Exceptional Danielle and Callum return home His Silence : His Silence - Chapter Twenty Two by Jacob1395

Background When Harvey murders his parents, he refuses to say why he did it. Twenty years later, he's finally ready to talk. Callum pulls the car to a stop outside my house an hour later. I clutch my bag. I want to go straight to my room, lie down on my bed and go to sleep. At least, after a good nap, I might be able to gather my senses, and think about the best next course of action. Perhaps there’s someone else I should speak to before going back to the house. ‘Danielle, I want you to seriously think about this, please tell me you will,’ Callum says, fixing his gaze on me. I smile at him. ‘Of course, I will. I’ll speak to you later, and thank you for coming with me this weekend, I really appreciate it.’ I slip out of the car and gently push the door shut. Emma’s watching me from the living room window. Great, it doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to go straight up to my room without her questioning me. I curl my fists. Callum drives the car back to the top of the road. I watch him turn the corner, before I head in the direction of the front door, my bag brushing the side of Emma’s white BMW, keeping my head down. Perhaps if I convince Emma I’m tired, she’ll leave me to go straight to my room. ‘So, how was it?’ Emma asks, before I’m even halfway through the front door. She’s staring at me with a big beaming smile, phone in her hand. She’ll be straight on the phone to her sister to let her know how my weekend went I’m sure. They always have a good natter on a Sunday. They’re like a couple of school girl’s gossiping in the school playground when they’re on the phone to each other. ‘Yep it was great,’ I reply, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. ‘So what was the B&B like?’ Emma asks, following me into the kitchen with big curious eyes. What am I going to say to her? I should’ve checked on my phone coming back here what some of the B&B’s in the area look like, to make my story sound more convincing. ‘It was pretty basic y’know. I’m not sure if it would be your cup of tea, but yep it was nice.’ I think of waking up in the middle of the night, finding the imprint on my bed. Emma tuts, then smiles at me. ‘I think you seem to think Michael and I can’t cope unless we’re in a five star luxury hotel, but it wasn’t always like this for us, you know. I might not stretch to a hostel, but I’d be perfectly happy in a B&B.’ ‘What with no turn down service every day and little chocolates left of on the pillows?’ I laugh. ‘Right just gonna go upstairs.’ ‘I’m doing beef for lunch later by the way, Callum could’ve joined us. Why don’t you send him a text and ask him?’ Emma asks as I climb the stairs. ‘I think he wants to get home. You know what his Dad’s like. Call me when lunch is ready.’ I leap frog up the stairs, slamming my bedroom door shut behind me and sit on the edge of my bed, thinking back to the weekend, to everything I learned. Oliver told me someone, the other person, who Harvey supposedly killed, spread lies about him to my parents. What lies? Did Ian want my parent’s to think Oliver was a bad person? The countless articles I’ve read about the case mainly focused on Harvey, me and my family, not the other person who Harvey killed. Ian sort of almost got brushed under the carpet, but what if he’s the key? A podcast covered the case a couple of years ago. The presenter called it, His Silence, referring to my brother’s eighteen year silence at the time he produced it. I’d downloaded each episode, saving them on my computer, scrutinizing every piece of information I could learn. They’d spoken about the other man my brother killed. It was the first podcast I’d listened to, to speak about him at length. I reach for my laptop sitting on my bedside cabinet, open it up, and select the files I want, pressing play, fingers trembling. I need to hear what it was he said. The presenter’s nasally tone fills my room. I lean back on my cushions and close my eyes. ‘Hello and welcome to another episode of His Silence. In this series we are looking into the infamous case of the murders of the Cole family and Ian Jones. My name is Max Hardy; for the past week I’ve been covering this case and revealing everything I know and have uncovered myself about what happened.’ A corny theme tune begins to play. I roll my eyes. A police siren wails through the speakers before the noise fades away. Once again, Max starts speaking. ‘So, one of the most intriguing aspects about this case, which I want to cover in tonight’s episode, is that not only did Harvey bludgeon his parents to death, but he also murdered one of their friends, Ian Jones. It’s been speculated Harvey’s father was the mutual connection here, but this has never been proven, as virtually nothing about their lives, has been uncovered. This leads me to think they must’ve changed their names, otherwise more about them would’ve been found. This is what makes this case so much more intriguing, why it’s continues to endure and haunt us to this day. Now, the media’s primarily focused on Harvey’s parents. The media’s speculated that the reason why the family changed their identity is because of something Harvey did, that forced them to move, but I’ve always thought this man, Ian, is the key to everything. The neighbours in Little Castle claim they saw him before the family moved into the house, where they were to meet their fate, but he never conversed with anyone. As one local put it, everyone who comes to live in Little Castle wants to become integrated with the local community; there are always events going on and it’s a great way to make new friends, and get to know the neighbours. This person also said she thought Ian was controlling, especially of the young family who were staying with him; Harvey, his parents, and Harvey’s sister. So what do we know about Ian? Unfortunately very little, but there must be people out there who do remember him. I think the police failed to pursue this line of enquiry as adequately as they could have. I believe this family and this man were running from something. Is it possible, Ian Jones, was their saviour, or had he taken them against their will? Did Harvey only intend to kill Ian because of what he’d done, but things spiralled out of control? There are so many unanswered questions about this case. It’s like falling into a black hole, once you’re in there’s no escaping the pull of its gravity. It’s why I’ve been fascinated by it for so long. Many of you will be hoping for me to reveal something spectacular tonight, but, I’m afraid, you will have to wait for the second part of this series, I know, I know I’m being a terrible tease here. Now, to tempt you, I have an exciting contact who I will be speaking to in the coming weeks, someone with first-hand knowledge of this case. I’m so excited he’s agreed to talk to me; he’s promised there’s information the public aren’t aware of and is promising to reveal all. So, stay tuned for another episode of His Silence coming soon where we’ll delve even further into darkness and perhaps, together we might uncover something that blows this case out of the water.’ I press pause. I’ve read about the proposed theory that the reason my family moved and changed their names, was because of something Harvey did. People often move to start anew, if they’re forced out of an area because of a crime that’s been committed. The police even asked me about this when they interviewed me. I’d shaken my head and said no. They’d asked me where we’d come from and I couldn’t say, because . . . because Mum told me not to say anything. She said if I told anyone, I’d be in trouble. Big trouble. A lump wedges in my throat. At the time I thought, whoever did this would come back for me. The police asked me to draw the place we’d left. I’d drawn a white house. I can see it now. I’d drawn the four of us standing outside, stick figures, it was all I could manage, not much for the police to work on. I rub my eyes. Max knows how to grab his listener’s attention. There would’ve been thousands of true-crime fans across the world, waiting with bated breath for what he had to say next. This was the last podcast recorded. There never was a follow-up, despite Max’s alluring promises. Two years ago, I considered getting in touch with Max, but decided against it, fearing he would end up being some nutter who wouldn’t leave me alone. I’ve no idea if he did find out more about Ian. Did he even speak to the police officer he was referring to? I want to know why he never made another podcast. I find Max’s website. He’s not covered my family’s case in the last two years. I thought he was obsessed with the mystery. There’s an about section on his website, I click on it; he’s in his late thirties and lives in Suffolk, not too far away. There’s a picture of him, his arms are folded across his chest, and his dark hair’s a little untidy. He’s standing in a wooded area, a solemn expression on his face, looking like he’s about to star in some paranormal investigator drama, the kind Emma and Michael love watching. Should I be doing this? I drum my finger nails on my laptop. There’s a contact form on his website for people to get in touch. I click in the box and begin to type a message.             Hi Max,             This is a difficult message for me to write, my name is Danielle Olsen; my brother, Harvey murdered my parents twenty years ago. You covered my family’s case in 2022 on your podcast, and I really want to know if you managed to find out anything more about Ian, the other person who my brother killed. You were going to do another episode, but I don’t think you ever did. I would really appreciate it if you could get back in touch with me as soon as possible. Can I do this? It’s like my heart’s ready to burst. Callum’s warning from weeks ago filters through; the moment you invite one nutter into your life, the rest are going to start crawling. I shake the thought out of my head, and press send.

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