Return of The Slender Man Ch. 01

"And best of all," continued Collins, "if Troy is pardoned, there won't be a trial that could acquit him. There will always be that question of corruption hanging over his head."

"And the Democrats?" asked Jeff Canton. "What's their part in this?"

Graham snorted a laugh. "This whole Independent State Counsel thing was their idea. Maxine Watts is a batshit-crazy old bitch, but she's been very useful in giving us ammunition regarding the Jasmine Nix murder... there might really be a cover-up there. And it gives us the legal cover to go after Troy and Jared without the... 'Grassroots' getting too upset and coming after us with pitchforks."

"I wish to God the Grassroots would try to rise up." snarled Wilson Hammonds. "I would enjoy seeing them mowed down by Government guns." The room quietened down.

"Don't let the Guardians of Justice hear you say that." said Samuel Russell. "They'll tell the fucking world."

"I prefer the bloodless coup myself." said Collins. "As long as we have control. Anyway, the Democrats will be with us until Jared is out. Then they'll try to exercise their power and come against us. We may well lose the State House and Senate, but the People don't seem to realize that it doesn't matter who holds the whips over their backs... we're just the left and right sides of the same coin... the coin of Government control..."

Part 8 - The Eighth Page

11:30am, Friday, April 20th. The Missing Children hotline was processing calls from people saying they'd seen one child or another in various places from Courthouse Square to the State Capitol in Midtown. Some of the calls were obvious pranks, and I had Myron trace down the callers and sent Police to have a 'talking to' with them. Six children missing, and these assholes want to play fucking pranks? Gotta be a special kind of hatred-filled person to do pranks like that at a time like this.

A pall of fear was also settling over the Town and County. The schools were on lockdown, and parents were not being allowed to pick up their children and take them away. After all, the Slender Man had taken children out of their locked bedrooms, out of a locked car, and whisked one child out of a school full of kids and teachers. Kids would be as safe at school as they would be at home Parents were allowed to stay at the schools, though, as their kids went to classes.

To my surprise, the Press had not yet teed off on the Police Force. Chief Moynahan had updated them with a statement a little over an hour before, and the names of the children had been released. The parents were here at Police Headquarters, which shielded them from the rabid Media. The seven pages had not been discussed, and no one in the Media had reported on finding them, to my amazement and relief.

While the Detectives in MCD were processing leads, gathering information on the kids and their parents and others that might be involved, I had stared at the pages for a long, long time. I could see no clues in the drawings; nearest I could tell, they were the same as the 'Slender Man' video games.

"One big question has been where someone is going to keep seven kids, alive or dead." Joanne had said to me a half hour before. "We've had patrols covering the farm fields to the west of the River and the southern parts of the County, we've had patrols and drones going to Point Hollow and all around that area, ditto that for the Reservoir Lake area. We're... we're looking for signs of digging, of a mass grave, as well as possible sightings of them alive."

"I have the feeling they're alive." I said. "We find bodies, and whatever this guy is trying to do is over. He needs them alive... as bait."

"Any ideas where he's hiding them, sir?" Joanne asked, perhaps a bit adroitly.

"If this guy can kidnap kids the way he has been doing," I replied, "he can hide them just as easily. My question, Detective Warner, is 'what is his motive?'. Why is he kidnapping kids and leaving these drawings, and perhaps leaving a disc golf bag full of discs? And worst of all... there's one page left. One... frickin'... page... left."

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

Fifteen minutes later, I was walking out of MCD and down the hallway towards the Pastor's Room when the Duty Desk Sergeant came around the corner. "Commander!" he called out.

"Yes?" I replied, slowing down.

"We got a call from one of the schools." said the Sergeant. "Kids went to lunch, they wait in line to walk back while going to the restroom. One girl did not come out of the restroom that 30 kids watched her go into, and there's only one entrance and exit." He handed me the slip of paper with the report. I read the name and felt my heart sink.

"Thanks, Sergeant. You can go." I said. He went back to the Duty Desk as I turned to go to the office of the Captain of Detectives.

I knocked on the door and Cindy called out "Come in!" I went in, seeing her at her desk, utterly exhausted, her ice blue eyes seeming to be a little too bright. She looked up at me.

"Another kid missing?" she asked. As I nodded, she said "Okay, I'll send Parker and a Uniformed team to the school, and have Teresa organize another search and rescue. Those guys are flat worn out, though---"

"Cindy..." I said, trying to get her attention. When she didn't quite respond, I said a little louder "Cindy!" She blinked, as if coming out of her thoughts.

"What?" she said.

"There's more." I said, looking hard at her, my gray eyes boring into her ice blue eyes. "This missing child... it's your friend, Susie Haskins."

"Oh, nooooooo..." Cindy whispered as she fell back into her chair...

To be continued.