Jeff

On the other side of town...

While Jeff lay in a stunned heap on the remnants of his door, and the gaunt cat slunk home through the rain, on the other side of the small town of Clayfield, a youngish reporter-come-detective was piecing together a string of murders starting in Florida with the murder of a family of 3 in 1997, and currently ending with the slaughter of another family in Greencastle, the nearest town to the fairly isolated Clayfield, last month.

Above the desk of the youngish reporter was a massive corkboard collaged with crime-scene photo, newspaper clippings from the first murder, several printed sheets of information and many laboriously handwritten transcripts of news bulletins. The youngish reporter, being so engrossed in her current activity of sifting through computer files that she neither heard the door open or see the gaunt, devilish black cat slink over to her until it was inches away from her face, meowing for food. The lamp-light orange eyes staring at glazed-over steely grey ones. “Meow” The youngish reporter started, looking down at the cat that had (for her, anyway) magically appeared in front of her. There was a moment of silence, human and cat regarding each other, before the cat went back to making a racket. Breaking out of the trance, the youngish reporter went into the small but immaculate kitchen to find the cat food. While the youngish reporter dug around in the cupboards for the tin, the cat turned to look up at the corkboard. Pausing, he eyed some of the information critically before following the girl to the kitchen. “You know, I met him today.”

 "You did?" The girl looked back over her shoulder at the cat, placing the finally found food in a bowl and pushing it along the counter towards him. "Yes, I did, and you know something? He remembered me from last time, Hallie."