House of Scales

Chapter 9: Faceless

The blue flashes stopped filtering through the dirty glass of the sentry box. They slowly went out, disappeared from his pupils, fleeting like fireflies. That was the signal to get out. He put aside the magazine he was leafing through and picked up the bunch of keys he would need to get back in. A familiar face greeted him from the other side and waved him out.

"Night, Berger," the man said, tipping his cap. "Any trouble?"

He shook his head and went to the bollards in front of which the patrol car had parked. He continued along the dirt road and greeted the waiting officer with a firm handshake. They had known each other for many, many years, for although he hadn't joined the police force, both had tried to pass the tests in the same year, and both had failed. The only difference was one had moved to Lacerty Hills shortly after, while the other had decided to repeat the exam until he succeeded.

"How come you're alone, Leo?" Berger asked, looking at the empty passenger's seat.

"Wallace is with the victim's family," he said, sitting over the car's hood.

"Do you guys know anything else?"

"Not much," he snorted while looking up to the starry sky.

"I don't understand how all of this is happening."

The officer looked back at him and sighed.

"Who does?" Leo asked with a bitter tone. "Nothing like this has ever happened in town before."

"And not a single clue?"

Leo shook his head. Then got a pack of cigarettes from the uniform's pocket and offered one.

"No, thanks, been some time since I quit," Berger mumbled. "I have to set an example for my son."

"Sure, sure," the officer replied with a smile. "Lil' Charles isn't that little anymore."

"He's already a fine man," he said proudly, "but he's still young; there are many things he has yet to learn."

Leo lit up the cigarette and gave a couple of puffs, breathing out and letting the grey smoke spiral up to the sky. It glowed with an orange tone in the dark, being the only light around them now.

"When you have children this feels worse, isn't it, Arthur?"

"You bet," he sighed, tired. "I know I can trust my son, but I worry there's some psycho out there."

"It had only attacked youngsters," he explained while dragging his feet through the dirt. "It's what we know now."

"So, what are you going to do with—"

"With her mother," he said upset. "I want Emily as far away as possible until we catch this bastard."

"I don't think it'll take you long," Berger said to try to calm him down a little. "At the end of the day, there aren't many places to hide here."

"We got a call from central this morning, after discovering the body in the forest," he said while fiddling with his goatee. "I think they'll hear us out with this case."

Arthur Berger swallowed, uncomfortable with the topic, but unable to get the tribulations that were weighing on him down. After all, in the afternoons and nights, he was in that sentry box next to the water tank. He couldn't go back earlier or be with his son in case something happened to him. The thought quickly crossed his mind within those four lonely walls. What if his son, without any supervision, fell prey to the calamity that was plaguing the town? There would be nothing he could do. His heart, already afflicted by an incurable scar, couldn't bear another loss. He would abandon all reason if what he had left was to disappear as a result of that tragedy.