Time Travel Short Stories by Laura Bulbeck

Author:Laura Bulbeck [Bulbeck, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781787552449
Publisher: Flame Tree Publishing
Published: 2018-12-15T10:22:55+00:00

Two Children Reported Missing

Scott Merrow

Fact #1: People don’t vanish into thin air.

Fact #2: Almost anything you can imagine can be simulated on video.

Fact #3: You can imagine people vanishing into thin air.

Conclusion: This tape has been faked.

A nice piece of deductive reasoning, Detective Stanchion thought, giving himself a mental pat on the back. Sherlock Holmes would’ve been proud.

Of course, Sherlock Holmes also said, “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” Hmm.

It was Henry P. Stanchion’s first day on the job since his promotion to Detective, and his first day at the Columbia County Sheriff’s Department, his new headquarters. He was a newbie on two counts. He was excited to be here, but his first day wasn’t going quite as he’d expected.

After his initial sit-down with the Division Commander, he was handed off to Detective Sam Dunn to begin his orientation and for general introductions around the office. They never got that far because five minutes later, before any sort of orientation had even begun, Detective Dunn was called away on a matter of some urgency.

Before he left, though, he sat Detective Stanchion at an empty desk in a remote corner of the room. “Sorry, man,” he said as he plunked a cardboard file box on the desk before him. “Honest to god, I remember what my first day as a detective was like. I was all set to go solve some crimes, and I know you are too. But don’t worry, I won’t be long,” Dunn assured him.

He pushed the file box toward Stanchion. “While you’re waiting, you might have a look through this stuff. It’s paperwork and evidence from an old cold case. Two kids went missing about ten years ago. Never found ’em. We’re getting ready to put this stuff in deep storage, but it can’t hurt to take one last look. A fresh set of eyes and all that. Y’just never know what you might find.”

After Dunn left, Stanchion began half-heartedly rummaging through the box. Well, this is exciting, he thought. Among all the folders and plastic baggies full of this-and-that, he came across a VHS tape in a worn cardboard sleeve. He slid the video tape out and read the label:

PROPERTY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT

* CONFIDENTIAL *

MISSING PERSONS CASE # 08-0033 (OPEN)

DIGITAL/VIDEO EVIDENCE, EXHIBIT 12

BENTLEY J. BARNES (AGE 11)

ANNA MARIA DE LA CRUZ (AGE 11)

Detective Stanchion brought the tape to a cop working at a desk across the room. “’Scuse me,” he said, holding up the tape, “is there a VHS player around anywhere?”

The man looked up, thought about it a moment, then said, “I think there might be one in that storage area behind the briefing room,” he said, pointing behind him with his thumb. “I have no idea if it works, though,” he added. “I’m pretty sure nobody’s used it in a while.”

Detective Stanchion nodded and took the tape to the briefing room. Sure enough, under a dusty pile of old equipment and a tangle of wires, there was a VHS player.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.