CHAPTER 8
Files and Scavenger Hunts
The clock ticked by minute by minute. Every sound that whispered from the old grandfather sounded like a hurricane through the silence of the study. John Low sat at his desk surrounded by piles of paperwork. Even though it was his day off tomorrow, he still sat opening folder after folder, searching, and sorting. This was his personal studies. The room was lit by only a dim lamp which casted long shadows along the book cases and his work area, making it hard to read the tiny scripted crime files. Though the Colonel could find many cases that sounded like the arson that Major Bolden and Chaplain Petters described, they were all false leads. It seemed like the file that he was looking for just disappeared. The only thing that kept John reading these void cases were common words that were strung throughout them. Smoke, flames, children, white, light, blood, monster. These words were definitely strange to have linked through several unrelated files. As John studied them, he came across one that was about a kidnapping a few miles away from Arrington. Supposedly a young boy was taken from his home late one night and wasn't found until someone picked him up off the road few towns over. They claimed him to have run off, but the boy was describing a flaming white monster that came out of a ray of lightning to kill him. Trauma was claimed and the case was void. That case had the most descriptive tale of the monster that John read. It seemed hallucinogenic.
When the clock stroke eleven the chimes hollered throughout the house causing John to leap out of his skin. He wiped a bead of sweat off of his brow and started to pack up his papers. He got almost nowhere in his work, and he'd have to get up early tomorrow to head for the market. It seemed like everyone around him knew more about this mysterious arson case than he did. As the chimes started to ring out again for a second round, it dawned on him. John lunged out of his seat and strangled the phone out of the receiver. He managed to knock over the lamp on his desk turning out the little light he had but he ignored it, punching in the numbers blindly. The ring sounded only three times before someone picked it up on the other end. A voice growled out from the other end.
"Low, go to bed it is eleven at night," Rosy's voice called out. He heard a stifled yawn draw its way across the line.
"Lieutenant, where are the files to the Arrington Arson case?" he commanded. A gasp came through the phone and John knew she was getting her work attitude together. He only called her Lieutenant at work or in emergencies. This was an emergency.
"Colonel, they should have been with the rest of the files that were going to the archives. The Fueher filed it himself," she replied. He could still hear the tiredness in her voice, but she covered it up well with alert and serious action.
"Do you know where in archives?"
"Colonel, where else would a cold case arson file go, but in the fire department's records. Third isle, second block," she said. John could have hit himself in the head for not realizing that in the first place.
"Thanks Lieutenant." John was just about to hang up the phone when he heard the voice give another cry, and he quickly put it back up to his ear.
"Colonel, I almost forgot to tell you. The fuerher is missing some of your paper work that you were supposed to file on Wednesday. Find it." John hung up the phone without saying anything more. Parkinson was going to have his neck about calling her so late, but he didn't care. He had a lead again. He was going to find this case even if he had to dig through piles of paper work. He was going to find it even if it killed him.
Okay sorry for the short chapter, but loose ends must be tied up. For people who like short chapters, your welcome. For people who like longer chapters, next one will probably be about six times as long as this, maybe longer (sorry short reading folks).
by the way sorry for not updating for a while, but I was making a scarf and was a little caught up in it... literally. Next project is the next chapter. The project after is a crochet umbreon plushie. Booyah. (I am a nerd and I am proud).