BTK Chapter 3

Two hours later Goren and Eames saw the turn off to Little House on the Prairie.Eames steered the SUV off highway 400 and into the parking area.A brief perusal showed Little House on the Prairie to be a replica of the original.There were few artifacts to say that Laura,and Mary and their family had ever lived there. Eames was deeply disappointed.

"What's that building over there?" wondered Bobby.

It proved to be a treasure trove that Little House on the Prairie didn't. It was a one-room school house by the name of "Sunnyside School." Inside the small building were photographs dating back some 100 years, little tin dippers the children had drunk from,Tin lunch pails, slates and globes. It was like stepping back in time 100 years. Bobby was enchanted with the place. As he roamed the small room he became absorbed in one of the pictures on the wall. It was of the entire school dating 1907. One of the littlestgirls in the front row caught his eye. Her eyes held a haunted look. Perhaps it was just a shadow, but to Bobby she looked troubled. He ran his finger down the list to find her name. "Emma Loggan," Bobby said aloud. He found himself idly wondering what kind of life she had experienced. He heard a footstep behind him. He turned and found Eames directly behind him. She did not appear to be as enchanted as he was.

"You ready to move on, cowboy? We have a long drive still ahead of us." Eames said.

Bobby took one final look around and said simply, "I guess so."

As they were leaving one of the women who worked there came running over. "You can't leave yet!" she cried in warning. "There's a story coming and the local radio says we need to take cover. We don't have a basement or anything, but being in a building is better than being in a vehicle."

"A storm?" Eames asked. "What kind of a storm? I've driven through lots of storms

before. Let's go."

Bobby spoke worriedly, "What kind of storm? Rain or what?"

The woman answered, "The radio said large hail, damaging winds, tornadoes, and

heavy rain. Look at those clouds, will you!"

Sure to her words there were ugly gray, green clouds hanging low in the sky. Lightning could be seen in them. The little post office was the most secure facility around so the three of them tookshelter in it. Rain began to fall, the sky darkened even more, and then hail began todescend.Bobby looked at the hail in wonderment. He had never seen hail like this before.

"Look at it, Eames. It's amazing," he said quietly.

Eames joined her partner at the window to watch the hail fall. "Does it seem to be

getting bigger?" she asked.

Not only was it getting bigger, it was getting much bigger. Soon the little pea size hail was the size of tennis balls, then baseballs, then softballs. There was the sound of glass breaking, and lots of thunder. Goren and Eames covered their heads with their arms and waited the storm out. It is fortunate that storms like that are usually short and this one was. In a few minutes Goren and Eames stepped outside to look around. It looked like January, not June with so much white on the ground.

Goren heard Eames gasp, "Bobby, look at the SUV"

The sight that met Bobby's eyes was enough to make anyone gasp. Every bit of glass was shattered. Windshield, mirrors, turn signals, everything. The entire body of the vehicle was dented. Some dents were shallow; others could be used to bathe small children. Bobby took out his cell phone and began taking pictures of the SUV.

Eames began to laugh again. It was simply too much for her. It came to her then: Kansas didn't like her very much. Illness, death, hail, rain, destruction of the department SUV. What more could happen to them she wondered. Perhaps a plague of locusts, or the death of the first born or something.

"OK, genius, you're supposed to be so freakin' smart. Now what do we do?" she

snarked.

Bobby smiled. "I just sent the captain the pictures of the vehicle and a request for

instructions. Now we wait."