New Scotland Yard, Westminster, London
Thursday, the 4th July
5:50 p.m.
*  

It still was awfully silent in the interrogation room. The older detective had left sometime during Keith's last explanations, not that he had minded though. It was the younger detective who was trying to find out the truth, if the other one had to lead this case on his own, it probably would just disappear into the basement with all the other unsolved cases. 

Keith feared that despised the younger man's eagerness it still would end up there. The guitarist had been present during the whole thing and he couldn't even figure out what actually had happened, so how should the detective?

To be completely honest, Keith didn't want to know what had happened to Brian Jones anyway. From his point of view the guy had nearly asked for it.

He sighed. 

"After Miss Jones finished her story, nobody said much. We were all a bit speechless and well just wanted to go home... The driver was supposed to come back soon, so we waited until-"

*

Cotchford farm, Hartfield, East Sussex.
Wednesday, the 3rd July
12.45 a.m
*

"Where the fuck are they?

The singer could be loud and even worse he could be cranky, if he didn't get what he wanted,  but in this case Keith shared Mick's moodiness.

The clock had struck 12 and everyone's faces seemed to momentarily relax, but with every passing minute the tension crawled back in until Mick couldn't stand it anymore and let his anger out.

"You told us somebody would pick us up at midnight! It's 45 minutes past that, so where the fuck are they?"

Miss Jones only trembled. She still looked miserable. Janet had at least cleaned her wound and bandaged it up with a towel.

"Maybe they're only late, because of the storm," the nurse offered and Miss Jones smiled thankfully at her. 

"That has to be it..." she stuttered out. "They'll come when it is over..."

"That could take the whole damn night by the look of it..." Frank commented, as if to underline his statement he lifted the curtains and though it was pitch black outside, they all could very well see what he meant... A heavy rain was still hitting the windows.

"So what now? We'll wait here until the morning and pray nothing else happens?" Mick retorted. The eye roll was nearly audible in his voice.

"Tom killed them... so we're safe..." Anna mumbled. "We'll just have to wait."

"And what if it wasn't Tom?" Janet meekly said. "He- why should he? Frank had a better reason to kill them!"

And maybe he had made Tom's death only look like a suicide...

She hadn't voiced it, and she didn't need to. The thought was visible on everyone's face. Beside Tom, Frank was the only other person Keith would have suspected. Charlie couldn't hurt a fly and neither were the 3 girls physically strong enough to carry Mr. Lewis to the pool or to massacre the guy in the bedroom. That only left Mick, Frank and Tom. Mick was a lot, and he certainly could kill the patience of someone, but another person? No. Blimey the singer had puked at the sight of the dismembered person, that hardly sounded like something a coldblooded killer would do... and Keith was doubting Mick was strong enough to carry a 80 kg body from the house to the garden. 

That really only left Frank and Tom. 

Frank had a reason to kill Mr. Lewis too, if the rumours were true and he had killed Brian, but contrary to Tom he hadn't disappeared and hadn't really been alone long enough to kill anyone...

"I was with someone else the whole time! When should I have done this?" Frank exclaimed loudly as if he had heard Keith's thoughts.

"I don't trust you! I-I-It's safer if I just go upstairs and lock myself up in a bedroom until this is over!" Anna retorted. "Everyone else should do the same!"

Janet's face wavered. "Are you sure?"

"I don't want to stay here with him! Do you?"

Janet shock her head and before anyone else could say anything they left the room together.

"I'll go with them and keep an eye on them... just to be sure," Charlie said and disappeared into the same direction as the girls just a moment earlier. 

"It would be the safest if we all stayed together..." Miss Jones whispered, but no one bothered to answer her. 

Keith could understand the girls point. Frank wasn't his favourite person either, but he could hardly do anything if everyone else was with him in the same room... He sighed and sat back down by the table and emptied the last wine bottle... He seriously hoped it wasn't the last though. He needed as much alcohol as he could have after everything that had happened... And who knew what could still happen during the rest of the night?

Though Keith hated to admit it, but he nearly wanted something to happen again. As eventful as the evening had started off as boring was it now. Time didn't seem to pass at all and there was indeed nothing to drink left. 

The most interesting that was happening was Mick talking to Miss Jones, probably still trying to charm her. Keith could only roll his eyes. Three people had died and one attacked, but leave it to Mick to try to get somebody to have sex with him. He wasn't very lucky though, Miss Jones kept her distance. She still looked too shaken up to pay any mind to the singer's advances.  Keith would have usually laughed, but he wasn't really in the mood. 

He wanted sleep, a drink or to get away from here... Preferably all three. 

Maybe he should just lay down on the couch in the living room and perhaps try to get some sleep until somebody finally picked them up, he thought. It would probably be for the best. Keith didn't like to admit it, but he no longer had the energy he used to have. He was getting older too and on some days he could definitely feel it. Never mind... who wouldn't feel tired after a night like this?

"Let's move to the living room, I need sleep," he announced, interrupting Mick, who glared at him. "It's more comfortable there for everyone," Keith added.

Miss Jones nodded. "That might be a good idea."

Neither Mick nor Frank said anything after that. The singer would have agreed to anything as long as it gained him some favours with the young woman and Frank, it was hard to tell what was going on with him. He seemed exhausted too, but at the same time he seemed in a way nervous, which made Keith frown. What was his problem, he wondered and he grew further suspicious as the builder didn't move as the rest of the group got up and made their way towards the living room. Miss Jones frowned too, but didn't say a word and neither did Keith. 

They knew they couldn't force Frank to come with them... and truth been told the guitarist didn't mind to be rid of the other man. There still was a possibility he had something to do with what had happened tonight... was it a great idea then to leave him on his own?

Maybe not, but he could hardly do anything as long as the rest of them stayed together in a group. 

With a loud yawn Keith laid down on the couch and immediately felt his eyes grew heavy. Miss Jones chuckled at something Mick had said and Keith's last thought before he drifted off was "and another one falls for his tricks...".

*

Cotchford farm, Hartfield, East Sussex.
Wednesday, the 3rd July
2.45 a.m

*

Keith had no idea how long he had been asleep for when he abruptly woke up, but he was sure it couldn't have been that long. It was still dark outside and the storm as well was still going on. Mick nor Miss Jones hadn't moved either, they were still where they had been when he had closed his eyes, though the worried look on their face was new.

Keith rubbed his eyes half asleep, considering just falling back asleep and not minding the other two. He changed his mind immateriality at Miss Jones next words.

"Nothing happened, right? I-I- that was just the thunder, not a scream..."

Her tone made it obvious what she really believed and Keith was wide awake in a minute.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Somebody yelled out- one of the girls by the sound of it and then we heard glass breaking... It probably is nothing though. Just the storm," Mick explained.  His tone was calm, but his face betrayed him. The singer was worried, really worried.

"We should check on the others, just to be sure," Keith said and got up as did the other two to follow right after him. They first went to the dinning hall, which was empty. Frank was the last person Keith cared about at the moment though, he was more worried about Charlie and the two girls. Without a word he run upstairs, Mick and Miss Jones right at his heel. 

Charlie was the first person they spotted. 

He stood in the floor and was knocking on a door, while calling out Anna's name. Next to him was Janet, who was trembling.

"What happened?" Keith asked as he stepped next to the drummer, who stopped the knocking for a second. 

"We don't know. Anna suddenly yelled out, so we wanted to check on her, but the door is locked and she's not answering..."

"Fuck," Keith mumbled. "We nee-"

"Is everyone okay?" Frank interrupted him,who suddenly appeared behind Miss Jones.

Strange, Keith thought, where did he come from? 

He narrowed his eyes and his suspicion that the builder had something to do with everything that had happened tonight grew, even if this wasn't the right time to wonder about it. They needed to make sure Anna was fine first.

"Anna yelled out and her door is locked,"Janet explained this time. 

"We need to break down the door." All eyes were on Keith, who apparently was the only one to have that idea. "It's the only way... we have to make sure Anna is fine. Has anyone ever done this before?"

Everyone shock their head, making Keith sigh.

"It can't be that difficult..." He mumbled as he kicked the door full force just like he had seen in some movie once. It didn't open and his foot hurt, but he had no time to worry about that.

He needed nearly 10 tries until the door gave up and he could step into the room as a cold wind blew into his face, coming from the remains of the window. 

Keith gulped hard as he stepped more into the room and closer to the window feeling glass shards underneath his shoes. There was no trace off Anna in the room, which lead to a horrible suspicion- The room had been locked, which meant she couldn't have simply left it, except through the broken window... Keith took a deep breath as he looked down. The cold rain hit his head, but that wasn't what made him gasp.

The heavy downpour of water had already washed some of the blood away, yet the sight wasn't any less gruesome. 

Anna's lifeless body sprawled out on the front porch. 

Keith bid his lip in anger hard, not believing that it had happen again... Why, why, why he asked himself, but there was no answer. This was simply insane. He could get why the others had been killed partly, but Anna? She hadn't deserved this, Keith thought as he looked down at her body a last time before he stepped away from the window..

"Somebody must have pushed her out of the window," Keith mumbled, staring at the broken window. "She's laying on the front porch..."

"Is-is she really dead? It is not that high..."  Janet whispered. "We need to check... maybe we can save her," she added hopefully, but Keith feared it was far too late for that... for any of them. No one of them would be saved. They would get killed one after one, if they didn't do anything soon and found out who was responsible for all this...

"I'll go with you," Charlie said and to Keith's surprise Frank left with them too. Leaving Mick, Miss Jones and himself alone in the bedroom. Exhausted like he never had been before, Keith sat down on the bed, wishing for nothing else than this nightmare to finally be over. 

"Oh my goodness..." Miss Jones suddenly exclaimed, tearing Keith partly out of his desperation. Her face was pale and she was trembling as if she had just seen a ghost, which wouldn't have surprised at this point... 

The guitarist followed the line of sight of the young woman until his eyes fell on a wall, where a clear message had been written out:

"Confess"

*

Thank you for reading, voting and commenting! xxx

P.S. I added a short list with some information on the characters (List of suspects), because well that makes it probably easier to remember, who is part of this story and who isn't and I'm not sure if everyone exactly knows who Janet is and why I added her. So there you go! Ofc you can always message me to ask about smth too. 

P.P.S. There are only two chapters left! (;