A Vulnerable Broken Mind by Gaetano Brown

to John, especially from Sparks’ tone.
    "I couldn’t really tell,” Parker said, shrugging. “It did appear to be tall though. Had to be heavy, looked like he was struggling to carry it.”
    “And you’re sure that’s what you saw?” Sparks asked.
    “Very sure, I was on my porch when it happened.” Parker confirmed, sounding very certain in his response.
    “Thank you, Josh,” Sparks said but he wasn’t smiling nor did he look the least bit enthusiastic about what Parker had to say. Parker went back inside the house while Sparks walked off of the porch and looked dumbfounded.
    John followed behind, confused. This was a great statement to go off of. “We’re going to question Hunt again, right?”
    Sparks didn’t say anything. He had his back turned to John with his head down. He was breathing heavily and seemed to be lost for words. John couldn’t understand why he was reacting this way. After a long bout of silence, he finally spoke. “I’ve got to make a phone call.” He pulled out his cell phone. “Stay here.”
    “Who are you calling?” John asked, feeling that he needed to know.
    “Don’t worry, it’s important to our case,” Sparks said as he walked down the street, leaving John feeling stricken. But he had to take Sparks word for it. Although, he couldn’t help but notice that Sparks was acting rather unusual. He didn’t quite know why, though.
    He continued to watch as Sparks walked down to the end of the street and called somebody on his phone. He didn’t look like he was having a pleasant conversation because he was pacing. It almost looked like he was yelling over the phone but John couldn’t hear anything from where he stood.
    Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a light appear from Mary Stanton’s house. He turned his head to look and the front curtain in the bottom right window shut instantly. She had clearly been watching him. While odd, John shook it off as her being nosey and reverted his attention back to Sparks.
    While John was concerned about the way Sparks was acting, he was more concerned about what their next move would be. He looked back up the hill and stared at Hunt’s home. Something strange was going on up there and he knew that thing he carried into that house was Amber and he was more than willing to go back up there and prove himself right.
    As intimidating as Hunt’s house appeared, he was now filled with determination. In the moonlight it looked like a daunting fortress; impenetrable and fierce; not to be trespassed upon. John was feeling ready to trespass. He was ready to break through its walls and find his wife.
    Sparks finally hung up the phone and walked towards John. He was obviously disgruntled; he showed a great deal of worry on his face. He approached John but didn’t speak right away. John stood still, stumped on what Sparks was going to say.
    “We need to gather more evidence,” Sparks said suddenly but didn’t say anything else.
    John stared at him with a great deal of confusion. “Are you kidding me?”
    “No, you…you don’t expect us to go on Parker’s statement alone…do you?” Sparks stuttered out. John was seriously suspicious of Sparks.
    John tried not show his suspicion. “Well, we have Tom Morrison’s statement, which also claims unusual activity from Hunt today. That’s two statements we can go off of. Is that enough?”
    Sparks was not quick to speak. His eyes were not looking directly into John’s eyes. They roamed around constantly. “Well…I…still think we should gather up more information.” Sparks said, again stuttering and unconvincing in his response.
    John shook his head; he had officially lost his patience. “What is the matter with you? Are you afraid of him? We have two statements. Why not question him now?”
    “I don’t think that’s enough. I don’t think questioning him is a good idea at this point in time.” Sparks said, sounding more and more nervous.
    “Well, I do,” John shouted. “I know,