Richard Jones.

The only name Charles could think of, now. He needed to look for information about this man. He knew, that this was the man who was behind all of this. Who else could it be?

He immediately went to take help from the policemen. From there he could gather that although Richard was indeed arrested, but somehow he had managed to escape. This update was not broadcasted as would have caused panic. The policemen were constantly looking for the man, but he was no where to be found.

Recently, some crimes were increasing on the southern part of the city. The police detected that there was a certain group of people conducting the activities.

After hearing all of this, Charles was sure, that he could find his daughter with these men, none other.

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It was around 10 o'clock. The roads were now dark, with ghostly shadows falling onto them. The serene and silent, but terrifying night had fallen in, bringing with it fear in the hearts of people living in that area. Every man determined to keep his family safe against the threats that area posed.

The rumble of the engine cut through the thick, sickening silence.

Seven men, two in civil dress and the rest in uniform, filed out of the car. As stealthily as they could, they went into the dark lane, which had a flickering light bulb lot at the other end.

Charles and Mark, preceded by two policemen, went up to the end of the street, followed by the other three officers.

A shaggy door came into view. On observing closely, Charles saw that the wooden door had an engraving which seemed to be familiar. It was the exact same doodle the paper from the the diary.

They were at the right place to be.
At last, he would find his daughter!

With a fresh supply of determination, Charles marched through the unlocked door.

There, he saw, his little Anna, sitting on a huge chair. In front of her, a vaguely familiar face was smiling slyly at him.

Richard Jones.

In the moment of sudden delight, Charles had forgotten about his surroundings. He raced up to his daughter, only to be halted by a huge man. An evil laughter boomed through the dark dungeon.

"I imagined you to be a little smarter than this Mr Wicklow. Look, what you did now!" Richard said, in his calm voice.

Struggling to rid himself from the huge man's grip, Charles saw that all the policemen were made hostage just like him.

"Anna?!" Charles called his daughter,through the struggle, checking of she were all right. A muffled voice replied his call. He looked around to see, that she was grasped by the man, Richard himself.

Her mouth was clasped with his huge hands. Richard was holding her away from him, over a fixed, upward pointing, sharp sword. So sharp, that it could easily cut through a human body. Anna's frail structure would be like butter for the sword.

Charles eyes were wide with horror. He had to do something as quickly as possible, to save his little child. He had to be very careful about it.

Charles raced his brain to come up with a plan. And he got one.

He calculated the distance between him. He thought of kicking the man keeping him hostage, and running up to Anna and grabbing her away. This was only plan he could have. But this had too much of a risk.

He was about to start up with his plan, when the frail wooden door banged open. All the heads turned to see, Mark standing in the entrance.

Taking this moment, Charles executed his plan..and was successful.

Anna was in his hands, curled into a hug.

It seemed, every policeman had planned the same, because in a matter of seconds the whole set up had changed. Now the pinpoints were pointing at the group of criminals. Richard was under Mark hostage, in the same position where Anna was.

Fifteen minutes later, the group of criminals were arrested and being taken back to the police station.

●○●○●

The criminals were jailed for life, except for Richard who was hung the next day, preventing him to run away like he did before.

Charles and Anna lived together, whole they missed Katy.

Mark found a new job, as Charles had left his job as a detective, now. He wanted to provide his daughter a life that had no threats because of her father's job.

And, thus, the story of Charles Wicklow and The Mysterious Diary, came to an end.

●○●○●

(28th July 2017)

©AmyParkins