“Did you kill them?”

The brown haired man tapped his fingers on the table, staring at the red head as he waited for her to answer him. The young girl sitting opposite to him turned her face away, her body trembling. The man held a frown on his face and grabbed the file sitting on the table.

“In here are pictures of the five murder victims, each one mutilated to the point that we can’t even identify them”

He emptied the contents of the file onto the table, five pictures of five females, brutally murdered, spread across the table. The girl tensed her eyes widen slightly before she shuts them quickly, turning her head away once again.

“I-I don’t want to see them”

He slammed his hand on the table shocking her, “Look”

She jumped at his tone and slowly turned around and opened her eyes revealing bright, glossy amber orbs, her eyes focus on the five pictures in front of her. The man watched for her reaction, the same stern look on his face. Her eyes darted to each picture, her face gradually loosing it's colour.

“I’ll ask you one more time, did you or did you not kill these people”

Her eyes began to water and she quickly brushed the back of her hand under them, she shook her head desperately, the words stuck at the back of her throat.

“Then can you tell me why you were found in the alley late at night, less than a meter away from the crime scene?"

She began to rub her eyes in attempt to stop the tears that were now falling down her cheeks.

“I live near there, you must believe me, I was just passing by I had no hand in these murders...please... just take the pictures away, I can’t bear to take another look at them”

The man silently took the pictures away, not once taking his eyes off the girl.

“Then can you tell why you were out so late, no sane parent would allow their child to wonder the streets at night”

Her jaw twitched slightly but other than that she kept her eyes on his.

“I-I snuck out, everyone does it, and surely you have to!”

The man’s harsh stare softens ever so slightly at the girl before letting out a deep sigh, laying back into his chair.

“Who am I kidding; questioning a kid will get me nowhere”

He stood from his chair, pushing it under the table before looking at the girl again.

“I’ll go and talk to them about letting you go, miss?”

“Jessica”

He nodded his head at her before introducing himself.

“Detective James”

She nodded her head at the man and watched as he exited the room. She then turned to stare at the table, a frown on her face. Her back hunched causing her face to droop closer to the table.

Detective James walked back into the room not long after, closing the door behind himself. He wore a grim look on his face and sighed running his fingers through his long chocolate mess of hair.

“You’re free to go-

The red head stood up, pushing the chair in, happy to hear that she could leave the police station. Before she could walk out of the room, James grabbed her arm, stopping her from escaping.

“BUT- I have to escort you home”

She blinked a few times before processing what he'd said.Wiggling her wrist free from his grip she turned around to look at him a smiled awkwardly.

“Why do you have to do that? I’m pretty sure I'm capable of walking home myself”

“I’m sure you are, but bosses orders”

"b-but-

He rolled his eyes at her before letting out a groan of annoyance,

"Look I don't like it anymore than you do but stop fussing and let's go, I don't want to spend the rest of my shift with some kid"

She bit her lip, swallowing the lump in her throat, before letting out a small sigh, accepting the fact that he was walking her home even if they both were against it.

“Come with me”

James walked towards the door and opened it, turning back to face Jessica, who was standing still in the same spot.He cocked an eyebrow at her, tapping his foot on the floor.

“Hurry up!”

“Y-yes!”

She swiftly made her way to the door and followed him as he grabbed his coat and made his way outside of the building. She shivered slightly as the cold winter winds attacked her skin; she was wearing a vest like top made from a thin material that hung loose around torso and loosely fitted trousers that barely made it to her ankles. She was a right odd sight.

Jessica looked at James's coat in envy, he saw her staring at him, giving her a weird look. Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something.

“I-’m cold”

“Is that so, maybe you should bring a coat next time”

He glanced at her clothes, “And maybe you should wear more suitable clothing”

She gaped at him in shock, what happened to chivalry. This man had just trampled on the word and then thrown it aside as of it meant nothing to him, he was awful. She wrapped her arms around herself, narrowing her eyes as shecarried on walking towards the main street, in silence.

James finally stopped as they arrived at the main street and asked her the dreaded question,

“So where do you live, I can’t take you there without knowing”

She gulped and looked down the street, desperation in her eyes. He looked at her, his eyes narrowing before repeating his question.

“Look girl, I don’t have all the time in the world, just tell me where you home is”

She instantly pointed down the street, “It down there, just follow me and we’ll get there”

“Where is there”

“I-I can’t remember the name of the street...”

“You don’t remember the name of the street you live on”

She shook her head, attempting to hide the terror in her eyes from him.

“T-thorns-

“Thornsbury?”

She nods her head, trying to smile at him, “Yes that’s the one”

“Very well, let’s go then”

They both begin to walk again, making their way down the main street, turning at an alley half way down. Soon enough they came to a sign that said ‘Thornsbury’ on it.

“I’m almost home now; you can leave if you want”

“No...I think I’ll come with you, just to make sure you get inside”

She nodded her head at him slowly, licking her drying lips.

“So what house is it?”

“We’re almost there”

He nodded his head acknowledging her reply before walking again, Jessica stops outside a house, number 11 Thornsbury road. The house was on the smaller side, the wood was painted eggshell and the door was a darker cream. He looked at the house before looking at her.

“Very well go inside”

She nodded her head and walked up the stairs, glancing at James before meeting the front door. She gulped once again, holding out her hand towards the handle.

“Please be open”

She took the handle and turned it-it was locked. Her eyes widened, she tried again but it was locked.

“What’s taking you so long?”

“N-nothing It seems they’ve locked it, there should be a key under the mat outside”

She looked down at the mat she was standing on and bent down, slowly lifting up the edge. She smiled when she saw that there was a small silver key lodged in the crack of the path underneath it. She pulled it out and pushed it into the lock, twisting it. The door unlocked. The smiled on her face widened.

“Goodbye detective!”

She turned to wave her hand before turning the handle and walking inside the house.

James watched as she closed the door behind her, an unsatisfied look adorned his face. He waited a few more seconds before turning around and making his way back to the station.

“Stupid kid”

Jessica leant against the door, she held her breath, her eyes darting left and right, watching for any signs of the house owners waking up. It was an old couple that lived in the house and she knew this because she had once been lucky enough to have been invited in, the couple were nice. She wasn’t sure how they would react to finding her inside their house past midnight.

After a few more minutes of waiting she opened the door slightly, peeping outside. The man was nowhere to be seen; she let out a sigh of relief. Carefully she crept out of the house, closing the door and locking it behind her. She made sure to lodge the key into the same position before running down the street, far away from the house and the station.

“That was close call, and what an awful man he was”

She sat herself down on a wall, staring up at the night sky. She watched as a sky shot through the sky, a shooting star. She smiled a wished upon it.

“I wish to finally find what I’ve been looking for...and if possible never to see that awful man again”

She chuckled at herself, finding it silly that she still took it upon herself to make wishes. Jessica jumped off the wall and dusted herself down before making her way down the street once again.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Her eyes widen at the sound of the voice.

“Clarinette"