Infamy

An Irresistible Case

Ryan laid his head against the desk, he looked at his notes, over and over again, trying to find a lead in them.

"This sucks," Ryan muttered, he felt a hand lay on his left shoulder, Ryan looked up and saw his friend and fellow detective, Richard, looking at him.

"Any leads on Cole?" Richard asked Ryan.

"It's a mess," Ryan replied tiredly, he slapped a few sheets of notes onto his desk, "Anything on Sam?"

"Well...not much..." Richard started, then he looked intensely at Ryan, "...until last night..."

Ryan sat up in his chair and looked intently into Richard's eyes, "What did you find?"

Richard extended his hand, Ryan saw a piece of paper folded up in his palm. Ryan unfolded the note, it said:

Meet me on the roof at 5...

-Cole

"How old is this? Where did you find this?" Ryan inquired seriously, this could be huge.

"In Sam's room," Richard stated, "It was on the nightstand, under a novel."

"Sam?" Ryan repeated, as he searched Richard's face, "Wait wait wait...how old do you reckon this note is?"

"Who knows," Richard replied, "Could have been two days ago or two months ago."

"Yeah I guess," Ryan said absentmindedly, he bit his lip as he began to think.

"Two things about that note," Richard said, "One, he said to meet at five, that's the presumed time Sam went missing. Two, when I found it underneath the book, there were large marker circles drawn onto the nightstand around the note."

"I want to see this," Ryan stated, standing up, "This is getting stranger and stranger..."

Richard nodded, and the two left the office. They drove to the Well's household, where they were politely greeted by Mrs. Wells and her husband. They walked into Sam's room, Richard gestured to the nightstand, the book sat on the edge of the little table, but Ryan was focused on the repeated marker circles on the nightstand.

"Someone wanted that note to be seen," Ryan stated, Richard nodded, Ryan asked as he picked up the book, "but why cover the note with a book when you want the note to be found?"

Richard looked at Ryan's hand curiously and intently, Ryan noticed and looked at his hand, he was still holding the book that was on the nightstand, he looked at the front cover and was shocked to find the title had been circled with marker the same way the nightstand had been. Ryan read the title, "Lucid Dreams: Learn to have them each night"

"Lucid Dreams?" Ryan asked himself.

"You know, when you are in a dream, and you realize you are dreaming, then you have total control over the dream," Richard explained.

"I know what it is," Ryan waved his hand as he continued gazing at the front cover of this book, "but why is it all circled?"

"I cannot answer that for you," Richard replied, "curious...very curious..."

"I think I might borrow this," Ryan stated, "Let's see what Lucid dreams have to do with any of this."

That night, Ryan was home with Izzy, reading the acquired book, the front door opened and Carrie walked into the house.

"You were with the girls?" Ryan inquired as he kept his eyes on the book.

"Yeah, Emma is pregnant again!" Carrie said with giddy.

"Oh how nice," Ryan smiled, looking up from his book, Carrie examined the book in his hand.

"Lucid dreams?" Carrie asked with complete confusion.