The Scout by Eric Tozzi

Author:Eric Tozzi [Tozzi, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: horror
Publisher: Eric Tozzi
Published: 2013-12-20T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 33

Marion McAllister sat in her chair at the dining room table, looking at the pictures in a coffee table book about Arizona. Sometimes she read the captions, struggling to put the words together into sentences. Mostly she picked out a few words and struggled to form them, let alone speak them out loud. Her capacity for speech was unavoidably diminishing. It wouldn’t be much longer—months, perhaps only weeks—before she’d be unable to so much as utter a syllable. Mostly she looked at the pictures, staring at them with a vague sense of fascination.

Cathy was rinsing the plates off after their breakfast and arranging them in the dishwasher when the phone rang. She hurried to the living room and grabbed the wireless handset.

“McAllister residence,” she answered.

“Hello, is Jack available?” a voice asked.

“I’m sorry, but he’s not here right now,” she said. “I’m not sure where he is exactly. Maybe at the attorney’s office or the bank.”

But the truth was, she didn’t have any idea where he was. She’d come in earlier than usual because insomnia had spent the night with her, and she decided that laying in bed just waiting for the damn alarm to start crying was time wasted. She’d gotten to the McAllister house at 5:50 a.m., preparing an extra bold pot of Starbucks coffee. It was a few hours later that she had actually tapped on Jack’s bedroom door to which she got no response. An hour after that she knocked again and called him by name. Finally, gingerly, she opened the door, noticing that not only was the room empty, but the bed was still made. Jack had not come back home last night.

Cathy asked, “I’m sorry, who is calling please?”

“This is Sheriff Clifford Hawkins, ma’am. I know you’ve got your hands full there with Jack’s mom, but I really need to get a hold of him. Somehow.”

Cathy said, “Sheriff, since it’s you calling, I can tell you that I don’t think he came back last night. He’s been gone since dinnertime. I’m kinda worried about him, to be honest.”

Hawkins said, “Well, I wouldn’t worry too much just yet. Jack is a sharp and resourceful guy.”

Pretty lame answer, Cliff, he thought. The fact was, he was worried now. Very worried. Jack was missing and so was Linda.

“Sheriff,” Cathy continued, “I have to be honest—he’s been acting a little strange recently and it’s not just because of what happened to his father. I think it’s something else. I don’t supposed you’d be able to tell me what he’s been doing with you and your deputy the last few days?”

It was starting, he thought. People knew that something wasn’t right. It was like a vibration in the air. And it wouldn’t be long before the media knew something wasn’t right and suddenly the whole thing would be rolling, then charging downhill with all the momentum of an avalanche with no way to stop it. And then fingers would be pointed, blame assigned, investigations and…why didn’t he just contact

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