The World of Myth Magazine

Silner laughed, then suddenly went quiet. "Hey, I just thought of something. Remember Layla Farr's expression when we asked if Merrill's trench coat was at their home? She seemed upset but denied it."

"I remember. And her husband looked startled once he got his coat out of the hall closet. He said there was a smudge on the left sleeve and another on the hem that shouldn't've been there."

"They glanced at each other."

"I saw." Babbett pulled out his pipe, filled it with tobacco, tamped it down, and lit it.

"D'ya think they're hiding something?"

"There's no telling. Their expressions could've meant something. Or nothing at all. It can be hard to tell what's pertinent or not. Like that man two houses down from them claiming he didn't know where his coat was. Maybe that'll turn out to be important, or maybe not. But I didn't get a bad vibe off him when we spoke."

"Me neither. He seemed sincere enough. What bothers me is that time has passed, but no one's been reported missing."

"Not everyone files a report right away. Some may think a person who's gone left by choice and is fine. And an actual killer probably wouldn't want to draw attention to his victim being gone."

"Maybe, but filing a report is less suspicious than not doing one and us finding out later."

"Let's go talk to the people again and see if anything seems fishy."

11:27 PM that evening

"This is a long shot, but I think it's worth our time," Babbett said, glancing at Silner.

"I got the same vibe you did." His partner rummaged around in the munchies they'd brought along for the stake-out. "You want chips or granola bars?"

"Neither. Gimme a donut."

2:13 a.m.

"Look!" Silner exclaimed, pointing.

Babbett leaned forward, frowning as someone crept around the side of the Farr's home, and then his lips curved into the semblance of a smile. However, it was totally devoid of humor and didn't reach his eyes. "Got you, you miserable bugger," he muttered.

They approached the house quietly and within moments, they had the prowler lying face down on the back lawn.

But when they rolled him over, they were taken aback to discover they'd caught a boy around seventeen or eighteen years old. Tall and gangly, with long, greasy hair and pimples on his face, his eyes darted from one of them to the other, and he blanched to see Babbett's gun aimed at him.

"Don'tshootmedon'tshootme. Please," he begged, trembling all over. "My Mom and Dad are gonna kill me as it is."

"Who in the dickens are you?" Babbett demanded, holstering his sidearm.

"K-Kent."

"Kent who? And why were you sneaking around here?"

The kid darted a glance at Silner but said nothing.

"Start talking or we'll toss your sorry butt in jail and throw away the key," Babbett threatened, hauling him to his feet. "That'll loosen your tongue."

"I ain't done nothing wrong," the youth retorted. "So, you can't arrest me." Wiping his runny nose with his sleeve, he stood up straighter, clearly getting his courage back.

"Only people up to no good creep around in the dark instead of going up to the front door," Silner commented.

The young man shrugged.

"Did you leave something nearby, perhaps?" Babbett demanded, giving him a hard look. "A body, maybe?"

"Who in the dickens are you?" a man yelled from behind them. "And why are you in my backyard? I've got a gun and I'll use it if I have to."

Merrill approached, rifle raised, but he lowered it when he saw the officers. His wife and daughter were right behind him.

Layla caught sight of Kent, and her mouth fell open.

Sierra gasped.

"What are you doing here, you slimy piece of trash?" Merrill demanded.

"You know this kid?" Babbett asked.

"Unfortunately, I do. That's the worthless, two-bit druggie who chased my daughter a couple months back. And he's not actually a kid, even though he looks like it."

"Really?" Silner eyed the fuming father. "How old is he?"

"He claimed he was seventeen when we first met, but that was a lie. It turned out he was really twenty-one, and with a bad reputation for pursuing underage girls. There's talk he got one pregnant. Within a couple days of visiting in our home, we caught him stealing medicine from our drug cabinet, and we're pretty sure he took money out of Layla's wallet."

"You're wrong," Sierra retorted, eyes flashing. "He isn't like that."

"Hush," Layla told her. "It's true, whether you want to believe it or not."

"The minute we realized what he was," Merrill shared, "we made sure Sierra broke off all contact with him. Even so, he kept trying to reach her by phone and Facebook. He didn't stop till I threatened to break his neck."

"Seems he's still bad news," Babbett commented before turning his focus to Kent again. "Where's the body?"

The young man turned his head away, and the officer gave his partner a meaningful look.

"Murder's against the law," Silner announced, getting out his handcuffs. "Assume the position." When the suspect didn't obey, he said, "Turn around and put your hands behind your back. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used..."

"You can't arrest me," Kent protested. His earlier bravado vanished as he started babbling, "I didn't kill anybody. It was all her idea anyway, not mine. I didn't do anything wrong. I just went along with..."

"Her idea to murder someone?" Babbett advanced on him, motioning for the girl's fuming father to stay back.

"My idea?" Sierra glared at him. "You're a liar."

Babbett turned on her. "If you helped with the killing, that makes you an accessory. If you tell us the truth, the whole truth, we'll let the judge know you cooperated and you might get a lesser sentence. Less time in jail or juvenile detention." He eyed Kent. "He's an adult so he'll probably get some hard jail time."

"I don't wanna go to jail," Kent whined. "She was responsible for everything."

"How can you say that?" Face crumpling, Sierra began to sob. "I thought you loved me." Her crying stopped within moments, though, and she began hollering at him.

He yelled back and charged forward, shoving her, and almost making her fall.

"That's my child!" Merrill knocked him off his feet and stood over him but looked at his daughter. "Are you all right, sweetie?"

"Where's the body?" Babbett interjected loudly. "Tell us now. Everything else can be sorted out later."

Kent and Sierra began clamoring at the same time, voices rising into shouts within seconds.

After everything came out, Kent glared at Merill before facing the officers. "You saw her father hit me. That's against the law. I want him arrested."

"I didn't see anything," Babbett retorted. "If that'd been my daughter, I wouldn't have just hit you. I would've done much worse. And if you were my son, I'd beat your butt and you wouldn't be able to sit for days."

Silner nodded in agreement. "Same here."

"Wait a minute... so the noise I heard that night was him?" Layla asked. "He was upstairs in our house?" She looked directly at her daughter, who stared at her feet and nodded.

"All this is over that worthless jerk?" Merrill snarled. "I can't believe you've been sneaking that trash into your bedroom after everything we learned about him and our warnings."

The girl burst into a fresh spate of tears.

"You're grounded till you're eighteen," Layla told her.

"No." Merrill shook his head. "Thirty."

Sierra spoke between sniffles. "You can't do that. I'll be an adult when I'm eighteen and I can do what I want."

"Dream on," he retorted. "You're my daughter, no matter how old you are, and I'm always going to protect you, even from yourself."

Silner glanced at his partner. "If I have a child and he or she does anything like this..."

"I don't understand," Layla said. "What happened to the body?"

"There wasn't one," Merrill replied. "Well, not a dead one." He bared his teeth at Kent. "The louse put on my coat to disguise himself in case you saw him after he sneaked out of our home. You almost caught him, so he and our misguided daughter who was hiding with him decided he'd play dead. He had a soda with him, and she poured it on the ground to make it look like blood. Once you ran for help, he took off down the street. Meanwhile, Sierra brought my coat back inside and hung it up. We didn't noticed in all the confusion."

"I'm half-tempted to still charge both of them," Babbett said slowly.

"They faked a crime scene," Silner replied. "We wasted all kinds of resources for nothing."

Layla bit her lip and glanced at her husband, who just nodded. "We'll understand if you do," she said. "Maybe that'll teach Sierra how serious this is."

"But no one died," Kent protested.

Merrill rounded on him. "Yet! But if you come around my family or ever get near my daughter again, there will be a dead body!"

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