Status: FIRST DRAFT
12 Hours
Chapter One
Detective Angela Andrews awoke to the sound of her mobile phone and her pager going off in unison.
She rolled on to her side and checked the alarm clock on her bedside table. It was 4:16 in the morning. Why?!
Angela flipped open her phone as she searched her bed for her pager. She had slept in her work clothes again.
"Detective Andrews here." She held the phone in her left hand.
"Morning, Detective." It was her boss. A normally cheerful man but this morning he sounded grim.
Angela felt her stomach sink: it took a lot to upset this man.
"You'll need to come in," he continued, "We've found the body of an eighteen year old male."
Angela's boss, whose name was Jeremy, told her the location of the murder scene and Angela was showered, dressed, and there in half an hour.
"Right, so what's the story?" Angela asked, shielding her hands from the early morning chill in her coat pockets.
Jeremy replied in his deep voice, "At about 0400 hours an early morning jogger stumbled upon the body of the man lying face down off to the side of the path. He approached the man, thinking he was passed out, only to find something more sinister. The deceased man, who we have identified as John Sheppard, appears to have been strangled to death and left in the park."
"May I see the body, sir?" Angela asked.
"In a second," Jeremy's eyes were filled with despair, "there's something else."
"What?"
"There was a piece of paper found, stapled to the man's chest." Jeremy reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a plastic evidence bag. Inside was a hastily hand-scrawled note.
Jeremy handed the bag to Angela and she read:
Hello, Detective Andrews.
I have kidnapped twelve people. Here is the first.
You will continue to find these bodies every hour, until I am given the exact sum of fifity-one thousand, one-hundred-and-fifteen million, one-hundred-and-one thousand, one-hundred-and-ten dollars and fifty-one cents.
If I do not receive this money in the next 11 hours here is what you will find,
1. strangulation
2. punctured lungs
3. drowned
4. shot
5. slashed wrists
6. decapitated
7. cut in half
8. scalped
9. melted
10. skinned
11. burnt alive
12. ripped apart
I trust you will do the right thing Detective.
Angela felt a chill run down her spine. Killed by a psychotic murderer. Twelve deaths in twelve hours. Unless she could stop them. It was now up to her.
She wished for the second time that morning that she had chosen a different profession.
She rolled on to her side and checked the alarm clock on her bedside table. It was 4:16 in the morning. Why?!
Angela flipped open her phone as she searched her bed for her pager. She had slept in her work clothes again.
"Detective Andrews here." She held the phone in her left hand.
"Morning, Detective." It was her boss. A normally cheerful man but this morning he sounded grim.
Angela felt her stomach sink: it took a lot to upset this man.
"You'll need to come in," he continued, "We've found the body of an eighteen year old male."
Angela's boss, whose name was Jeremy, told her the location of the murder scene and Angela was showered, dressed, and there in half an hour.
"Right, so what's the story?" Angela asked, shielding her hands from the early morning chill in her coat pockets.
Jeremy replied in his deep voice, "At about 0400 hours an early morning jogger stumbled upon the body of the man lying face down off to the side of the path. He approached the man, thinking he was passed out, only to find something more sinister. The deceased man, who we have identified as John Sheppard, appears to have been strangled to death and left in the park."
"May I see the body, sir?" Angela asked.
"In a second," Jeremy's eyes were filled with despair, "there's something else."
"What?"
"There was a piece of paper found, stapled to the man's chest." Jeremy reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a plastic evidence bag. Inside was a hastily hand-scrawled note.
Jeremy handed the bag to Angela and she read:
Hello, Detective Andrews.
I have kidnapped twelve people. Here is the first.
You will continue to find these bodies every hour, until I am given the exact sum of fifity-one thousand, one-hundred-and-fifteen million, one-hundred-and-one thousand, one-hundred-and-ten dollars and fifty-one cents.
If I do not receive this money in the next 11 hours here is what you will find,
1. strangulation
2. punctured lungs
3. drowned
4. shot
5. slashed wrists
6. decapitated
7. cut in half
8. scalped
9. melted
10. skinned
11. burnt alive
12. ripped apart
I trust you will do the right thing Detective.
Angela felt a chill run down her spine. Killed by a psychotic murderer. Twelve deaths in twelve hours. Unless she could stop them. It was now up to her.
She wished for the second time that morning that she had chosen a different profession.