car’s ignition.

For a very brief moment, he felt like she desperately wanted to know what he knew; if he wanted her to turn the car around and leave without checking on 27 Rictor Road.

Before they could both further entertain the idea of leaving; of following their gut feelings, Marshal nodded towards the house and said, ‘Doesn’t look too bad, does it?’

Kat looked from Marshal to the house. It was by no means the worst looking place she had seen up until this point in her life. Some of the derelict, empty buildings in town looked much, much worse than this house. But this house; there was something very wrong about it, something that Kat couldn’t quite put her finger on. When she looked at the house, it was almost as though it was rocking from side to side and slowly but surely edging its way closer and closer to her. It was the demonic clown that took his or her time when chasing after you because they knew they would get you either way. The longer Kat spent staring at the house, the more it started to come alive. The dark wood of the house started to groan and move. It sounded like it was close to screaming. That house, thought Kat, must have seen some pretty screwed up things – maybe it needs some very unlucky person to exorcise those demons.

It was the way the two huge, KoheKohe trees on either side of the house, hid not only secrets and lies, but also people, that elevated the ominous and foreboding feeling of being watched by murderously hungry eyes. Both trees worked as camouflage so passersby could not clearly see if something or someone was padding around in the shadows, watching. If, however, you were lucky like Kat and Marshal and were parked up on the side of the road, you could have a good, still look at the two infamous trees and the shadows that outlined them. If Kat looked, stared at the tree on her right hand side for long enough, she swore that she could see a shadowed figure silently moving around, looking, observing, watching. She wondered why. Why would someone stand behind the shadows of the trees watching, waiting for what? People? She guessed that the general public would rather run through the gates of hell than hang around 27 Rictor Road for too long.

‘...Kat?’ Marshal asked. ‘Kat, you still in this dimension?’

‘Oh, shit, sorry,’ Kat replied, her face going red. ‘I was in my own world. What were you saying?’

‘If you look at it too long, it starts to fuck with you aye?’ Marshal said.

Kat looked at him, confused.

‘The house,’ Marshal clarified, ‘I mean the house. If you look at 27 Rictor Road for more than five seconds, it starts to screw with, well, you. It’s happened to me a few times before. Anyway, you ready, Kat? Or should we skive?’

Judging from the look on Marshal’s face, Kat knew that he wanted to skive. He didn’t want a bar of 27 Rictor Road; and to be honest, neither did she. She had the feeling that they shouldn’t be there.

And even if they did skip checking up on this house, no one would find out. And if they did, who could blame them?!

It is hard to know what influences people to go against their gut instincts. Especially when that gut instinct is so strong. Sometimes it can be peer pressure. Other times, maybe you don’t want to look like you’re scared in front of your work colleague. Sometimes being or acting fearless and tough can come at a high price.

In Kat and Marshal’s case, they both felt that they were sent there to protect and serve their community. They felt a sense of duty that they had to fulfil. That is an important quality in a police officer, and an even more important quality to have as a person which is why, after a few seconds of thought, Kat replied saying, ‘We should check it out. Better to be safe than sorry.’

‘Yeah, good point,’ Marshal agreed, nodding his head. ‘Let’s go.’

They both took their time getting out of their police cruiser (which, to Marshal’s excitement was a 2016 Holden Commodore), and walked side by side towards the grinning front door of 27 Rictor Road.

Marshal, wanting this whole charade to be over as soon as possible, very quickly knocked on the front door; and then, along with Kat, quickly took a couple of steps away from the front door and waited anxiously.

‘Maybe no one’s home,’ Kat whispered, feeling hopeful.

‘Well, if they don’t open the door soon, Kat, we’re going.’ Marshal said firmly.

Then, as if on cue, the front door squeaked and groaned itself painfully open.

‘My name is Constable Marshal Rhodes and this is my partner, Constable Kat Burgez,’ Marshal stated confidentially. ‘We have been sent here to speak to the owner of...’

It took Marshal a few moments to notice that there was no one standing in front of the door, holding it open. Hell, no one had been there to open it in the first place!

‘Let’s get the fuck...’ Marshal whispered to Kat just as a soft, croaky, malevolent voice enveloped them, sending chills right through their bones.

‘I have been expecting the two of you,’ the voice softly croaked. ‘Please do come in.’

Kat and Marshal eyed each other dubiously. It wasn’t too late to turn around and run back to their cruiser. They didn’t realise, but time was ticking away rather fast; and by the time they had made their telepathic decision, an old bony hand reached out from the shadows within the house and beckoned them inside. In their minds, Kat and Marshal had made the decision to leave, fuck the house. But their bodies were being told to do otherwise, and much to their brain’s annoyance, they looked down and saw their own legs carrying them into the deep grave that was 27 Rictor Road.

‘What is this place?’ Kat whispered as they were led through the dark entryway of the house and into the main room. The house was wooden – that was for sure. Kat could see tiny shreds of light seeping through the slits of wood. But the inside of the house was unlike anything she had ever