The Pallet Cleanser

 Vulpecula stood in-front of the mirror for a short moment, staring at the suited white fox looking back at him. He adjusted his collar and once he was satisfied, turned back to Mayor Sanec Barker. Mayor Barker looked him up and down and, although it could have been his imagination, he could have sworn he saw a flicker of discomfort from Sanec Barker once his eyes met Vulpecula’s necktie, as if Vulpecula hadn’t adjusted it correctly. 

   “It isn’t very often I wear a suit,” Vulpecula said, for no other reason than to try and fill the silence in the room. 

   Sanec Barker had a certain presence about him that put emphasis on his own worth without him having to say a word. It was an aura that commanded respect and an upper-class elitism. Vulpecula had always gotten a similar feeling when he was around Hensley Noel. The only difference was that Vulpecula found something appealing about it on Sanec Barker. Maybe it’s because Sanec Barker could set goals for himself and see them through, not merely rolling with the punches on good intent. 

   “I feel naked without one,” Barker replied. Vulpecula noticed the way Barker peered over his shoulder, trying to see into the mirror, and so, he moved out of his way. “Were the Whispey Deserts everything you hoped they’d be and more?” 

   “Hot enough to boil a shark’s blood and filled with nothing but loose ends, my biggest regret was that we couldn’t find Akil and Ajou,” Vulpecula lied, thinking back about his confrontation with the cat duo. 

   “Oh no, we caught them,” Sanec Barker assured, a nonchalant cadence to his voice. “After you gave Duke the slip, I used a tracker to find out where you were headed. I had some Amisoic Sea Captains apprehend Akil and Ajou afterward. Because their crimes fell under Urgway’s jurisdiction, they were sent back our way and incarcerated.” 

   Vulpecula was stunned both by the blunt way Sanec spoke and by the mere content of what he said. “When did you have a chance to put a tracker on me?” 

   “Addicts are unpredictable and sporadic. I assumed you’d try to lose Duke and find your way to the nearest bar, but when I found you headed toward the nearest airport, I was able to put two and two together.” 

   Vulpecula sighed, looking over to Sanec Barker’s office-door as his secretary, a white Maltese named Zoey, came forward, carrying a tray with two mugs of coffee. Vulpecula nodded his head and smiled, “Nice to see you again, Zoey. How have you been?” 

   “Busier than ever, I’m afraid,” Detective Barker answered for her. “She has many things to do today, and you, too, are about to begin your next assignment.” 

   Zoey smiled at Vulpecula in turn, then, dropped the silver-tray atop Sanec Barker’s desk, leaving them thereafter. Vulpecula ran out his paws and walked forward toward Sanec, unable to hide how nervous he was. “I can’t wait to see what you have in mind.” 

   “As a thinker, you have the intuition and the know-how to interpret information like few others can. As an animal, you have the ability to empathize with even the worst of us, allowing you to predict their actions before their made,” Sanec Barker explained, sounding sincere in his praise. “As a police officer, you’re about as useless as a bag of rotten potatoes.” 

   Vulpecula smiled, “You flatter me, sir.” 

   “I’m certain,” Sanec Barker replied, turning his body from the mirror and walking over to the window overlooking the city of Urgway. It was a great shot of the city, the only downfall was that it wasn’t a beautiful city to have a great shot of. “I asked you to find the men who claimed responsibility for Tony Rockwell’s murder, and they gift-wrapped themselves to you, disclosing their identities and leaving you a breadcrumb trail to follow. All you had to do was report the information and I would’ve seen to it that they were apprehended. Which I did anyways, but you made me take the long way around.” 

   Sanec Barker’s voice didn’t sound angry. It sounded matter-of-fact and blunt, like a father talking to his child. In-fact, any time that Barker spoke, Vulpecula felt that way. Whether it was talking to Marybeth’s head detective Psitticus or his secretary, where one person stood, Detective Barker stood opposite, very noticeably higher. There was something infectious about him in that respect. His confidence and rightward way, he was the measuring stick he expected everyone else to compare themselves to. It didn’t exactly make for the best friend to have at a party, but yet, the same could be said for Vulpecula, and he wasn’t nearly as accomplished. 

   Sanec Barker walked over to his desk and lifted up a manila envelope and stared at it for only a moment before sliding it over to the other-side of his desk. “An elderly woman named Lauren Dahl claims that her deceased husband keeps visiting her from beyond the grave. I need you to go and investigate the occurrence. If all bodes well, I imagine it’ll make a riveting story for The Rescue Tribune.” 

   “An old woman seeing a ghost? This seems like something that could be assigned to anyone in that jurisdiction, why not have them look into it?” Vulpecula asked. 

   “They don’t think it’s worthy of their time and effort. This is Urgway and Urgway’s a dangerous city.” 

   “And, it’s worthy of my time?” Vulpecula chose not to hide his skepticism. 

   “So, you agree? Good! I was afraid you’d be skeptical. After all, most likely, it’s that she’s battier than a fruitcake.” 

   “Nuttier than a fruitcake,” Vulpecula corrected, for a reason he couldn’t understand. 

   “Ah, right. Smart as a tack,” Sanec Barker countered facetiously. “You’ll also need to report back here every night for a breathalyzer treatment. After all, you’ve proven Duke isn’t an appropriate babysitter, and I can’t have you drinking on the clock,” Barker explained. 

   “That’s a two-hour drive,” Vulpecula said. 

   “Drive fast,” Sanec Barker replied with a smirk that Vulpecula was only able to see from Barker’s reflection in the window. 

   Vulpecula sighed, walking over and retrieving the manila envelop, then, turning his back to Barker and walking toward the elevator. Everything he’d been through. All the dead bodies he’d seen since the second he stepped into Urgway, and he was now a glorified paranormal investigator, it seemed. 

   “You might not like how I’m treating you. But, let’s be clear. The reason you’re on my payroll is because I see something in you that I don’t see in others. Regardless, that doesn’t mean I don’t see you’re demons. Hell, even bird brains had to warn me about the episodes and spells you go into, and he’d lose his beak if it wasn’t attached to him. Think of this as your official pallet cleanser.” 

2. 

   Like the rest of Urgway, the Maims district was far from a luxury resort or a vacation getaway. It might’ve been the Gods aligning to emphasize the fact, but Vulpecula had to move out of his lane on the back roads to dodge a plastic trashcan that had been knocked over on the side of the road. Could it have been an omen for the garbage case Sanec Barker had lined up for him? Vulpecula continued forward, stewing in his thoughts as he had done for the hour-long drive. Vivian Herms was on his mind, as was Acera’s serial-killer, both of them, be it Poison or the black-tar mangler (a name given to him for Vulpecula’s own amusement), and his mind was on Akil and Ajou. 

   Akil and Ajou seemed so certain in themselves. What had they meant when they said the truth was right in-front of him? What did they know that he didn’t? The Fox Detective turned on the radio in a last ditch effort to distract his clouded mind. 

   “The latest here on Maharris Wide News, Urgway’s own Mayor Sanec Barker was in attendance this weekend at the Supreme Stadium, cheering on city’s hometown team to victory! Mr. Barker has been making the rounds this month after signing a new deal that hopes to do away with the growing homeless problem plaguing the lower city districts. Recent polls suggest the once mixed reception toward Mayor Barker has been on an upswing in the last seven months he has been in office with him largely credited with Urgway’s ongoing economic uptick,” A woman on the radio station explained. 

   Akil and Ajou had been so swift to disown any sense of responsibility to Urgway, citing their impoverished and debased social status as a brick-wall. But, that didn’t stop Sanec Barker. Sanec had grown up with very little and ascended the ranks through hard-work and conviction. If the city of Urgway had known who his father was, he’d ever have been even considered for election, but that didn’t stop him from trying and, then, persevering. That didn’t mean they were wrong about what they said about Vulpecula, however. He hadn’t made proper use of himself and privileges his family-name brought him. Aligning with Mayor Barker seemed like the best way he could make the most of it. He only wished Mayor Barker had given himself something juicier to sink his teeth into. 

   At last, Vulpecula found the woman’s house; a quaint, old-style cinder-block house with concrete-steps leading up to a wooden porch. As Vulpecula pulled into the driveway, he noticed the absence of the woman’s vehicle. In the bigger, metropolitan districts, public-transportation was in heavy use, but that wasn’t the case in Maim. Perhaps, she was away? 

   Vulpecula stepped out of his vehicle and walked up the porch to the front-door; a solid red-oak door with a knocker that resembled a lion’s head with a gold ring in its mouth. Vulpecula knocked on the door and waited. A few seconds came and went. Could he call Sanec Barker and tell him she declined his help? Maybe then Sanec would assign him something worth sinking his teeth into. As he went to knock on the door again, he heard the sound of someone unfastening the chain-lock, soon, the door opened before him. The woman, a frail lioness with a wrinkly face that seemed more Pitbull than her actual species, stared back at him. He couldn’t see her eyes as they were blocked by a pair of tinted sunglasses, she held a cane in one hand. This wasn’t a walking stick like the one Vulpecula carried, however, but, rather, one to help her feel around the area. The woman Lauren Dahl was blind. 

   “Forgive me,” the old lioness pleaded, “but I’m not as spry as I once was.” The woman offered a nervous, hearty chuckle that became a hoarse cough. 

   “Not a problem at all,” Vulpecula reassured, doing a shrugging gesture that benefited no one at all, “Mayor Sanec Barker has informed me you’ve been under a certain predicament, involving … your husband?” 

   The woman said nothing at first. Although it could as easily have been that she’d taken an elongated moment to process Vulpecula’s words, he suspected something different. Her demeanor tightened and his intuition told him the temperature of their conversation had changed for the worse, her husband visiting her had not been a pleasant occurrence. “Come in, please,” she said, turning her back to him and leading way into the room. 

   Vulpecula nodded, an action that was, once again, for no one’s benefit. He complied, walking into the home and examining it as he did so. “Do you have a caretaker?” Vulpecula asked, noticing how clean and tidy everything appeared. 

   “I do! A woman named Miranda comes by every other day and visits me. She’s a wonderful, little thing, really,” she replied, sounding kind and friendly in her assessment. 

   “And has she encountered your husband?” 

   “No, I’m afraid I’m the only one he has visited,” Lauren replied, having a seat on the reclining chair. 

   “Mmm,” Vulpecula sounded, sitting down on the dark-green sofa. 

   “Oh, don’t you go on about it too!” Lauren snapped, catching Vulpecula off-guard. 

   “Pardon?” 

   “I’m not a crazy old woman! I don’t care what anyone says. I spoke to my husband. I smelled the cologne on his clothes. I didn’t imagine it. If you can’t accept that he’s alive, then, you might as well walk out that front-door the way you came!” The lioness’s ferocity was fierce and of youthful enthusiasm. If nothing else, she truly believed what was happening to her, and that was enough to make Vulpecula want to help her. 

   “I’m sorry,” Vulpecula said. The Fox Detective surveyed the room again. The photographs spread around her room, on her fireplace mantel and on the coffee table in-front of them, they all told the story of who Lauren Dahl once was and the life she once had with her husband. It was bittersweet; beautiful and yet tragic. The photographs showed Lauren in her younger years, before her eyesight had went. The many religious symbols showed her spirituality, in-particular, it was clear she followed the teachings of The Water Lily. “What can you tell me about your husband?” 

   “What?” The woman asked, holding out her ear as a way of asking the question be repeated. 

   “Why do you think your husband is trying to contact you?” 

   “He wanted to be sure that I’m well, that I’m being taken care of,” The woman explained. 

   “Has he only contacted you once?” 

   “No,” she shook her head. Sniffling some, it was clear to Vulpecula that the conversation was beginning to upset her. “I’ve seen him a few times. I’ll hear a noise, and when I call out, he talks to me. He talks to me and tells me stories about our first dance or our wedding day, it’s both wonderful and upsetting, really.” 

   “Upsetting?” It wasn’t really a question that Vulpecula couldn’t answer for himself. After all, who wouldn’t find unsanctioned visits from their dead spouse upsetting? Nevertheless, he wanted to hear the reasoning in Lauren’s own words. 

   “I’m a woman of God and his teachings have said that a soul who’s stuck on the ground is restless and suffering, I want my husband to be at peace,” Lauren answered. 

   Vulpecula smiled. It was a wonderful sentiment, even if the idea of angels and spirits and souls at peace was lost on him. “When did you first begin having visits from your husband?” 

   “It has been happening for a couple of months now. My caretaker Miranda thought I’d become loony in my old age, but I haven’t. I’m as sane as I’ve ever been. I enjoy my music and my audio-books.” 

   The way she changed the subject from her husband’s ghost to music and audio-books didn’t say much in her sanity’s favor, but she didn’t strike Vulpecula as a fool. Vulpecula looked around the house for inspiration, staring at the photograph of her husband, an older lion with a dark-red mane, his eyes appeared sunken in, but he also had a happy, liveliness to him that was sad to see left behind. 

   “How did your husband die, Mrs. Dahl?” 

   “Heart attack,” she answered bluntly. 

   Vulpecula nodded his head, but remained quiet other-wise. Heart attacks didn’t leave a lot of wiggle room. If he was willing to entertain the idea that what Lauren said was the truth, it became a lot more difficult to do if her husband’s body had been found and he’d been pronounced dead. There were no zombies in this world and the only ghosts haunting us were the ones in our mind. That said, this also meant it wasn’t likely a faked death scenario either. All signs suggested that sweet and delightful Lauren Dahl had imagined the scene, or, perhaps, even dreamed it. It wasn’t the best conclusion to come to, but it was the only one presenting itself. 

   “Do you happen to have your caretaker’s number? I have some questions that I think might shed some more light on your predicament.” 

   “You mean, to ask if I’m out of my mind?” 

   “I’m only looking to try and find some more information. I have a lot of pieces in-front of me, but I have yet to find out where each of them goes to make a clearer picture.” 

   “Antelsa,” the woman said. Antelsa was an electronic brand with voice-command capabilities, it specialized in technology for elderly and impaired individuals. “What’s the phone-number for Mary Carson?” 

   “The phone-number for Mary Carson is 183-205-8842,” a computer’s voice said from on Lauren’s coffee table. 

   “Got it,” Vulpecula said, making a note of it on his blank chalkboard. “I’ll contact you if I have any other questions. Call me if you have contact with your husband again.” 

3. 

   “Hello, Mary Carson. My name’s Vulpecula Noel and I’m calling about the recent occurrences involving Lauren Dahl, I understand that you’ve been her caretaker for the last six months?” Vulpecula stood in Mayor Sanec Barker’s office, fidgeting with a fountain pen he’d found on Barker’s desk. 

   “Really? They have you investigating a blind woman’s ghost-sightings? Looks like the economies been hard on everyone,” Mary replied, her voice was playfully sarcastic and raspy. 

   “Have to keep the lights on,” Vulpecula jested, pushing the bottom end the pen inward on Barker’s desk and releasing it, making it bounce in the air. “So, you’re of the belief Lauren is imagining the whole situation?” 

   “What’s the alternative, that her husband’s hand rose from the dirt, zombie-movie style, and that he has been talking to her, but only when no one else is around?” The woman was rightly skeptical. 

   “How would you describe your time with Lauren, what does she usually have you do?” 

   “Nothing out of the ordinary. I come by, clean up the house, which I barely even have to do, because she has already done it. I keep her company. Honestly, the biggest thing I actually have to do is buy her groceries, the woman goes through food like no one’s business. It must be stress-eating from her husband’s death,” Mary rambled. 

   “I wouldn’t have ever thought that,” Vulpecula replied, remembering how small and frail Lauren appeared, he would’ve thought the opposite. 

   “Goes through hundreds of dollars worth of groceries every week,” Mary said. Vulpecula couldn’t say for certain, but he felt confident she was nodding on the other end, which was to no one’s benefit. 

   Vulpecula continued bouncing the pen, until, at last, it broke, falling off the desk in pieces. Vulpecula stared at it for a moment. “So, you can’t think of anything out of the ordinary that has happened to you while working for Lauren? Is there any reason you have to question her sanity?” 

   “Look, when I first met the woman, she was smart as a tack,” Lauren began. 

   “Sharp as a tack,” Vulpecula corrected, then, considered the relevance, “Please continue.” 

   “She was sharp as a tack, but, then, when her husband died, it was all downhill thereafter. I had been her next-door neighbor before I was brought in, because I was a person she trusted, and I was convinced she’d be one of those people that went right after their spouse. I knew her memory was fading too, I found a box of notebooks with nothing but diaries.” 
   “That doesn’t necessarily mean her memory was dwindling,” Vulpecula countered, looking over as Sanec Barker walked out from the elevator. 

   “These weren’t your typical diary entries, Mr. Noel. We’re talking about precise, exact details, time-stamps, the whole nine-yards, and they only became more vivid as the months went on.” 

   Sanec Barker looked in the mirror for a moment and then, walked toward his desk, looking through a stack of papers until finding his item of choice. As he seated himself in his chair, Sanec soon found himself confused, searching around the desk, scooting papers and folders out of his way. It after a few seconds he looked down to the floor and noticed the shattered remains of his pen. Sanec glared at Vulpecula with the white-hot intensity of the sun. Turning his back to Urgway’s mayor, Vulpecula continued to listen to Mary’s testimony. 

   “I can’t recall anything out of the ordinary happening while I was with her. Lauren’s a very sweet and kind woman, and above all else, I think she wanted me for the company more than she wanted someone to take care of her. That’s how it is with a lot of the elderly, wanting to maintain their independence, but not wanting to do it alone. Besides visits to the grocery store, which she accompanied me for and the occasional tidying up, I can’t really think of anything I ever did for her,” Mary explained. 

   “Do you still work as Lauren’s caretaker?” 

   “She hasn’t fired me yet, as far as I know.” 

   As an exchange of polite pleasantries between Vulpecula and Mary continued, culminating with him thanking her for her assistance, he looked over to Sanec Barker who carried a plastic breathalyzer in his hands that looked like a small two-way radio. Vulpecula sighed, meanwhile, Barker kept his stare tightened, as if to say that Vulpecula’s failure at the test would see The Fox Detective meet the same fate as his pen. Sure enough, Vulpecula past it. For a reason Vulpecula couldn’t explain, it came as a relief, as if he half-expected to find he blacked out and visited a nearby bar some place. 

   “Same time tomorrow?” Vulpecula asked, hoping that Sanec would cut him some slack and cease with the daily tests. 

   Instead, Sanec looked at him and offered a nod, “Don’t be late.” 

4. 

   Lauren Dahl hadn’t, in-fact, fired Mary Carson as her caretaker, a truth that Vulpecula hoped would be to his benefit. When he called Lauren and explained he was taking appropriate steps in her situation, she seemed happy although not without skepticism. When he called Mary a second time, she seemed willing to help him in his endeavor although not without skepticism. Lauren closed the door behind her as Mary led her from the front-porch and to her car. Vulpecula walked into her house thereafter. 

   It wasn’t the most ideal of tactics; manipulating and, then, breaking-and-entering into a blind woman’s house. However, that didn’t change the fact it was also a very easy thing to do. Vulpecula waved off the reluctant Mary who was led by the belief the Mayor of Urgway had signed off on the idea before he walked into the house. In his hands, he carried a small camera which was activated by any sign of movement or abrupt sound. His eyes scanned his surroundings for the best spot until fastening it over the branch of a house-plant that sized up at about his chest. It wasn’t the most discreet of hiding spots, but he hardly thought that’d matter considering the circumstances. 

    Lauren had been told to contact him the very second she saw her deceased husband again. If she complied, he would be able to come back, retrieve the camera, and survey that exact moment himself. The thought of what he might find worried him, but not because he feared seeing a death-defying visit from Lauren’s husband. Maybe that was Sanec Barker’s angle in all of this – teaching him that not every case wrapped up in a nice ribbon and bow. That sometimes it was the human mind that failed and created a problem without a solution. Vulpecula took a breath and let it leave him, closing the door behind him. 

* * * 

   It wasn’t long until Lauren contacted Vulpecula and informed him that her husband had made an unexpected and uninvited visit. Her voice sounded distraught and upset as Vulpecula did his best to console her. Vulpecula held a somber stare as she opened the door and led him inside her home. It was thereafter, he found himself met with an unexpected revelation – the small camera that he’d left behind was now unaccounted for. 

   “Mrs. Dahl, I don’t suppose you’ve found anything unusual left around your house over the last couple of days,” Vulpecula asked, so obvious in his intent he might as well have asked her upfront if she’d found his camera. 

   “No, I haven’t,” Lauren answered. “I know you don’t believe me. I know you think this is some out of her mind woman saying she has seen a ghost, and, maybe it is. Maybe I’m as crazy as they come, heaven knows, I no longer feel like I’m in any position to argue it. It’s not easy to know you’re alone in the world, Mr. Noel. I haven’t ate, I haven’t slept, not since my husband first started to appear,   because I can’t stand the idea he’s staying for me.” 

   Maybe it hadn’t been worth Vulpecula’s time and skill to investigate such a silly case, especially not at a time when serial-killers roamed Maharris, but it was worth it to Vulpecula himself. Maybe her husband’s ghost wasn’t real, but the suffering she felt most certainly was. The Fox Detective searched around the room, as if he expected to see the camera had fallen down somewhere, but found nothing of the sort. His ears pricked when he heard a small rustling above them, but his interest waned when the noise went away. The woman had an old-fashioned furnace that creaked and rattled when it kicked on and off. 

   “I understand you’re hurting, Mrs. Dahl. Believe me, I want to help you in any way I can.” Vulpecula began, his eyes didn’t make eye-contact with Mrs. Dahl’s, to the benefit of him alone. Instead, they wandered over to the kitchen, which was in clear-view after the dining room. “You haven’t eaten? Your caretaker says she has to restock the refrigerator on a regular basis.” 

5. 

   Another day came and went. Vulpecula stood in Mayor Sanec Barker’s office, sitting in a small wooden chair while he held a camcorder in one hand. This would be the moment of truth, it seemed. This time he had been more careful and secretive about where he’d hidden the camera, not wanting to risk another disappearance, and this time, it went untouched. He felt nervous as he fast-forwarded through the footage, worried about what he might see. His eyes left the camera’s screen for a moment and looked toward Sanec Barker’s desk, seeing a small ink pen atop a stack of papers. He reached for it. 

   “No,” Mayor Barker commanded, walking into the room in a black suit and dark-blue tie. 

   Vulpecula reluctantly ceased. He continued to search through the footage, trying to find the moment Mrs. Dahl claimed she’d last been visited by her husband. This time, Vulpecula decided to let Lauren in on his intentions, but that didn’t mean she would have the exact timestamp on his latest visit. Soon, Vulpecula’s search came to an end, but not the end he’d anticipated. He hadn’t known exactly what to expect, not really. Perhaps he’d see a sad, but honest one-way conversation between Mrs. Dahl and her living room wall, and he would have had to accept that. Instead, what he saw was nothing of the sort. 

   Vulpecula felt Sanec Barker’s body cast over him. “That’s a twist,” Barker said. 

* * * 

   “My name is Aaron Ellis and I’ve been living with Lauren Dahl for the last nine months,” a scrappy-looking rat said. His full belly was clear indication of where all Lauren’s food had went, Vulpecula surmised. 

   “You’ve spent all of this time in her attic?” Vulpecula asked, fidgeting with the fur on his chin. “And, every time Lauren Dahl happened upon you stealing food from the cupboard or wherever it is you stole food, you imitated the voice of her deceased husband?” 

   “The woman’s hearing is sporadic at even the best of times, all I had to do was mumble and slur my speech, Lauren filled in the blanks for herself,” without meaning to, Aaron’s response was an example of this tactic. The young man twitched, taken aghast by even the slightest sound. If Vulpecula hadn’t already ordered him a drug-test, which he passed, he would have no doubt assumed him under the influence of a drug. 

   “No doubt reading through the years worth of diaries boxed away with you in the attic allowed a way to truly perfect the illusion,” Vulpecula continued. 

   Aaron Ellis shrugged his shoulders, as to say he had neither guilt nor any other particular emotion regarding his actions. 

   “Every second she thought I was her husband, the woman’s eyes lit-up like lights during The Giving, it was everyone telling her she was crazy that drove her up the wall,” Aaron slurred. 

   “What even made all of this begin?” 

   “I was drunk one night,” Aaron Ellis said, as every bad story began, “And I didn’t see a car or nothing, and I didn’t somewhere to crash. I wake up and see the woman in the kitchen making toast, all while I’m there slobbering all over her couch!” 

   Vulpecula sighed. “And when the boarded up in the attic, you stumbled upon her old notebooks?” 

   “I was bored,” Aaron said, offering another shrugged response. “It wasn’t as though I had a high-definition television and my weight in video-games to keep me company. I ate, I slept, and then, I’d escape out and go about my days. She caught me a handful of times, and that’s when I started up the whole charade. She smelled my cologne,” Aaron continued. 

   “Her husband’s cologne,” Vulpecula corrected. 

   “Well, it’s not like he was using it,” Aaron fired back. “She smelled the cologne and made the connection herself. I tried not to spend more time there than I needed to, but sometimes her caretaker would come-by unexpectedly and I’d be trapped, that’s when I started reading the diaries.” 

   “What a freak!” The officer standing off in the corner of the interrogation room announced, which adequately summarized the events as they had been. 

   If Lauren Dahl’s situation had any benefit at all, it’s that she wouldn’t see the harrowing, unsettling visuals of Aaron Ellis wandering her house. The way his hands rifled through every cabinet drawer in her kitchen or the sound of running water from the bathroom while he brushed his teeth with her toothbrush or showered with her shampoo and body wash. 

   Vulpecula soon left Aaron Ellis behind, walking through the hallways of the police department, and making way through the precinct. All of the police-officers sat at their desks, many of whom were filling out paperwork, an activity that did not make The Fox Detective feel nostalgic for his time at the Marybeth Police Department. As his eyes found the exit-way, he walked on, but not without hearing a familiar voice. It was the news journalist Logan Norms of all people spewing loud obscenities in an officer’s direction. 

   “I don’t care what your lieutenant or sergeant or captain or whoever says, it’s the freedom of the press, pal, and this Aaron Ellis fellow has a story that the press deserves to hear!” Logan didn’t try to subdue is frustration, his voice was loud and clear with his commands, but the officer sitting on the other side of the table had no interest in giving into them.