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    Chapter 14

    tab "Any luck?" John asked with a smile as I walked out of the interrogating room. I sighed, and shaked my head, saying,
    tab "Nope. Apparantly everything's confidential. He still denies he murdered my wife, yet refuses to comfirm his alibi."
    tab "That's because he can't. The confidential thing is made up, because he did it, but he doesn't want to admit it. Typical criminal behavior."
    tab "Yeah..." I said, but had a deep doubt in it. It didn't sound as though he were lying to me. Just as though he were hiding something from me. After all, he gave me some information, like the fact he knew who Sarah was, and that he was part of the crime.
    tab I sighed, walked outside the large interrogating building, and waltzed into the my car. Charles was the missing domino, and once he was placed in line, everything would fall in place.
    tab If I could get him in line. So far, I could tell Charles was going to be one tough egg to crack.

    tab The skys were bright, baby blue, the traffic was tame, and in no time my house was getting closer to me. I stopped, and stepped out of the car, eagerly rushing to the safety and security of my home.
    tab But...maybe not. Maybe it wasn't so safe. After all, the murderer could've been after me right at that moment, and if Charles wasn't it, then it could've been anyone. I stopped mid-way to the door, and inched my feet the rest of the way.
    tab I peeked my head in my house, and let the rest of my body creep in as well. Being over paranoid... I thought, and calmed myself with a lighter, less tense gallop. All the foul deeds are already done...No more worry... Right on cue, a doorbell reverberated in my air. Oh shoot! No, no...You're being paranoid...Calm down... I took a deep breath and opened the door.
    tab And I was right. I was just being paranoid. It was Sarah. The person I'd have liked the most to step in at that moment. I leaned both of my hands against the seperate sides of the doorway.
    tab "Sarah?" I said with an eyebrow up, raised with curiousity. "What are you doing here?" She bit her lower lip, glancing around as if my room might be full of bugs, and then asked a little pitifully,
    tab "May I?" I nodded, and then removed my grasp of the sides of the doorway, stepped aside, and let Sarah walk on in.
    tab "Sit down," I told her, pointing to a living room couch. She glanced towards it, looked back at me, and said,
    tab "No. No, I think I'd rather stand." I nodded, and decided to stand as well. Didn't want to be impolite.
    tab "What are you doing here?" I ask again, not easing into it.
    tab "Are you familiar with the story of how Doom's Street got it's name?" I nodded, and replied,
    tab "Yes. Apparantly, a girl disappeared into the woods, and her body was never found. From there, rumors were branched. Horribly exaggerated rumors, I'd say."
    tab "And I'd say I'd have to agree, because after hearing my share of rumors, I have heard not a single accurate story."
    tab "What?" I asked, stunned, staggering backwards.
    tab "You know the girl in the story?" she said, looking away from me, grimancing as if it hurt to talk about this subject. "She was--she was me."

    tab I backed into the edge of the couch, and plummetted onto it. I quickly got up, and regained my composure.
    tab "You...you...What?"
    tab "I was 15. And that's pretty much the only part of the story that's true; I was 15, and the fact that I went missing. The rest of it is flawed. I never went into the woods. I met myself face to face with a runaway gang, was mugged of the very little money I had, and then beaten. I came back home, swollen and bruised, sore all over. To put a long story short, my parents fished out from me what happened, and paid the gang a visit." She looked back at me, and said,
    tab "If they hadn't done that, a lot of things wouldn't have happened. I wouldn't have been missing for the next 21 years, your wife probably wouldn't be dead...But the fact is, they did. And that's when we were black mailed. They told us if we didn't give them shelter, the would kill one our the daughters. That included me."
    tab "But they didn't," I pointed out.
    tab "They did. It just took them 21 years." My mouth was probably hanging to the floor as I said,
    tab "You mean..."
    tab "Let me finish." She took a deep breath, and went on, "We complied, and for two days they slept under our roof. Then my mother got fed up, and threatened to call the police on them. That's when I was kidnapped. There was one last message they left, and that was if my mom told the police about anything, I would die. That's why the woods story was developed." She paused, and spoke quieter,
    tab "I had--I had joined their party for the next 21 years. Had spent more years with them then with my family. 21 years...And the sad part was, I was starting to get used to it. I was getting used to being crammed in a car, mugging and robbing. But that was all we did. Mug and rob. No murders. Not yet."
    tab "Two years ago," she went on, "marked the first time we got caught. Or atleast, one of our partners."
    tab "Two years ago..." I interrupted. "What case was this?"
    tab "The case of a stolen painting. Museum art. Nameless to me, and I don't remember the name...
    tab "Coucher du Soleil Plus de Montagne?" I asked eagerly, reciting it's French name which meant "Sunset over Mountain". Sarah nodded, and said,
    tab "Yes...Yes...I think so. Why? Something significant?"
    tab "Significant?" I exclaimed, barely able to contain my shock. "That case has scarred me my whole life! You were part of it?"
    tab "A proxy, yes. I stood by the sidelines. I even witnessed falsely that I had seen something differently. You were the detective in the case?"
    tab "Yes. The lead one." Sarah smiled.
    tab "Then I think our little talk is going to clear up a lot about the case you're dealing with at present."