Adelmo sat in the driveway looking at the door for a long time, almost as if he expected whoever had broken in to come running out to relinquish possession of the premises. He really didn't want any more surprises.
“Did I forget to lock it?” he said, fully cognizant of the fact he was talking to himself more and more lately.
He finally entered the house, slowly pushing the door open and avoiding the creaky board in the hardwood floor in the foyer. It was going to be impossible to avoid all of the squeaky boards; they seemed to change almost daily.
When he entered the kitchen he couldn't believe what he saw.
All of the pictures were back.
They were neatly lined up across the table, the faces from so many years ago, the anguish in their eyes. Most of them had what war veterans called the "thousand yard stare,‟ seeming to be staring at something far off in the distance.
And then there were the gory pictures of the Devereaux's bodies, bloody and eviscerated. They reminded Adelmo once more of the strange man who had attacked him in life, and who he'd taken revenge on in his dreams.
The messenger.
And of course, most disturbing of them all was the picture of his own face,
his features contorted, half man and half wolf, frozen at the moment of change.
Adelmo knew that these things could be faked, and briefly wondered if someone
wasn't playing an elaborate joke on him, but as he stared into his own eyes he
knew it wasn't true.
He couldn't remember anything about when or how the picture was taken, but he knew at some point in the last forty-eight hours, someone, or something, had watched as he turned into some horrifying creature and then snapped the picture as proof.
It was impossible to determine where the picture was taken, as it was a close-up and the background was faded out, anyway, but the more Adelmo looked at it, the more he accepted it with only a single question in his mind.
Was the picture taken at the scene of the murders?
The first flight Adelmo could get to Romania was forty-eight hours away, so he figured it was providence and decided to make the best of his time. There was something he was missing, a piece to a puzzle he knew existed but didn't quite understand.
Adelmo could almost feel the presence of his mother, urging him on, telling him to solve the mystery before he left to share what he’d found with his grandfather.
Adelmo had loved puzzles as a child, and his mother took great pleasure in challenging him with ever more difficult games, puzzles, and quizzes that would have stumped children much older than her son.
But he knew he was playing a dangerous game. Nik was looking into the murders at the store, and it was only a matter of time before he’d find out Adelmo had spoken to the scientist at the police lab.
Nik wasn't stupid, and the way he’d looked at Adelmo told him that their friendship was being tested. They went way back, but Adelmo knew Nik wouldn't hesitate to arrest him if the evidence pointed at his old high school friend.
And so far, Adelmo believed it did.
But he didn't know why. Why was the missing piece, He just knew it. Adelmo wanted to understand why all the evidence pointed to him as the murderer of the Devereaux’s, when he couldn't possibly be the murderer.
Or could he?
With all that had been happening to him lately, Adelmo wasn't entirely sure.
The next morning, Adelmo went back to his bookshop to speak with Lana again. Somehow, he felt that the "Wolfman,‟ as Lana called him, was the key to discovering why things had been happening the way they were.
Adelmo interrupted her daily routine to ask her how business was going, but they both knew that wasn't really what he was interested in. Lana was too polite to say anything, but she could tell something was very wrong with Adelmo, and he wasn't telling her everything. She thought he was sweet for protecting her, but she really wished he felt comfortable enough to tell her more.
She sighed.
Someday.
“Any messages?” he asked.
“The wolfman called again. I told him you were still away.”
Lana tried to read his eyes, but they told her nothing.
Adelmo thought it was strange the man was trying so hard to talk to him, but he hoped he would come back, in spite of what Lana told him.
Adelmo had a hunch the wolfman knew Lana was lying to him.
What could it be that made the stranger want to talk to him? What did the stranger know that Adelmo didn't?
Adelmo asked Lana, “Would he leave a name?”
She replied, “No, but he seemed a little edgy. Not as calm as the last time, not as weird as the first time.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Adelmo turned to go into the office, but Lana stopped him.
“I almost forgot. Nik called again, too. He said to meet him at the usual spot, whatever that means. Nine o’clock.”
Adelmo knew exactly what it meant.
The New Orleans Cajun Cuisine.
Adelmo was hoping to speak to the scientist again about the hair, but he knew it was still too early to know anything. He left the book store and went home to relax and think about things. When he arrived at his house, the front door was open, again.
His first instinct was to check to see if whoever broke in was still inside. Adelmo entered the house through the front door, carefully avoiding the creaky floorboard in the entry.
Even though it was the middle of the day, the house felt dark and spooky. What was so familiar suddenly seemed strange and forbidding, the thought of someone in his house really creeped him out.
Adelmo walked into the living room. There were papers scattered on the floor, and the couch was flipped upside down. Someone had really trashed the place. Lamps were broken, bookshelves knocked over. He rushed from room to room, no longer caring if he came upon the intruder.
Now he was mad.
Drawers were pulled out and dumped in every room. He couldn't believe his eyes.
Why would someone rob his house? It wasn't like he had anything valuable… the pictures.
He rushed back to the dining room table where the pictures had magically appeared the day before, and now they were gone… again.
Nothing made sense anymore.
Adelmo was more confused than ever. The pictures were evidence against him, and now someone else had them.
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