Post by StoryGirl83 on Sept 30, 2008 23:08:56 GMT -5
Chapter Eight - Eye Witness Report
Future – Saturday May 29, 2027
Wyatt and Chris were both seated on the ground, each with stacks of old records in front of them and around them.
Chris was scanning a record in front of him. He sighed as he put it on one of the piles and went to the next file.
Wyatt had two files in his hands. He looked at one and then the other and back again. After a moment he looked up. “I think I found the link.”
Chris looked up from the file he was looking at. “You sure?”
Wyatt shook his head slightly. “No, but it’s a pretty big coincidence if I’m wrong.”
Chris put his file back on the pile it came from and stood up. He walked over to where Wyatt was and stooped down. “What did you find?”
Wyatt handed Chris one of the files. The name on the file was “Martin, Karma.” “I was looking up one of the less common names on Pat’s list and I found a four-year-old named Karma Martin. She disappeared the evening of February 2, 1962. There was a witness.”
Chris looked at him surprised. He looked down at the report in his hand. “A witness? Really? It’s not like a demon to leave behind a witness.”
“He didn’t. The witness was another four-year-old girl. The police believed that she was remembering wrong or exaggerating. She said a monster took her friend. The report lists her as Sunny Webster.” Wyatt handed Chris the other file. The name on this file was “Webster, Sunshine.” “The next year a five-year-old named Sunshine Webster disappeared early on the morning of February 2, 1963.”
“February second, huh. It looks like we need to check February second of each year.” Chris put down the two files in front of Wyatt and went back to his stacks of papers. He picked up a two file pile and brought it over to Wyatt. “I found two likely people. Let me check the dates on them.” He opened up one file with the name “Hart, Mehgan” on it. “February 2, 1967 at six thirty in the morning.” He handed the file to Wyatt and opened the other. The name on this one was “Goldman, Trace.” After reading it he handed it to Wyatt as well. “February 2, 1974. Looks like you’ve got a winner. I’ll go back over the files I’ve already looked at. We still have four names on Pat’s list, plus who knows how many others to find.”
“Remind me why we have to find the names of the demon’s victims. It’s not like we have to find them before the demon gets to them. He already has them.”
“Pat said that there was some sort of pattern. Days and times of days, but she couldn’t remember why that was important. She said if we study the victims we can figure out how to defeat the demon, and when.”
“When? Are you kidding me? This demon has a when in regards to defeating it?”
Chris shrugged. “That’s what Pat said, but she could have been wrong.” He picked up a folder from one of the piles and looked at the date. Seeing the wrong date he put it back down and picked up another.
Wyatt picked up one of the files and started flipping through the pages. “Do you have enough money for copies, Chris? Sixty-seven years of missing persons reports is a lot to copy, even if it is only one a year.”
“Two. And it's more like fourty seven years, most likely.”
“Huh?” Wyatt looked at Chris.
Chris handed Wyatt the folder in his hands. “Two, a year. One in the morning and one at night. I found Corrine.” He didn't explain the other comment, and Wyatt didn't ask. With twenty years were demonic powers didn't work, the answer was obvious.
Wyatt took the file and looked at it. “Are you sure?”
Chris nodded. “Yeah. Corrine Anderson disappeared on the same day as Karma, but at the same time of morning as Sunny and Mehgan.”
“It could be a coincidence.”
Chris gave Wyatt a look. “Come on, Wy. Do you really believe that? It’s the right Corrine.”
Wyatt groaned. “That means sixty-seven files just jumped to ninety-four files. We are going to make the library rich.”
Chris sighed and looked at the piles of files. “I’ll go talk to Terah. Maybe they will let us scan them onto a disk, so we don’t have deal with that many copies.” Chris walked past Wyatt and toward the door.
Wyatt stared down at the files. “Hey, aren’t you going to help me with these?”
Chris stopped and turned around. “I’ll be back in a minute. Just get back to the files.”
Wyatt’s eyes narrowed. “Was that an order?”
Chris rolled his eyes. “Really, Wy. I’ll be back in a minute. Unless you want to talk to Terah?”
Wyatt considered this and sat back down. “One minute.”
Chris smiled and walked out the door.