Caleb could hardly believe the audacity the man possessed as he boldly walked into the small room. No doubt to fill his mind with the lie that the supernatural existed. Not believing that he was facing Jim Murphy with no prospects for escape, he waited while the guard seated him at the table.

Once the guard left, Caleb still remained silent. He had no intention of being the first one to break the nasty silence that had fallen over the two of them. Looking at something on his cuffed hand, Caleb knew Jim was sussing him out, seeing if he wanted to be the one to start. He did not. Caleb had enough worries without being drawn into a ridiculous lie about evil.

Outside the small room he was encased in, he could hear the sound of the buzzer that was code for different things in the jail. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was almost time for the dinner hour. The inmates all ate dinner too early for his liking. It was just one of the many things that he was forced to get used to.

Jim Murphy was still looking at him, as though he thought that Caleb would show any other reaction than the steely silence that he was being met with. A part of him wanted to know how in the world Jim had gotten around the fact the police were looking for him for his illegal activity with looking through Katie' s case.

"Hello, Caleb," Jim said, once it was clear the other person had no intention of being the one to speak first.

"What are you doing here?" Caleb asked, even though he had a good idea.

Someone had told him that it was one of his friends. He didn't have many close pals, so that had automatically made him weary of whoever it might have been.

Jim sighed, staring at the table in front of him. "I heard the police made an arrest. Bobby and I, we were still in town."

"Your trucker friend?" Caleb prompted. At Jim's nod, he continued. "Is he the one who wanted to punch me out?"

Not that his attitude had been any better toward the strange man, who had all the fact of the persona Caleb had given to the man. Scratching something, he waited for Jim to say something.

"You weren't exactly...approachable, too, if I recall," Jim reminded him pointedly.

Caleb shook his head. "Yeah, well, after I heard about the stuff you were doing with my wife's case, I wasn't in the buddy type of mood."

Jim nodded. "Understandable." He studied the younger man intensely. "This may be a stupid question, but how are you?"

Caleb laughed sarcastically. "Doing great."

"I came here not just to check on you-"

Caleb already knew why Jim was there. It had taken him a minute to figure it out, but once he had, he was not surprised. He knew Jim would try to push his crazy idea that the supernatural was real. He had half a mind to call the guards back in to end the meeting, but something kept him in his chair.

"You came to tell me that big, scary things are real," Caleb interrupted mockingly. "Got it."

Jim momentarily appeared taken aback at the harshness to his voice, before he was able to shake it off. "Listen to me-"

"How are you even here? Weren't the cops looking for you?"

Jim smiled. "You'd be surprised what some cash will do for you."

Caleb shook his head. "Whatever. Just go. I don't need this from you. Not on top of all this other crap."

Jim's earlier smile vanished to be replaced with one of concern. The young man shook it off. He did not need or want his worry for him. He just wanted to be left alone.

"Caleb, I'm sorry. You didn't deserve what happened to you." Jim took a sip of water. "The police, they-"

"Messed a crapload up?" Caleb prompted.

"No. The police, they were simply doing their job. To them, it looked for all the world like you killed your wife."

Caleb understood where this speech was going. He was about to be slammed with a repeat of what he heard before from him.

"But it was some hairy monster?"

Jim did not reply. "I'm going to make a deal with you. A deal, which if you're smart, you will take. If you agree to hear me out, and by the end of it, you're still not on my side, I'll walk out the door, and you will not see me again."

Caleb sighed, palming his face. He could not believe he was putting himself in the spot of being a front row audience to the delusions of this man. "Fine."

Jim nodded, before standing up and going over to a small TV with a VCR. Intrigued, Caleb watched what he was doing. He was putting in a tape that Caleb soon saw, once the static cleared, was security film from a street near his construction firm.

"Do you remember anything unusual the day of the murder? Anything at all?"

Caleb shrugged. "I...remember spilling coffee on myself, and being cut off in traffic."

Jim shook his head with an amused smile. Caleb could not help but wonder where he got his endless patience. Moving in his seat when the metal dug into his back, he watched while Jim paused the tape.

"The thing that killed your wife...and also framed you for the exact same crime-"

"Is a big, scary monster with fangs?" Caleb pursed his lips. "Not very original, pastor."

Jim have him a look. "You promised to have an open mind with me."

Caleb sighed, not even believing he was being reprimanded by a guy who thought monsters were real. Turning to look at the video, he watched as Jim pressed the play button.

"So what is it that I'm looking at?"

The video showed a regular happening on the city street in his town. People were going to and from shops, some had kids with them. The darkened screen let him know that it was later at night. Leaning forward, he focused on the screen.

"Do you remember blacking out?" Jim asked, turning to look at him.

"No...why?" Caleb asked slowly.

"Watch."

His question was answered when he saw a man walk down the sidewalk. The man was very similar to someone he knew. Mouth dry, his eyes were transfixed at the sight in front of him. This man bore a striking resemblance to him. Almost as soon as the thought entered his mind, he rejected it. That could not be him on the CCTV footage. That could not be his body walking around because he had not been anywhere near that street at the time.

"Is that supposed to be me?"

Jim nodded, but then he shook his head, before pausing the video. "This thing...this monster...it's called a shape-shifter. It takes the appearance of whoever it wants to hunt or frame. In this world, there are hundreds, perhaps even thousands of monsters, but this is the one that killed your wife."

"How-how do you know?"

"Because a shape-shifter is one of the only ones capable of taking on your exact appearance. It also manages to capture your thoughts and attributes down to a fine science. This is what it specializes in, you see. If Bobby and I are right in our thinking, it took on your appearance, and went to your house to do the deed."

Caleb's mind was still doing cartwheels; he could not believe what his mind was beginning to tell him was real. He had spent the last week trying to deny what the crazy people at Katie's visitation had told him. Now that he was faced with irrefutable proof that there might be truth to it, he was starting to feel as though his entire being was spinning out of control.

"How-" Caleb swallowed big. "How do you know so much about what you're trying to tell me?"

Jim inhaled a slow breath, and then exhaled. "Well, there's lots of ways this information can be passed down. Sometimes, it's given from generation to generation. Other times, people are forced into the life. People like you, and me, and even Bobby, were forced into it because of personal tragedy. You and Bobby lost your wives, and I lost my entire family due to it."

Caleb nodded. "Okay."

"Now," Jim said, as he finally turned off the video. "Do you believe me? As crazy as it sounds, as crazy as it is, do you finally believe me even the smallest bit?"

Caleb sighed, looking down at his cuffed hands. "I-"

"I can help you," Jim promised him. "And not just by getting you out of that cell. Bobby and I can train you to fight these things, we can do more than that, actually. We can get you back on your feet, introduce you to other hunters so you can have a support system behind you."

"Why would you do anything like that for me?" Caleb asked. "You don't know me from a hole in the wall, and you're offering to help me like this?"

"Because I was in your shoes once, Caleb. I understand what it feels like to be accused of something you didn't do, and not have anyone in the world believe you. I want you to know that you have people that understand what this is like, and they believe you, just like I do, and just like Bobby does."

"Even Bobby?" Caleb asked jokingly, as he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," Jim said with a laugh. "Even Bobby."

"What about my family?"

After all, if this demon had gone after and killed his wife, what was stopping it from striking again? Only this time taking out his brother, and maybe even one of his in-laws.

"It's a kind of unspoken rule that we live by," Jim explained. "When we hunt like we do, we leave the people that are most vulnerable, wide open to being attacked again. For that reason, we don't normally forge connections to people who are not involved in the life in some way."

Caleb nodded, swallowing back the tears that he could almost feel coming to his eyes. "So if I agree to any of this-"

"You would have to not have any further connections with your brother, other than to maybe say goodbye in your own way."

"I just can't believe any of this," Caleb mused.

"I know the feeling, believe me, and I want you to know that you're not alone. You have a friend in me, Caleb."

"Thank you."

"Do you believe me?"

Caleb paused, mentally going back over everything that Jim had told him, and everything that he had seen on that impossible video.

"Yes."