Caught in Smoke and Soot

Now, you couldn’t tell just by looking at him, but Adam Scott was a gambling man. He hid it well enough behind a timid demeanour and a sensible car, but he had the itch all the same. Adam wasn’t one to bet more than was necessary, but he was known to go just past too far on occasion. It's why he had to disappear, after all. Coming to Lochlin a few years ago was supposed to help, and it did in a way. He was able to get a job as a mailman, thanks to his friend James. His apartment, though small, wasn’t infested with bed bugs or next to a drug den which was definitely an upgrade. The best and worst part of Lochlin though was the lack of excitement. Each day the same as the last, in a never-ending loop.

James helped a lot in this regard. Like today, James approached Adam and asked to switch routes for the morning. This wasn't the first time they had done this, not with Adam’s need to shake things up occasionally. What was surprising was that James initiated it, claiming he wanted a change of scenery. Technically, they weren’t allowed to do this kind of thing, but no one ever noticed and a change was something Adam craved. They agreed to meet for lunch to switch back so no one would be the wiser.

The morning flew by as Adam strolled on the sidewalk. Not many people out and about in this neighbourhood, except for the occasional dog walker and some older women in their gardens. People in Lochlin were kind enough, nodding politely at a safe distance. The mailman was a staple in this town, though they never really paid attention to them. As long as a man with a bright red bag walked by with their signature embroidered baseball cap, all was well with the world.

At lunch, Adam met up with James at the only diner in town. The door chimed as Adam walked in, irrelevant since no one bothered to look up at him. James was easy to spot, sitting in a booth tucked in the back corner. Adam stopped at the table as he sipped his last bit of coffee, not a care in the world. Meeting his gaze, you could tell James was more clever than bright; it was in the way he looked at you. Adam was used to James' quiet assessments and ignored them. The men discussed the thrills of the day and ate peacefully. They quickly finished their meals and quietly swapped totes.

The rest of the day flew by in a single breath. The weather held until Adam got home, the rain tapping against the windows was calming rather than insistent. With only a few minutes left in the last quarter, Adam paid it no mind. He had placed a decent bet against James on this game, and luck seemed to be in his corner.

Riding on the high of a win, Adam’s eyes stayed glued to the tv as he reached out for his phone. He was prepared to flaunt his victory when he noticed James had beat him to it. The message was a simple congratulations. A notification then popped up from his bank and announced a transfer of twenty thousand dollars from a Jay Smith into his account, but that wasn’t right. The amount should have been two thousand, and James' last name wasn't Smith. Adam sat on the couch, unsure of what to do. It was a lot of money to misplace, and he wasn't expecting money from anyone else. Then again, it wasn’t his fault that James sent him that much, and James still owed him for the small loan he'd given him last year. If James realizes his mistake, he will surely ask for it back, and they would laugh it off. Maybe even go out and put that money to use. If this was his way of paying Adam back, who was he to argue the amount? Booking a ticket to Vegas in his mind, Adam slept with a smile on his face.

The next morning was beautiful. Grey skies and temperamental winds greeted Adam at the front door. Nothing could bring him down; after all, lady luck had given him a blessing if James was none the wiser. The quick drive to work seemed to put Adam in an excellent mood. Walking from house to house, he noticed the grass was greener, the neighbours were socializing more, and the policemen were working fervently.

The sight brought Adam to a full stop at the beginning of the street. The police were milling about a house down the road. The house itself was nothing out of the ordinary. A plain brick two-storey building with square windows and a neat garden made it blend right in with its surroundings. The yellow tape officiating the boundaries seemed to hold the world back, though. Small clusters of people, from joggers to professional dog walkers, gathered around each other. They seemed to be waiting for something.

Adam’s spirits fell slightly, hands trembling as he began dealing out the next wave of letters and parcels to the neighbours. No one paid him any mind, which was fine. Sweat trickled down his temple as he approached the crime scene. No one had really noticed his presence yet, but the tension was palpable. The officers huddled close, whispering to each other and taking notes. Stuck at the threshold, Adam was unsure of what to do. The world decided for him as two paramedics exited the front door with the body. Frozen in place, Adam couldn’t look away at the stretcher, a thin sheet the only thing keeping his eyes from seeing a dead body again. Though time had stopped, people kept moving, and it wasn’t until the body passed that Adam could breathe. Turning away from it all, he got caught in something that sent another shiver down his spine.

A man in a black suit seemed to scrutinize him from the front door of the house. His stance was confident, his badge on clear display as he intimidated everyone around him. He was of average height with little hair on his head and a pointed nose. It must have been his eyes. They were a smoky black and didn’t seem to miss much. Adam broke first, turning away and continuing his route.

Shaking off the feeling of guilt that always came from encountering the police, Adam carried on with his day. He only had another two streets before he finished. It wasn’t until he returned to the post office that he noticed a forgotten parcel in his bag. The address made his stomach turn. The idea of delivering mail to the police, let alone a dead woman, gave Adam such a rush of adrenaline that he failed to notice the approaching shadow. The clearing of a throat sent him into a panic, making him hide the evidence and swivel to confront the threat.

James smirked, "I see you've heard about the murder of Ms. Harrington."

His dark eyes seemed to be searching for something. Feeling the parcel in hand, tucked behind his back, Adam sagely nodded but stayed quiet. James seemed to be waiting for something, but Adam couldn’t think of anything to say. Giving up on a conversation, James strolled past, whistling a jovial tune that took him all the way to the parking lot. Adam followed close behind, hastily grabbing his coat and rushing to his car.

The drive home hadn't registered in his mind until Adam came to in his idling car parked out front of the apartment building. The elevator drowned out the thoughts in his head only for a moment. The silence in his apartment let them come back with a vengeance. Throwing his things on the old couch, he marched to the fridge and chugged the first thing he found. Choking on carbonated water, Adam realized his mistake. He had taken the parcel home with him. Not knowing what to do, he shoved it in the freezer easing the tension from between his shoulders. He turned his back to the kitchen and went about his evening as usual.

It wasn’t until a craving for ice cream got the better of him that he remembered the parcel. It had been a couple of hours or so since he locked it away, but now his curiosity was getting the better of him. Having had the parcel in the freezer was ideal if he wanted to take a look. He didn’t know if he had intentionally done this, but doing so made it easier to open nonetheless.

The package rested in his lap before his mind registered the movement. The package opened easily. It wasn't anything special per se. A small manila envelope barely hid the outline of a book. The sender had scratched the address on the cover, and the book itself seemed to be light enough. The stamp told him it was local.

A small tilt and the book fell out with a gentle thud on the coffee table. A simple journal laid there unimposingly. The cover was the colour of soot, scratched and worn with pages wrinkled from use. Picking up the book was easy. Flipping through the pages was too. Its owner had written well into the margins; some words circled, others underlined. The scratching of them seemed frantic and gave an overall sense of delirium. Flipping to the first page told him this book belonged to Ellen Harrington, but it took a second to register the name. Adam’s breath caught at the idea of a woman having her diary delivered to herself. Why would someone do that? The weight of the book increased as Adam slowly read through its secrets more closely.

It seems Ms. Harrington, Ellen, was worried about something, or perhaps someone, as she began to write of ominous feelings and eyes in the shadows. Her mind seemed to be playing tricks on her during the night, leaving her exhausted and on edge in the morning. This feeling of foreboding carried on throughout most of the diary. It wasn’t until the last few pages that it finally became clear. Ellen wrote about a man, a dangerous man. Someone who seemed to watch her every move. He appeared at her work, in her backyard, and even in her dreams.

There was even a depiction of him, hastily drawn in shades of black. The aura was ominous, but it was the hat that sent Adam into a panic. The cap had been heavily shaded with a faded symbol of a flying envelope. The blood drained from his face. The stalker was someone he worked with? How? His colleagues all seemed nice enough, mostly family men and women. It seems doubtful to have a deranged person walking amongst them. Just as he dismissed the idea, quieting the ravings of a lonely woman, a knock on the door startled him. Adam set the book down, a wave of unease washing over him as he approached the door. Through the peephole, he couldn't see much, just a misshapen man of average height with little hair and another standing not too far behind him. The last thing Adam registered as he opened the door was a badge and a pair of smoky black eyes.