Chapter 1
“All men by nature desire knowledge.”
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)
The patter of the rain against my window awoke me. It was coming down in frightful torrents. The wind shattered each raindrop as it crashed into the smooth glass. Rivers of water obscured the streetlight outside. I got up and put some water on to boil. This night wasn’t a new occurrence. I had been unable to sleep for months on end; not since the accident. Who could possibly sleep when each night they went to sleep with the vision of headlights blaring in their mind?
This night was different however. I had just put my teabag in my mug when I got the call.
“Yeah this is Jones”
The voice on the other end sounded tired and worn out, “Something’s happened; we need you at the station as soon as possible.”
“I’ll be there in ten.”
I hadn’t given much thought as to what could have happened that late at night. I had been on call before, but in a small town like this, nothing ever happens. Well nothing until tonight. When I got to the station I was expecting someone to tell me that there was a heart attack, or one of the elderly had died in their sleep. This wasn’t the case. The mayor’s daughter was dead. This was a complete shock to everyone. She was the straight A student, the honor roll extraordinaire, the marathon runner, the all around American girl.
This town never had a young child like this die. We had accidents before, but none that resulted in death. I had worked similar cases before, and everything was solved within a couple of days and life could go on. It was always the same; the girl woke up one night because she was thirsty. She walks toward the stairs and trips. She falls, she gets a concussion, the parents aren’t home so no one hears it happen, and she dies. I thought it was that easy, but it wasn’t. This case bothered me for some reason. It wasn’t the fact that an 18 year old girl was dead, it was that everything was falling into place, almost to the point of perfection.
“All men by nature desire knowledge.”
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)
The patter of the rain against my window awoke me. It was coming down in frightful torrents. The wind shattered each raindrop as it crashed into the smooth glass. Rivers of water obscured the streetlight outside. I got up and put some water on to boil. This night wasn’t a new occurrence. I had been unable to sleep for months on end; not since the accident. Who could possibly sleep when each night they went to sleep with the vision of headlights blaring in their mind?
This night was different however. I had just put my teabag in my mug when I got the call.
“Yeah this is Jones”
The voice on the other end sounded tired and worn out, “Something’s happened; we need you at the station as soon as possible.”
“I’ll be there in ten.”
I hadn’t given much thought as to what could have happened that late at night. I had been on call before, but in a small town like this, nothing ever happens. Well nothing until tonight. When I got to the station I was expecting someone to tell me that there was a heart attack, or one of the elderly had died in their sleep. This wasn’t the case. The mayor’s daughter was dead. This was a complete shock to everyone. She was the straight A student, the honor roll extraordinaire, the marathon runner, the all around American girl.
This town never had a young child like this die. We had accidents before, but none that resulted in death. I had worked similar cases before, and everything was solved within a couple of days and life could go on. It was always the same; the girl woke up one night because she was thirsty. She walks toward the stairs and trips. She falls, she gets a concussion, the parents aren’t home so no one hears it happen, and she dies. I thought it was that easy, but it wasn’t. This case bothered me for some reason. It wasn’t the fact that an 18 year old girl was dead, it was that everything was falling into place, almost to the point of perfection.
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