"The Testimony of a Witness"
"Right from the beginning we knew there was something off about the Denmark mansion. It was only a few years after they moved in that the father died, found drowned in his own bathtub. The papers said it was an overdose, and that he had climbed into the bathtub of his own accord, and died there. But we thought it was kind of strange, with the mother lurking about like that after his death, hunched over in some kind of serious show of pain. She never came outside, and never said hello to any of us. She didn't come to our weekly tea parties, or our Sunday brunches. She never even came to one charity event at the local country club. No one spoke with her, because she was a social pariah. But of course, being her neighbor, I paid close attention to what went on in that house, as I had children to rear, you know? I needed to know that they were safe, and they wouldn't get any trouble from those strange people.
"We knew they had kids, but we never saw much of them either. Except Jameson. He played with little Seth across the street. They were always getting themselves into trouble, blowing things up and the like. We started a neighborhood watch a while back because of vandalism, but of course we never found out who the culprit was. But if you ask any of us, we'd say it was him. Everyone knew. We never knew if the mother ever got over her husband's death, because she stayed that way for a long time, almost ten years, and right after that she got cancer. Like her husband's ghost gave it to her.
"Anyway, she got real close with one of her nurses, and he started visiting more often, until one day they got married. Just like that. Such a scandal to marry someone when you're so sick like that. Strange. We supposed she must feel like she needed to leave someone behind to take care of the kids, but shouldn't a person have family to take care of that? Really, I never heard such a thing before. The worst part was that when she walked to her car in the morning, she still had a sickly sort of look about her; she definitely still had ghosts. She still didn't smile very much either. So when she finally died, I figured the family would move, find someplace where the kids really belonged, you know? But instead, the new husband kept them close, and kept them in check. Jameson stopped his usual tricks, and Brett began to make friends, tried out for the baseball team. We thought Clark was doing a pretty decent job of keeping the kids in line, until this tragedy. Oh, such a waste."
3 DEAD IN DOMESTIC INCIDENT
Two days ago, three bodies were found in the backyard of the Denmark mansion, on Walnut Street in the Hampton neighborhood. The Denmarks' neighbor noticed that no one had left the house in a week, and had decided to pay a visit. "When no one answered the door, I decided to investigate further until I noticed some black plastic sticking up out of the ground," she said. Upon the discovery of the bodies, she called the police immediately. The three victims have now been identified as Clark Hansen, Sophia Harold, and Brett Denmark. The cause of death of each of the victims seems undetermined at the moment, though red marks around each of the necks suggest strangling. They were (cont. p2) wrapped in black plastic bags and buried in shallow graves. Police are doing the best they can to further the investigation by questioning neighbors and the families and friends of the victims. Police say that they are still searching for the missing member of the family, Jameson,
16 years old, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He is considered very dangerous, and the newspaper has been informed of the necessity to issue a warning: If he is seen, please contact the number below, or call 911, rather than approach him directly.
(805-911-0900)