by R E Swirsky
“Dean’s photos” was the first item at the top of the page. This was probably just a reminder to download the photos.
The next part was clearly written after Jet called him and told him he met Chris and the boy out there. “apologize old man, kid” The writing was scrawled and difficult to read. It looked like he had been driving at the time he wrote it.
What he wrote below it was disturbing and confusing. He hoped he remembered it correctly. He pulled out his notepad and wrote it down as he remembered it.
“bastard”
“found candy / old mans house”
“wlien candy!” Or was it “alien candy!”
It was too scrawled. Dean couldn’t be sure of the spelling. He was sure the scrawled “w” was supposed to be an “a”.
And it also appeared there may be an “e” tagged on at the end. “aliene candy!” What did he mean by alien candy? Was that even the word?
“found candy / old mans house”. He knew the old man’s house had to mean Chris Pattison.
Scrawled in large capitals on the bottom of the page were three larger words.
“WHAT TO DO ?”
Just what exactly had Jet meant by any of it? Less than a week after he wrote this, he killed himself.
Dean scratched his head as he stared at what he'd written. He opened his drawer and scrounged deep inside until he eventually found the cable he needed to upload the photos. He connected it to his cell phone.
“Millie? Do we still have photo paper for the printer?”
“Right in the drawer where it always is,” she replied.
CHAPTER 69 Day Fifteen - Friday 10:19 AM
Anita answered the front door to find Detective Dean Daly standing on their stoop.
“Good morning, Detective," she said politely.
"Hi, Anita. Is Chris around?"
"Just a second. He's in the back. I'll go get him." She ushered Dean inside and headed quickly down the hall to Chris's study.
"Chris," she called out. She cracked opened the door to his study and stuck her head inside.
“That Detective Dean is back. He wants to speak to you,” she whispered.
Chris looked up. "Now what does he want?"
She shook her head. "How would I know what he wants? You'll have to ask him that yourself. I just hope you know what you're doing, Chris. And that thing better not be sitting around here somewhere."
She emphasized the word “thing” in a way that made Chris cringe. She meant the skull. She was still annoyed at him. "It's out back," he said. He rose from his chair and followed Anita to the front room. He asked Dean to sit, but he declined the offer.
"How have you been, Chris?” Dean asked.
"Still waking up each day," he replied. "At my age you never know. I might wake up dead one morning."
"Oh, Chris," Anita snapped. "Stop talking like that. He's fine, Detective."
"That's good to hear." He shifted on his feet, took off his hat, and ran one hand through his hair.
Chris could see he was anxious about something. It worried him.
“I'm guess you’ve heard about how we found Officer Wu yesterday?"
“Yes, Charlie called us last night,” Anita said. “He said he opened the door for you and you found that poor officer.”
Dean nodded.
“That is such a terrible shame," Anita added. "I don't know what could be so bad to make someone do that. He was so young."
"Ayuh," Dean replied. "He still had a lot of life waiting for him."
Chris said nothing. He stared quietly back at Dean and waited for whatever it was that Dean really came for.
"You know, I finally got around to looking at some photos that were taken out at the Bumstead place."
"I thought that Officer Wu..." Anita started to say.
"Hush, Anita," Chris interrupted. "Let Dean finish." He felt a brief wave of anxiety mixed with relief wash over him. He saw the phone sitting on the seat of Jet's locked vehicle the other night. He was sure it was the same one he’d seen Jet holding up at the well.
"I just want to ask you a question or two. Nothing much. But I did discover something odd in these photos. I thought maybe you could provide some insight."
"I'm not sure why you think I can help, but I'll be glad to do what I can," Chris replied. "What did you find that was so odd?”
Dean let out a small chuckle before he answered.
"I was really hoping Vincent was still around. I had a few photos I wanted to show him. Photos of the well I took the day after he showed up at the cemetery.”
"Oh, he's gone back to Vancouver," Anita answered.
Dean nodded. "I suspected he might be gone by now. I just wanted to talk to him about what he saw down at the bottom of that well, but that's fine. Since he's gone, it's only the rope that I want to talk about now, I guess."
"What rope? The one the boys dropped down the well?" Chris asked.
He nodded. "That's the one. That rope was one of those heavier hemp ropes."
"I suppose it was."
"You don't see many hemp ropes around these days. You can still buy them, but most stores carry that yellow polypropylene or nylon rope these days. It's stronger and cheaper."
Dean reached inside his breast pocket and pulled out a number of photos. He shuffled through the top few and tucked them back in his pocket. He handed one over to Chris.
As Chris pulled his reading glasses from his pocket Anita stretched her neck to see the image Chris held in his hand. The image was just a simple photo of a coiled hemp rope sitting on a table. She frowned.
"See? That's blood there on the rope."
"Those dark stains are blood?" Chris asked.
“Ayuh. We would have to test it to be sure, but I've seen enough blood to know that these stains are blood stains," Dean replied. "Pretty fresh too. And you can clearly see that it's a hemp rope."
"Right," Chris replied.
"That is the rope Officer Wu used to hang himself."
"You don't say?" Chris replied sounding surprised.
Anita frowned uncomfortably and turned to stare at Chris. She was confused about where this was all going.
"What's odd about it is, if this really is blood, it isn't Officer Wu's blood. We haven’t tested it yet, but Officer Wu didn’t have any open wounds when he was found." He handed the next photo over to Chris.
"And see this? That's the well with a rope hanging down inside where Vincent spent those few days. That's also a hemp rope. And you can see blood on that rope too."
Chris nodded and straightened his glasses. "Probably Vincent's blood."
"That's what I thought. But here's the odd thing..." He handed the last picture over to Chris.
"Now look at this last one? See? That's another picture of the well taken from a few feet away."
"Uh huh."
Dean forced a chuckle. "So where did the rope go? There's no rope in this photo.”
Chris nodded again. "It must have been removed."
Anita grabbed Chris' hand and pulled it down so she could see the picture too. She frowned again, and Chris knew exactly what she was thinking.
“It was obvious to me right away that I didn't take this picture. The rope was there when I took all of my photos, and it was still there when I left. I had asked Office Wu to load them on the computer for me, but he never did. So just to be sure, I looked at the properties and dates for each of the photos.”
Chris looked at Dean and raised his eyes. "Uh huh…"
“The date these were taken was much later. They were taken on the same day he called me and said he'd just met you and Vincent out at the Bumstead place."
"That'd be right. Officer Wu showed up while we were out there. I only took Vincent out to show me the well."
"Nothing else?"
“No sir."
"Did you see Officer Wu taking any pictures?"
"I don't even remember a camera," he lied shaking his head. "Maybe he took them after Vincent and I left."
"Maybe. So you're saying he stayed up at the well after you two left?"
"That's correct," Chris said even though it was nowhere near the truth.
"Did he say anything strange to you or do anything odd that got your attention?"
"Not really. He just asked what were up there for. We talked a bit and then Vincent and I left. It was as simple as that."
"He didn't say anything to Vincent? Anything that upset him?"
Chris shook his head. "Not really."
Dean locked his eyes on Chris. He waited for Chris to offer up something more. Chris offered nothing. Dean extended his arm with his palm out and Chris placed the photos into his hand.
"Hmm. Okay. Maybe I misunderstood Officer Wu, but he told me he had quite a run in with you two out there."
Chris shrugged. "He was abrupt with Vincent. He suggested Vincent should come back and clean up the mess out there. That was about it. Vincent is such a soft kid… he got a little upset, I guess."
"Ayuh. Maybe that was it. But I was just trying to figure out why Jet took the rope from the well. I really don't understand that part."
Chris shrugged. "I don't know anything about that. We were already gone."
"So you didn’t see him take the rope away while you were out there?"
"Like I just said, we were already gone."
"It's just..." He paused a moment. "That rope that was hanging down that well is the same rope that Officer Wu hung himself with."
Anita gasped and covered her mouth with one hand.
"Oh, Jesus," Chris uttered, hoping to sound surprised. "How can you be so sure?"
"I'm sorry Anita. I didn't mean to upset you, but we matched the blood stain pattern in the photo taken at the well to the stain pattern on the rope taken from Jet’s condo. It's a perfect match."
Anita turned away and continued to cover her mouth with her hand.
"It's a real shame when someone so young takes his own life like that," Chris responded. He reached out, pulled Anita close to him, and hugged her tight.
"But I just don't understand why he'd purposely grab that old, beat up hemp rope from the well just to take it home to kill himself,” Dean said. “It doesn't make sense to me."
"People do odd things sometimes," Chris replied. "Maybe it's the reason he went out to the well that morning."
Dean nodded. "I thought about that. But if that was all he went out there for, then I doubt he would have bothered to retake all of those pictures for me. People planning on killing themselves just don't do things like that."
"Yeah, I suppose."
"Anyway, that's all I came out for." Dean turned to leave but paused before he went out the door. "Oh, there's just one more thing."
"What's that?"
"Did Vincent ever talk about seeing anything down in the well? Ghosts or anything strange like that? Bones?" His hand went back to his pocket where he had tucked the photos.
Anita's eyes grew large with the mention of the words ghosts and bones.
"Not to me," Chris replied. "Anita?" he asked and looked at her.
She shook her head. "Vincent didn’t really talk at all about what happened down there. I don't think he wanted to talk about it, and I certainly never pried.”
“Hmm, okay,” Dean replied. “And have either of you ever hear of something called alien candy?”
“Alien candy? What?” Chris replied frowning.
“Candy. Alien candy, or something like that. Those words mean anything to you?”
Both Anita and Chris shook their heads.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Candy? We don’t eat candy. Why?”
“Never mind,” Dean said and chuckled. “It was just something else I was looking into.” He removed his hand from his pocket and opened the front door to leave. "And thanks again for your time. If you think of anything concerning what we just talked about, please be sure to give me a call.”
“You know we will. Have yourself a nice rest of the day," Chris said and closed the door.
He turned to see Anita's eyes burning deep into him. Her fists were clenched, and he saw she was very angry. "So this is how you took care of things? You bring that rope back home from the well and the detective finds it hanging around that officer's neck? How dare you be so careless and stupid! Why? Why, Chris?” she shouted.
She stormed out of the room before he had a chance to answer.
Chris felt very light headed. He watched his wife of over fifty years leave the room in a state he hadn’t witnessed for decades. He released a heavy sigh. He couldn't bring himself to follow her. He had no explanation.
CHAPTER 70 Day Fifteen - Friday 11:35 AM
Dean was well prepared to have a much more thorough examination of the bottom of the well after his visit with Chris and Anita. The photos Jet took were not clear, and it was difficult to see the bottom of the well. The stone at the bottom looked no more like a skull than it had when he first shone his flashlight down to the bottom.
Before leaving the office earlier, he grabbed one of the high definition cameras and monitoring software from the equipment room that were normally used for surveillance operations. The camera had an autofocus and wireless feed that would make his upcoming task effortless.
He placed the laptop on one of the limestone cap stones. Then, in the same fashion to what Chris did the night before, he carefully lowered a camera and flashlight attached to a rope a few feet down the inside of the well. He plugged the receiver into the USB port on his laptop, and the image from the camera appeared instantly on the display.
He began to carefully lower the camera. The camera spun and bounced around making it difficult to distinguish anything on the monitor. He stopped lowering the rope when the camera was down about fifteen feet and waited.
"C'mon," he said. He waited for the camera to stop twirling and to reveal a stable, discernible image. After a few minutes, the camera settled and an image appeared on the monitor.
“Yes," he whispered. He could clearly see the rough damp stones that lined the well. It was going to be easier than he thought.
He continued lowering the camera and the image blurred out again.
Dean leaned forward and gazed down the opening. It was much easier to follow the descent of the camera by watching it through the well rather than on the monitor. The camera rotated faster as more rope was let out. He stopped when the camera was near the bottom, tied off the rope, stared at the monitor, and waited.
Many minutes passed as the camera spun in one direction until the rotation slowed, stopped, and then began to rotate in the other direction. It would be a while before it settled, but Dean was in no hurry. He stood up, stretched, and walked around. He wondered why he was so still so damned interested in what was down there. There really wasn't any reason other than the one single word Vincent said to Billy.
"Bones," he whispered. It sent a shiver up his spine once again, but he wasn't even really sure why.
He walked back up to the monitor. The camera continued to rotate back and forth and the autofocus shifted in and out constantly. He watched on edge as the blurred image focused for a second and blurred out again.
"Dammit! C'mon, c'mon."
Then the image locked clear and perfect.
Dean couldn't believe his eyes. He stared at the image. The ‘skull’ was nothing more than a smooth, white stone. It was almost pure white with light speckles and silky smooth as a baby's behind.
"A river rock?" He was disappointed and chuckled at himself for being silly enough to have actually believed it was a skull. He looked up at the darkening sky above and rubbed his hands through his hair in disbelief. How did he let his imagination take hold of him like that? The river rock was probably resting up on the edge of one of the cap stones and was knocked down inside as Vincent made his desperate scramble out through the small opening.
There was nothing more to see. Dean turned off the laptop and began to haul the rope back to the surface. He thought about re-rigg
ing the camera to view inside the collapsed area in the wall, but he quickly decided there was really no point. If it wasn’t a skull on the bottom, then it was probably just roots or sticks protruding from the dirt in the opening in the side wall. Any further curiosity he held about the inside of the well was squashed by the presence of the river rock.
CHAPTER 71 Day Fifteen - Friday 2:44 PM
Could Anita honestly think he murdered Officer Wu?
A hazy cloud of smoke hung in the air above his head. He'd forgotten to turn on the ventilation system.
He leaned back in his chair, stared up at the gathering cloud of smoke above his head, and pondered his predicament.
The smoky shapes slowly shifted and changed in the air. He hadn't witnessed such a display since Anita insisted he purchase the ventilation system for his study. Some elements of the smoky haze seemed to fade and disburse, while other parts of the cloud joined together in long lines as if the particles were collaborating towards some unknown action.
His thoughts began to circle around Dean’s visit earlier. The rope in particular. How exactly was he going to explain to Anita how his rope ended up around the deceased officer's neck? Surely she must realize he couldn't possibly overtake someone as young and fit as Officer Wu on his own. He was frail and doubted he could even lift the strapping young man up and over any waist-high railing.
But it wasn’t very difficult to prove Chris innocent in Officer Wu’s death. The Officer didn’t answer the door when he arrived at his condominium two nights ago. He buzzed four times, and each time there was no answer. His private sneak provided him with Jet’s address and the type of vehicle he owned. Chris spotted the pickup truck immediately when he pulled into the parking lot. He even took a quick look inside the truck before leaving, and he was glad he did. Resting in plain view on the front passenger seat was the cell phone he saw the officer holding at the well. Spotting the phone on the seat was enough to give him the confidence that he accomplished what he set out to do.
As he stood in the parking lot contemplating smashing the window of Jet’s truck to retrieve the cell phone, the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood on end. Something didn’t feel right about the situation. He turned around and scoured the dark shadows in between the parked cars and buildings until he landed on the darkness buried within the thick, treed hillside behind him. Was there something or someone in there? He knew it was time to cut out. He stopped what he was doing and left for home. He left the phone on the seat and Jet’s pickup truck untouched.