WARM HANDS COLD HEART
"There is an old wives tale that when a killer sees the evidence of his crime his hands start to bleed"
It was late and a cold wind blew through the trees outside Jessica's house in the small town of Herodsfoot, not too far from Plymouth. She shivered and wrapped the blanket more firmly around her as she sunk down in her armchair in front of the open fire. She was having trouble sleeping so she had just gone downstairs to think. She had had a lot to think about the past couple of weeks, but now she thought her life would finally sort itself out. Some vigorous knocking at the door startled her. She got up slowly and peeped through the curtains to see whom it was knocking at this time of night. 'Oh shit' she muttered under her breath when she saw that it was her ex fiancé Phillip Palmer. "I know you're in there Jess, let me in. We need to talk." Phillip was a rugged, well built man with fair hair and a firm chin. Jessica could see that he was drunk and he slurred his words as he talked, but against her better judgement she opened the door and Phillip stormed in. "I know why you dumped me now, You were seeing that sorry arsed sack of shit months before we broke up" he yelled at her. "No we weren't, I swear I never went near him till we broke up. But I love him Phil, I never wanted to hurt you." She returned. "You left me two days before our wedding, and you didn't mean to hurt me? And don't try lying to me about not seeing him while we were together, people saw you. Did you think I wouldn't find out?" He screamed at her. Jessica was getting worried now Phillip seemed strange and really angry, "I think you'd better leave" "NO, I'm not done with you yet" he said as raised his arm and hit her round the face. Jessica fell to the floor, hitting her back on the armchair as she went. A trickle of blood ran down her cheek. In agony she pleaded "I didn't cheat on you, you have to believe me. Please." Phillip didn't acknowledge the words she said he just reached into his pocket and pulled out an old penknife. He flicked out the blade and slowly advanced toward her, a wild and distant look in his eyes. "Get out… please" She begged once more, but still he carried on. Swiftly Phillip raised the blade and swung at her. She rolled to get away from the knife though it just caught her neck. Jessica's evasive manoeuvre had been too powerful and her arm flung round, falling into the hot coals of the fire. Her skin hissed and started to burn severely before she could pull it away from the heat. Jessica screamed in pain and she looked up just in time to see Phillips knife fall toward her heart. Phillip knelt there for a while before it sunk in that he had killed her. Then he started to panic. "I never meant for this." He cried. He pulled the weapon from her chest then ran out to his car and brought back a blanket. He rolled her body in it then heaved her up over his shoulder. Checking to see that there was no one about he laid her down in the boot of his car. Phillip then went back into Jessica's house and after finding a cloth and carpet cleaner, washed the blood from the carpet and tried to remove all evidence of his being there. When he had finished he took the blood stained cloth with him and got into his car. He started to drive. He did not know where he was going; he just kept on driving until he was out of the well-lit town and into the twilight-shrouded safety of the surrounding countryside. He pulled over onto a grass verge. He turned off the ignition then open the boot and carried Jessica's body into a field. Phillip then got a spade from his car and started the dig into the damp soil. The moon was full so he did not need a torch. He dug down about three feet before rolling the body in. He reached into his pocket and threw the bloody cloth in as well. Phillip slowly covered the hole back up, and when he was finished he collapsed in tears. The sound of Phillips sobs carried a long way through the quiet night air.

It wasn't long before Jessica was reported missing. Her fiancée, Michael Lawton reported it to the police within a week, after phoning her and going round her house constantly- each time finding no one in. The police went to her house and searched it, although they found no evidence of a struggle they did notice that the carpet had been recently shampooed and that all her belongings, some expensive were still there- suggesting foul play. After checking out her house the police decided to make a call on Phillip Palmer only to find him missing as well. The police were not entirely convinced but put in their statement that they assumed Jessica had eloped with Phillip. Michael was not happy with this, he new that she wouldn't leave him for Phillip again not after her break up with him before. Michael vowed that one day he would meet with the killer again and justice would be served, leaving Jessica to rest in peace.

Phillip had packed his belongings up and left town travelling up North on that fateful night. Found a small bungalow in a tiny village, 10 miles outside the Lake District. This is where he stayed under the name of Henry Jones. He was so full of guilt and remorse that over time his mind repressed all memory of Jessica's death, it started off slowly. First he couldn't recall that night, then he lost all knowledge of Jessica, after about four months all he could remember is that something terrible had happened, but the exact details escaped him, he just new he had to leave his past behind. He lived in the village for two years all alone, he never went out or made friends and still he would awake every night in a cold sweat after seeing Jessica in his dreams without knowing who she was, and why her image shook every bone in his body.

During the two years he spent there his savings had gradually worn down and now he had to find himself a job. He spent a while searching for a job that would suit him, he didn't want to have to work with customers as in his past years as a recluse he had forgotten how. Money was not important to him; he just wanted to be able to survive. After a couple of weeks he got a job as a builder which suited him just fine, he had to travel around the country to different work sites, operating trucks and JCBs or just plain labouring.

He enjoyed his job and was very content, so content he forgot all about his terrible past, repressed into the back of his mind where It couldn't hurt him. He was even able to sleep at night without troubled dreams. His jobs took him all over Britain and he was happy to be seeing the different areas, he worked with this company for another three years until he was sent to Herodsfoot to build an out of town super market. He thought he recognised the name when he heard it but he could not remember even if he had been there before.

Phillip and his work mates travelled down by coach and booked into the B&B that they would be staying in while the job was being done. He ate a healthy dinner and then retired to bed, as he would have a long day ahead. Although he didn't sleep well, again he awoke covered in sweat, shivering and he couldn't remember why. He sat for the rest of the night in the dark desperately trying to envisage his past, he just asked himself 'why?' over and over until he was finally granted sleep.

His alarm woke him at 6:00am and he pulled himself out of bed, greeted by the cold sunrise. After a small breakfast he met with the other site workers and they waited outside in the frosty air for the foreman to arrive. Phillip stood alone while the others talked, he was uneasy and he couldn't explain why. As he stood there his brain started to throb, after a while it became very uncomfortable, he thought that he was going to have a very bad day. A dusty truck came down the hill and pulled up alongside them. The door swung open and a tall dark hared man hoped out, he was wearing an illuminous orange jacket with the company name on the lapel. "I'm your foreman, Michael Lawton" he said greeting them, "hop on and you'll be debriefed at the site" Phillip got into the passenger seat, while the others climbed onto the back. Phillip was now very wary, there were too many things that seem to ring bells somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, taken from him to protect him from the truth. They drove out of the town and out into the nearby countryside where the town had been slowly advancing outwards. As they rounded a corner the site came into view, at the moment it didn't look like anything more than a field with a lot of builder's equipment in, but it sent a shiver down Phillips spine. He clasped his head in his hands, his headache grew even more painful, he just could not think straight. The truck turned into the site, they all clambered out and went over to a small marquee that would be the sites centre of operations. The foreman and some other workers with a high ranking explained what had to be done. They showed Phillip and the others plans and blueprints, then assigned groups to certain tasks. Phillip was given the job of digging the foundations using a JCB.

The positions of the foundations had already been marked out, so Phillip only had to dig. He enjoyed using the JCB, it was good for relieving frustration. Although today was different, Phillip felt terrible and he could not shake it. He worked through the morning without a hitch and was ahead of schedule. Michael had driven to a chip shop for lunch and bought takeaway for those who wanted it, Phillip hadn't. He was not hungry so he went for a walk around the nearby fields, he was sure he had been here before but the memory still evaded him. He had never felt like this before, he had always known pieces of his life were missing from his mind and he couldn't explain why, but he knew he had at least visited this place. After his lunch break his headache had lessened and was now just a dull throb. He went back to his JCB and carried on with the foundations. Just like the morning things went well and he had nearly finished his section with just half an hour to go before they could leave for the night. The sun was now low in the sky casting a brick red light over the few clouds that were floating softly along. The arm of his JCB came down and with a loud crunch onto a large rock; Phillip manoeuvred the JCB again and tried to dig the obstacle out of the mud. As the arm came down for the second time it pulled the rock out, but as it came out the far side of the foundation hole fell away. The earth crumbled down and revealed the body of Jessica. The body, now mostly skeleton rolled down into the trench. Phillip watched in shock, although the body was very decomposed he could still make out that the skin of the right hand had been badly burnt. In an instant all the horrible memories rushed from their hiding place and into his conscious, all the guilt and fear, all the regret and hatred for himself re-emerged. He raised his hands to cover his face, as he did so he saw a trickle of blood run down from his index fingers, this was followed by a stream of blood from every part of his hands. Phillip screamed, all the emotions and shock rushed through his brain. He jumped out of the cab of the JCB and ran to the foreman's truck, the blood from his hands pouring onto the wet soil. Michael was alerted by the scream and ran towards Phillip. He noticed the blood coming from Phillips hands, the he noticed the body. He knew that he had found Jessica and her murderer, and as he looked at Phillip running away he recognised him. Phillip dived into the truck, he turned the key, put it in gear and steamed off. As the truck pulled out of the site in the rear view mirror he glimpsed Michael getting into a second truck. Phillip moved up through the gears as he picked up speed. In the rear view mirror he could see Michael in pursuit of him. The steering wheel kept slipping through his bloody hands, he hit a bump in the road and the truck slipped out of his control off the road, he grappled with the wheel pulling the truck back onto the road. His thoughts whizzed around his brain he felt his whole life fall away before him. His brow was covered in sweat, he wiped his hand across his forehead, but only deposited more blood. The thick deep red liquid ran down into his eyes, blurring his vision. Instinctively he rubbed his eyes, but only left more of the blood, which was pouring from his palms. Phillips view was now tainted red, it was as though he was in hell, the crimson trees waved in the wind like hellfire. He was travelling through a hell that he had created. From nowhere a devil appeared in front of him, the dark creature had many arms and each he held a severed hand. The creature spoke to Phillip with an evil grin on its wide, sharp toothed mouth, "Come to me, Come and it will be over, come." As much as Phillip was scared of this monster he headed straight for it. His eyes cleared for a brief second and he saw a large oak tree, its trunk like a body, its boughs like arms. Time lasted forever as the bonnet hit the wide trunk and Phillip flew of his seat. As his body smashed through the glass of the windscreen he smiled, he was saved from his own nightmares and he was going down to where he belonged. Michael pulled up alongside the wrecked truck and winced as he saw Phillips body caught up in the lower boughs of the tree. His body bloody and limp, but it was Phillips face that startled Michael the most, the expression was a mixture of guilt and confusion, but there was the trace of a wry smile on his lips.

Back to menu