Repose

[There were details missing, huh? Lotsa 'em. From Devlin's SSN to the finer points of a toddler finding his way into a habitation and staying there overnight, after having traveled a distance nearly impossible and very much improbable, given his size, youth, and the hours lapsed between LPS and recovery. It was the naturea the job that required suspicion at times like these, something niggling in the gut, adding up all the pieces and coming up short, like some jigsaw puzzle superglued to fit, and Cris followed that hunch dutiful. After all, who just posted on an online forum that they found a kid? Nah, something was off.

The Sheriff had his notepad, a pencil, and a blank statement form so he and the guy, shifty as he was, could start over. He'd gotten as much outta Benny as he could, regarding alla it, but the boy was young and he needed rest more than anything else. Evelyn didn't wish to press chargesa any kind, since she bought Devlin's story, but Cris had a job to do, huh? And it necessitated he flesh a couplea things out, get it all ordered and filed and done with. Whatever he thought, it didn't matter.

It wasn't a long drive to the guy's home. A straight shot down Central in the cruiser marked with well-known badge and star, and into the woods on foot, light coming through in bands cascading midday bright. Cris had no idea why the guy lived some place that looked abandoned—and normally, he wouldn'tna really thought nothing of it. He knew enough homeless people. But too he knew transients saw a lot more than they liked to tell, huh? And they all hadda story, a reason they were where they were.

Cris considered all this and more as he rapped on the door, hat removed and nervously palmed in his impatience.]