Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 91

Frowning, Vivian pulled a few more books from the shelf to reveal the door of a safe.

*Huh…* she thought to herself as she stared at what had to be a scanner of some kind. Did it need a fingerprint? A specific eye? Whatever it was, she didn’t have any way of opening it and knew attempting to break in would be a waste of time.

Putting the books back on the shelf, she decided that was enough snooping for one day and, after giving the office a once over to make sure it looked the same as it had when she’d arrived, Vivian returned to her room. Only when the door shut did she release a sigh in relief. No one had caught her in the act; she’d gotten away with it this time.

Opening her laptop, she took a few minutes to transfer the photos over.

*Should I have gotten a copy of Detective Mersey’s file*, she wondered absently as she organized the photos from her phone. *Too late now, I guess, but she doesn’t really interest me. If she’d never tricked me that one time… Besides, I’d bet my life it was Paul’s idea, not hers, to do that. Except… there might be something in there that’d tell me how he could get her to do something so stupid.*

Letting out another sigh, Vivian focused on the screen as she pulled up the first page.

What she knew of the man was piecemeal, all over the place in terms of context and history. She knew he wasn’t close to his family — because during those eight years she’d only ever met one person she could distinctly remember. Piercing, pale blue eyes were the most prominent feature in her mind, followed by a cleft chin. Rough hands had picked her up and held her in the air for what felt like an eternity to a young Vivian as the man looked her over with those cold eyes.

The sound of his voice… she could remember being scared of this stranger because of how he spoke, but couldn’t recall what he’d said. Whatever it was had enraged Paul. The strange, cold man hadn’t come by again.

A few stories had slipped through over the years, stories he told about things that happened when he was a child. As a child herself, none of it had mattered, but looking back Vivian wondered if any of it had been real or just made up to give credence to whatever he was talking about.

From the files, she learned he’d been raised by a single mother. She’d worked less than reputable jobs and he’d probably been conceived during one such job. Nowhere was the father listed, meaning it was likely even she hadn’t known who the lucky man was.

Over the years, his mother had found reputable employment, moved them to a better part of town… His school life wasn’t much to look at; as smart as the man was today, his grades were only average. There were a few odd reports about him being accused of bullying but nothing seemed to come of them.

He hadn’t bothered with post-secondary education and joined the police academy after his twenty-second birthday.

*I wonder what made him want to be a police officer*, Vivian wondered as she scrolled through the transcripts from the academy. *From the look of it, he wasn’t too into the whole thing. Average across the board… even the notes from his teachers basically say he’s meeting requirements but not bothering to push himself.*

She knew a bit about that. Coasting by with the bare minimum was something Vivian had done before, and it was always when things were in this weird state of limbo; she didn’t know where she was going, or what was going to happen so why bother trying?

Paul had been a patrol officer for almost ten years before suddenly transferring to a precinct a few hours north of the city.

The date of the transfer caught her eye, causing Vivian’s heart to stop. It was a week after she’d been born. Did that mean he’d kept her pregnant mother in the city for nine months? Why? Why wait until after the birth?

*Mom said she wasn’t supposed to be able to carry a child to term*, Vivian remembered, leaning back in her chair. *High risk pregnancy… maybe he had to stay in the city because she’d been pregnant.*

Vivian knew the labour had been intense and almost killed her mother; staying close to where medical professionals could be called at a moment’s notice was the smart thing to do. Especially when the place they’d moved to after she’d been born had only a tiny hospital, if it could be called that. Giving birth there would have ended in her mother’s death and probably Vivian’s as well.

From there he worked as a patrol officer for just over eight years before taking a six month medical leave. That had to be because Vivian had shot him in self defense, after he’d murdered her mother. It took time to heal from that sort of injury.

The next page was confusing. It was a report about a carjacking gone wrong. Vivian scanned it, her confusion increasing with every sentence.

It said a family of three had been out on a drive when they’d gotten jumped at a stop sign. The driver was pulled from the vehicle, shot and left for dead while the carjacker jumped in and took off with his wife and child.

The details seemed legitimate, but why was it in Paul’s file? Vivian scanned it again and realized the name of the survivor was Paul. But this had never happened, so how was this possible? The name of the wife and child weren’t right, either. Annika and Veronica? What was this about? Who were they?

Another report followed the first, about how the vehicle was located a few days later, torched. Two sets of remains were found inside and deemed to be Paul’s wife and child.

“But I’m not dead…” Vivian muttered. Did he stage this? Why? What purpose did this serve? Why had he given fake names for them?