Demon King Series Books II & III

Chapter 9

FBI Agent Sally Roux was feeling perplexed. She had come to the conclusion that Christopher McDaniels was an enigma.

"Where the hell are you?" she wondered aloud while staring at a photograph of him. He had been a handsome teenager. She couldn't really call him a man since he supposedly died before reaching his twenties.

She was sitting in her parked car, outside the home of Mathew Hannigon, a former police detective. She pulled out her notes to verify the address. It was correct.

"This house looks like crap," she muttered, taking in the overgrown grass, broken front steps, and general unkemptness of the property. She opened the door and stepped outside, letting the heat envelop her. She adjusted her sunglasses and walked to the front door, her dress boots crunching against the gravel driveway. She caught a quick glimpse of several beer cans in an old station wagon parked in front of the house. Sally wondered if people still drove station wagons as she knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" she heard someone yelling form inside as well as the excited barking of a large dog.

"Great," Sally muttered. She hated going to houses with dogs. She raised her voice and answered, "Mathew Hannigon? This is Special Agent Sally Roux with the FBI. I'm here to ask you some questions."

She heard some glass breaking and a thud. "Mr. Hannigon are you alright in there?"

"Fine! I'm fine. I just fell over. I'm coming!" Sally could hear him yelling at his dog, "Quiet Rosco. Shhh be quiet!"

Sally waited for him to open the door and was surprised by what she saw.

"Mr. Hannigon?"

"That's me. How can I help you?" Mathew Hannigon was a former police detective. Sally couldn't imagine him being an officer of the law. He looked more like a drunk hippie. He was wearing boxers and a white tank. His gray hair was tied back in a loose ponytail and Sally could see the remnants of food crumbs stuck in his beard. Most importantly, he was wearing sunglasses. He didn't look directly at her but above her.

He's blind.

"Mr. Hannigon I wanted to ask you a few questions about an old case you worked on years ago."

"An old police case, huh? Well that's different. Usually the only people that come see me are salesmen or bill collectors."

Sally cleared her throat, "May I come in Mr. Hannigon?"

"Sure. My dog Rosco don't bite. He just barks to let me know when someone's here."

"Is he a seeing eye-dog?" Sally asked as she stepped into the home, looking around for Rosco.

"No. He's not. I can't afford to keep a fancy seeing eye-dog."

"Oh?" Sally took in her surroundings. The home was small, cluttered, and cramped. Newspapers lined a corner of the room and made Sally wonder why he had them if he couldn't see. "I was going through your personnel file. It didn't mention that you were blind."

He chuckled. "It happened a few years ago. I left the force before that."

"May I ask why you left the force?"

"You can ask but it doesn't mean I'll answer."

Asshole. Sally never liked witnesses who tried to be smartasses. It just wasted time. "Fine. Let's cut the chit chat and you can tell me what happened the night Christopher McDaniels died in a fire."

"Who?"

"Don't play dumb Mr. Hannigon. The last case you worked as a detective was the fire involving the death of Christopher McDaniels. No officer forgets their last case."