Hazy View: Souls of the Vanished (10 page)

“It's the new people in Sheriff
Parker’s house.” Yvonne informed.

“
Great, I’ll make a turn
there when I can, but first I need to find someone around here with
a detonator.”

“
I don’t follow.” Yvonne
admitted confused.

“
I need to stop these
bombs from exploding, so I can take care of one thing at a
time.”

Yvonne laughed out loud.

Andrew left the office filled with
hope. He silently hoped a recording might proof that something
mysterious happened on the lake.

“
Did Martin go to meet his
wife and son? Who phoned him if Janet’s murdered? What’s he trying
to hide? Time off couldn’t be so bad, I can find Martin and ring
the truth out of him.” Andrew though out loud as he left the
office.

Andrew got into his vehicle and headed
to the lake.

*~*~*

*III*

The sun hadn’t been this bright in
days. The soft breeze blew in from the east.

A large panel van parked close to the
coffee shop. The side windows were metal. Small extractor fans spun
on the roof and the rear door window covered with small curtains.
The van was white with wavy colored lines across the side and the
words “Paranormal Investigator” appeared above a cell phone
number.

Andrew approached the pier as Mr.
Craft walked from the edge towards him. He was tall, dark hair with
gray lines just above the ears. His face long and sharpened at the
chin. His sunglasses were dark and he’s well-dressed.

“
You are the Sheriff? May
I please have a word?” He started as he reached Andrew.

“
Good day Sir, what’s this
about? Can’t it wait? I need to start a search for two missing
men.”

The man looked at Andrew hard and
urgent. His eyes filled with a deep sadness. He swallowed hard and
his voice was hoarse.

“
Sheriff, I’m just as
concerned about finding the boys, but I fear it’s already too late
for them.” He paused. “I promise if you need to get the search
under way I’ll help you any way I can. It seems like there’s some
time before you’ve got enough searchers gathered. Tom will spread
the word while we talk.”

Tom nodded and started back to his
office. He only greeted politely by lifting his cap, he was clearly
upset and bothered by this disappearance that he would rather not
speak.

“
If I may ask who are you
exactly?” Andrew asked confused.

“
Let’s go into the coffee
shop. I’m a little tired. I’ve been here the whole morning. I can
do with coffee.” The man offered and headed to the coffee
shop.

Andrew followed. The tall man entered
the coffee shop first and sat at a table at the window overlooking
the lake. The air-conditioner hummed from the back and music played
softly. Eight tables each with three chairs stood spaced in the
center of the room. A wooden counter with stone tops cordoned off
the service area from the kitchen. Bar stools offered seating at
the counter.

A waiter appeared from the kitchen
with freshly brewed coffee and a tray with cups, sugar and creamer.
She greeted friendly left the tray and walked back to the
counter.

Andrew poured creamer into his coffee.
“What can I do for you Mr...?”

“
Mr. Craft, just a short
conversation I believe would help.” He added creamer and sugar to
his own coffee.

“
What’s on your mind?
Clearly you’re not a reporter. What’s so important that you drag me
from a search to find two missing men to have a chat? Why couldn’t
this wait and why’s it too late for the missing men?” Andrew asked
sipping his coffee.

Mr. Craft looked out of the window for
a moment. He searched for something, or expecting something to
happen shortly. Andrew was weary of him. He didn’t know whether to
trust the man or to arrest him for wasting his time. Somehow he
felt like a hamster in a wheel. He needed to start the search, but
something was holding him back. He decided to wait and hear the man
out.

“
You don’t have to worry,
I won’t waste too much of your time. I’m aware that you need to be
out there, but I thought it would be worthwhile if we should talk
first.” Mr. Craft said and it made Andrew felt like his reading his
mind. This put Andrew more on edge and he has started to suspect
the man of foul play.

“
What’ll be worthwhile,
Mr. Craft?”

“
I’ve stumbled on
something that’ll be worthwhile for us both. You’ll have an answer
in your case, and I’ll have the proof that there’s truth to the
supernatural.”

“
How do you figure that
and what do you know about my case?” Andrew asked
suspicious.

“
Sheriff Foster, I drove
all the way from the city to speak to you. I’d like to speak to my
sons, but they missing. They’re supposed to call me at the crack of
dawn so I could meet with them. When they didn’t call I contacted
Tom.”

“
You know Tom?” Andrew
asked not surprised.

“
I was a teacher in his
school.” Mr. Craft admitted.

Mr. Craft sat silently for a moment
looking out the window at the group of people who had started to
gather outside. His hands trembled slightly as he poured creamer
and sugar into his second cup of coffee.

“
Why were you supposed to
meet them here?”

“I couldn’t get here last night, so
they left ahead of me. They were going to call me to let me know if
they found anything. When they didn’t call I called their room at
the bed and breakfast but they weren’t there. I called Tom and he
checked and about twenty minutes later he called back saying he
found the empty boat.”

Mr. Craft’s hands shook even more. His
voice faded, he has a difficult time to utter the words.

“
Found what? Do you know
what they were looking for?”

Andrew signaled the waiter, he needed
to give the man a moment to gather his thoughts. He could also rid
himself of the burning sensation in his stomach. Hunger or fear of
what’s uncovered, he couldn’t decide. Mr. Craft sipped his coffee
nervously and stared out the window again. The Waiter brought menus
and took Andrews order of bacon and eggs on toast. Mr. Craft didn’t
order food. He was clearly too concerned to eat. He only sips his
coffee.

The waiter left.

“
What were they looking
for, I think you know exactly way they were out there on the lake,
don’t you?” Andrew repeated, bringing Mr. Craft back to the
conversation.

Mr. Craft shifted in his
seat.

“
My sons believes in the
paranormal, a quality I’m afraid they inherited from me. They’ve
made it their life’s ambitions to proof that entities exists.” Mr.
Craft explained in a soft gentle voice.

“
Ghost hunters? What made
them believe there are ghosts here?” Andrew asked between sips of
coffee.

“
We prefer the term
paranormal investigators. They heard the rumor back home so I
placed a call to Tom which was enough to spike their curiosity.
They couldn’t wait to come here and look for
themselves.”

“
I apologize. I’m aware of
how fast news travels around here, but to the city, I believe it's
a new record.”

Mr. Craft looked straight at Andrew.
“So what do you think about my offer of help?”

“
What exactly are you
offering help with? This conversation’s not going anywhere. I have
more important business to attend too as this conversation, so if
you don’t mind I need to get going.” Andrew said getting annoyed
with the slow progress.

Mr. Craft was hiding something and he
was looking for the right moment to bring it up.

“
Sheriff, perhaps I should
be straight with you. I’ve looked at the video footage from the
mounted cameras on the boat.”

‘
Finally there it is a
confession.’ Andrew though.

“
So, you’re admitting to
tampering with the evidence. You can’t just walk in here and do as
you please, who do you think you are? You know of course that I
need to confiscate all the footage.” Andrew said
angrily.

“
I’ve got the right
equipment to analyze the data. The chance the data can damage if
it's handled wrongly is too great. This I can’t, under any
circumstances allow to happen.”

Andrew met with the man’s urgent,
concerned eyes. There was more to it than just a man searching for
his missing sons. He pushed grief aside to deal with a matter he
felt was more important.

“
It's a possibility, I
can’t speak for everyone that might handle it, but for my office we
take care of all evidence.” Andrew insured
sympathetically.

“
Everyone can lose
something or damage it by accident, Sheriff. I can analyze the
footage under your supervision.”

“
What’s on the footage,
kids playing a prank?”

Mr. Craft snapped angrily.
“No.”

“
They had another boat
which they used to get off the lake.”

“
That might’ve been the
smartest move, and then they’d be here right now having breakfast
with me rather me having this conversation. I’m afraid that it's
not what happened. They had this strange addiction to the thrill of
the find. They’d never walk away from that.” He sighed and handed
photos to Andrew. “Take a look at the photos then you’ll know what
happened.”

Andrew didn’t take the photos instead
he tried to read Mr. Craft’s facial expressions.

“
Tom did me a favor. It's
not his fault. I asked him not to report anything until I had a
chance to see what happened. He’s only to try to find the boys. I
believe he had help looking for them, just in case they made it out
injured. I knew going up against an entity filled with rage and
bent on revenge wasn’t an easy task.” He sipped nervously at his
coffee again. “You must understand. I’d never allow my sons to go
on the lake had I know it's dangerous to this extent. Besides,
there’s no stopping or talking them out of it. They assured me that
they’d taken every precaution and that they know what could happen.
They’re my only children. The last thing I want is to have
everything seized and held up with red tape before I knew what
happened. I needed to know.”

“
I can understand that, I
don’t have children so it's difficult for me to put myself in your
shoes. Knowing what happened is closure, but you’re tampering with
evidence.” Andrew felt sorry for him.

Mr. Craft spoke softly, he felt guilty
and scolded like a child. “I apologize for that. It takes special
equipment to analyze the evidence as you put it. The evidence is
pure, nothing’s tampered with. I simply extracted a photo or two of
what attacked my sons, is that so wrong?”

“
Because only you can
analyze the footage, you know we do have sophisticated labs that
can analyze anything.”

“
It's a risk I’m not
willing to take. This equipment belongs to me so the footage does
too. If I need to I’ll hold this data up in a court until I run out
of every penny I have, and believe me it will take longer than you
might think.”

“
This is evidence in a
crime, therefore I can seize it anytime I want and send it to
anywhere I feel fit.” Andrew got up ready to leave. He was too
angry to sit one more moment in his company. ‘What gives him the
right, who does he think he is?’

Andrew walked past the table heading
for the door when Mr. Craft took his arm gently and held him back.
His voice was as calm and gentle as a grieving father.

“
Sheriff I’m not trying to
withhold evidence, but I’d like to analyze it myself rather than
sending it away. Whatever’s on the footage, you’re welcome to it. I
just don’t want it out of my sight. I’m sure there’s more
information to analyze, but it would waste too much time sending it
away when I can do it right here.” He pleaded.

Andrew sat down again. “Yes
sure.”

The waiter brought his order and
placed the plate on the table with as much charm as she could
master. She left the table with a smile and walked away. Andrew
started to eat.

“
Hungry?” Mr. Craft asked
trying to change the mood.

Andrew swallowed a large bite of toast
and egg. “Forgive me, I missed dinner and breakfast.”

Mr. Craft smiled for the first time.
“Anyway I believe you’ll be glad to find that your suspect wouldn’t
waste taxpayer’s money sitting in jail. I don’t know if you have
answers to all your questions you might have, but I don’t think
so.”

Andrew was still eating. “Why are you
not looking for your sons?”

“
Trust me. I’m doing
everything humanly possible to find the boys. I’ve got people
coming to do just that.”

“
Don’t you trust in our
ability?”

“
Yes, and I don’t want to
get in your way. I believe I’ve got more friends then you. Your
town’s smaller than most, you need friends right now, if I can call
favors to cover more ground, then why not? It's not costing you
anything.”

Mr. Craft looked out the window,
looking for something. After a moment of silence he turned his
attention to Andrew who had finished his meal.