The Scottsville Vampire Invasion

Chapter 9

"I will request additional officers from neighboring counties. We will have guards at the morgue and graveyard around the clock and will initiate a neighborhood watch program that will combine the efforts of the citizens of Scottsville and the police department. The department would like to thank all of you for your support during this difficult time and we want you to know that we are determined to solve these crimes."  

I'm standing on a platform with a podium and microphone in the local high school at a town hall set up at the request of the mayor. The audience is in gray metal chairs that cover what is usually the basketball court. The fold-out bleachers on both sides of the room are full of people. At the last town hall, where we discussed pedestrian safety, five people showed up and that included me and Josh. The only other person who is on stage with me is the mayor, who is spending most of his time looking at his phone. I'm supposed to be up here calming the town and reassuring them that we are going to close out this case and everything will soon be back to normal.  

Everyone remains quiet for a few minutes after my speech and then someone yells out, "Is that it?" 

The people begin to voice their displeasure with my plan. The Mayor runs up to the microphone and says, "Before we make any judgments let's open the floor to questions." 

A man wearing a buffalo-checked black and red, heavy flannel shirt that makes him unfortunately resemble Elmer Fudd approaches the microphone, "I would like to talk about what happened when Sheriff Clark Taylor was in high school. As many of you know, Clark was the quarterback on the team that went to the State Championship. In that game, Clark barely played because he had a concussion." When he says concussion he puts his hands up in the air to make big quotation marks. 

I break in. "Ted, we're not here to talk about something that happened almost twenty years ago." 

"No, I would like to discuss this because I think it is important. It establishes a pattern of behavior. It brings up the central issue we are all looking at right now and that issue is trust. For me sitting here right now, I can say I didn't trust you to win that championship and I don't trust you now. I can still picture you in that game sitting on the bench with a towel over your head while the other team scored points on us. It was pathetic." The crowd begins to murmur.  

"Ted, you bring up that game at every town hall. I'm not here to discuss a high school championship that happened twenty years ago. I'm here to talk about the investigation." 

Ted breaks in. "Let me just say this. You let us down then, and you're letting us down now. When I was playing, we didn't call getting your bell rung a concussion we called it being a sissy. We just played on." 

"I'm sure everyone would love to hear about your athletic career." The people laugh. "Right now we just don't have time for it. Does anyone have questions about the investigation?" 

The microphone is on a stand in the front of the room. One large man stumbles up to it and asks, "Exactly how close are you to solving these cases?" 

"We have some substantial leads to follow," I respond. 

"Enough of the cop talk. When are you going to arrest someone so we can feel safe?" 

I look at the Mayor who is staring at me, and I say, "I can't say at this time that an arrest is eminent." With that, the place erupts. The mayor calms everyone. I yell out, "But we are working as hard as we can."  

A person yells from her seat, "What about that coroner? The paper said you are following him." 

"I can't speak specifically about any one person, but let me say this, we do have individuals who we consider to be persons of interest."