Adelmo had sniffed out what looked like a blood drop in the grass, something Nik had to see to believe. He’d seen bloodhounds miss something like that, but Adelmo had gone right to it. So Nik put the single blade of grass for DNA testing into a sterile baggy. He hoped there was enough blood on it to test.
“How long does the lab usually take?” Adelmo asked.
“I don’t even know what they’ll get,” Nik said, almost defensively. “It’s a small sample, and you were slobbering all over it like a...” he trailed off, almost afraid of the thought, but Adelmo didn’t seem to notice or take offense. Nik looked down at the plastic baggy on the seat between them. He was just lucky he had one in the glove box, otherwise it was likely the store was going to have yet another break-in, this one by law enforcement.
Adelmo swore up and down he hadn’t smelled it, but rather had just looked in the same place he noticed it before, but Nik knew that was horseshit. He’d seen bloodhounds miss something that small. It was like a needle in a haystack.
“Don’t worry, Del. It’ll get tested. Could be the blood of the murderer.”
But Nik would have to be careful. How could he explain how he found the drop after forensics had already been all over the area, or even why he had been there at all, let alone with a “person of interest‟ in the crime who just happened to be his old friend?
By the time they pulled into Adelmo’s driveway, it was long past dark, and he was really feeling the effects of the last couple of days. He‟s nodded off a couple of times on the way home. But his empty driveway reminded him of something.
“Shit. My car.”
“It’s at the police yard. I’ll square it tomorrow. Won’t cost a thing.”
“Thanks, Nik.”
Nik nodded and Adelmo opened the door, but Nik grabbed his arm. Adelmo looked at Nik, clearly worried.
“Listen, Del. There’s something I gotta tell you.” Nik looked very uncomfortable, which sharpened Adelmo’s focus. He waited.
“They got you listed on this one. Person of interest.”
“For the murders?”
Nik just nodded.
“But how?”
“It’s nothing to worry about, trust me. There’s no motive, nothing that would bump your status, so just...”
“Relax?” Adelmo said, smiling.
His attitude relaxed Nik as well, who laughed and said, “Yeah, smart ass. Relax.”
Adelmo nodded and got out of the car.
“And I’ll see what I can find out about your grandfather, too. So just sit tight, okay? Don’t go jumping on a plane or anything. The guy’s probably off with some new broad playing shuffleboard.”
Adelmo laughed and walked up to his door, surrounded by the light from Nik’s headlights.
It only occurred to Adelmo when he turned to wave goodnight, that his old friend Nik had very cleverly admonished him to stay in town as if he were a suspect in a crime, and when he faced the car, blinded by the headlights, all he saw was a shadowy image behind the wheel, recognizable at that moment as neither friend nor foe, or possibly a bit of both.
For Nik’s part, when Adelmo turned into his lights to wave, he could swear for an instant Adelmo’s eyes had briefly shined a feral yellow, but it was so brief that by the time he’d turned the corner, Nik had chalked it up to his imagination.
All he was thinking about now was getting that blood drop tested.
He really wanted to crack the case and clear his friend if he could.
As Adelmo turned the knob on his front door, the thought occurred to him that he was sure he had locked the door when he left. So many things did not make any sense. He had left to take pictures and ended up in the hospital, but couldn't remember what had happened to put him there, or what had happened to his camera and cell phone? The questions whirled in his head as he entered his living room and flipped on a light. He made his way into the kitchen to make sure that door was locked and found it to be. Maybe he had left through the kitchen door and locked it forgetting to lock the front door, or did he. As he turned to go back to the living room, he spotted the camera sitting on the table.
He looked at the camera in disbelief and lifted it. He looked at the back and saw that the pictures had been taken and decided to see if there were any pictures on the film. He headed down the stairs with the camera in tow. Going into the darkroom, he took the film off the roll and carefully guided it onto the spool. Sliding it into the canister making sure the cap was tight so light wouldn't leak in and expose the film. He went through the processing steps.
Adelmo stared at the picture slowly forming in the tray of developer. He checked the timer, and just as it dinged, he carefully pulled the paper from the pan with the tongs and gently placed the picture into the stop bath.
He yawned and looked at his watch. It was almost three in the morning. Adelmo was so tired he wasn't even sure what day it was, anymore.
So far, there had been some pretty interesting things on the prints.
Adelmo gave a last look at the dozen or so strange, glistening pictures he'd hung up on the drying line, and trudged up the stairs. At the top of the steps, he pulled the curtain back before quickly opening the door and slipping back into the kitchen.
He knew he should get some sleep, but his mind was racing. He thought back to all he'd seen and when he developed that first picture, he honestly had no idea what he would find when he started. One by one, the pictures revealed scenes that made him question his sanity.
Several were close-ups of faces. It was impossible to tell, but the people staring into the camera looked like they were from another era. It was something about the eyes and the fear or shock that was registered on the prints. How their images got onto his film wasn't something he was even prepared to contemplate. Adelmo had looked into the haunted eyes in the photographs and felt like he'd entered an alternate universe, where anything was possible. He didn't think he could be surprised by anything.
That is until he saw the other pictures.
One showed what looked like a bloody human footprint in the mud. In the middle of the print, it appeared as if it merged with the print of an animal. It was almost as if whatever made the impression had been caught in the middle of some sort of transformation. Half of it looked very much like the paw print Adelmo had seen on the wall. Did the picture show a footprint of a human being transforming into a wolf? Or was it a wolf becoming a human?
Adelmo was suddenly too exhausted to think anymore. The other pictures were too horrifying to wrap his tired brain around, and he knew he would have to destroy them. If anyone found them in his possession, Adelmo had no doubt he would become the prime suspect in the murders of the store owners, and with his behavior lately, who knows if anyone would believe otherwise.
Even Nik had looked at him like he was guilty.
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