Point Hollow Ch. 05

The second point," I said to the quietened room, "is that I get really, really irritated when people treat me like I am some kind of stupid idiot. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I am not the dumbest rock in the box, either. And the SBI clearly thinks I am as dumb as a Betta fish. Did they really expect for me to see that Hamilton County crime scene and not see the comparisons to Point Hollow? Did they think I would not see the SBI's little tricks already in the making?"

"They knew of the drug lab at Point Hollow," I said, "even tried to muscle in and take the evidence and take over the investigation. Maybe I should've let them; that would've caused some humorous moments to see." I was looking at Jack Muscone as I said that.

"Anyway, as I examined the Hamilton County scene, I could see that there was some kind of set-up to it. Why would the SBI go in after one loser? They were told it was an eight-man gang, but there was no evidence of that, and no previous evidence of gang activity in that area. Why would the SBI muscle in on Hamilton County? That just made a new enemy. Then at the site, Captain Ross made the same observations that I did... similarity to a certain place on our own turf."

"So..." I said, "after I got wind of a plot to eliminate me, I decided to make it easy for the SBI. We put out word of a possible return of drug gang elements to Point Hollow, and painted a scene of only a few people there, me being one of them."

"I suspected Sharples had set up and shot Haskins, and I thought he would try the same thing again at Point Hollow. He chose Haskins's cousin Dirty Lennie, who I'd forewarned and who agreed to work with us, and of course I had as many cameras as I could obtain at the site, filming everything. After that, it was all to easy to reel in that fat fish. Is that not right, Chief Griswold."

"You're a lousy fisherman, Crowbar." said Griswold. "But you're the best damn cop I've ever seen, and a good daddy to this sweet little girl." Indeed, Carole had fallen asleep in Griswold's arms.

"Maybe the SBI meant for you to see that scene." said Cindy. "Literally an in-your-face move. And if you hadn't had the SWAT Team interdict the NTF agents coming up to support Sharples..."

"That's true." I said. "I think not all of them are involved in the plot; they were just following orders. Ferrell is the one. He wanted to set a precedence, so that when I was shot and Dirty Lennie was then killed and named the assassin, there would be the Hamilton County case. Flip side of that is that too many of the same things start to look suspicious in themselves."

"They counted on you being dead, and the rest of us being idiots and not seeing it." said Teresa. "But while Sharples was a cunning runt, he wasn't as smart as he thought he was."

"He was, and is, dangerously cunning, though." I said. "He's a lot more dangerous than people give him credit for, including myself. And Agent Reubens of the SBI also found that out... the hard way."

"What about the drug lab at Point Hollow?" asked my mother. I sensed mischief being created, there.

"Ah yes, that." I said. "Nice little set up. Great little stage play there." I looked over at the FBI Agents. They did not look very comfortable at the moment. "All I'm going to say about that, is that a lot of what I saw these past few weeks remind me of a book I read that was written by the great Dame Agatha Christie.

"Curiously, the book was called The Hollow, and while I won't give away the plot, Monsieur Poirot realized that the clues offered to him were designed to lead him away... and astray. I would say that drug lab and several other things were just that... designed to distract me, to lead me away from the truth. To that, I only have one thing to say: this is not an Agency of the Weak Minded, as the great Sherlock Holmes would say. It would be far, far better to respect me and trust me than to try to fool me."

"No doubt about that." said Teresa.

"Strong crowbar beatdown to follow." said Cindy. "And speaking of that, I have Police Boxing Matches tomorrow. Drink heavily, Commander."

"Glad I'm not your opponent tomorrow." I said. "But you're right. It's past my bedtime... and Carole's as well..."

Part 28 - Epilogue

It would take weeks for Sherry Kim to come to grips with her ordeal, and that with the help of Dr. Yates, who was a specialist in that area. The good news was that Jason Stone stayed with Sherry the whole way. In time, they would get married and have a lot of hot sex... and make a few babies, as well.

Jurisdiction for the murder of Danny Cantrell, whose body was never found, was awarded by a Federal Court to the State north of us. With his confession, Estes got 25-to-life with possibility of parole after 25 years. Ben Ellman was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, then went into the custody of the FBI, who made his whereabouts unknown. I am glad I was not him.

Annemarie Reynolds and Natalie Jenkins became lobbyists for the legalization of marijuana. Annemarie was also reported to be making porn films in California, as a producer of them, not an actress. I might possibly have suggested she look up Callie Carrington, and together they would make some extremely hot films that Laura thought were of the best quality, and my wife is the last word on that subject...

Jeff Slake never got over his fifteen minutes of fame being over. He went from meaningless job to meaningless job, watched a lot of porn and a lot of strippers, and would die in a bar fight ten years later.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Saturday, May 14th. After my win over Patrolman McGhillie in the Police Boxing Matches, I watched Cindy take out Janice Holloway of Administration. I had to admire Holloway's courage, and she put up a good fight that would've subdued any perp on the street... but not Cindy, who actually might've taken it easy on her.

There was a knock on my door as I finished up some paperwork. Christina Cho came in. Her face looked strange, and somber. Cindy came in behind her.

"Commander," said Christina, "we've processed all the tapes of the Sharples case at Point Hollow. There's one you need to see. I swear to God it wasn't edited." She told me the file. I hooked my computer up to the TV screen in my office.

The tape was showing the last of the work at Point Hollow. The tape showed me giving final instructions, then J.R. Barnes saying goodnight. Then the cameraman moved to the car.

"Whoaaaa..." I gasped. "What was that?" I backed up the video player on my computer. The cameraman was just leaving, and showed me just turning to my vehicle. Behind me was the Hollow... and that bluish light I'd seen was clearly visible... I advanced a frame, and the image of that Slender Man I thought I'd seen was clearly there!

"Okay, who was the prankster?" I asked, a chill rushing through me.

"Sir..." said Christina, "there was no one still out there. You were the last to go."

Cindy was standing up, staring at the video. "That's the bastard that was talking when Jenna and Gor-don were in the dungeon!" she gasped out. "I'm sure of it... it's the same guy!"

"Cindy," I said, "I'm not sure it's anyone at all. I saw it when we were out there, but I thought it was just the trees, and my eyes playing tricks on me." No, that isn't what I thought, but I wasn't going to tell Cindy or Christina that...

"Commander, you're going to have to trust me on this one." Cindy said. "I can sense it, I can feel it... that's a person... and the same person that was in that TV broadcast of Jenna in that basement..."

"Well, that makes as much sense as a prankster." I said. "We'll have it checked out. By the way, were there any screams on the video?"

"No sir." said Christina. "The audio was turned down because the wind was buffeting the microphone."

"O-kay..." I said. "Well, that's very spooky. Whoever's pranking us did a good job."

"Sir... please be careful." said Christina Cho. "The legend of Point Hollow is that whoever hears the screams from the Hollow will be the next to die, and to spend eternity screaming from there."

"I'll keep that in mind." I said. I could see the worry on Christina's face; she was not kidding. I could see the anger and determination on Cindy's face.

And with the ultimate showdown against the Consultant of Crime to come... would I indeed be the next to die?

Finis.