Page 6 of Headless Hollow

It was eerily quiet as I tentatively stepped up to the sheriff and showed him my badge. He stepped out of the way and my hand immediately went to my mouth as I spotted Branson with his hands on his knees as he stared at the bed. Betsy’s head sat on one pillow while her body was propped up beside her. She was holding a book in her hands and her ankles were neatly crossed like she’d been sitting there reading when her head simply fell off.

“Oh my god,” I whispered and walked to Branson. I wasn’t sure what to do to console him. There was pain in his eyes even if he wasn’t openly crying. Christian and I had been split for a while and we’d emotionally evacuated the relationship before that, but I couldn’t even imagine how I would feel if we’d been madly in love with plans to get married. “Branson, I’m so sorry.”

He stood up straight and wiped away a lone tear sliding down his cheek. “I’ll be fine. I just want to catch this bastard and have this nightmare behind me.”

“I’m sorry for your loss, Detective Crane. But I’ll have to ask you a couple questions since you had a relationship with the victim.” Branson nodded, his eyes slowly turning away from the bed to look at the sheriff.

“Is this really necessary right now,” I asked, but Branson put his hand on my shoulder.

“It’s okay. I’d rather get this over with now. Ask me whatever you need to, Sheriff.”

“I’ll give you some privacy. May I inspect the body,” I asked.

“Yes, our M.E. is still on another call so feel free.” I walked away from the two men, and even though they spoke in hushed tones, I could still clearly hear every word. I didn’t want to be the eavesdropper, and yet, I couldn’t stop myself from listening in as I gingerly leaned over to take a closer look at the body. “What was your relationship with Ms. Hardenbrook?”

“We had been engaged.”

“But you weren’t anymore?”

“No, we split about a year ago and she moved away six months ago.”

I wanted to whip around and yell what? All this time, I thought they were still together, but he’d never said a word.

“When was the last time you spoke to Ms. Hardenbrook?”

“A few weeks ago. Betsy…Ms. Hardenbrook called because I’d been storing items in my garage for her. She didn’t want to move the boxes twice and was in an apartment for a while. She said she’d found a new home, and we set up a time for her to come by and pick up the rest of her things.”

“So, you didn’t deliver them?”

“No, this is the first time I’ve been here,” Branson said.

“And how did she seem?”

I saw Branson shrug out of the corner of my eye. “Normal, happy. She mentioned having a new job and that she was dating again.” He cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest. “I was happy for her. We’d been together for years, but we had our differences. She didn’t like me being a detective and said that the worry was becoming too much for her. Betsy never wanted to get married or have a family in a situation like that. I didn’t want to give up my career, and that said it all for where we were. We’d simply grown apart and decided it was time to go our separate ways.”

“So, the split was amicable?”

“Yes, I guess you could say that. We were both living our new normal. There was no huge arguments or hard feelings if that is what you’re getting at. I wished nothing but the best for her and I think she felt the same about me.”

“I’m really sorry to ask this, but where were you the last couple of nights?”

“Don’t answer that,” I said and turned to face the sheriff. “You can’t possibly think that Detective Crane had anything to do with this?”

The sheriff rubbed the back of his neck. “I have to ask the question. It’s protocol to ask the spouse or person the victim was dating.”

“Detective Crane already explained that they broke up for some time. Long enough to be dating someone else or make an enemy. Besides, if this is the work of the Horseman, which it looks like it is at first glance, then it would be more likely that this is a personal attack to hurt Detective Crane, making him just as much a victim.”

“I know that, but….”

“No buts. He doesn’t have to answer another question without a lawyer present,” I said, glaring at the man as I went into full protection mode.

“Izzy, it’s fine. I have nothing to hide. I’ve been working night and day on the Headless Horseman case. I’m practically living at the station. But last night, I was catching a few hours of sleep after working an eighteen-hour day when I got a call from Izzy that the Horseman had left a body at her home. We were in the process of putting her into protective detail when you called.”

The sheriff ran a hand through his thinning hair. “Sounds like the two of you have made a very dangerous enemy.”

“We’ve been on this case since the first body was left on display, and we’ve both been dedicating every waking hour to hunting this sicko down,” I said and looked over my shoulder at Betsy. We’d never been friends, and I always envied her relationship with Branson, but I never wanted her dead. “I think we must have uncovered something that is bringing us closer to an arrest. This is his way of telling us to back off. He knew enough about each of our personal lives to go after the people that would hurt us.” Not that I was broken up over Christian, but that wasn’t the point and there was no reason to give the sheriff that information. It was completely irrelevant, I most certainly didn’t kill him.

I shook my head and thought about what Branson had said regarding Eli. He’d arrived fourteen months ago, and the Horseman started killing two months after that. Maybe there really was something to his theory. Shit.