Eldritch

Chapter 16

Daniel runs his fingers through his hair. 'I told you, I had nothing to do with Abi, or with what happened to Charlene or Ella,' he swallows.

The Sheriff stares at him long and hard. 'Then, can you explain why I've been informed by a witness that you were at Abi Prendergast's home on the Friday evening the same weekend she was murdered?'

Daniel's heart hammers against his chest. He's been caught on his lie. He swallows down his tears. 'Someone saw that?'

'An anonymous caller,' the sheriff nods. 'And you're not in a good light right now, Daniel. You'd better start talking because you lied to me in your interview the morning after her death. You told me the last time you had seen her was at lunch that day. But you went to her house later that afternoon. Why?'

His hands trembling, he sits on top of them. 'I just, I just went by to talk to her about something,' he quivers.

Sheriff Ryan raises an eyebrow. 'What was that something? Because my witness said she saw you leave the house about ten minutes later, extremely vexed.'

'I, I--'

'The more you continue to withdraw information from me, Daniel, the more suspicious you're coming across.'

Daniel blinks back tears. 'I just went to tell her to back off.'

'Back off?'

'She had been making moves towards me when I was with Charlene and I kept telling her no. I went there to tell her I was going to tell Charlene if she carried on. And she just laughed at me and told me that she'd been Charlene's friend for years and that she'd never believe me over her, so I'd better keep my mouth shut unless I wanted to turn the whole thing back on me. Then, I stormed out, because I was angry,' he sobs. 'But I didn't kill her. I swear.'

'Why did you lie to me?'

Daniel bows his head. 'I'm sorry, I just knew it would make me look bad, and I didn't think it was relevant because I never went near her after that, I swear.'

Suddenly, the door to his office swings open. 'Stop, right there,' Louis barks at the Sheriff. 'Daniel, don't say another word.'

Daniel cocks his head towards his father and breathes a sigh of relief at the sight. Louis takes a seat opposite the Sheriff. 'My son has done nothing wrong. He's a minor and you had no right to interrogate him without mine or Marissa's supervision.'

The Sheriff swallows. 'Mr Stone, I am investigating the murder of a young girl and the disappearance of two others, all three of whom, your son had strong links to.'

Louis nods. 'Well, I can tell you that my son had nothing to do with Abi Prendergast's death. She was murdered on Sunday evening. Daniel was with me all day in Chicago on Sunday. He couldn't have possibly killed her.'

Daniel wants to say something, but he knows better than to contradict his father's lies.

'And what evidence have you got to implicate him for the disappearance of his friend and girlfriend?'

Sheriff Ryan bows his head. 'Well, right now, we don't really have any--'

'Exactly, you've got nothing,' Louis interrupts. 'You can't charge him, so my son and I are leaving right now.'

He rises from his chair and strides towards the door. 'Daniel, come on.'

He looks to the Sheriff, who's been rendered speechless. Slowly, he gets out of his seat, follows his father and shuffles past the deputy standing by the door.

Once seated in the passenger seat of his father's car, Daniel turns to face him. 'Why did you do that?' he asks. 'Lie to the Sheriff?'

His father sticks the key in the ignition. 'To protect you,' he says. 'I know you're innocent, and I wasn't going to stand by and allow the Sheriff to charge you based on flimsy circumstantial evidence.'

Daniel nods. 'Thanks Dad.'

'You hungry?' Louis asks. 'Because I could really do with a cheeseburger right now.'

Daniel cracks a smile. 'Starving.'

In the diner, Louis looks his son in the eye. 'I know I said I know you're innocent,' he says. 'And I believe that, Daniel.'

'But,' he continues, causing Daniel's heart rate to increase. 'I do have a feeling that you are hiding something very important from me.'

Daniel does his best to look perplexed. 'What do you mean, Dad?'

'Well, for one thing, you've been paying a number of visits to Annie Caulfield's house, you were at your ex girlfriend's house last night, who your mother has told me you couldn't stand, so--'

'Have you been following me?' he asks.

His father nods. 'Damn right I have. You think I just dismissed it when it happened, but when you asked me last week about spirits and entities taunting people, that set off a few alarm bells. So, yes, I decided to keep an eye on you. And now, I want to know why you asked that and you've been acting strange.'

Louis leans across the booth. 'What's going on, Daniel?' Daniel looks away.

'Daniel,' he says. 'I've been working with strange occurrences for years. There's nothing you can tell me that'll make me think you're crazy.'

Daniel swallows. 'It's just,' he swallows. He can feel his stomach turn. 'I did something really stupid, Dad.'

His Dad nods. 'Tell me and we can fix it.'

He feels the urge to tell his father everything getting stronger. To spill everything. To have everything about the game out in the open. The burdening feeling of keeping all of it inside and containing his guilt is becoming too much. He just wants to unleash it.

'Dad, my friends and I, we,' he stumbles. Then, for fear of the safety of everyone around him, he takes a deep breath, exhales it, and looks his father in the eye. 'Nothing,' he says. 'It doesn't matter.'

'Daniel,' Louis calls as Daniel dashes out of the diner.