"Officers, what is going on here?" Duncan asked.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Duncan MacLeod, and that is my friend, Richie Ryan, he lives with us, what's going on?"
"Your friend, and his friends, have been called in on vandalism."
"Vandalism?" Tessa asked, "That's impossible, Richie wouldn't do anything like that."
"Madam, madam, please—calm down."
"I will NOT calm down!" Tessa replied, "You can't accuse Richie of vandalism when he didn't do anything."
"I'm sorry to burst your bubble ma'am, but we have a report that he DID do it, the report was made by a Drew Mason, who lives across the street."
"What?" Duncan asked.
David Kramer apparently had had enough, he kicked that officer in the rear and said to him, "Don, enough! It isn't vandalism, there's a woman dead, and that story was just brought up to cover it."
"Enough!" Duncan exclaimed, "Now somebody, tell me what is going on."
Denise came forward in her innocent character again, "Mr. MacLeod, something terrible has happened, Richie knows because he saw it, and nobody will believe him."
"What?" Duncan asked, "What happened?"
Richie struggled to keep himself together long enough to answer. "A few nights ago, Mason killed a woman, he cut her throat, and he's gotten rid of the body, and I know because I saw it, Mac. I saw it with my own two eyes and I can't get anybody to believe me!"
The police were dumbstruck by what he said. "You really expect us to believe that shit? Drew Mason is one of the most respected men in all of Seacouver."
"And what, if he was blue-collar you'd believe us?" Jeremy asked.
Everybody started shouting at each other again until Duncan screamed for them to shut up.
"Richie, if this is true, how could you have seen it without being caught?" Duncan asked.
"I was outside, he had his blinds closed, but they weren't shut all the way."
"So how can you be sure of what you saw?"
"Because looking through those blinds partially closed is as good as having them wide open."
"Are you sure of what you saw?"
"Yes, I am."
Duncan knew that with Richie's police record, they wouldn't believe him unless someone else had seen the murder too. He turned to Jeremy, "Did you see this too, Jeremy?"
"Well—no, not really."
"Did any of you?" Tessa asked.
Denise, Krug, and Jason shook their heads, but Denise wasn't giving up so easily. "We have proof though."
That had everyone's attention.
"And you didn't inform us about all this?" one officer asked.
"She did, me," David said.
"And you didn't tell us?"
"No, I knew you wouldn't believe it, and apparently I was right. However, I'm not the only one who was alerted."
"There were others?"
"One."
"Who?"
"Troy Bloch."
"Bloch? That's impossible, he's dead."
"That's right, but what you don't know is that he was killed on his way over here the night of the murder. Somebody killed him, stole his clothes and his ID and came to the house pretending to be him, and when the kids found out he was an imposter, it was too late because he got away."
"That's impossible also, he was found dead out of town."
Everybody got into a big argument again, until another officer shut everybody else up.
"This murder story's only a way for them to try and get out of trouble for breaking and entering and tearing up Mason's home. Now Mason's not pressing charges, he merely asked you be let off with a warning."
"A warning?" Jeremy repeated, "For a warning you send half a dozen squad cars up here with the lights flashing and the sirens wailing?"
"Officer, is Richie in any trouble?" Tessa asked.
"No ma'am—I've been on the force long enough to know when a story's a bunch of crap, and that's exactly what this murder thing is. Everyone in this town knows Drew Mason and have known him for a good number of years, well enough to know he's not a murderer, he's anything but one. Uh—does he live with you?"
"Yes he does," Tessa replied, "Can we take him now then?"
"Don't see why not, he's already gotten his warning, though I can't see why Mason wouldn't press charges."
"Thank you, Officer—come on, Richie," Tessa said.
"Wait a minute," Denise said, "You can't take him back without his things, they're upstairs in the guest room, he'll have to pack."
"Come on, Rich, I'll help you," Jeremy grabbed Richie by the arm and they were out of there, with Denise following behind.
"Officer, I'm terribly sorry about all this," Duncan said, "I don't know why Richie would say what he did."
The officer brushed it off. "We see hundreds of crackpots a week, we're used to it."
"What!?" Tessa exploded.
"No offense, ma'am, but can you give me one alternative reason for their story? Mason a killer? He's no more a killer than my mother is."
"But what about the other officer that was killed?" Tessa asked.
"We're looking into that but that doesn't mean there's a connection, these are not safe neighborhoods, anybody who's been here more than a week can tell you that. There's also not a lot of respect for the law, that's also well known, Bloch dealt with some pretty shady figures and it could be one just came looking for revenge and got it."
"I apologize again, we just got back in town and came to pick Richie up, we certainly had no idea all this was going on," Duncan said.
"Not a problem, Mr. MacLeod, though if I were you, I'd keep an eye on him."
Duncan nodded. "I will."
David came up to him, "Mister MacLeod?"
"Yes?"
"Hi, I'm Denise and Jeremy's uncle, David Kramer, I work with the police."
"What can we do for you?" Duncan asked.
"I can't say for myself that I understand what all's going on, all I know is that in the last few days my nephew has called me up in the middle of the night hysterical, my partner on the squad is murdered, impersonated, and his body dumped in an empty car in the next town, my niece will swear on a stack of Bibles that Richie's telling the truth, and I have a relative telling me that if we don't catch Mason and soon, he's going to kill the man with his bare hands."
Tessa groaned and buried her face in her hands for a moment. "Duncan, I don't understand all this."
"Neither do I I'm afraid," Duncan replied.
"Your friend can probably tell you more than I can," David said, "I think—but from what I've seen, I'd say his nerves are definitely shot."
"Oh, Duncan," Tessa groaned.
"But if you want to know what I think—I think your boy's telling the truth, I've been on the force a while now myself, and I've seen a lot of actors, some can be pretty damn convincing, but what your friend's gone through, that is no act."
"Thank you, Officer," Duncan said, "I'll be sure to get to the bottom of this."
"They won't believe me," Richie groaned as he packed his bag, "Nobody ever does, and Mason's his friend, and we didn't find the body so we can't prove anything."
"If only we could show them some proof," Denise said.
"There's no blood on the comb, sis," Jeremy told her.
"How about the bathtub? You think he's had time to clean the blood out of it yet?"
"But how can you prove that without being taken in on breaking and entering?" Richie asked.
"So what if they do arrest me?" Denise asked.
"They wouldn't listen to you," Richie said.
"They're not listening to us now, we have to do something," she told him.
"I don't want to go back, Denise," Richie said, "They're not going to believe me."
"Richie, you can't stay here," Jeremy said.
"Who says he can't?" Denise asked.
"Denise, be serious, we're in no position to do anything. Richie has to go with them."
"For now, but just remember what I said, Richie, if your warden does anything to you, I'll take care of him."
Richie nodded. "Thank you, Denise."
His voice was reduced to nothing more than a choked sob, and it was all Denise could do not to go down the stairs and start busting skulls. Instead she wrapped an arm around Richie's waist and assured him they would figure something out.
"I'll go talk to your warden for a minute," she said.
"So you don't know anything about what Mason's talking about?" one officer asked Krug.
"No."
"You don't think if you came with us to answer some questions that you'd know anything new?"
"No."
"Duncan, none of this makes any sense," Tessa said.
"I know."
"If something was wrong, Richie would've called us."
"I know."
Denise came down the stairs. "Mr. MacLeod, Miss Noel, can I speak with you for a minute?"
"What is it?" Duncan asked.
"Well, first of all I apologize, I know this isn't the scene you expected to arrive to. I'd also like to apologize for all the confusion, but it won't do you any good to try and get any answers from Richie tonight, he's been up for a better part of the last three days, he needs his rest before he'll be good for anything."
"Okay," Duncan said.
"Denise, do you believe Richie's telling the truth?"
She nodded. "I know he is, I can't prove it without going to jail, but I know that Mason killed the harlot."
"Excuse me?" Duncan asked.
"He brought a hooker to his house, they started arguing and he killed her. Richie saw it, and he's never lied to me before, and he wouldn't start now. The police won't admit it, but Mason is up to something, I told you nobody would believe him. Do you?"
Tessa opened her mouth to answer, but didn't. Duncan answered, "I don't know, Denise, I can't think of too many reasons why Richie would do this, but the whole story is hard to swallow, you have to admit that."
"No I don't," she replied, "I grew up in foster care, I've seen people of every level stoop to lows you wouldn't imagine. It doesn't matter how well known they are, what their reputation is, how much money they have, where they come from, who they are, none of that matters because they're all the same."
Richie came down the stairs with his bag packed, and he looked as ready to go as he was going to. Denise headed towards him and said, "Goodbye, Richie, I'll see you soon."
Richie nodded and went over to Duncan and Tessa, it was the longest time before he could look up and look them in the eye. "Mac—Tess---"
Tessa put her hands on his arms and looked him dead in the eye. "Come on, Richie, we're going home."
"Home." The very mention of returning home proved to be too tempting for Richie, he quietly followed them out to the car and got in the back, and he laid out in the back and fell asleep on the way home.
Two hours later, the police were gone, everything had quieted down, and Jeremy and Denise were trying to figure out where to go from there when they heard the back door open. Denise was quicker than was good for her and she grabbed her gun, but she saw it was only Connor and put it back down.
"Where were you?" Jeremy asked.
"Duncan came—there was no way to explain what I was doing here, and it wouldn't have helped us any. What's going on?"
"They took Richie back with them," Denise said, "I hope he'll be allright."
"What happened with the police?"
"They didn't believe us," Jeremy said, "They wouldn't even listen to Uncle David, and they think we tore up Mason's house, but he wasn't pressing charges."
"And we couldn't tell them what we found or else they would've hauled us off to jail, so we're back to square one," Denise added.
"And I'm guessing that my brother didn't believe you either?" Connor asked.
"No."
"What happened to Jason and Krug?"
"They had to leave, I paid them and they've gone off duty for the night."
"So now what do we do?" Connor asked.
They got a good idea of what the first thing was they were going to do when a second later the house went dark and quiet.
"I think we blew a fuse," Connor said.
"Maybe the breaker shorted out," Jeremy thought instead.
"I doubt it," Denise said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Connor asked.
Denise grabbed her gun again and headed for the front door.
"That means, follow my sister," Jeremy said.
They did, and found she had climbed to the roof and found that the power lines were done, completely severed from their place on the roof.
"I've never seen this one happen before," Jeremy said, "not without a storm blowing the lines down, but cutting them down?"
"I don't know that they were cut," Denise said.
"Then what were they?" Jeremy asked.
"If I didn't know any better," she said, "I'd say a gunshot was fired right through them."
Richie had fallen asleep in the car and stayed that way, so Duncan carried him into the store and up to his bedroom and covered him up. Then he joined Tessa in the kitchen for a cup of coffee with plenty of scotch stirred in.
"A murder?" Tessa echoed for the umpteenth time.
"It can't be, Tess, I know Drew."
"How long have you known him?" Tessa asked.
"Not that long, he's not Immortal, but I know him well enough to know that he is NOT a murderer."
"Then why would Richie say he was?"
"I don't know."
"He is not crazy, Duncan."
"I know."
"And he wouldn't just make it up."
Duncan didn't respond to that one.
"Duncan!"
"I'm sorry, Tess, but you didn't hear Richie talk about him before we left. He'd never even met him, and already he decided he didn't like him, that there was something wrong with him."
"I find that hard to believe, Duncan, he had to have at least known Mason somehow if he decided that."
Duncan shook his head, "He didn't."
"But Duncan, that doesn't make sense."
"Nothing tonight does, now, I don't anymore believe Richie's story, than the police's story that he broke into Drew's home, so I can't tell what's going on either."
They were getting nowhere like this. "Maybe we should just go to bed, and start fresh in the morning," Tessa suggested.
"Maybe," Duncan responded. But he still wasn't sure about this whole mess.
Richie opened his eyes and saw by the clock that it was 8:30. Somebody should've woken him up by now to have him help with the store. Uh oh. If they weren't even bothering waking him up, then something must be really wrong. And he knew what it was, him. Out of the frying pan and into the fire it was. How was he ever going to explain this one? It wouldn't matter, they wouldn't believe him, or would they? There had been a lot of stories going through the police to them the other night, and tying in the dead cop with them had to give them some credit to their story, hadn't it? Reluctantly, he got up, made his bed, put on his shoes and headed to the kitchen, only Tessa was there. Richie didn't know what to say, or even if he should stay or instead turn around and leave.
"Good morning, Richie," Tessa said.
"Morning, Tess."
"How are you feeling today?"
"Okay I guess—you?"
"I've been better."
"Oh—where's Mac?"
"Down in the store—are you hungry?"
Richie shook his head, he was feeling awful enough as it is.
"You need to eat, Richie," Tessa said, "Denise said you've been feeling terrible the last few days."
"Yeah."
"Come on, Richie, sit down."
"I really don't think I can eat, Tess."
"That's allright, I heated up some soup, I needed something to calm my stomach myself."
"Oh—" Richie sat down at the table and kept his head down.
Tessa got up and went to the stove. "Richie."
"Yeah, Tess?"
"If something was wrong, why didn't you call us?"
"Because first they called their uncle David who works with the police, and then he said his friend Tony Bloch was coming over to watch us, but he never made it, he was killed, and the killer came as him. But Denise found out he was a fake, and he disappeared, so, she called—a couple of friends to come and help us keep an eye on things. But then the power went out, and we got separated, and we spent the rest of that night trying to find each other. Her friend, Krug, he tried to call the police, but the phone was dead—the wires had been cut they found out. We didn't find each other until morning, and when we got back, the house had been trashed."
"What?"
"Somebody had broken in while we were gone, tore up everything, broke the windows, tore apart the furniture, smashed up everything, we spent half the day repairing what we could, and then waiting on the men from the power company and the phone company to come and repair the lines."
"After that?"
"David came back, and told us that Troy had been found in—Union Gap I think it was, dead, in an empty patrol car, and they almost caught the killer, but he got away. After that, we all took shifts watching Mason's house, and Jeremy went looking for David because nobody was answering at the station, and he was gone all night and we were worried he'd gotten killed, believe me, Tess, making a phone call was the last thing on any of our minds."
Tessa put a bowl of soup and a spoon in front of Richie and he sat up. "Tess, I know I don't have any credit worth a damn to me, but you have to believe me, I know what I saw."
"I really don't know what to believe, Richie, I never met Duncan's friend, he never even told me about him. I also know that you're not crazy, and you wouldn't just make this up to get him in trouble, especially when you don't even know him."
"Believe me, Tess, I know all about him that I need to know," Richie replied.
They heard Duncan come up and Richie squeezed his eyes shut for a second. It was all over now, time to face the music.
"Tessa, would you take over for me downstairs for a while?"
"Sure, Duncan."
Richie couldn't help but notice Tessa seemed a bit hesitant to go, but she did, and Duncan seated himself at the table across from Richie.
"Well Richie, care to start from the beginning today?"
Richie drew in a breath and lowered his head again, this was not going to be a merciful death. "I saw Mason kill a lady."
"How?"
"What?"
"How did you see him kill her?"
"I told you, Mac, through the blinds."
"When was that?"
"A few nights ago shortly after midnight I think."
"What were you doing out at that time?"
"On that street there's a family with a dog who gets loose a lot, and he comes over to Denise's property, you can ask her that yourself, she'll clarify that."
"And what's that to do with this?" Duncan asked.
"He came over and was making a ruckus, I went out and took him home, and on my way down that sidewalk, I saw through the blind to Mason's living room, and I saw he and this lady arguing, and he cut her throat, and I ran back to Denise."
"And you're positive of what you saw?"
"Yeah, I became fully awake when I saw that."
"Say that again?"
Here it went. "I was still tired from being woken up, I was half asleep when I started for home."
"Uh huh."
Richie sat up straight and looked him dead in the eyes. "BUT when I saw him kill that lady I was wide awake, there was no questioning what I saw, Mac!"
"Richie," Duncan shook his head, "How can you be certain of what you saw when you admit that you weren't fully awake when it happened?"
"Mac! I know what I saw, I was tired but I was awake, I couldn't have been having a nightmare when my eyes were open!"
"Richie, sometimes when people haven't fully wakened they see things and they seem real enough that they believe they actually happened."
"NO! Mac! That's not how it happened! I know you can't possibly believe me, but I'm telling you the truth!"
That was the beginning of a long battle.
The day was balmy and gloomy, with rain threatening to drop at any time. Denise and Jeremy sat outside on the edge of their porch in between the poles that held up the roof of the porch, pretending to enjoy the view, and looking around for anything different. Denise had started burning through a pack of cigarettes at 5 A.M. and was still huffing away at them.
They saw Mason come out of his house looking as he always did, he even seemed to be in a rather cheery mood. He got in his truck and headed off for work.
"That tells you," Denise said, "He thinks he's done with us, well it ain't over yet. We may have been beaten up but we're not beat yet."
"Thank you, Glenn Ford---do you think anything's happened to Richie?" Jeremy asked.
"I don't know, but when something does happen, he's going to come back here, and when he does, we'll have to have something to show to his warden that it's not just what we think, it's what we know."
"Yeah, but to do that we have to come up with a body," Jeremy said.
"That's the only thing standing in our way," she replied.
"She's got to be over there somewhere, doesn't she?" Jeremy asked.
"Yes, but we have to figure out where," Denise replied.
Neither said anything for a minute, then Denise remember what Jeremy had said the day before, "Once you have excluded the impossible, then whatever remains however improbable must be the truth."
"What'd you say, sis?" Jeremy asked.
"I think I figured out what he's done with her."
Denise chucked her cigarette into a puddle on the sidewalk and jumped off the porch, Jeremy leaned over to see her. "Denise, what are you doing?"
"I'm going to find that broad," she told him, "Don't come after me."
"But Denise!"
"We have to find her, or Richie's goose is cooked and ours as well. Jeremy, one of us has to find the body, and the other has to stay here if Richie comes back, and he will come back. You can't go anywhere without it being a coin toss if you'll come back, so I'm going, and I'm going alone, you got that?"
Seldom did Denise ever talk to her brother with that tone, the one that said he would learn the consequences if he disobeyed. "Yes, Denise."
With no customers coming, Tessa decided it was a good time to turn over the sign to read closed so she could go upstairs and shut up a certain 400 year old Scot and a 17 year old kid before somebody passing by called the police.
"I knew you wouldn't believe me!" Richie screamed, "Just because you've known him longer, and he lives an upper class life, his word's better than mine, is that it?!"
"THAT'S not what it is and you know it!" Duncan returned.
"Then WHAT is it, Mac? Why won't you believe me? You've been around for 400 years, you HAVE to know that uppity people like him are every bit as capable of killing a person, as someone like I would be."
"I know him, Richie, I can trust him."
"And what, you don't know me? You can't trust me? How long have I been living here, Mac? Have I ever given you a serious reason not to believe me when I tell you that something's wrong?"
"Duncan, Richie, please! Calm down!" Tessa pleaded as she came into the room.
"I WON'T calm down!" Richie replied, "There's a woman DEAD, murdered in cold blood, and all you can do is go on about how well you know the killer? You know what, MacLeod, you are one sick son of a bitch!"
Before he'd completed the last word, the flat of Duncan's hand met with his face and sent him falling back.
"Duncan!" Tessa cried.
She started to go to Richie but Duncan stopped her. "Don't help him, Tess, let him do it himself."
"Duncan! How can you be so cruel to him? He's only a boy!"
"A boy who had better learn his place, and fast."
"Duncan!"
"Forget it, Tess," Richie got to his feet, "I can see it was a mistake thinking anyone would believe me here. Maybe I'd be better of going back to Denise and Jeremy, at least they believe me, and they can prove it to you."
Richie went to his room to get his bag, but when he went in, Duncan went behind him and closed the door and locked it from the outside.
"Duncan! What are you doing now?" Tessa asked.
"He is not running away, and he is not going to be making anymore trouble for anyone."
They heard Richie jerking on the knob and pounding on the door, but Duncan wouldn't let up. Tessa went to let him out but Duncan stopped her.
"Duncan, how can you so heartless?" she wept, "Richie's certain of what he saw."
"No he's not, Tess, he's only convinced himself that he is. He's no more sure of what he saw than anything."
"Duncan, do you really think Richie would do all this if he wasn't sure?"
"Yes, I do."
"Duncan, you have to let him out," Tessa said.
"And I will, as soon as he drops this story about Drew being a killer," he added loud enough for Richie to hear.
"But Duncan, don't you think there's at least a possibility that he could be right?" Tessa asked.
"No, I've known him for too long."
"How long is that?"
Before Duncan had a chance to answer, the phone rang. "Hello?"
"Duncan, how are you?"
"Connor? Where are you?"
"On a rickety plane coming in for a landing in about half an hour, I decided to come and pay a visit. How are things going?"
"Oh, they're beyond words," Duncan replied.
"Terrific, uh…could you and Tessa come down and meet me at the airport? I had enough trouble getting out of here the last time I came to visit, I don't even want to think how I'll make it out of the mob this time."
"Sure, no problem, Tessa and I will be right down."
"I'm not going," Tessa told him when he hung up.
"Yes you are, Connor asked for both of us to come and meet him at the airport," Duncan said.
Tessa thought it over for a minute. "Fine, I'll go."
"Then let's get going."
"You go on ahead, I have to go to the bathroom first," Tessa told him.
She headed over to the bathroom and shut the door, turned on the light, and waited, when she was certain Duncan had gone to get the car, she went over to Richie's bedroom and lightly knocked on the door.
"Richie?"
"Go away," she heard him cry.
"Richie, Duncan and I have to go pick Connor up at the airport, Duncan's gone to get the car."
"I said go away!"
"Richie."
"WHAT?!" he sobbed.
"I believe you, when we get Connor here, I'll talk to him and see if maybe he can help. Okay?" She got no answer, only heard him continue his crying. "Richie, I'm sorry for what Duncan did, we have to find a way to prove what you said, and we will. Now—Richie, I want you to listen. I'm going to unlock the door so you can come out, allright?"
She put the key in and turned the bolt, but Richie didn't come to the door.
"In about five minutes, Richie, I want you to come out, and go back to Denise's house and stay there, I'll figure out what to do from there, allright?"
She heard a sob that resembled a sound of agreement.
"Good---I love you, Richie, now I must go."
Richie waited until he couldn't hear her footsteps anymore, and he came out. He listened and when he couldn't hear the car anymore, he ran, he didn't bother taking anything with him, he just ran and hoped to get there before he could be spotted.
The rain was pouring down and the clouds rumbled with thunder. Jeremy was getting worried, Denise had been over at Mason's house for several hours now, where she'd gone exactly he didn't know. He only knew that it would be a matter of time before Mason came home from work, and if he found Denise he'd probably kill her too. He was out on the porch watching when something else caught his eye. It was Richie running down the street, like somebody was chasing him.
"Jeremy!"
Jeremy collided into Richie and they almost fell down, Jeremy kept a hold on him.
"Boy, Richie, you'd think Spring Heeled Jack was chasing you or something, what's the matter?"
"Take me inside, take me inside!"
"Allright, allright, take it easy, everything's going to be allright. Though I better warn you, the house is pretty cold right now."
Jeremy escorted Richie inside and he found that it was completely dark, and indeed cold.
"What happened here?" Richie asked.
"The power went out last night," Jeremy sat Richie down at the dining room table and threw a heavy blanket over his shoulders. "Denise went up the roof to investigate, turns out somebody had shot through the wires."
"Mason."
"Yeah, so, at about 3 o' clock this morning, Denise got down her shotgun and we returned the favor."
"What'd he do then?"
"Nothing, he went to work today as happy as could be. Truth be known, I think after he saw the police were up here, he was too happy at our supposed defeat to care."
"And where's Denise now?" Richie asked.
Jeremy struck a match and lit up a candelabra holding five candles, and he got a better look at Richie's face.
"Your warden struck, didn't he?"
Richie hadn't known he bruised, he thought he was just still in pain. He didn't answer.
"Denise knew it, she said if he'd do something to you, you'd come back. What happened, did you break out?"
"No, they went to get Connor, Tessa let me out."
"Get Connor? From where?"
"From the airport, I don't understand it either, where's Denise?"
"She went to find the body, AND," he stopped Richie before he could get up, "She gave direct order for us not to go over there, no matter what."
"How long ago was that?"
He thought back, "Five hours."
"Jeremy!"
"She said not to, and you know what happens when she's crossed."
"But she could be in trouble!"
The front door was kicked open and Denise stepped in, covered in mud, dripping wet, and clutching a gardening trowel in her hand.
"Denise!" the boys cried and they rushed to her.
"What happened? What's the matter?" Jeremy asked.
"Are you allright?" Richie asked.
"Richie, I owe you an apology," she said.
"Wha---what?"
"Mason does have a wife."
"What?" the boys asked.
"Her name was Cecilia Davenport Mason, she was married to him for about eight years, I know this because she had a wedding ring with an inscription, a white gold ring that she loved so much, she always wore it---and even in death that didn't change."