you?”
“I’m an acquired taste.”
“Maggie told me you used to be a cop, so I would think that you would be able to see things from Lewis’s point of view.”
“I could try, sir. But, honestly, I don’t think that I could get my head that far up my ass.”
The Sheriff stared at him with a blank expression and scratched his goatee. “Listen, kid, I don’t think that you had anything to do with this, but you’re not making very good first impressions around here. And the circumstances do seem pretty suspicious, so you better watch yourself. If you’re gonna stick around, you need to learn a little self-control when it comes to that mouth of yours.”
He nodded. “I’ll try, sir.”
“Good. Now, I want you to go home, get some rest, and put this whole thing out of your mind. I know that it’s easier for me to say that than it is for you to do it, but I think you need to try anyway. This is our responsibility now. The best thing for you to do is to forget this house and everything in it. If you don’t, it’ll eat you up inside. Trust me, son, I know.”
There was truth in the Sheriff’s words, and he knew it. He also knew that he hated sitting on the sidelines, and it wasn’t in his nature to forget. “Do I get my shoes back?”
The Sheriff shook his head. “Yes, you get your damn shoes back. If you think of anything else, here’s my card. My cell number’s on there.”
Marcus stuck the card in his pocket. “There is one other thing that you should keep in mind when you look at this case.”
“And that is?”
He glanced around the room and lowered his voice. “You have a notorious serial killer traveling through the area. It would be a terribly convenient time for anyone who had been planning a murder to execute his or her plans. Think about it. The first thing I thought of when I saw that body was Ackerman. Someone wanting to commit a murder has the perfect opportunity to do so and a completely believable fall guy. Our minds are already tainted with the knowledge that Ackerman might be in the area. I’m just saying that you need to base your investigation on the facts alone—no assumptions.”
The Sheriff seemed to consider his words a moment. “Thanks, kid, but we know how to do our jobs. Put the case out of your mind. We don’t need your help.” The Sheriff started to turn away but looked back. “And Marcus, until this thing is cleared up, stay away from my daughter.”
~~*~~
Marcus sat in the dark and relived his experience in the grandmother’s house. He wished he could forget. He prayed for the ability to put the past behind him and start a new life. He prayed to sleep and be carried off to a dream world filled with happy memories. Instead, he knew that he would be transported to a dark world of pain and suffering. A place with gray skies where the sun never graced the world. A place whose only inhabitants were monsters and their victims. A place where every surface seemed to possess teeth and a ravenous longing to consume his soul. He wondered if his dreams held a glimpse of his own personal hell.
Unlike in his dreams, he was now wide awake and reliving the day’s events on his own volition. He studied every detail of the experience, searching for clues or small details that in the heat of the moment he may have overlooked. He had been blessed with the gift of a powerful photographic memory, and with this ability, he could transform himself into a reasonable facsimile of a human computer. He could store the data gathered in the house and re-access it later from his mental databanks. It wasn’t quite as easy as using a computer terminal, but he often discovered something that he had missed on first glance.
And he knew he had missed something. He could feel it.
His eyes shifted back and forth, as his mind traveled over every minute detail. An observer would have seen a man staring at a wall. In reality, he didn’t even notice the wall. He looked through it, into the past,
“I’m an acquired taste.”
“Maggie told me you used to be a cop, so I would think that you would be able to see things from Lewis’s point of view.”
“I could try, sir. But, honestly, I don’t think that I could get my head that far up my ass.”
The Sheriff stared at him with a blank expression and scratched his goatee. “Listen, kid, I don’t think that you had anything to do with this, but you’re not making very good first impressions around here. And the circumstances do seem pretty suspicious, so you better watch yourself. If you’re gonna stick around, you need to learn a little self-control when it comes to that mouth of yours.”
He nodded. “I’ll try, sir.”
“Good. Now, I want you to go home, get some rest, and put this whole thing out of your mind. I know that it’s easier for me to say that than it is for you to do it, but I think you need to try anyway. This is our responsibility now. The best thing for you to do is to forget this house and everything in it. If you don’t, it’ll eat you up inside. Trust me, son, I know.”
There was truth in the Sheriff’s words, and he knew it. He also knew that he hated sitting on the sidelines, and it wasn’t in his nature to forget. “Do I get my shoes back?”
The Sheriff shook his head. “Yes, you get your damn shoes back. If you think of anything else, here’s my card. My cell number’s on there.”
Marcus stuck the card in his pocket. “There is one other thing that you should keep in mind when you look at this case.”
“And that is?”
He glanced around the room and lowered his voice. “You have a notorious serial killer traveling through the area. It would be a terribly convenient time for anyone who had been planning a murder to execute his or her plans. Think about it. The first thing I thought of when I saw that body was Ackerman. Someone wanting to commit a murder has the perfect opportunity to do so and a completely believable fall guy. Our minds are already tainted with the knowledge that Ackerman might be in the area. I’m just saying that you need to base your investigation on the facts alone—no assumptions.”
The Sheriff seemed to consider his words a moment. “Thanks, kid, but we know how to do our jobs. Put the case out of your mind. We don’t need your help.” The Sheriff started to turn away but looked back. “And Marcus, until this thing is cleared up, stay away from my daughter.”
~~*~~
Marcus sat in the dark and relived his experience in the grandmother’s house. He wished he could forget. He prayed for the ability to put the past behind him and start a new life. He prayed to sleep and be carried off to a dream world filled with happy memories. Instead, he knew that he would be transported to a dark world of pain and suffering. A place with gray skies where the sun never graced the world. A place whose only inhabitants were monsters and their victims. A place where every surface seemed to possess teeth and a ravenous longing to consume his soul. He wondered if his dreams held a glimpse of his own personal hell.
Unlike in his dreams, he was now wide awake and reliving the day’s events on his own volition. He studied every detail of the experience, searching for clues or small details that in the heat of the moment he may have overlooked. He had been blessed with the gift of a powerful photographic memory, and with this ability, he could transform himself into a reasonable facsimile of a human computer. He could store the data gathered in the house and re-access it later from his mental databanks. It wasn’t quite as easy as using a computer terminal, but he often discovered something that he had missed on first glance.
And he knew he had missed something. He could feel it.
His eyes shifted back and forth, as his mind traveled over every minute detail. An observer would have seen a man staring at a wall. In reality, he didn’t even notice the wall. He looked through it, into the past,
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