The Number

By A.G. Elwin

‘The Number’

It is about a love triangle with two men and one woman. They are disciples of the devil.

Once a year, they ring this special number, and if anyone answers, they stalk and in the fall they sacrifice them to their god.
It goes back in time to how the devil finds them in every life.

An angel changes their destiny, but just when she thinks they are safe, he finds them again.

Not all is what it seems in the book. It is not until you get close to the end that the true evil is revealed.

There are two other main characters who think that are safe and have no idea of how dangerous the people close to them really are and how much danger they are really in. The book is set in New York. The three main charters belong to high society. They are much respected, they are the last people anyone would look at for the serial killings.

The book also has two other smaller books inside, one is written by Martin who is one of the disciples, and close to the end from the angel saves them. The two other books are called ‘Dahlia’s Secret’, and later on in the book, it is revealed who Dahlia is.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Aug 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524516277

A.G. Elwin

A.G. Elwin, lives with her husband and children, in a small town in Australia. Her love is writing and she hope to create many fictional books, that people to lose themselves in, even for just a short time. A. G. Elwin spends her free time, writing and creating stories that makes us question, who we truly are. Her love for the paranormal, lead to the writing of The Number.

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Copyright © 2016 by A. G. Elwin.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016912867

ISBN:       Hardcover       978-1-5245-1616-1

                 Softcover         978-1-5245-1615-4

                 eBook               978-1-5245-1627-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 08/12/2019

Xlibris

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CONTENTS

‘Dahlia’s Secret’

‘The Haven for Broken Souls’

I T WAS THE

spring, the trees were full of leaves once again, and the flowers were all in bloom; the grass was a dark deep green.

This is where Olivia was born and grew up. Olivia had just turned 20, she was a bubbly little petite young woman who was loved by everyone she met; she had an infectious personality, which would light up the room when she walked into it, and it didn’t hurt that she was beautiful on the outside as well as the inside, Olivia had long honey brown hair that sat just above her bottom, big blue eyes, and dimples, when she smiled they stood out, and considering she smiled all the time, they were hard to miss, next to her big white smile.

But the thing that made Olivia even more beautiful is that she had no idea how beautiful she was; she was one of those people who went out of her way to make others feel special.

Olivia was born in this sleepy little town that is called Gully Bay. Gully Bay is a small town where the main street makes you feel like you are going back in time, the townspeople were quite modern, but they still kept the town more like the Sixties, for it was good for tourism, which the town relied on for its small businesses and jobs.

It was a small coastal town that attracted a lot of families, surfers, and hippies the shops still sold handmade toys that were made in the Sixties—handmade everything, from jewellery, Quilts, and then there were the more modern surf shops and boutiques and even an old ice cream parlour.

People would come from the city to Gully Bay just to spend the day and to shop, for it was like going to a market but they were shops; they would buy lunch and sit in the parks looking over the water.

As you walk down the main street, it smelled like wild flowers from all the candles and incense that they would burning in each shop, the scent would float out onto the footpath, even the butchers wrapped the meat like they did in the Sixties; it was just the most beautiful little piece of the past.

And the people would come from the beach towns that surround Gully Bay, for that reason, everything took you back to a simpler place and time.

It was the year 2001 when Olivia met Martin in a little cafe called Lori Bee’s, which she half owned with Belinda, but everyone in the town just called her Bee.

Lori Bee’s was a little cafe that, especially in the holiday season and weekends, would be filled with families and couples. Olivia had just finished her shift when she sat down to have a cup of coffee.

When Martin walked past Olivia’s table where she was sitting, he tripped on his shoe lace and fell down, knocking the chair from the end of Olivia’s table; as he went down, Olivia quickly jumped up to help him up, he was so embarrassed and his face went completely red. ‘Oh, I am so sorry,’ he said to Olivia. ‘Oh, do not be,’ she replied. ‘It is just this time of year, we always have a lot of tourist, and it is pretty packed in here today.’

‘Are you okay?’ she asked. ‘Yes! I am fine,’ he replied, as they looked into each other’s eyes, and their eyes locked, for what seemed to be five minutes, but was really only about five seconds.

And then he said to her, ‘Can I get you a cup of coffee? To say sorry once again?’

Olivia replied ‘yes’ and smiled at him, and she began rubbing her hands on the top of her legs. ‘That would be really nice,’ she replied to him.

For her heart was racing, and her hands had become quite wet with nervous energy, but she knew she just had to get to know this man, which made her feel a bit silly, for she had just met him.

But the attraction was so strong and it was instant, not only for Olivia but for Martin as well, as he nervously brought over their coffee and a slice of Bee’s famous blueberry pie.

He said to Olivia as he sat down, ‘Your friend, Bee, said it’s on the house,’ and she replied, ‘Oh! Bee is more like my mom, oh.’ Martin replied, ‘She is really nice.’

Martin was about five foot two, a stocky-built man, with blond curly hair that sat just above his shoulders. He had beautiful olive skin, with big droopy green blue eyes and thick eyebrows, and like Olivia, and he had a smile to die for.

Olivia could not believe he was sitting talking to her, and she could tell that the attraction she felt for him, he felt for her also.

As they sat and talk for hours, about everything and anything just to be together, before they knew it, the sun had gone down, and the moon had come out, but they did not care; they really did not want to say goodbye to each other.

As Bee came over and said, ‘here is a cup of coffee on the house.’

‘But I just wanted to let you know, it is almost time to close up for the night.’ ‘Okay,’ Olivia replied, as she smiled at Bee, with a glow in her eyes, and Bee just winked at her and walked away.

Olivia had grown up in Gully Bay, and Bee had known Olivia all her life, for she was Olivia’s mom’s best friend since high school, and after their children were born, they stayed really close.

As Olivia finished her coffee, she said to Martin, ‘Well I think it is time to go, Bee has to close up now.’

Martin replied, ‘I really have enjoyed myself today.’

They both smiled and looked at Bee to say thank you.

Martin said, ‘I am really glad we met.’

Olivia replied, ‘Me too,’ and then they both laughed.

Martin looked at Olivia with his big blue eyes and said, ‘Well it is such a shame today has to end,’ as they both got up and began walking out the door.

Bee said, ‘You know there is a movie on tonight, under the stars, over in Jordan’s park. It is a great night to be outside.’ As Olivia looked at Bee, and then at Martin, and then he held his arm out and said to her, ‘Well shall we?’

As Olivia put her arm in his, and they walked over to the Jordan’s park, which was not far, just down the street and then across the road.

Jordan’s park is a beautiful little park that sat right on the water.

And it was beautiful this time of year.

It is filled with Jacaranda trees, completely covered in purple buds and beautiful gardens, filled with flowers, all out in blossom, and thick green lush grass.

As Olivia went to sit down, Martin quickly took off his jacket and said, ‘Here, let me,’ as they sat down still talking. They had so much in common: Olivia could not believe he liked all the same books, movies, music, as she did.

They talked for the entire movie, and when it was over, neither of them could remember what it was about.

Martin asked Olivia, ‘Can I walk you home,’ as she thought to herself it would be fine, for he is such a gentleman, so she said yes.

On the way home, Martin did most of the talking.

He told Olivia all about his life New York, and how he was a news reporter, and how he took time off to write a book, about one of the cases, and that is what brought him to Gully Bay.

He felt sorry for the victim and wanted to tell her story.

‘But enough about me,’ Martin said.

‘Olivia, tell me more about you.’ Olivia laughed and said, ‘There is not much more to tell.’

Over the next few days, they become so close, that wherever Olivia was, so was Martin.

One night, Martin invited Olivia over for dinner.

It was perfect, just like everything Martin did, they spent all night talking and a little bit more.

Then Martin said, ‘I will make us a cup of tea,’ as they walked out to the terrace and sat gazing at the stars and talking about how beautiful the night was as they sipped their tea.

It was such a romantic night, but Olivia began to get tired, and she realised it had become quite late.

She said, ‘I really should be going.’

Martin asked, ‘Why don’t you spend the night?’

Olivia was quite shocked; although she had spent many hours dreaming about Martin making love to her, maybe it is just that she had become so sleepy, she thought to herself.

When Martin saw the look on her face, he realised she was not ready for that step and quickly said, ‘You can have my bed, and I will sleep on the couch.’

Olivia smiled with relief and said, ‘I really want to be with you, I do not know! What is wrong with me.’

Martin replied, ‘It’s okay, you will know, when it is the right time,’ and walked Olivia into his room then said, ‘I will see you in the morning’ and shut the door.

Olivia could not believe how silly she was being and thought to herself. ‘I will just close my eyes, for a minute and then, I will go to him.’

She was that tired; she slept all night and most of the next day. She had fallen asleep with her clothes still on, and without the blankets over her.

The next day, she noticed the sun was shining in the window, and it was quite warm.

She thought it must be late morning, and when she went to get up, she suddenly stopped with a pain to her back.

So she went to the mirror, to have a look at her back, when she noticed there was quite a large bruise, and one on the top of her arm.

But Olivia just dismissed it and went straight out and hugged him for being so understanding and in that moment, she kissed him.

He ran his hands, through her hair, and they began to make love on the floor right where they were.

He could not get enough of Olivia; sometimes they would spend days locked up in his cabin making love.

Martin was insatiable when it came to Olivia, and she could not get enough of him ever.

He was so soft and tender in his touch, always telling her, ‘You are so beautiful’ and how lucky he was, and how glad he was he found her.

They were so in love, everybody in Gully Bay could see! And everyone there was so happy for Olivia.

Except for Bee, only because she had seen Martin one day looking at Olivia, when she was talking to one of the male customers who happened to be Bee’ son, Jack, who had come back to see Bee and Olivia.

Jack considered Olivia to be his little sister. Jack brought with him his partner Gabrielle.

So Bee and Olivia could finally meet Gabrielle, a woman whom he had been dating now for a while, well a few years now.

Jack and Gabrielle had an open relationship, for Jack and Gabrielle both were bi, they often took another lover.

Their relationship had another male as well, and the three of them were inseparable.

They often shared the same bed at the same time, but the real couple was Jack and Martin.

Gabrielle had become their lover after she met Jack and Martin in the strip club she worked at.

Jack and Martin’s relationship was just starting, and Martin wanted to go partying with Jack and was tired of the only places Jack would meet him—was in dark clubs, where it was hard for them to be seen.

When Gabrielle heard them talking, as she was pouring them their drinks, she said, ‘You can hire me for the night, and I will pretend, I am with you, and it will not be so obvious, that you are gay, and that you are actually in a relationship.’

Jack replied, ‘Well we are bi, actually.’

And Martin replied, ‘That might work.’

Then Gabrielle replied, ‘Well I am bi, too, so we can all have some fun.’

Then Jack asked, ‘How much for a night.’

Gabrielle replied, ‘Nothing, as long as we, all get what we want.’

And from that moment on, they were inseparable.

It has been a few years.

And now they are looking for another female to make their relationship complete.

And that was why they were really in Gully Bay.

Jack wanted another woman so Gabrielle had a female friend as well, and Jack wanted that woman to be Olivia.

For he never really saw Olivia as his little sister.

For Gabrielle, often got jealous of Jack and Martin’s relationship.

But if there were to be another woman, Gabrielle did not want her to be more beautiful than she.

For she was not allowed to be better in anyway.

So they had come to meet Olivia.

Which Jack had already told Gabrielle that resented Olivia, because of Olivia, mom’s relationship, with his mother?

Gabrielle was 25; she took very good care of herself and always dressed to stand out.

Gabrielle, had a great eye for fashion and knew how to dress with class.

She had long, black, straight hair that looked like silk, china blue eyes, and her skin was pure white.

She took great care to make sure she was flawless, for when Gabrielle walked into the room, she wanted all eyes on her, and that was exactly what would happen.

Gabrielle was highly intelligent, and everything she did had to be perfect; for example, when Jack asked her to come with him to meet Olivia, by the next week, she had signed up for a Brewster course, so when she met Bee, she could impress her with how good she was in the cafe.

For within the first hour, Gabrielle had started serving customers and showed that she was better than Olivia with how good she was at making the design on top of the coffees.

For Gabrielle, she had to be number one, with everything and everyone, including Bee.

She wanted Bee to like her more than Olivia, and she wanted to make Olivia feel, psychologically, less than her.

For Gabrielle was a sociopath who was very intelligent and loved messing with people’s heads, and she was very good at it.

She wanted Olivia to become more dependent on Martin and less on Bee.

So it would be easy for Martin to get Olivia to New York.

Olivia was just more often there to make others not so suspicious when the three of them were together, for they loved going out and it always looked like Martin was tagging along, and Martin felt a lot of the time like a third wheel for Jack and Gabrielle were a couple, too, now.

Because Jack was very careful when he was out in public not to let others see his love for Martin, he would always introduce Gabrielle as his girlfriend.

Unless there was one of Gabrielle’s girlfriends, and then they would muck around all night, and it would just look like two mates and their girlfriends out on the town for the night or at a party.

Gabrielle did not want children, but both Jack and Martin did. So they decided they would pick a new girl, and she would mother both of their children, so she would have to be the total opposite of Gabrielle, which Olivia was.

This suited Gabrielle for she wanted always to be the one that Jack and Martin always desired.

And it would always be their secret, for they loved having secrets, it was half of the reason they were so close.

All their dirty little secrets.

When Olivia turned up, Jack introduced Olivia as his little sister, for they grew up together, and Jack wanted Olivia to trust him.

Gabrielle could see that she was pure and still very innocent, and she would be easy to manipulate and control.

Jack was 18 years old when he left Gully Bay to become a policeman.

He had just finished telling his mom about New York and was pretending he wanted Bee to move there with him, so they would be close.

But it was really the last thing Jack wanted.

But Bee kept on telling him, ‘No, my life is in Gully Bay,’ and Jack knew that.

Jack was about six foot two tall, with dark brown hair cut short, with blue eyes; he was quite a solid build, with a very strong jaw line and a dimple in the middle of his chin.

And Jack was not one who found it hard finding new lovers, as specially as he worked as an FBI agent, and he was very good at taking advantage of people when they were at their weakest and most vulnerable.

Jack was a narcissistic sociopath.

He got the idea of joining the police department after reading a book, when he was 16, about a serial killer who joined the police department so he could interfere with his own murder cases.

And Jack liked that idea.

He liked that he would be right under their noses and that he would be one of them and they all loved him.

He loved that he was so much more intelligent than his work colleagues and associates.

Jack and Gabrielle were drawn to each other, for they were both narcissistic sociopaths who loved the game of not getting caught.

The three of them thought that they were more intelligent than everyone else around them; they believed that humans were beneath them.

They enjoyed watching Gabrielle belittle Bee, and Bee had no idea she was even doing it.

Gabrielle walked to Jack and whispered in his ear, ‘How long has your mother owned this shop’ and then they looked into each other’s eyes, and they both laughed.

Another customer walked up to the counter and asked Gabrielle if she could make him another cup of coffee, and then he said, ‘It the best coffee I’ve ever had,’ as Bee looked and became quite embarrassed

When he saw the look on Bee’s face, he said jokingly, ‘Except for Bee of course.’

Then Olivia walked into the cafe and saw Jack and ran straight over to him and cuddled him.

Jack ran his fingers through Olivia’s hair and said to her, ‘You changed the colour, Olivia,’ as she smiled and said yes, Jack replied, ‘I like it.’ Olivia was so happy to see Jack, but the look on Martin’s face, as Olivia touched Jack, was not that of love, but of pure hate.

As Martin turned to see Bee looking straight at him, he realised she had seen him.

He looked at Bee with the deadest black eyes.

Bee walked straight out the back of the cafe, where they did all the cooking, and took a deep breath.

And then she walked back out to the front of the cafe, only to see Olivia, Martin, Gabrielle, and Jack laughing and talking, like it had not happened.

Jack and Martin were surprised they both lived in New York, and how they probably have crossed paths many times, but they had not met.

As Martin and Jack were talking about some of the cases that they had both worked on.

Martin said, ‘I am about to start writing, about some of the murders.’

‘That is why I have come to Gully Bay.’

They both were working on some of the same cases.

Jack as a police investigator and Martin as a reporter, there was a case they were working on where there had been five murders, and they were waiting to see if he struck again this spring.

They were both hunting the same serial killer.

Jack told him that the case was doing his head in, for all five victims were from such different geographical diversity and different economic levels, all different racial backgrounds and social circles.

Most of them were in their young early thirties, but then there was one male that was in his sixties.

Then Gabrielle said to them both, when she brought over their coffee, ‘Why don’t you two spend some time together and discuss the case, may be you two might have a break through.’

Martin said to Jack, ‘Yes.’

‘Maybe one day, while we are both here, we could sit down and have a beer, and exchange information.’

But they already knew everything there was to know, about who the killers were.

Martin was just looking for a reason to get Jack alone.

Jack, said ‘Yes, that sounds like a great idea, maybe we can come up, with a profile on this killer.’

Olivia asked, ‘How did they die?’

And Jack replied, ‘They were all hung,’ and then paused to see Olivia’s reaction.

‘And then he leaves a bracelet in their mouth, and covers it up with masking tape, that read shame on you. He was very careful not to leave any evidence or DNA behind; there was no struggle and no forced entry. So he becomes close enough to the victims for them to let him into their homes. Actually, if it was not for the bracelet, We probably would have classed all five murders as suicide.’

Olivia said ‘Oh, that is enough for me, I will be having nightmares for months. He sounds very creepy. I will leave you to it.’

Jack and Martin looked at one another and laughed!

Olivia walked away.

Jack and Martin kept discussing the case, knowing Bee was listening to them, one thing they were sure of was that it had to be a man, and he must have had to be using some kind of drug for all five cases; they had an injection mark on their neck.

But it did not show up on their toxicology reports, nor did any drug and alcohol.

It had police baffled.

The only thing they are sure of is that it is a man, for some of the victims would be too heavy for a woman to pick up on her own.

Martin knew Bee had seen him, and the expression on his face when he saw Olivia touching Jack, so to charm her again, he went up to the counter, where Bee was standing and said to her, ‘I did not realise you were old enough, to have a son Jack’s age.’

‘How old were you when you, had Jack, twelve?’

And everyone heard him and they all laughed and agreed she did not look old enough to be Jack’s mom.

Bee just thought he may have been a bit jealous of Jack and how close he was to Olivia, not knowing they were just like brother and sister, and now he knows he is okay.

Bee could see, in the way Martin spoke, with such a soft voice, to Olivia how in love he was with her.

And it would have never entered Bee’s mind, it was Olivia that he did not like touching Jack.

Then she just thought maybe it’s just me, for she had pretty much helped raise Olivia since she was 1 year old.

For Bee and Lori had become lovers and she felt it was her place to make sure Olivia was always taken care of.

Olivia was only 5 years old when Lori drowned in the lake near their old home.

One day when she took Olivia, who was 5 years old, and Jack, who was 10 years old, on a row boat out on the lake, for it was a beautiful day, and they were