by Lee Sau Woon
0700 hours Day 1 Vanessa's apartment
Vanessa woke up as the alarm clock rang, and for a moment, she thought she could smell the familiar smell of bacon and coffee, until she remembered that her breakfast cook was dead.
"Damn crazy memory," she chided herself as she quickly flipped her blanket aside and went to wash her face. She got a meeting at Station X, some new case, and she did not intend to be late.
----
same time Jim's apartment
Jim never understand the essential need of a breakfast, but if he was hungry, he ate, so he had breakfast. He looked at his watch, and wondered if Vanessa had woke up. She had declined his invitation to visit Barney, and sensing her need to be alone, he had left her in her apartment as he went to visit Barney. The youngster, of course, was glad to meet him, and as Jim spent the rest of the day at the safehouse, he began to forget about Vanessa and her problems.
----
Vanessa arrived at the office 5 minutes after Jim, and Jordan noted her shorter hair.
"New haircut," he said, more of a statement than a question.
"Yeah." She replied, as she settled down to read her emails.
It was the usual crap. A company who somehow gotten her email address telling her that they could spruce up her homepage for a minimal fee (she don't have a homepage!), and a bill gates-wannabe telling the reader to pass the email along to reach a certain quota before everyone got a certain amount of money. And of course, a mass mail from the administrative department telling Station X agents to remember to switch off the lights in their office before they leave to save electricity.
And FBI is supposed to be cool, she thought to herself, shaking her head, she deleted all the mails at one shot.
>"We have a new case. The folders are on your desk. It involves several >murders done by juveniles in a small town called Castle Rock, Montana. It's >small and very out of the way. Details so far are sketchy, but whatever's in >the folder is what we have to go on so far. We leave for Billings in 2 hours, >and it's going to be another 2 hour drive to Castle Rock. Look over the file >and meet you at the airport in an hour."
>***
>[On the plane, somewhere over Pennsylvania]
>"Castle Rock Montana," Martin read out loud from the file, "population >1500. Principal economy is agriculture and manufacturing. What do they >manufacture way out there?"
>"Garade Corporation," Jordan replied, "They mold plastic parts for the >automotive industry. They make door handles, and dashboard parts. The >agriculture is mostly ranching."
>"Mmm, cows. I bet you can smell the town before you can see it," Jim >quipped.
>"Local law enforcement is a full time Sheriff, one deputy, and two >part-time patrollmen," Vanessa read, "Talk about a small town."
"Our arrival will double its law enforcement team. Impressive huh?" Zenya joked.
>"The biggest case they cracked last year was four teens who represented >the biggest shoplifting ring the town had ever seen," Leo said, "How far >out in the boonies are we going here?"
>"Far," Jordan replied, "The point here is that the Sheriff is in way >over his head. He probably wouldn't know what to do about one murder, >much less three."
>"And the killers don't remember anything?" Zenya asked.
>Jordan laughed, "This is what you get when you specialize in the odd."
----
Jenny had made arrangements with the car rental agency for two Tauruses, and the agents packed themselves in and moved off, guided by a map that was obviously outdated.
"You think we can reach our destination with this?" Leo asked, his hand waving the map he found in the glove compartment.
"I guess so. Castle Rock struck me as the kind of place which does not change in a thousand years. I don't think the roads leading to it change much either." Zenya told him, her mood happier the moment she got off the plane.
Martin, who was in the same car as them, shrugged.
"What's that for?" Zenya asked him.
"NOthing. I just think that this case is rather weird. Are the kids on drugs or something?" He asked.
"I don't know. We both had the same briefing and the same file, and I had to say that giving details is definitely not one of the Sheriff's strengths." Zenya told him.
On the other car, Jordan, Jim and Vanessa were all silent, each occupied by their own thoughts until Jim, who was on the passenger seat, saw the big board sign.
"Welcome to Castle Rock, Montana. Population 1500." He read.
"It is now one thousand four hundred and ninety five," Vanessa, who was driving, corrected him. Both Jordan and Jim looked at her. Her mood was obviously dark.
After the agents entered town, they drove for about 15 minutes, before they reached the Sheriff's office. There were some animals around, and in front of the small building, there was a man, dressed in his law enforcement uniform.
"That's the sheriff," Jordan told them.
Vanessa looked out of her window, and she frowned. "How do you know its the Sheriff? You recognise him by the look, the uniform, or the fact that he is right now being absolutely surrounded by about 30 cows?"