CHAPTER 11

Darrell was sitting in his living room, reading Ken Folliet’s latest work when the phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hi Darrell, its Gayle. I had a thought.”

“Oh, what would that be?” Darrell chided.

“What do you think about two perps? One that gathers and one that hunts, so to speak.”

“Well, it is a possibility. I mean anything is a possibility, but what is your argument for two perps?” Darrel said.

“Well I was thinking this…” Gayle told Darrell what her theory was and waited for Darrell to give his opinion.

Darrell thought about what Gayle had said and then replied,

“I need to think about that. Can we chat about it in the morning?”

“OK, sounds good.” Gayle said a little disappointed.

The two said a few pleasantries then their goodbyes.

Darrell thought about what Gayle had said; then went to have his usual warm milk, 3 digestive cookies, 4 strawberries and 10 blueberries. He blended them all together and chased it down with a shot of Jack Daniels and a cup of Red Berry Roobios Tea. This had been Darrell’s routine for the past ten years. His third ex-wife got him hooked on the Roobios tea. Darrell’s second wife got him hooked on the milk, berries and cookies. Darrell’s dad had taught him about the liquor. Darrell could still hear his dad giving him this poignant rule when it came to Jack Daniels…

“Son, when it comes to alcohol, other whiskeys are crutches and Jack is the wheelchair. Never get drunk on anything that is brown. That’s the best advice I can give you as a father and always remember if you want to keep a woman you need to be able to talk to her.”

Darrell smiled at the thought of his dad. He looked up at the photo of the two of them on their last fishing trip. Darrell and his dad were always close. The day his dad died of Liver Cirrhosis from Hepatitis B, Darrell cried. It was the first time since his he was a pre-teen that he cried. Darrell had hung on to his mother to support her and she turned out to be stronger than him. She had been expecting her husband’s death for years and had done most of her grieving while he was still alive. She hadn’t told Darrell, the youngest of 9 children, about his father’s looming death because of the bond the two had shared. All the boys had close relationships with their parents but Darrell’s was special because he was the baby and a surprise gift on their 25^th wedding anniversary. His brothers had always teased him mercilessly because of his surprise visit. For two full years his oldest brother had convinced Darrell that he was brought by the Gypsies and that his parents felt sorry for him, so they kept him. His brother continued with “They really didn’t love him but they kept him to keep him out of the traveling ways the Gypsies had.” The way Darrell’s parents found out was that one night during dinner Darrell asked “Do you guys really love me?” Darrell’s mom almost choked on her potatoes when he had asked the simple but important question. Darrell’s dad had a fair idea which one of his sons had given Darrell the wrong information about his birth and place in their family. In the aftermath none of the boys copped up to the deed. It took three full months of Darrell’s parent’s molly coddling to convince their youngest s0n he was wanted, loved and of course needed. Darrell had a fondness for his older brothers but he truly wasn’t close to any of them.

Thinking of his family was a distraction that Darrell could not afford with this case. He knew it was just going to get worse and he hated feeling like this because he was always right. Sometimes he just wanted to be wrong, just once. But not once in his career was he ever wrong about his negative feelings or the cases that made him think that way. Darrell went to bed thinking about what Gayle had said about two perps. It was definitely possible but Darrell didn’t really think that it was a viable option. He would let his subconscious deal with those possibilities. Darrell always let his subconscious in on the action. No matter what the case, no matter the time delay, Darrell’s subconscious was the other lead detective.