The Detectives' Story

XVIII

November 9, 2016

1956 Hours

"They're not back yet?" James asked. Dan sat in the driver's seat, watching Sanine's house. James was in the back, doing sudoku puzzles. At this time, we was struggling to see the numbers he was writing.

"No, they're not. If they were back, I would say something. Why do you ask, I thought you were the patient one?" Dan asked, never keeping his eyes off the house.

"I am... but it's getting dark and I can't see the numbers as well. I was wondering, maybe, if I could turn on the light..."

"Absolutely not. They might come back any minute, and I don't want our cover blown because you wanted to do your little number puzzle thing." Dan explained. "I also stopped by that stupid police station like you asked, and went to the gas station so you could buy that book. Now no more favors." James closed the book, and tossed it to the side, annoyed by Dan's attitude.

"Why don't we go inside?" James asked.

"Because like I said, they could come any second. Have you not been listening to me? Also, it could be possible that someone is home." Dan replied.

"Well yeah, but they've been gone ever since we got here. It's worth the risk to find out who we're going aga-"

"I said no." Dan said, making his point. James sat back, more annoyed at the situation now. He looked from the house on the left side of the car, to a fence to the right of them. They were parked by the curb opposite of the house, waiting for them to come home. The car itself was turned off to not catch anyone's attention, but that means no A/C.

Thank God it's not summer anymore. James thought.

Staring at the fence, James looked back at the house. All he saw was a white, two-story house with trimmed bushes in the front. The driveway led to a garage, but by the look of it, the garage hasn't been used in months. There was another little pathway leading from the driveway to the front door to the right of the garage. The front door had a patio with a chair swing on the right-most edge of it. A typical looking home, with the exception of a strange barred window in the upper left window. The curtains were drawn, so they couldn't see inside.

James was going to look at the fence again, but he noticed the swing was moving. He looked closer, and saw someone on the swing. It was an old black lady with dark sunglasses. To the right of her was a cane, but it looked more like a long metal stick. It was also too big for the lady to be a cane. She put a finger to her lips as if to hush James, and she stood up. Making her way to the door, she used the stick she grabbed to hit the floor constantly, making a loud resonating, clicking noise.

James looked at Dan to see if he saw the lady too, but he just kept staring at the house without any recognition was off.

"That's a pretty good-looking swing, huh?" James asked. Dan's eyes quickly went to the swing, then back to his routine of looking from the driveway of the house, to the road in front of them.

"Yeah," Dan muttered. James returned his attention to the old lady walking to the door, convinced he was making it all up in his head now. If Dan didn't notice the swing moving, then maybe it wasn't moving at all. Was James hallucinating this girl, just like Dan saw his daughter all those times?

Are we crazy? James thought.

Why am I seeing this lady now? I've never seen her before this.

The lady made it to the door, and opened it. James gasped out loud, but not loud enough to gain Dan's attention. He was still pinpoint focused on the road ahead of him. Inside was pitch black, despite there being light outside from the setting sun. She went inside, then closed the door.