The Stranger

A Clue

Derrick, or his new alias, Jack Lynch, rode up the ridge leading up to the best view in town. After his little stunt, he was sure he would be on the polices radar. He was excited for tomorrow, but felt a tinge of anxiety that he knew would blossom as the night roared to life. 

His business was just beginning and he knew from the moment he was assigned this stint that he would have a challenging assignment. It brought excitement, as unlike his usual stints, he would have an interesting cover job that if the case died before he was reassigned he could at least enjoy his second job.

But he had a feeling that it wouldn't be like the other ones, something about the case bothered him. Made him feel like he was stepping from the pan into the fire itself. The town was small, he pulled into the open patch of dirt that served as a park, but for the townies it was the #1 party spot. It didnt take much for him to realize why.

Taking in the view he was mystified by its beauty. Across his field of view the town sprawled out between him and the mountain on the other side. In the middle was a valley where straight down the middle was main street. From all a cross all he could see was trees, with a few roofs here and their peeking through the canopy, but as the elevation rose the buildings grew in size, until at the middle of the opposing mountain laid out the campus in full. It was built in the late 1890s, with a colonial style in mind. From the distance the red brick and white columns popped out to him, giving him a feel for how the university was going to be like.
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Three murders across two little towns, with Carrizo Springs being smack in the middle of the two. Agents were located in both, with him being moved to Carrizo, due to his advanced degrees and the local university nearby. The case was all he could think about on his way home. Every car he saw in it a potential killer ready to make their next move. Who would be the victim? For some reason his mind kept going back to him. The fear was beginning to entrench itself, he felt its anxious fingers grabbing his brain and pull the strings.

When he pulled into his driveway we couldn't help but feel trepidation about the case. It all felt off to him, the murders were in a perfect indication of where the killer came from, the kills were methodical, brutal, and most importantly very violent. Nothing he had ever read about in school, since the first recorded police reports.

To top it all off it was all men to be killed. It just didn't add up, it didn't make any sense to him. Usually with mass killings its motivated, it has a clear motive, and its usually women who die not men? On top of his worries were how happy he was to teach at the local university and the housing didn't help.

As he sat in covered by the silence of the night on his bike he couldn't help but admire the rustic cabin exterior of his home for the next five months. The agency had placed him in the most modest house they could find. The fact that this was it really made him understand just how beautiful the town was.

He walked inside and began to take the day off piece by piece. First he put the jacket in the closet, took off his boots, washed his hands and proceed to his study where he kept his notes on the case. Every night when he got home he was required to write a detailed report of the day. He was also required to spend at least an hour a day reviewing intel and old reports to try to find a connection.

That was the favorite part of the job for him. The stake outs and take downs were so nerve wracking, he loved the rush but hated the anxiety that left a buzz in the back of his head long after every bust. Over analyzing everything he did, making sure he followed procedure down to the letter. His mind swirled for hours trying to understand how he could improve.

But the paperwork under the warm lamp light was so calming and relaxing for him that he couldn't help but get into a trance. For those moment under the light writkng his thoughts and doing menial tasks he felt so present in the moment that everything else slipped away.

He was pushed out of his trance when he came upon his encounter with that girl. He wrote what he needed and drifted off in thought. She was the kind of beauty you see through car windows and marvel as to how a human being can be so beautiful through such a small span of time.

The rain tapping on the tin roof above his head took him out of his trance. He reluctantly pushed her away from his mind and turned around to his other desk covered in chemistry notes. He had majored in it in college, attaining his masters, but he never thought he'd be doing both at once. The thought of being an investigator and a professor brought him so much pride, he didnt even notice that the hours ticked by until he noticed it was half past 2.

He reluctantly gave up on his studies and proceeded to prepare for bed. The morrow he would have his first introduction to the town as a whole, he couldn't afford to meet with the deputies under threat of his cover being blown, but he had to know the situation. Luckily he had a plan for how to accomplish such a feat.