Chapter 6

Sheriff Eckle had one of his deputies take photos of their discovery inside the McHenry house, while he awaited the arrival of the crime scene lab. The house was barren with no furniture. The walls were naked and lonely with faint outlines of phantom pictures, reminding the Sheriff that someone once called the house home. But one room held a mystery that Sheriff Eckle hoped to solve before rumors ran him out of office.

“Sheriff, it looks like blood on the inside of this circle.” Deputy Hunter knelt beside a poorly drawn black circle with a star in the middle of it. With a shaky finger he pointed at a suspicious red splatter.

“We’ll know when the lab gets here. Get O’Reilly to take some photos of it.” The Sheriff walked over to the bench that was positioned right under the window. On it were a hodgepodge of items; an incense burner that held ashy remains of what he assumed was an incense stick, a bowl of water and one holding a crystalline substance and candles burnt down to nubs. The bench was covered with a purple scarf that had signs drawn on it by an inexperienced hand with no artistic talents. He hated to admit it, but he was beginning to think the room held some sort of witchcraft rite. What had him the most curious about the whole scene was the bowl of herbs matted with something sticky. The herbs smelled like the rag doll that was found outside. He wished he had paid more attention to Granny Eckle’s kitchen lectures when he was a child. She grew her own herbs, something that wasn’t passed down to his generation.

Deputy Hunter interrupted his musing. “Sheriff, there’s something weird about this setup. It’s almost childish, amateurish even. I’ve seen movies about witchcraft,” he pointed to the drawing on the floor, “and this doesn’t look like a scene from one of them.” He stood with his hand on his pistol, a habit he had when he wasn’t sure what action to take in a situation. “I wonder if some of the wild crowd at the high school might have been here playing around. You know, smoking dope and getting laid. Teens today are different than we were growing up. Hell, I didn’t lose my virginity until I was twenty-five.”

Sheriff Eckle laughed, “Hunter, aren’t you still twenty-five?” He didn’t wait for the blushing deputy to answer. “Good point about the teens. Here’s a thought. Why don’t you go out and see if there are any teenagers lurking in the crowd. You’re younger than the rest of the deputies and probably know them better than most people do. Question them discreetly. Make it seem as if you think it’s all a joke. Maybe they’ll relay some information to you about what’s gone on here.”

“Yep, it could be harmless teenage shenanigans. I’m hoping it is, Sheriff. Even if kids are the culprit, this scene gives me the willies.”

“For Heaven’s to Pete, don’t let on that you’re affected by this. That crowd outside will smell it on you and we don’t need a petrified public to pamper.”

A frantic deputy came running into the room. In his haste, he bumped into O’Reilly as he was focusing his camera on an object on the altar.

“Watch it, Ward!” O’Reilly hated working while the bumbling deputies with their heads in their asses milled around. They always got in his way. Didn’t anyone have any idea how much concentration a good photographer needed?

“Sorry, O’Reilly. Didn’t see you there.” The deputy didn’t sound sincere, because he had something else on his mind. “Sheriff, Roman Ouellette’s in the crowd arguing with the witch’s daughter. The crowd’s getting a bit riled up. Can we get out the riot gear?” He was hopeful, because none of them had ever used it and they had gotten the equipment back in the fall.

“Witch’s daughter? There’s a witch in town?”

“Yes, Mel over at the barber shop said he got a love potion from her. She bought Ernest’s house last year, after he moved up north. Remember how Roman Ouellette complained in the town meeting last month about that fountain in her front yard? The one of the woman with the boobs exposed?”

The Sheriff interrupted Deputy Ward’s hearsay. But he did make a mental note to hang out at the barber shop more often. “Come on, boys. Let’s go see what all the excitement’s about.”

“But Sheriff, what about the riot gear?”

“No need for it Deputy. Besides, you don’t know how to use it.”

“But Sheriff Brown would have…”

“Deputy Ward, do I look like Sheriff Brown?”

(WC=3759)