Charlotte Gaspel: Demons and Ghosts

XVII: The Bottom of The Barrel

There was always a lot of tension in that married couple's home, but for some reason, the wife conveyed no sign of distress over the recent theft of her husband's truck and the mess left inside the house.

Detectives Quickley and Allard were bathed in the warm waters of boredom. They both had the same theory of what happened at that scene, but time had to be killed somehow, so they continued to question the lady.

"So," said Detective Allard, starting the conversation, "nothing else was stolen?"

"I don't know, maybe," answered the lady without being convinced.

"Based on what she told us," Detective Allard continued, "they entered the house, searched all the rooms, but ended up stealing only the truck."

"Maybe the thieves didn't know where it was," added Detective Quickley sarcastically.

"Yes," replied his partner, playing along, "trucks are always hard to find."

"Please help me get it back," she pleaded nervously.

"And tell me," Allard insisted, "it was your husband who called us, wasn't it?"

"Yes... I mean... No."

"Interesting," said Allard while acting as if he was writing in her notebook.

Suddenly, the house phone rings and the lady rushes to answer it to escape the conversation. Quickley and Allard were looking at each other earnestly to confirm their more than obvious theory when suddenly the lady called Detective Quickley to let him know the call was for him.

Quickley went to answer the phone and began to speak.

"Leonard Quickley speaking"

"Quickley!" exclaimed the captain on the other end of the line.

"Tell me, boss," he answered vigorously.

"A few hours ago, Officer Greyson brought a potential criminal to the hospital from Soufreville and he needs your help to question him and make sure he doesn't end up arrested."

"But... wasn't the main idea to arrest him?" he asked in confusion.

"I'm talking about to Greyson."

Quickley was a little concerned with the situation, but getting involved in it was more interesting than staying on the case he was assigned, so he ended the call and turned to his partner to say, "I was called from the station to help Greyson in a sticky situation, do you think you can handle the truck thief on your own?" Detective Allard looked at him with a smile accompanied by a frown and replied, "I pretty much just need to do the paperwork. You go do your duty."

After starting the car and heading to Spoirtown Hospital, Detective Quickley saw that the hospitalized suspect was lying with both hands in casts. Greyson says he was worried that his other hand was fractured, but it was obvious that he had casts put on both of his hands because he was afraid that those would be his most lethal weapons.

Quickley saw Greyson sitting in a chair next to the gurney and asked him:

"What did you do to this man to make him unconscious and with his hands destroyed?"

"It may seem strange to you, but as soon as I saw him, he looked like he had committed at least five crimes."

"What did he do?" Quickley said after watching Steven for a few seconds.

"I suspect he caused the alarms at the sugar factory over there to go off. I saw that he was carrying a sack of sugar and it was covered in blood."

"Did you see him in the act?"