The Boy Who Saw The Dead

By the time I was calling Colonel Jack, Frank's patience seemed to have gotten the better of him. The lanky man began to pace around my office, filling the room with the soft clicking sound of his expensive shoes against the wood.

Granted, this did not move me one bit, but Michael's eyes were following his father's movements.

"Hello," said a stern, official voice on the other end of the line.

"I would like to speak with Colonel Jack."

"Just a moment," the voice said, and then faded into silence.

"What?" a voice barked into the phone.

"Colonel, it's me, Ash," I said into the phone with a strong voice.

"Boy, yes. What is it?"

" I thought since you were the officer in charge of the case, you might want to know that there was a witness."

"You don't mean that."

"I do, Colonel."

"Where is the person now?"

I could hear the eagerness in the Colonel's voice. "The person is with me. He's a minor, barely 15. Try not to scare him when you get here."

I glanced at the occupants in my room. "So, when are you going to get here, Colonel?"

"I'm a very busy man… blasted. I'll be there in 10 minutes," the Colonel declared and then hung up.

"Who is that?" Michael asked his father.

"The Colonel is supposed to be in charge of the case," I was the one to respond.

"He's a mean man and looks the part. But don't worry, I'll protect you from him."

I leaned back into my chair and shut my eyes.

Ten minutes later, I heard the thumping of boots against the wooden floors of the building. There were some rockers outside, a little bit of noise, and then the door burst open.

"Where is he?" Jack bellowed as soon as he walked into the room with a confident stride.

I got up on my feet and pointed out the boy who was wide-eyed and staring at Colonel Jack's imposing figure.

I really couldn't blame the boy. Where I was slightly less threatening, Colonel Jack wore his height with a healthy addition of muscle, making the man look larger than he seemed.

Colonel Jack leaned down and scrutinized the boy.

"He's a minor," The man said as though it was the discovery of the century.

"Yes. I told you on the phone, Jack."

"Well, what happened?" the Colonel barked, causing the boy to flinch and tears to gather in his blue eyes.

"There was hide and seek…"

"Hmm? What about hide and seek? Speak louder; I'm not going to eat you."

Colonel Jack broke out into a laugh and then leaned back, clutching his belly at his own joke. Frank and I shared a look of knowing.

"The hide and seek, and I hid in a… cabinet in my grandfather's study. I didn't really see much, but I heard a lot."

"So, what did you hear?" Colonel Jack bellowed yet again causing the teenager's lips to start quivering.

"Jack, you're scaring the boy. Perhaps a little bit of patience is expedient," I reasoned as I leaned forward on my desk.

"Maybe listening to his father will help. But I promise you, Jack, this is important," I nodded towards Frank, who took the cue and began to speak.

"My son is… I am married to his niece… Robert."

I shook my head. Both father and son were equally afraid of the Colonel.

Eventually, Frank looked as though he had gotten ahead of his initial fear of the man and began to speak, just as he had told me of his relation to Robert.

After a few comforting pats from his father, Michael spoke up as well. Initially, the Colonel seemed absolutely decent, trusted, and the matter of Frank's relation to Robert.

He had begun to pace around the room, filling everywhere with the sound of the studding of his shoes against the wood, muffled by the carpet.

"Blah, blah, blah," he said at some point after listening to Frank. His behavior changed, however, the moment Michael took center stage.

Michael narrated everything he had told me, and with each word the teenager spoke, Jack moved closer and closer to him, until Jack was standing right in front of the boy as though he wanted to catch each word in his hands.

"Ash, dear boy," Jack finally said.

"Yes?" I perked up when my name was called.

"Should I give you my badge? Looks like you're trying to pull a prank on the entire police force."

"What do you mean? You know I wouldn't try something like that."

"But it's not difficult to see, considering the farce you've fabricated, this entire ordeal just to make me laugh. Hardy har har. It is a funny joke, now where's the real story?"

Jack didn't look so pleased. His expression was the opposite of his vehicular laughter. His still, dark brown eyebrows were drawn together in a scowl, and his strong, prominent face was squeezed into a frown.

I watched Jack take a sudden sharp breath, and while I wanted to reach up and cover my ears, I decided against it.

"This is bullocks! I know. But if you would just listen—"

"Listen? How, you old goat? Why didn't you tell the boy to stop with the lies when he told you about when the dead man walked in.

Three days. Three flipping days, Ash! The man was dead for three days, and somehow the blood began to flow back into his legs, enabling him to walk? You think me a fool, don't you?"

I shook my head slowly and raised my hands in surrender.

"You know what I think? I think the bloody butler and that stupid man's servant must have bribed the boy into saying what they wanted him to say. The chief told me how you got both of them arrested. Good. I had questioned them earlier, and they didn't let in this stupid story. Where's the money?" he asked as he turned around and faced the quivering Michael.

I knew when the Colonel became like that, it was rather hard to convince him to do anything otherwise than what the man wanted for himself.

I also knew that when the Colonel exploded like that, it was best to leave him to his wits. I couldn't help but pity himself and the boy both.

"There is no money," the boy's father spoke up.

"Don't condescend to me, Frenchman. I've been in this business longer than you could hope to conceive, and I can smell a rat from a mile away, and this is the definition of a rat," he pointed at the duo of father and son.

"Now, there's no need to be like that," I came out from behind my desk and walked to Colonel Jack, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Jack shrugged it off and continued with his outburst.

"Do any of you know who I am? Do you know who I bloody am?"

I was beginning to find this extremely tedious. I pulled the man aside, who suddenly swung out his arm with his fist clenched.

I expected this; I had long since known Jack to be an angry fellow, so this was no surprise. Just as the fist connected with my jaw, I took a side step, seeing that Jack had put his entire weight behind the fist.

The fist grazed my jaw and then flew over to the side wildly until the man stumbled and fell beside him.

"Come now, Jack, you're not a child. Hardly a junior police officer." Jack turned around and gazed at me with angry eyes.

"I'm so sorry about this. Perhaps we'll come back later," Frank suddenly voiced as I heard his retreating footsteps accompanied by that of his son. Seconds later, I heard the sound of my door gently being closed.

"You're going to regret this," Jack glared at me so strongly I knew I was in some sort of trouble.

"You're the one that's wrong. You just had to jump headfirst without thinking about the consequences. You're the one who's going to regret a lot of things. This could serve as the next step in the investigations, and you might have as well just ruined it," I stepped forward and glared back at my old-time friend.

"And what did this dead man say? Tell me. Did the dead man walk? I'm sure he did, considering the fact that your story must have been so utterly believable, only an idiot would believe it! Do you think we're playing here?"

"We're not playing, but I believe the words of the child. He doesn't lie. He's not lying. And besides, the dead man didn't just walk around; he also spoke."

"I can't do this; why must you be so dense?" I added after a while.

Jack sputtered, as it was clear he was struggling with the next words to say.

"I will show you dense," he said. "I'll show you what it means to be dense," he repeated himself as he pointed a finger at me threateningly.

"In fact, why don't you find me a dead man? Go ahead. Since you're so keen to find dead people, why don't you find me one dead man? Huh? Go! Get out!"

By this time, Jack was already standing in front of my face and yelling at me. It wasn't as though I was old enough to keep still while having my face screamed at, even if I wanted to do something, I couldn't.

It wasn't every day you could find a dead man walking around, neither was it possible for him to just get to the exact same person that happened to visit Robert.

I rolled my eyes, feeling utterly powerless. I loathed it with a passion. Either way, I was not having it. I would not be yelled at as though I were a child. I frowned, my face stern, and stomped out of my own office.

"You're in my office, Jack. You get out."

I opened the door harshly, signaling it was time for Jack to leave. Jack haughtily raised his chin, dramatically pointed to the ceiling, and was just about to leave the office when the sound of someone sneezing was heard.

I looked behind the door and found Frank and his son Michael.

"I spoke to him again," Frank said with a stammer. "Michael has admitted the truth to me. It must have all been a trick of the light. Besides, Michael was in the closet for a very long time. Perhaps he was also just lightheaded."

Frank then turned to his son. "Don't ever tell anyone this stupid story, alright?"

I shook my head at both of them. "There is no way it could have been a lie. So, you're trying to say your son is lying? I believe both of you. I don't think your son is lying, but this is quite hard to believe. But of course, I understand that neither of you are willing to get into trouble, so I'll let you off the hook."

Frank looked extremely relieved. "Thank you," he said and scurried away down the dim hallway with his tail between his legs.

"What now?" Bernard was beginning to have a habit of asking that same question over and over again. It was irking me to the limits of my mind.

"If I knew, we wouldn't be here. But for now, we need to talk to some people. Make a quick call to the doctor. Tell him we're on our way," I directed Bernard as I walked back into my office.

I stood in front of my window momentarily and looked out into the gray streets beneath.

It was still drizzling. I thought to himself just as I saw the two blonde heads of Michael and his father crossing the street to enter a sleek black car parked on the other side.

"He says he is in the station. The doctor said you can come around," I nodded my head but continued to look out into the street that was now wet with the drizzle from the clouds.

"What have you done, Jack?" I couldn't help but ask as I felt a familiar foreboding feeling in the back of my mind.