Alton One: Chapter Three

"Is your parent home?"  It was a tall police officer with white hair.  He stood tall and professional on the porch.  He talked through the screen door.

"Umph!" Here's where all that training at Shoreline Catholic School makes life hard.  "I'm Mike Rove!  I'm Lance Goodman's best friend.  I just came in because I was supposed to meet Lance here to discuss a project we were going to work on together, and he never showed up."

"Is that true?" Typical police officer to be skeptical.  "Yes, it's the truth."  Keep it pithy, Mike.  Don't give away any self discriminating evidence when talking to the law.  It was his dad's voice.

"You probably don't have any I.D., I bet."  With his left hand he rubbed the top of his gun, and Mike wondered if this was meant to be intimidatory, or just some kind of nervous habit.

"Um," Mike said, looking at the blood and gun in the closet, "No, I don't drive."

"Well, I can tell you don't drive.  What are you, about ten or something?"

"I'm fifteen," Mike said, trying not to sneer.  "I have no I.D."

"Well, I don't mean to scare you.  I just want you to shut the door when I leave, and lock it.  And shut the patio door, too, and lock it.  And close the curtains.  And I want you to call your parents."

Well, if you didn't want to scare me, you're failing.  

The officer reached for his wallet, and offered an I.D. as he said, "There's something fishy going on in this area.  Were you around here about an hour ago?"

"No.  I don't think so.  I think I just got here about a half hour ago."  That sounded retarded.  

"Well, then I guess I don't need to talk to you."

"Chuck!" Another officer rushed to the house.  He was obese, sweating perfusely, and breathing heavy.  "Chuck! I need to talk to you," he wheezed.

The officer with the white hair, Chuck, stepped off the porch.  "What is it, Billy?"

"The lady in the green house said she was sitting on her front porch, and she heard a loud bang, from over this way."  He motioned to the northern sky, above the skyline.  "She said it came from there, and there was a bright flash of light.  She said after the bang she saw a little boy in a Halloween costume coming from Lance Goodman's house.  When she stepped off her porch to try to see who it was, the person just vanished into thin air."

"Okay, well, don't say no more," Officer Chuck, the white haired cop, said.  "Mike," he turned to Mike, "Are you sure you weren't here an hour ago?"

"I'm sure, officer."

"Were you wearing a costume?  Are you playing a prank, boy?"

"Um, no."  He tried looking right into the officer's eye's, but his gaze ended up on the officer's shoes instead.

"Where were you an hour ago?" huffed the beefy cop.

"Um, I was in school," said Mike.

"How did you get here, then?"  the beefy cop beamed.

"I, I walked from..." I started.

"Oh, come on, Billy," Officer Chuck said, glaring at Officer Billy.  "He's just a kid.  I've already instructed him to close the door and lock it.  "And Mike," he looked at Lance again, "You do as I told you.  And you don't touch anything inside that house, you got that."

"Yes, sir!"

"Except the phone."  Officer Chuck added.  "You keep the phone by your ear."

Mike shut the door, and locked it.