The Reach Chapter 1

I will be writing this in installments. Chapters if you will. Read on.

ONE

The cold wind blew hard across the yard. It was dark outside, and it would
be for a long time. Jake Halden knew that. It was, he knew, time for the
Festival of Lights, something that every goddamn person in this town looked
forward to. Even a few outsiders. But Jake knew that they should not look
forward to it at all. In fact, they should wish it would never come.

But, as it were, no one knew half the things he did. Which in the end was
most likely a good thing, because if they did, the town would be desolate.
Alone. A ghost town. God, he thought. How many people will it be
this year?

See, every winter a cold-blooded, ruthless son of a bitch came out of the
woodwork of the the town and decided it was his goddamn duty, his goddamn right
to kill. How many had it been last year? Eight? Nine? Hell, who knew. All Jake
knew was that this year it had to be stopped.

He stepped into his kitchen and put on his coat. A thick black Navy coat,
given to him by his ex-wife. Jesus, what a bitch that woman was. What a fucking
whore. Jake looked around the house, pocketed his Smith & Wesson 542
PowerPort Revolver, and stepped out the front door into the freezing night air.

Jake wasn't one to dwell on past mistakes, but tonight reminded him of many.
Like the time he had cheated on his wife with the nineteen-year-old from the
bar. Or the time he had been mugged in the alley behind Rubencio's Restaurant
and let the attacker escape. Or the time his daughter had been shot and he had
failed to save her. After that, he had vowed never to serve in the force again.

Yes, that's right. He had been part of the police force here, went to the academy at eighteen and served until he was damn near thirty-five years old. Could have been the sheriff if he had wanted. But he never wanted that. He just wanted to protect this goddamn shit town. The place that tourists never went, the place that youths left. But also the place that seemed to attract the scum-of-the-earth. Like the one that was most certainly here tonight. 

Detective Lieutenant Robert Way appeared out of the darkness, approaching Jake with a cold look, and a beer in his hand. The man was a drunken asshole ninety percent of the time. The other ten he was asleep. 

"Jake," said Rob as he approached. "Cold as hell out here, ain't it?"

"Damn right," replied Jake. He offered his hand  and Rob shook it. "How you doin' Rob?"

"I'm alright. Had better days. But that's what it is." Rob paused for a minute and looked around, as if scanning the environment for possible criminals. "Listen, I gotta tell you somethin'."

Jake looked at Rob, worried that he might say something like "hell, I fucked a horse today" or "God, Jake, I think my wife's a lesbian". You never could tell what the fuck Rob was going to say. "What is it?" Jake finally said.

"I think someone's gonna die tonight."

Shit, thought Jake, does he fuckin' know? How does he know? No one is supposed to know but me! 

"You think so? How do you figure?" asked Jake.

"I dunno. Just seen some weird shit goin' on lately," replied Rob "Like I mean weird shit."

"Like what?"

"Not here. Jesus, I'll tell you later. But let me do my work and I'll call you."

Jake shrugged. Rob nodded bluntly and walked away. Jake turned downwind and took a cigarette out of his pocket. He lit it and  drew in a deep breath of smoke. Exhaled. God that feels so nice.

Jake walked along the beaten trail, past the Paradise Motel. Not much of a fuckin' paradise. Hell, the place was a piece of shit in every sense of the word. If the only things you have to boast about are air conditioning and HBO, you have some serious issues. 

He walked toward the city limits, granted, it was a relatively short walk. The population of this godforsaken shit hole was 237. Jake drew another deep breath of asphyxiating, wonderful, heavenly smoke and felt like his body was going through one giant orgasm. He looked to his left. A shoe. A shoe? Jake walked toward the misplaced article of clothing and stared in disbelief. 

A mangled, brutalized, mutilated body. A girl. She looked to be about ten, but it was impossible to tell. 

It had begun.