The Scottsville Vampire Invasion

Chapter 42

Chapter 42

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I sit down at my desk. Bear and Josh come in.  "The mayor isn't letting me go.  I'm surprised by it, but I'm not going to blow it.  I just made a little trip down the street to see Glen and to let him know we're still coming after him."

Josh breaks in. "Clark, I've done some research on this.  I talked to his lawyer, who has the original receipts.  Also, he can put me in contact with two of the three witnesses that confirm Glen was in Andersonville.  He said that they were with him and gave me the timeline which makes it impossible for him to be the person who brought Jenn out to Scott's field."

"Glenn's a smart guy.  He's probably spent the last few months coming up with ways to throw us off."

"Clark, if we don't have the evidence on him, we have to start looking at other possibilities."

"Did you see the receipts?"

Josh rolls his eyes. "No, I didn't physically see the receipts, but the lawyer told me he has them."

"Anyone can say that they have anything."

"Do you want me to go to the lawyer's office and get them?"  Josh asks.

"If you want to, but I'm guessing they don't exist."

"Fine, Clark.  I'll go and get them." He stands up.

"While you do that, I'm going to go back and parse through every single piece of evidence.  I'm sure we can tie this back to him.  We just need to be careful, and something will pop up that will make it obvious that he's our guy."

"Clark, how many times have we gone through the case?"  Bear asks.

"This is the way that it goes.  We keep looking and looking and a link that we didn't see before will be there.  It's tough and boring, but it's the way that cases are solved," I say, going over to the file cabinet and opening it.  I take out three large manila folders and drop them on my desk.

Josh looks at them.  "If I have to choose between going through this crap again or dealing with the attorney, I'll pick the attorney."  He turns, goes to the door and opens it. 

His body covers up the person who is in the hallway.  He stands frozen for a few seconds and then blurts out, "Hey, Emily." He steps out of the way.  She walks in and stands in front of me.

When Josh and Bear are out of sight, Emily comes into the office and stops next to the chair that Bear was just sitting in.  Both of us linger in silence.  I try to say something, but my mouth is so dry I can't get anything out.  I clear my throat and start again. "Emily, I can't imagine how furious you are at me.  I can't repair what I've already done, but I'm going to change.  I'm going to be a good husband and father."

She sits down, folds her arms and stares at the floor.  "I knew about the drugs.  I found pills in your pockets when I did the laundry.  I rationalized that it could be some medication from your doctor that you were too embarrassed to tell me about.  I didn't think you had a problem.  We both know our marriage wasn't perfect, but I never thought one of us would stoop to being with another person.  I certainly never thought it would be with that kid you have sitting out front."

  "Emily, I know there is nothing for me to say other then I screwed up.  I take ownership of it.  All of this is my fault.  I'm sorry for what I did to you and what I did to Kate and Sarah."

She looks up at me with red eyes. "I had to read it in the paper.  The whole world knows what happened.  It's bad enough to have your husband cheat on you, but it's made even worse by having the whole world know about it."

"I know.  I've embarrassed my family and myself."

"Clark, the last thing you should be thinking about right now is yourself."

"You're right.  I'm sorry."

"You keep saying you're sorry."  

"Because I am.  I feel horrible.  I've never felt worse about anything in my life."

"You had a long time to consider what you were doing and to bring a stop to it."

"I know.  It only makes it worse."

She stands up, walks to the door, pauses and plays with her fingers for a few seconds, walks back to my desk and stands in front of me with her hands closed.  She opens her right hand and drops her wedding and engagement rings on the top of my desk.  They bounce off of the metal surface and come to a stop on a pile of papers.  "You can have those.  I would take them to a pawn shop, but I can't stand to have them near me for another second.  I don't want anything to do with you ever again, and I'll make sure that you don't get the girls."

She turns and walks out.  "Emily, wait," I call out to her but she keeps going.