Discombobulate

Chapter Fifty-One

Nothing was going right, besides the weather. In fact, the weather was almost too good to be true. The cloudy skies Brimington had been having had cleared up. Without the clouds, the sky was an abyss of bright blue.

The sun was bright; too bright. Perhaps that was because Sheriff Winston was running on three of Opal's triple shot espressos and twenty-six hours without sleep. This was the longest he had ever stayed up.

Usually, he believed in a good night's rest, a full eight hours. Nothing good could come from little sleep. The mind was duller and reaction times were slow. Everything was different with little sleep.

Everything changed when Adeline Mullen went missing. Winston's brain was in overdrive. He sent Detective Mullen and his wife to a motel to get some sleep. He should have taken the same advice.

Instead, he stayed at the station all night. He sent a forensic team to Mullen's house with Emily's permission. After all, it had been a crime scene. It turned out, their master bedroom window was unlocked. It was ground level and someone could have snuck inside the house.

The banana muffins had been laced, just like in Denise's story, with Benadryl. Benadryl pills had been crushed up and put into the muffins. That's what knocked Emily out and made her so tired.

There were no fingerprints. No footprints or anything of that sort. There was nothing in their house that helped connect anyone to the crime. Winston still believed Greg Sullivan was involved in some way.

Rosa had gone ahead and filed a police report for domestic abuse. Greg Sullivan was still missing and his whereabouts were unknown. For the time being, Grant Bowers was still in prison.

He'd remain there until a judge set his bail amount. Judges weren't there on Sundays. He'd have to stay in jail for a second night. Tomorrow morning, a judge would decide his bail. If it was paid, he'd be let out again.

Winston stuck to the back of the crowd. His sheriff's uniform stuck out like a sore thumb. There had to be, at least, two hundred people gathered around. A few off-duty officers were among the crowd. Even a few news stations showed up.

The word had spread like wildfire. Emily posted a Facebook post. Within an hour, it was shared over three hundred times. Missing person fliers had shown up in businesses with Adeline's information. It was the talk of the town.

Three-month-old Adeline Mullen was missing. She was kidnapped from her house. Someone had snatched her from her crib. There were no known suspects at the time.

Obviously, Winston had a suspect. He wasn't going to release that information to the public yet. He was hoping Rosa would find out where Greg Sullivan was and contact him. If he was lucky, he'd find him and arrest him by himself.

The crowd started moving. People pointed each other out and grouped together. Winston missed what was happening. He had completely zoned out.

"Why are you back here?" A voice asked him. "Shouldn't you be up front?"

Winston glanced over to see Detective Mullen. He frowned at him. "Why aren't you at the front?"

"I made a mistake last night. Emily left the station and I insisted she drive to the liquor store. I guess she needed a drink too because she didn't object to it. We went to the motel and while she got tipsy, I got completely wasted."

Winston glanced back over at him. His hair stuck out in multiple places. His eyes were bloodshot. He was a little paler than normal.

"I guess that explains why you look like shit." Winston took off his sunglasses and gave them to Mullen. "Put these on."