Ed had started the day by putting on a minimal disguise. He wasn't going to sit in his Jeep all day without one. For this little excursion Ed had donned an old baseball cap and glued on a bushy moustache.

He looked like Tom Selleck straight out of Magnum PI, a pretty good image for a real private investigator. He drove around town after noticing the Sheriff's car wasn't at the office, but going in circles was aggravating. Eventually he found the guy over at some medical warehouse near the Interstate.

It helped that the Sheriff's car had a shiny gold star on each door while the deputies' stars were done up in brown. What an ego. But Barnes also had three long range radio antennas on his car as well, probably so he could eavesdrop on the state police channels. All that made him stick out like a sore thumb.

After about twenty minutes of waiting around Ed spotted the Sheriff placing several boxes in the back seat of the car and driving away. Following carefully, he stayed a good distance back as the Sheriff drove across town and into a residential development. He finally pulled the patrol car into the driveway of a nice two story home and Ed drove on by and parked up the street.

He watched the Sheriff remove the boxes and place them in his garage, but then rather than go into the house he got back in his car and pulled out of the driveway. Ed looked at his watch. It was lunchtime, and sure enough the Sheriff drove back towards town and stopped in a diner, parking beside several other patrol cars in the lot.

Stakeouts like this were a perpetual bore. A GPS device under the Sheriff's car wouldn't allow him to see things like boxes being transferred and he deemed that useless. No, he would have to eyeball Barnes wherever he went. He wasn't even going to use binoculars or a camera. Despite what was shown in the movies, surveillance equipment like that attracted unwanted attention.

After his lunch with the boys Barnes went back to his office. Snuggling up to his secretary no doubt, Ed thought. He sat for three hours and watched the office ... nothing. This was a waste of time ... something he was very good at but not on Bill's dime. It was after four o'clock, and speaking of Bill, he opened his cell phone to call the man.

"Bill Metzger."

"Hello, Bill ... you going hunting this fall?" Ed asked.

"Uh no ... I don't have to make some tricky response to your signal, do I?"

"I think not. But first, did a skinny little guy show up at your office this afternoon?"

"The phone man, yeah he came and went in about thirty minutes. He said to tell you all clear," Bill said.

"Good, so we can talk. I met your favorite deputy in a bar last night, Marsh isn't it?"

"Oh? We had a brief chat yesterday, but I guess you saw that. I think he's wavering under pressure from the Sheriff. I think he knows something," Bill said.

"Pretty much what I concluded," Ed said. "He might be useful at some point if we get some leverage on him."

"Well I think we may have been handed the key to Corporal Marsh. I spoke with Dr. Moore and it seems the boy laid out the whole sequence of events on the night of the shooting, it was quite dramatic. He thinks his mother took a few shots at Stan with a small caliber pistol."

"There was nothing about that in the reports."

"Exactly, which means the forensics guy with the coroner's office didn't know anything about it."

"The bullets weren't in Stan so they must still be in the house," Ed said. "We'll find them. When do we get in?"

"I'm waiting for a call back from the DA's office. Barbara said she would press the Sheriff to make it sooner rather than later."

"Oh it's Barbara now, so she doesn't breathe fire?"

"I don't know. I'm afraid she'll save that for court," Bill said.

"Ouch, better you than me, buddy. Call me when you know something. Bye."

Ed returned to his motel room and noticed the maid had been by to clean the room and place fresh towels in the bathroom. He peeled off the moustache and cleaned off the glue before taking a shower. Then he shaved and dressed for dinner.

Silly how little bits of hair could fool some people. Tomorrow he would have to use a heavier disguise, something that would change his looks completely. No sense in giving any of the deputies a glimpse of his true identity.

He walked out to the Jeep to retrieve his makeup kit and a smaller file case. He set these things on the dresser and packed the moustache back in its little box. He sat in the chair by the window and opened the file box. In it he had eight by ten photos of his face and head in various disguises.

Eight years with the Criminal Investigative Command, better known as CID, had given Ed the chance to expand his investigation techniques. The Army taught him how to investigate crimes while he put his own spin on the methods of obtaining information.

Ed had taken a thirty day leave of absence and flown out to Hollywood. His boss, a Major, had said to put in a chit for travel expenses when he got back. That was kind but the man had no idea what Ed was after out there.

What he did was latch on to three weeks with two of Hollywood's best makeup artists. These were guys who made people into aliens for the films with all sorts of techniques and so teaching Ed how to change his looks was a piece of cake. They had suggested the file system since that is how they kept track of the various pieces needed for a particular disguise.

Ed returned to his unit stationed in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, home of the 10th Military Police Battalion, CID, and nearly got arrested. He appeared in the office wearing a disguise that made him look like Peter Graves, a film star Ed much admired. The photo ID on his badge didn't look anything like the man in uniform and that caused a stir.

The two MP's at the guard post didn't have a sense of humor when Captain Avery flashed his badge and walked on through the turnstile. With guns drawn he was pressed against the wall and handcuffed. The slight misunderstanding, as Ed called it, was soon cleared up and he was admonished not to do something that stupid again.

But the Major was thrilled at what Ed had learned out in California and they proceeded to use this new talent in several high profile investigations. Those were things…well, Ed still couldn't talk about them, classified stuff. But each disguise was photographed and a profile built around each character.

This is what Ed carried in his file box…the photos and the identities. He probably should have turned them in when he left the Army, but then he knew they would be valuable in private business. Now he dug through the files and came up with the image he wanted: Professor Higgs.

Ed had three pieces of identification in the name of Higgs, who was actually a real person, although she was a woman. She had run the laboratory for the Iowa Crime Scene Investigation services in Des Moines. He didn't have to worry about anyone turning up those facts as she was a retired grandmother by now.

But Julian Higgs had an Iowa lab certificate and ID badge, along with a driver's license and a laminated card identifying him as an FBI liaison officer. That should be enough to impress a small town deputy if he was asked.

The two photos associated with the ID's showed Ed with bad hair, an obvious toupee that would make most people snicker…and that was the point. But the moustache and short beard looked real enough. It was one of Ed's favorite disguises.

He packed his kit and files back in the Jeep and headed out for some dinner. Bill called later and said the DA's office had made the arrangements, saying they would meet a deputy at the house bright and early in the morning, eight o'clock.

Damn, Ed thought. Now he would have to get up at six to don his disguise, gather his forensic equipment and meet Bill at the law office downtown. Maybe he would have time for coffee but little else. He returned to the motel and shed his clothing before he lay down to watch a film on HBO.

Barnes was happy as he now had the two cases of pseudoephedrine for Leon to process. But the guy would be in Front River until Monday, might even be Tuesday before he got back to the trailer. It didn't really matter since Peavey could wait until later in the week to take delivery. Leon had promised a three day turnaround to make the shit so maybe the fool could be trusted after all.

Perhaps as Sheriff he ought to feel guilty about contributing to the drug problems in his state, but he didn't feel a thing. The only thing he wanted to feel was the cold hard cash in his hands, something he could add to the hidden safe in his basement.

Right now he had over two hundred thousand down there, a good beginning on his campaign chest. In four months he would begin this new election cycle and all the television advertising and posters cost big bucks. Of course there were the freebies and donations made by his supporters, and the ones who supported him because they had to. He certainly couldn't pay for the whole election by himself.

He was a little concerned about this lawyer visiting the crime scene house, but he was entitled to look around and there was nothing left. A little blood on the carpets, a broken bedroom door, none of that revealed anything new. The pistol belonging to that Witherspoon woman was locked in his safe and the only weapons in evidence were the .22 rifle and the 9mm pistol which had never been fired.

He had assigned Marsh to meet the lawyer in the morning, let him deal with it. Barnes had not been back to the house since the night of the crime, and what a screw up that had been. He should have known Stan was skimming off some of the drugs for personal use, he should have known.

But he had been home sitting at the dinner table when the phone rang. Marsh had reported the murders, and the minute he gave Barnes the address he knew Stan was involved. He apologized to the wife and headed out the door.

Marsh and Collins were the two deputies on the scene. The boy was sitting in the back of the patrol car and nothing had been touched. But Marsh had called the coroner and started writing a report. There wasn't much time to fix things. Barnes had snatched those papers out of Marsh's hand and ordered him to take the boy to jail. Collins was left outside to meet the coroner when he arrived. And then Barnes had gone in the house.

What a mess, the house was in despicable shape. Dirty dishes piled in the sink, roaches crawling on the counters and papers stacked everywhere. Then Barnes entered the hallway and saw Stan's body. He had needed the man for his lab work but there was little love lost between them. Now he was a liability and Barnes began to search the house for any traces of the drugs or information that might lead back to the lab.

The .22 rifle was in the hallway and the woman was laid out on the bedroom carpet. Barnes didn't dare touch her, but then he saw the tiny pistol in her hand. A Model 21 Bobcat, the perfect small caliber woman's pistol.

Barnes donned a pair of latex gloves and removed the weapon from her hand. He popped open the magazine and counted five bullets, three were missing if the magazine had been full. He stepped back in the hall and looked down at Stan who was lying there in a t-shirt and no pants. His chest was all tore up and then Barnes looked down and saw that the penis was barely attached.

Shoot a man in the crotch, that sounded like something a woman would do, so that's where he figured the three bullets had gone. She must have gotten into a fight with Stan and gone for her gun, shot him in the crotch and then he ran down the hallway towards the boy's bedroom.

The kid had already admitted shooting Stan a bunch of times, and then he probably finished off his mother….sick little shit. Barnes thought he had the whole killing thing figured out. It was time to look for traces of drugs before the coroner got there.

He found a baggie of pills in Stan's dresser drawer buried in a pile of socks and underwear. Someone had written Oxy on the plastic with a marking pen. Illegally obtained Barnes was sure so the baggie went in his pocket next to the pistol. The vial of crystal meth and two straws for snorting it were stuffed in a boot inside the bedroom closet. That would have to disappear as well.

Barnes spent nearly twenty minutes searching kitchen cabinets and drawers, checking under the mattress and the rest of the bedroom, but it was while he was rifling through the bathroom that the coroner arrived and put a stop to the search.

The coroner really didn't care to discover who had done what to whom and just asked to see the bodies. He took the body temperatures of both victims and declared that they had been dead only a few hours. He looked at the shots to Stan's chest and the wounded penis, and then he moved the woman's head and gazed at the bullet hole behind her ear.

"Dead of gunshot wounds," he wrote on a form. Well duh, Barnes thought, a third grader could have figured that one out.

"You figure the boy shot them both?" The Coroner asked.

"Yeah, Bobby, he's already at the jailhouse."

"Well swab his hands for powder residue and send the swabs over to my office, I'll get them processed."

Nobody mentioned the small pistol or anything about swabbing Stan or the woman for powder residue. The boy was going to take the fall for these killings and Barnes didn't care to look anywhere past that…but the lawyer would.

The shooting was now a month old and Barnes' fears of the boy opening up the scale of the investigation were unfounded. Removing the drugs from the scene had eliminated any chance of tracing the stuff back to him. Fucking Stan, at least he had been careful when he assembled the lab.

Stan had made two trips to Kansas City, or was it St. Louis? He didn't want to buy the equipment for the lab anywhere close by and Barnes had concurred. The cops were all over these meth labs and it took specific materials to build one.

On the second trip Stan had returned with Leon in tow and Barnes baulked at the idea of adding another person to the team, especially a black man. But Leon had proven his worth and from what Barnes could tell the guy didn't use the product.

So he was off in Front River, probably shacked up with some whore for a little entertainment. Barnes decided he would drive back up to the trailer on Monday. Even if Leon wasn't back he wanted to get rid of those two boxes in his garage before his wife saw them.

The weekend was fast approaching and that meant Barnes would have to meet family obligations. Saturday he'd have to go play golf with Uncle Joe and a few cousins. The man was a total bore and getting too damn old to play the game very well. But he was a member of the county council from which the Sheriff's department received their budget. Saturday would be political.

However, Sunday would be a family cookout with his Aunt Sarah. He liked the old broad and her three daughters. Damn, that Cassie was grown up and looking good. Fortunately his wife was oblivious to the way the girl flirted with him and she'd been doing it for several years. Not that anything could develop between them, she was only seventeen.

Okay, a weekend and then Monday he would get back to business. Barnes looked around his office and decided he'd had enough for one day. It was good to be Sheriff because he could set his own hours. The paperwork could wait, it was time to go home, kick back and have a cocktail.

Tim was pretty quiet at dinner although he thought the Salisbury steak they served was real good. Barnhill served good meals, but then he'd eaten nothing good enough at home to make a comparison. There was some kind of cherry thing for dessert and Tim was looking forward to eating that.

He had surprised everyone this afternoon in the group session, most of all himself. He really couldn't say why he had told them about the rapes or that he thought himself to be gay. If he had said any of those things to the friends he had at school there would have been two reactions. No one would have believed him and then he would have had his ass kicked.

But here…well here they just listened. It felt good to get those things off his chest and Dr. Moore had allowed him to say it all without criticism. He liked both his doctor and his lawyer. They seemed to be the first two adults he'd met that took him seriously.

His life had certainly changed…it was like everything was up in the air. The other boys here were going through the same thing and that was what they had in common. Tim didn't exactly know what the others had done but he would find out in time. But there was one boy he wanted to know about, one that he found attractive.

Alan was a curiosity Tim couldn't ignore. He had said some things in group about himself, but there was more left unsaid. He was physically beautiful, at least in Tim's estimation. That thought was also a curiosity because he had never thought of another boy in those terms until now.

He understood the pain of rape and that's what first made Tim focus on him. He wanted to ask about it, he wanted to know how someone else dealt with the feelings of shame, of being used. How did he relate to other kids knowing that an adult, a family member, had used him as a sex toy?

Tim looked up and across the table at Alan just as he finished his food. The boy shoved his plate away and sighed. Tim noticed he didn't eat much. Alan looked across the table and smiled.

"You like the food here?"

"Better than what I used to get at home," Tim replied.

"My mom cooked up a storm, said she was going to fatten me up," Alan said. "Am I that skinny?"

"You have a beautiful body, Alan…we're all jealous of you," Tony said, but he was kidding.

"I ate her food and took the steroids my uncle gave me," Alan said. "By the time I was twelve I had lots of muscles."

"Steroids are pretty radical," Tony said. "You think if I took steroids it would help me grow taller?"

"There's nothing wrong with your height," Tim said.

Tony grinned. "I might be short but I've been growing bigger in all the right places."

"Oh shut up, Tony," Mike said. "The girls you like can't handle it anyways."

Tony glared across the table at Mike, and then he got up and left the dining room.

"That was uncalled for," Alan said.

"It was just the truth," Mike said.

"You think he doesn't know why he's here? Now go apologize before Janet sees him and you lose your pizza privileges tomorrow night."

"Oh shit," Mike said and quickly left the room.

"You did that well," Tim said.

Alan smiled. "I've been here the longest so I know how things work. We're all here for different reasons but no one has the right to be critical of others. Tony got busted for fingering a six year old girl, you'd find out eventually. I don't understand that, but it's not my place to understand or be critical."

"Doc Moore said as much to me. He didn't think you guys would care why I was here," Tim said.

"Opinions are like assholes, we all have them. You've heard that before, haven't you? Now my asshole may have seen a little more activity than yours but we know things the others don't."

Tim stared across the table and barely nodded his head. Alan seemed to think that was enough, and he continued.

"I got busted for masturbating in a girl's bedroom. College girl, so I am not like Tony in my fetishes. I watched her for weeks, discovered which of the student houses she lived in and sneaked in there around two o'clock in the morning.

"She must have sensed my presence in the room so she screamed. I tried to run down the hallway to the window where I crawled in but about six girls jumped me and held me down until the cops came. I fucked up."

"Six girls?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, how embarrassing, but most of them were jocks in that house, my muscles didn't mean a damn thing." Alan started laughing which made Tim smile.

Alan was very attractive at that point. His guard was down, his feelings open for inspection and Tim loved every minute of it.

"My lawyer is trying to fight the case with the past sexual abuse, the steroid use and…well, I have another issue. He thinks the girl will drop the charges so I'm here getting my brain analyzed and the lawyer bills are mounting up. Any questions? "

"No, it's not my place to understand or be critical. I agree with what you said. You did what you did, we both fucked up. Okay, then why did you sneak in her room just to masturbate? With your looks she might have invited you to bed if you gave her the chance."

Alan nodded. "Yeah, well there's this issue about that. We all jerk off but what I'm pulling on is only about three inches long. My body has more estrogen than testosterone and the imbalance has kept my penis from developing normally. Glad you asked?"

Tim was shocked. "I never heard of such a thing."

Alan nodded. "At least you didn't say you poor boy or how do you deal with it. I don't deal with it, why do you suppose I'm here? Look, it's good of you to just listen. I can get pretty fucked up over this thing. I focus on my looks because then I can ignore my problem."

"Is there anything that can be done about it?"

"The Doc tells me that there is hormone treatment but my biological clock is ticking and at some point the treatment will not be effective. They can give me doses of testosterone which will change my body, but it may not affect penis size.

"I may get hairy and covered in pimples, not a pleasant side effect. But doctors aren't cheap and my mother's money is all going to lawyers at the moment. All I ever did with my money was buy clothes to look good when I should have been paying for the drug to make me a man. So now you know why I don't think I have the right to judge anyone in group."

"Aren't we a pair…total fuck ups," Tim said, and then he started laughing and Alan joined in. It was enough to cement the friendship and they spent the morning together until Alan had his one on one session with Doc Moore.

"Good Morning, Doc," Alan said as he took his usual seat.

"My, aren't we chipper this morning," Evan said. "What's changed?"

"I have a new friend…maybe a gay friend."

"You mean Tim. How did this develop?"

"Nothing developed, I just have this feeling."

"Feelings are good, even gay feelings are appropriate for you and Tim. But don't you think the timing is off, you both have deeper issues at hand."

"I don't think I'm in love, Doc. I haven't even discussed this with him, it's just a feeling and I like it."

"Then how about you slow down and enjoy the friendship as it develops. You don't do well when you rush into things, Alan."

"Oh yeah, I do know that. But I told him about my physical issue and he didn't freak out."

"And how did it make you feel to be able to discuss it? I sense Tim is an empathetic individual, he cares about people."

"You know it," Alan said. "It's one of the reasons I find him attractive. His situation is so messed up and…"

Alan could go on for hours about other people's problems. Evan knew that only too well. It was unfortunate timing although it was sweet that Alan was concerned about someone besides himself for a change. But Tim was facing life in prison and although Alan might not get such hard time he would probably have to face some juvenile restrictions.

Boys in group often found a soul mate, it had happened before. But there was the reality of separation to face and Evan had often referred to Barnhill as the Heartbreak Hotel. Alan was over the top this morning but he would bet Tim was perfectly calm. It was good that Bill was coming to visit the boy this afternoon.

"…at least I think he has a good lawyer," Alan said, finishing his thought.

"How about we focus on your issues," Evan said. "Is your mother coming to visit tomorrow?"

"Yes, it is Saturday…she's coming with the lawyer. Just another reason for him to charge her five hundred bucks. She'll bitch about the legal costs and might even start in about the medical bills if I begin that treatment you suggested."

"One thing at a time, Alan. Court is your next hurdle."

"I know."

Evan was almost relieved when the hour was up. Alan's problems were not going to be solved overnight. He hoped Tim was aware of what he was walking into, but he was the more level headed of the two.

Time for a quick lunch before the staff meeting. He was going to suggest splitting the group today which meant Neil would have to adjust his afternoon schedule several times a week to meet with them. The boys weren't the only dysfunctional group at Barnhill they had to deal with, but the staff hated changes to their schedule.

Evan thought that reducing the size and composition of the group would benefit all his boys. The ones who had committed sexual crimes seemed to dominate and that was unfair to the others. Neil could have the general delinquents who thought nothing of robbing or stealing.

There would be new patients soon enough, there were always boys in trouble. But Bill would be here later on which would be nice change of pace. He got up from his chair and walked down the hall towards the smell of food.

Maybe he should call his wife and tell her he wouldn't be home for dinner. Then he could stay and have pizza with the boys, and perhaps see what film they had chosen to watch. Evan often felt he learned more about his young charges by observing social interaction. Besides, he loved pizza.

On to Chapter Seven

Back to Chapter Five

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"Falling Down" © Chris James.
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