Hazy View: Souls of the Vanished (20 page)

“
The coroner, when they
arrived at the hospital they were unknown. They took them to the
morgue and the coroner added the names after I got there.” Martin
explained.

“
That makes no sense.”
Andrew remarked taking a second look at the certificates with a
deep frown.

“
What, isn’t it good
enough for you?” Martin asked.

“
If they were unknown, how
did they know to track you?” Andrew asked.

“
The coroner probably
found her license afterwards, I don’t know. Maybe you should ask
him.” Martin said sarcastically with a grin on his face.

“
You know that we’d have
to take you in until we can verify this. I know you don’t think
much of me, but had this been the other way around, you would’ve
done the same. Regardless of our history and how much it pains me
to do this.”

“
Yet you’re still here.
Standing in front of me and expecting me to have done something.”
Martin said coldly.

Martin turned and walked out of the
room. He paused and turned to Andrew. “Are you coming, there’s
thing I’d like to do soon. I wouldn’t like this to take all day.”
He turned and walked down the passage.

Outside the house Andrew suggested
that Martin rode with two of the officers while he had a moment to
go through the papers Martin gave him. The last thing he needed was
to get into an emotional debate. He didn’t want to discuss were the
case was and what evidence he had. He needed to find the police
officer from Dayton, even if he made the trip there.

*~*~*

*VI*

In the back of the patrol vehicle,
unshielded from the sun, Martin sat quietly. He wasn’t sitting
watching the scenery passing by nor was his replying to any of the
conversations the officers were trying to make. Instead he sat
staring at his hands folded in his lap. He’s sweating but not from
the heat, because he’s nervous.

His tightly wrapped hands were over
each other, tightly and hot. He felt the heat in them. Sweat
dampened his palms. Finally his hands turned white and cold, and
they were shaking now. The darkness will come for him. It won’t be
this hot and bright forever. Soon the sun would fade, leaving a
space for the darkness to come through. If his home soon he would
be safe from an unexpected attack from the darkness he feared more
than Janet.

Martin started to shiver as the
thought of him exposed ran through his mind. Maybe the darkness
won’t attack him or even come close, knowing there was too many
people around. This could be a hidden blessing. They have nothing
on him. He would be home soon and the first chance he gets he‘ll be
on the road to where ever it took him.

Martin throws his head back and closed
his eyes. He remained still for a while then looked at the two
officers in front of him. He forced a smile and looked down
again.

“
Does anyone of you have
some painkillers I have a headache that’ll kill me before we get to
town.”

“
No sorry, would you like
me to stop at the drugstore?” The driver asked.

“
That’s fine I left my
wallet at home. Had to leave in a rush, I’m sure you can understand
that. Can’t you make a plan, what’ll you tell your boss if I die in
your custody?”

“
Nobody’s ever died from a
headache.” The one officer corrected.

“
No they didn’t, but they
did because of them going crazy and ballistic from the pain.”
Martin said and threw his head back.

Martin wasn’t joking. His head felt
really beaten.

He needed to have a sober mind when he
wanted to flee in the early hours of the morning. He heard the
vehicle on the property again, just before dawn and decided to hide
the vehicle behind the house. Later while having breakfast he had
decided to make haste retreat and the vehicle ended in a ditch. He
managed to get the vehicle out but for some reason it wouldn’t
start. He was still in the backyard in the freedom of the bright
light of the sun trying to fix a problem he couldn’t
see.

The darkness couldn’t reach him so it
did the next best thing. It had reached into the deepest parts of
the country and had brought the one thing he did not fear. It
brought Andrew to his doorstep.

*~*~*

*VII*

Andrew leaded Martin down the passage
towards the holding cells at Frank’s office. He didn’t want to
think too much. He felt sorry for Martin, not for what he did but
for the state he was in, although he didn’t want to show it. He
started to doubt himself wondering if Martin really had something
to do with what happened.

Andrew shook the doubt out of his
mind. He had the proof that Martin did everything he suspected him
of. Soon he’ll crush his so called proof of an accident and show
that it wasn’t Janet and Christopher that had perished. These
deaths were just convenient for him and he had claimed it as his
own. How could he proof it, if a woman and child died in the
accident, if it happened? He had much to do and only forty eight
hours to do it in. If he failed it meant he had to release Martin
and then he’d never find again.

Andrew reached the holding cells. He
stopped in front of a single cell with a bunk bed and a small basin
and toilet. There was nothing else in the cell and no one shared it
with Martin. At least he had time to think about the situation he
was in. Maybe the next time they spoke he would be a little clear
minded.

“
Sorry Martin, but you
know the drill. I need you to stay here while I contact Dayton
Police to check out your story. I‘ll be back for you soon.” Andrew
said and waited for Martin to enter before he closed the
door.

Martin glanced at Andrew and smiled.
He was taunting him and believed that he had the upper hand. Andrew
just frowned at him. Martin wiped his fingers across the bars,
showing that the cell wasn’t bothering him, but it did. More so he
was now alone and cornered like the rat he felt he was.

“
Please could you send
someone down here with some painkillers for me? I promise I will be
a good boy.” Martin smiled again.

“
Sure.” Andrew said and
walked away.

On the way out of the cell area Andrew
met with an officer and asked him to collect tablets for Martin and
something nonalcoholic to drink. He continued to Frank’s office and
looked around. He was nowhere in sight.

“
If the sheriff’s looking
for me, please tell him I’d gone to the bed and breakfast and then
to the diner.” Andrew informed the office woman sitting at one of
the desks.

“
I’m sure you might find
him there, when he disappears out of the blue he’s usually at the
diner.” She informed and continued her work.

“
Thanks.”

Andrew headed for the door when he
noticed Frank coming out of the men’s room and headed down the
passage towards him. “Is the suspect tucked into bed?”

“
Yes, as snug as a
bug.”

“
You’re not going to get
weird on me, are you?”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
I saw the way you’re
looking at him. I can see it in your eyes even now.”

“
What, I don’t have a clue
what you mean?” Andrew asked lifting his shoulders.

Frank said. “You feel sorry for him.
Don’t believe he did it, do you?”

“
I know he did it, it’s
just after all the years it’s hard just to treat him cold like he
deserves. I know he wouldn’t have done this
deliberately.”

“
Then why is he still
covering his tracks?”

“
Is he?” Andrew asked
unsure.

“
You have forensic proof
over those bogus papers he had given you. If you ask me we cut to
the chase and get a court order to open those so called
graves.”

“
It’s not a bad idea, but
that’ll take a while. And the judge would probably insist on us
checking out this accident first.”

“
If I were you I’d take a
little drive. Just a short distance, say fifty something miles. Do
it personally and check out the hospital. That’s where they took
all the victims. Not that I‘m trying to tell you what to do. I’m
sure you’ve already thought of that.” Frank suggested
smiling.

He slapped Andrew on the shoulder that
he stepped forward just to keep his balance.

“
You must be good. You
read my mind.”

Frank said. “You know what. I can’t
help for the friends I have, even if he happens to be the town
judge.” He lifted his eyebrow and took the case file out of
Andrew’s hands. “Could I borrow this till you get back? My friend
might be a judge but his dreadfully fare.”

“
Sure I only need the
accident report and the death certificates.” Andrew extracted them
from the file.

“
Despite all you still
need to do, why don’t you and that lovely woman that came with you,
join me for lunch at the diner? It’s such a lovely homely
place.”

“
Sure I am sure we’ll meet
you there.”

*~*~*

*VIII*

After lunch Helen and Andrew left the
small town and drove to Dayton. They had no trouble finding the
police precinct mentioned in the accident report and found the
police officer that had obviously called on Martin.

The officer seemed confused about who
Martin was. He couldn’t recall the accident either. This didn’t sit
too well with Andrew. Does an accident of this nature happen so
often? Could it fade from thought and memory once the day ended?
The accident happened last. Although it felt to Andrew that no one
remembered it.

Andrew showed him the report in an
attempt to jolt his memory. He waited while he read through it
thoughtfully. The police officer told him about the accident
relating to the report. The accident he remembered seemed to be
different from the one Andrew described and shows him the vehicle
involved.

Andrew took some snapshots of the
vehicle from different angles including the license plate and left
the precinct.

Arriving at the hospital he had just
as a hard time as at the police precinct. The doctor thought him to
be crazy but did confirm that he had signed the death certificates.
He didn’t recall leaving out the name. The doctor informed him that
he moved the bodies to the morgue after the husband identified them
when he arrived. He recalled that he completed the names on the
certificate.

The signed document Martin gave Andrew
had his name on it, but he didn’t sign it. According to the doctor
someone stole stationery from his desk about a week ago. He didn’t
think too much of it. The completed documents where signed by who
knows who trying to pass it off as legitimate papers.

Clearly someone wrote the names if at
a later stage. This would explain everything. Martin had found
someone to steel the papers off the doctor’s desk. With the real
accident they, collected the documents with the correct information
then just completed the names once Martin paid for the stolen
documents. This explained why no one recalled the events that
Andrew described.

Andrew was even more confused by the
time he reached the morgue. The pathologist pulled the file on the
already cremated bodies. His report and autopsy matched that of the
accident report but it didn’t match the death
certificate.

He copied the report and left the
hospital. He hurried out of the hospital with renewed hope. Now he
had Martin just where he wanted him. Martin could try as hard as
wanted. He wouldn’t stand a chance in a court of law. He was ready
to take him back to Hazy View. There he would pay for his
crime.

Andrew and Helen drove back to the
Sheriff’s office three and a half hours later with far less words
as they had spoken on their journey to Dayton. Andrew surrendered
all emotions towards Martin. He focused his mind on proving that he
had murdered his family, weather he remembered it or
not.

He had killed them brutally according
to the forensic report and tried to conceal it. He was aware of
what he did when he dumped their bodies. Now he‘ll crush him like a
bug on the bottom of his shoe. He’ll walk into Hazy View with his
head high and shock all the residents that might stand up for
Martin.

*~*~*

*IX*

Andrew was angry for wasting time but
more so for falling for Martin’s antics. Now he sat in the
interrogation room with the case files in front of him. Frank and
Helen sat in a jointing room only separated by a two-way mirror
recording the interrogation. Two officers left to collect Martin
from the holding cells and were on their way back.

Andrew sat at the table smoking and
sipping on a cup of coffee. Martin entered and sat at the other
end. Beside the table and four chairs there’s nothing in the room.
The officer took a chair to the corner in view of the hidden
cameras.

“
Martin, why don’t we stop
these games of yours and you start telling me the truth.” Andrew
started.

Martin looked up at him
confused.

“
What games?”