The Heritage of Sephtis: The Returning

14: Breaking and Entering

Marshal sat in his office going over the many missing children reports once again, hoping desperately to find the one that lined up with what he knew and what he had gotten from the report on the shooting at the restaurant. Of course, the only reason he was doing this right now instead of actually doing his job or relaxing at home was because of the phone call with Finn earlier. He had sounded suspicious, and seemed to refuse even mentioning the kid. When he did acknowledge him, it was only briefly and it was to shut Marshal up so he would drop the topic. He’d known Finn for years, and sure he was different and a bit eccentric, but he never would have thought he could hurt someone. But with the events of last year, everything he knew about Finn seemed to be thrown out the window, so there wasn’t really even a point in such useless thoughts. Finn could do anything, he could kill a man what was so much harder about kidnapping? He just knew he should have talked to Finn, if only-

    “You wanted me?” Marshal looked up, to see Sparrow staring down at him. He sat up, trying to remember why he’d called her in. He looked down at his desk, and saw the files. That’s right, he had wanted her to help him with the cross referencing. However, now that he’d had time to think and she’d gotten here…

    “Yes! I want you to help me analyze a perp’s house. I’m having troubles pinning down any sort of reason to this case I’ve been looking into.” He closed the file in front of him, and put it to the side on top of a finished pile.

    “Ah, sure?” She looked around a bit before gesturing behind her. “Lead the way.”

The two officers pulled up to Finn’s house and got out. Marshal hopped up the stairs, knowing that no one was there, and went straight for the door. Of course, knowing no one was there didn’t stop him from ringing the doorbell as Sparrow cautiously walked up the stairs behind him. There was no answer to the door, as expected. Marshal tried the door.

    “It’s locked. I’ll have to go around the back and get the…” Marshal trailed off. If she were to know that this was Finn’s house it would skew her interpretation. He knew she didn’t like Finn, so if he knew there was a spare key that would mean...no he couldn’t let her know whose house this was or that he knew either. “I, uh, hopefully there’s a back door and it’s open?”

    “Uh, ok?” She laughed. Marshal walked around to the back to get the spare key. Sparrow disappeared around the corner of the house. Marshal walked to the back and hurried to the seat to pull the key back out, and then ran over to the door to pretend to check it. But when he turned, Sparrow wasn’t there. Confused, he looked around.

    Meanwhile, on the side of the house, Sparrow stood in front of a window. She was blocked from the street by a bush. She looked around to make sure there was no nosy neighbors, then pushed the window open, and pulled out the screen. There was no security system, as the signless front lawn advertised, so she climbed through the window carelessly. Then she grabbed the screen and slid it back into place, and slammed the window shut. The mirror beside her shuddered on the wall, and she grabbed it to keep it from falling. She looked in the mirror briefly, adjusted her blazer and pushed her hair out of her face with her dark slender fingers, then turned and left the bedroom. She made her way through the house, and turned towards presumably the front door, when it opened. Marshal stood in the doorway, with the key in the door. The two stared at each other briefly processing what just happened.

    “Did you just break into the house?” Marshal asked in a hushed tone.

    “Did you just do the same thing?” Sparrow retorted with a smirk.

    “Fair point, let’s just pretend it didn’t happen.” Marshal pulled the key out of the door and closed it.

    “Sounds good with me.” She smiled and looked around the short hallway. “So who’s house is this?”

    “Uh, I believe they might be related to that missing kid.” Marshal spluttered, trying to avoid the subject of who they were actually observing.

    “Oh.” Her eyes got wider. “Oh! Well let’s get working on this quickly then.” She walked through the kitchen looking around carefully, and then circled around to the living room. Then she turned and when down a hallway and cycled through all the rooms. Marshal wen straight for the couch and watched her buzz around as he waited patiently for her evaluation. “Ok, here’s what I got.” She rushed into the living room and sat in Finn’s chair in front of Marshal. He laughed to himself at how disgusted Finn would be if he knew where she was sitting. “So, the house is very bare and very impersonal. There’s no pictures anywhere of anyone, everything’s in its place, there’s not a single thing that seems out of place or like it shouldn’t belong in the house. Even the dirty dishes look like they’ve been strategically placed. It’s actually kind of scary. But that means that the person who lives here is organized and wouldn’t have wanted anything out of place, so if the boy was ever here, they wouldn’t have let him leave anything. I would guess that the boy was never here, he came voluntarily but something happened afterwards, or he was kidnapped and was unable to bring anything with him. It seems like the first or third option are more likely, because it seems like the person who lives here isn’t close enough to anyone to have visitors, unless they’re salesmen or something trying to solicit purchases out of them.”

    “So they could have done it?” Marshal sighed.

    “Well, I’m not saying anything with certainty, but I can say that it’s not impossible for them to have done it. Are you sure that the kid was even ever here?”

    “Yes.” Marshal rubbed his temples. “And as for whether the owner of this house was responsible for it, I’m pretty certain of that too.” He set his face in his hands. “I’m just disappointed that you didn’t see anything I didn’t. I was hoping you’d be able to see something more definite than what I saw.”

    “I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help.” She stood up and patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. “You’re a good detective. I’m sure that if you look into it, you’ll find your gut feeling is right.”

    “Thanks.” He sighed. Sparrow walked back outside towards the car. Marshal stood and followed. He hoped his gut feeling was wrong. He didn’t want to have to arrest Finn again.