morning shift

So originally I wasn’t going to post this but I think I’m going to anyways but here’s chapter 4 of my midsomer murders story. I would appreciate it if I could get some reblogs and comments please let me know what you guys think!

Tags @neptunium134 @bluesfortheredj @ihaveacrush @aureatemoonshine @secrets-ill-take-to-my-grave let me know if you want to be added or removed!

chapter one chapter two chapter three

 Chapter 4 

John awoke early, eager to put the last pieces of his current case together. It was well after noon before he returned to the station, happy with the arrest he and Nelson had just made. Well, at least until he saw his wife sitting in his office with a stern look on her face. “Sarah what brings you here?” inquired Nelson. “So John hasn’t told you then eh?” Sarah glared over at her husband. “No word from Elizabeth then?” John stuttered, attempting to avoid eye contact with Sarah. Curiously Nelson looked back and forth between John and Sarah, waiting for someone to tell him what was going on. Sarah finally looked over at Nelson, seeing his concern, she walked towards him, “Elizabeth is missing, I can’t seem to get a hold of her, and it has been 24 hours since I last heard from her. Please go search for her, this is the paper she left me that tells where all she intended to go yesterday. All her important numbers are on the other side of the paper, I also made sure to jot down her number as well.” Sarah handed Nelson the paper, as she turned to leave she made sure to give her husband one final glare. “Well guess we better get looking then! Hmmm, seems she went to Badger’s drift, sorta an odd place to go. Wait, should we call her parents?” pondered Nelson. “No! Well not yet at least, lets just go look around Badgers drift first see what we can find. No point alarming them if everything is fine.” John replied. Nelson stared at John inquisitively before slightly shrugging his shoulders and heading for the car. They spent the rest of the afternoon interviewing the people at all the stops she had made trying to find some sort of lead. Most everyone claimed they saw her but hadn’t noticed anything suspicious.

 Finally, at the church, they found some answers. “Hello I’m DCI Barnaby and this is DS Nelson. We have some questions for you. Did you by chance happen to see this woman at all yesterday?” John asked the priest, showing him a picture of Elizabeth. “Yes I did. She came here shortly after lunch, and said she wanted to admire the church.” the priest replied. “Did you happen to notice anything out of the ordinary? Or perhaps seen where she went after admiring this church?” Nelson inquired. “Well, while she was admiring the church, I could have sworn I saw what looked like a man and a woman watching her through the windows. After she left I saw her head towards that park. I’m uncertain if the couple followed her over or not.” he responded. “Thank you sir. Nelson let’s go.” Barnaby replied sternly. “Sir, he said a couple was watching her. That doesn’t match Elizabeth’s description of an old woman.” “Well Nelson if she has indeed been kidnapped, it’s not like an old woman could easily do that herself.” John replied as they began to walk over towards the park. They began to scour the park for any form of clues, “Over here sir!” Nelson shouted at John. John ran over to where Nelson was crouched down under the shade of an enormous tree. He could see remnants of food wrappers, carefully he put on a glove and picked up one of the wrappers. Sure enough Elizabeth’s name was written on it, meaning they belonged to her. Among the few wrappers was an out of place black cloth. “Nelson please pick up that cloth and take it to Kate in forensics to look at. Have her test it not just for fingerprints but also for drugs.” John asked. At that moment John’s cell started to ring, it was Sarah. “Hey Sarah, it seems you were right, it appears Elizabeth has been taken. Sarah, what’s wrong?” All John could hear was sobbing on the other end of the line. “Oh John, they sent a video to my phone, using her phone! It was awful! She was tied up, and they were making awful threats!” Sarah sobbed. “We’ll be right there!” John bellowed, hanging up the phone. “Sir? What happened?” Nelson asked, confused at the sudden urgency. “We have to get back to the house now. They sent a video to Sarah’s phone.” he commanded. They immediately drove back to John’s house, and watched the video. It was truly awful, like Sarah had mentioned, they had Elizabeth tied up and were threatening her life. They offered to possibly spare her if they called Gavin Troy. Elizabeth hollered at them to not call him because they would kill him, but before she could finish the sentence the video cut out. John sighed as he sat down at the table next to Sarah. “Sir we definitely need to call her parents now. There’s no way we can do this without telling them, and sounds like we will need her father to have any hope of saving her.” Nelson said, as the shock slowly wore off. “I know Nelson, please just take the cloth sample to the lab. It’s late, I think it’s for the best if I just wait until morning. I need some time to get my thoughts clear before I tell her father. Now goodnight Nelson.” John dismissed him. Reluctantly Nelson left, calling Kate as he made his way to the lab asking her to meet him there. Early the next morning John met Charlie and Kate at the lab. “Well it was as I suspected Chloroform. Probably used to knock her out so they wouldn’t meet any resistance or draw any attention to themselves. Though unfortunately I was unable to find any fingerprints.” Kate stated. “Thank you Kate, well I guess I can’t keep avoiding it, time to call her father.”. Gavin was in the middle of interrogating a prime suspect for his case when his phone started to ring. At first he was just going to ignore it, but he noticed the area code was from Midsomer, so he stepped out to answer it. “Troy here.” Gavin answered casually.  “Hi Gavin this is John Barnaby. I’m calling with some well, bad news. I’d recommend you sit down before I continue.” John said. “What happened?! Tell me now please.” Gavin replied, starting to sound frantic. “Well a little over 48 hours ago your daughter went missing. All we have is a video that threatens her life, unless we got you involved, and a few witnesses.” Gavin almost dropped the phone in shock. Trying his best to use a calm voice he replied, “I’ll be there as soon as possible.” He immediately hung up the phone and darted back into the interrogation room, motioning for his sergeant to step outside with him. “Elizabeth has been kidnapped, I need to get to Midsomer and help them to find her. I’m putting you in charge of this case, but do not make an arrest without getting a hold of me first. Are we clear?” Gavin asked, his voice shaking. “Yes sir! Best of luck,I hope she will be okay.” The sergeant shouted at him as Gavin had turned and started to sprint towards his car. Frantically he hopped into the car and started to drive. After a few moments it hit him that he should tell his wife what was happening. At the first stoplight he quickly grabbed his cell phone and dialed his wife. “Hey honey! How’s the case going? You would not believe what happened today.” Cully answered cheerfully. “Cully, honey, please sit down….I have some bad news.”. There was silence for a moment before Cully replied, “Gavin, what’s happened? What’s wrong? Please don’t let it be Elizabeth.”. Gavin could tell she was starting to cry. “Honey, relax please, but yes unfortunately it’s Elizabeth. John just called me, apparently she has been kidnapped. I’m on my way to Midsomer right now.” All he could hear was his wife sobbing, he felt terrible for leaving her behind, but it was probably for the best. “Cully, please go to your parent’s house, let them know what is going on. I may need your father’s input on this as well. I’ll call you when I arrive and am able to get more information dear.” Gavin said, in an attempt to comfort Cully. “Oh Gavin, this is terrible! Please be careful dear, and make sure you both come out of this in one piece.” Cully sobbed. As the call ended Gavin had become even more determined to get to midsomer as fast as he could and find their daughter. He just hoped he wasn’t too late.