Lost In The Mist

Chapter Two: Detective Skills

Claire's house was a big, red brick dwelling, with a front porch, a back porch, and a garage. It laid in the middle of nowhere, on a small road hardly anyone knew about. The house also had a basement, to use as a kitchen. It always smelled of vanilla and cinnamon.

Claire thought to herself, "That CAN'T be my father, right? Wait. He's supposed to be on a fishing trip! Plus, that picture is still kinda blurry. I can't tell for sure..., not from just this photo alone. Hmm.... I still need more proof to be certain."

Claire stopped in the garage and thought about how she could get more evidence on her dad. Today was his day off, and he was going to spend it fishing with his friend, Marcus. So, she dialed Marcus' number, and waited for for him to answer.

"Hello?" Marcus answered.

"Hey, Marcus, this is Claire. Did Dad come fishing with you today?" Claire asked.

He replied, "Yes, but he was late. He said he had to run some errands, then he came a little bit later."

"Do you know what time he arrived?" Claire blurted.

"Umm.... I think it was around two." Marcus rejoined.

"Ok, thanks, Marcus." And then Claire hung up.

Claire took off her farm boots, then she scoured the large metal shelves for her pocket knife. With her father being the only possible suspect, she was certain that he would be armed when he came home, if it was him. Claire went into her room, hid the book and serum in her shelves' drawers, and sat in the basement waiting with her pocket knife in her hand.

Then Claire thought to herself, "Wait, I still need more evidence than a picture and a time gap of whereabouts. But  else what can I use as evidence? ....... The fingerprints on the ladder! I already know mine will be there, I just need to compare any other fingerprints to Dad's. Good thing I have the software and a scanner so I can do it on my laptop!"

Claire ran into her Dad's office and grabbed a blank notebook out of the cherry wood desk. Then she ran to her art room and grabbed a pencil. Claire also grabbed the homemade fingerprint powder off of the shelf, and a paintbrush. As she put on her shoes, Claire snatched a small flashlight off of the metal shelves in the garage, and put it in her leather messenger bag with the knife.

When she came outside, Claire whistled for Kevin.  Almost immediately, Claire saw a cream colored blur sprint across the yard and plop down in front of her. The blur, now appearing to be Kevin, panted and wagged his tail.

"Kevin, I need more evidence against Dad. So, I guess we're heading back to the hole! This time I have a homemade kit, so I can gather fingerprints." Claire explained.

"GRRRRRR!" Kevin growled. He knew that 'the hole' meant that horrible screech again. He'd heard enough of that stupid squeaking! Kevin started toward the hole at a very slow pace, aggravated that he had to go back.

"C'mon lazy." She joked. Claire went with him, basically making him take every step. As they walked across the field, Kevin could sense that Claire was agitated and a little afraid, and he tried to comfort her using his doggy charm but she refused to look down. He brushed up against her leg to get her attention.

"What?" She said in a slightly annoyed tone as Kevin looked at her sympathetically. Then Claire looked away and grumbled, "We need to keep going." Her voice nearly cracked when she said it, and she was on the verge of tears.

When they reached the hole, Claire had to turn the rusty air sealed door with all of her strength. The wheel had become stuck when the man, suspected to be her father, shut the door, so it made the hole more difficult to get into.

Claire jumped down to the fifth rung of the ladder, which appeared to be made of stainless steel. Claire carefully hung on to the side of the ladder, so she wouldn't smudge the prints left behind, but it wasn't easy; her hands ached from twisting the valve so hard. Claire had almost fallen a couple of times, but she barely managed to cling to the rungs. She took the powder out of her bag, put a tiny mound down on the rung closest to her face, and brushed it with the paintbrush. Claire held the UV flashlight over it and took a picture.Then she carefully climbed to the bottom of the hole. The floor was concrete, and she needed a flat surface for the next step.

Claire Afterwards, Claire grabbed her phone, turned on the flashlight, and carefully opened the door to the lab.

The first thing Claire saw was the aftermath of the chemicals she had used to escape. The mess reeked of sulphur and was a pale, yellow, foaming pile of bubbles. She walked around the yellow foam, and found a dimly lit hallway. The smell lingered as she wandered around, and she had a mild headache. "Probably from this sulphur stench." She thought.

Claire walked cautiously as she looked around for clues, when she ran into a dead end. Then she shifted her weight and noticed the floor felt weird. She glanced down and saw nothing out of the ordinary, just the ugly tile floor, but it felt uneven. There had to be a plate of metal or a switch. Claire was confused by such a thing existing, then it hit her. Just like her favorite video game, it was a trap to protect something. Claire put one foot on it, and quickly jerked it back. She thought it would lead to a trap, but she was wrong. It lead to a secret passage, that already had lights on inside.

Claire was intrigued, but fearful of what might happen next. She felt the hair on the back of her neck tingle, like some kind of warning. She heard a small click and she jumped forward just as an anvil crashed down where she had been standing. Then Claire jumped back over the anvil, and sprinted towards the exit like she was running from the devil.

Claire nearly slipped on the yellow foam when she ran back through the lab, but she regained her balance while running. The passage she had opened sealed shut behind her with a thud. "There goes one possible escape route." She reasoned.

When Claire reached the top of the hole, she slammed it shut, twisted the valve back, and ran to her house. Kevin looked like a lightning bolt as he ran beside her, wanting to help relieve her anxiety, but he didn't get the chance; She immeadiatley shoved her door shut and collapsed against it. Claire wheezed a bit, she had never run so hard in her life. A few seconds later, she crashed on the bed, and stared at the ceiling.

Then Claire rolled over and grabbed her laptop off of the nightstand. She calibrated the computer's recognition equipment, and opened the program. Claire grabbed the scanner and let it upload her fingerprints first, now all she needed was her dad's fingerprint.

Claire thought of things that would have fingerprints left on them, when an idea popped in her head. She went to the kitchen and found the knife her father had used to cut some apples yesterday. Claire then wrapped the blade in some paper towels and picked up the knife by the blade. Then she carried it to her room.

Claire sat the knife on her night stand, put the powder on the handle, and gently dusted it off. She turned out the lights in her room, then shined the UV flashlight on the knife. She took pictures, and uploaded them using the USB cord for her phone. Then Claire ran both the prints on the knife, and the prints on the ladder. It was a match.