The Searching®

Chapter III: Secrets

How does one adapt to situations such ones like my own? It's just happening too fast, The Move, and now I'm immediately recruited back into the field as a Detective. While I'm still trying to figure out if what I saw was real, or not. I wanted to ask my kids if they had herd or seen anything, but I don't want them to worry. What I do know is that I've never observed anything like it. Whatever the hell it was... It sure wasn't a hoax.

Now I have to wake up and start lying to my kids that I got "errands".

"Dad, where are you going?" Nathan asked me in between chewing his cereal in the morning.

"I gotta run and do some errands.. I-I'll be back at maybe around Three for dinner" I'm pretty good with keeping secrets, but doesn't mean I like doing it.

"Awesome! Let me jump along with you, the yard work is don-" I had to cut him off with a phone call.

"Hello? -Nathan it'll just be me today, I'll bring you along tomorow... Just need some time alone, so go take your sister to school and I'll see you guys later- Yes! Absolutely I'm on way. *Click* Gotta go! Love you guys" I didn't want to be too indiscreet.

I headed to the Police Station that was located within downtown; not too big, and not too small. Looks like a small police station from outside, but inside is like an Office Depot.

"Good afternoon, Detective! Welcome to our police station. For humble greetings, may I offer you with probably the most crapiest coffee in the City?" the Secretary lady asked me with a big smile on her face. I'm thinking back pretty good and I don't know when was the last time I had laughed. Everything is okay for now within the station.

"No Thank you, Mam. Hahaha maybe later, but for now you can just call me Woods... I won't be getting used to Detective for a while" I responded.

She directed me to the Sheriff's Office and Knocked on the door. He told me to come in so I did as I took a seat. I sat there for a few minutes as I waited for him to greet me. I looked down onto his desk and he's drawing...something I couldn't see clearly but looked more like a drawing. I couldn't picture it out as it was upside down from my view, but it's like some sort of map.

At least I thought it was. He was vigilantly marking the page with Big Red X's. Finally finishing his last stroke onto the paper with the pen, he immediately looks up and finally shakes my hand with a greeting.

"Morning, Son! Take a look at this... Wanna take a guess of just why it's marked as such?" he asked me as he took a sip of the crappiest coffee in the city, as I'm told. I took a good five second pause to think.

"... From my standpoint, it's marked of all of the homicides taken place in the city" I said, as I didn't know for sure if I was wrong or not.

"All within the last three years. Imagine that, and we still can't find the bastard. The last four victims have suffered the same after death symptoms; Pale skin, pink eye, and no marks or signs on their bodies of murders. We just find them after they're gone missing for five days... Coincidence? You tell me."

I was Speechless. I had nothing to say or add. All I had realized up until that moment, was that I may have made mistake of moving here.

"What's our first move?" I honestly didn't know what else to ask.

"Starting with Charlie West. From the autopsy he seemed to have fallen off the dead end. Which doesn't make sense because one, he's legless...Or was legless, and two there's no signs of self-harm."

I sat back into the chair trying to relax myself before I spoke.

"When my wife was working on this case... *shaking my head side to side* it never occurred to me how many deaths and kidnaps took place within that year. You know it's funny..actually it's rather ironic to rephrase it at the least, but nonetheless I helped her. I helped find the bastard who would kill all of those innocent lives. I mean we caught the guy, he was guilty, but months passed and my wife would always feel...Desperate for closure."