8: Bill was still shaking with grief and adrenalin when the mysterious man stopped the car and asked him to please stay put while he went into the house they had parked in front of. All the man told Bill was that he was a detective named Kenn Varson. Kenn had reported the murder anonymously to the police at a payphone as soon as they had left the house. He said that they needed to get away from the scene of his wife's murder for Bill's safety. Bill didn't know what to think now. All he knew was that the woman he loved was gone.
Kenn was just over six feet tall and had closely-cropped brown hair. He wore black slacks and a dark brown buttoned up shirt with the top three buttons undone. He looked perhaps to be of German descent. His brown leather shoes looked as if they'd seen their share of action and years.
Now this strange detective came out of this house, which had only been a short drive away from Bill's home, with a young woman who was obviously quite shaken up and distraught. Kenn came back to the car and asked Bill if he would come into the house with him and the woman. Bill unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car. The three of them crossed the threshold into the living room. Kenn invited Bill and Mina to have a seat on the couch as he sat in a cobalt blue metal fold-out chair.
Bill sat at the very edge of the light brown, tweed couch on the opposite side of Mina. He seemed to be just a lump taking up space. His thoughts were miles away from this little room in a bathtub filled with blood. Mina sat straight up, looking like she might bolt at any time. She held her pen and paper as if they were the only things keeping her from falling off a cliff. She sat as far from Kenn as possible, though she felt slightly safer with Bill in the room with them.
Kenn reclined comfortably in his chair, facing Bill and Mina. This was more from fatigue than from any real comfortability afforded by that hard ass metal chair. It had been quite a strange day and he was anything but comfortable. Time to sort out this sticky situation which ended up with two strangers in his living room. "You two are probably wondering who I am and what is going on." He got out of his chair and moved over to a box that was covered with a sheet which was sitting in a corner of the room. With one swift hand motion, he whipped the sheet off the box which turned out to be a large bird cage. The bird was mostly the color of lime rinds with red feathers on his head. "This is Stratford, a talking parrot."
"Hello, Bill, Mina," the parrot squawked.
"How the..." Mina rasped. They could have used a picture of her face to illustrate the definition of the word 'dumbfounded' in the dictionary.
"Let's start by addressing a rumor that has been going around about me. Some have accused me of being a vampire, but if you'll kindly look at the mirror in the hall, you will see three people and one parrot sitting in this room. Am I not mistaken in saying so?"
Take that aforementioned dictionary and thumb a few pages to the left to the word, 'confused' and wouldn't you know it, there's Mina's picture again. So far, this man was only creating more questions than answers. After pulling her out of the closet, he had told Mina that he had been expecting her because Barney from the paper had called him. He just hadn't been expecting her to be in his closet. Maybe he's just old-fashioned that way. He told her he was Kenn Varson. She had never heard the rumor that he was a vampire. It was a ludicrous thought anyway. There were too many questions to know where to begin. "OK, let's try to go about this in a systematic way starting by getting our names straight. You're Kenn Varson. I'm Mina Renard." She turned to the man sitting on the couch beside her and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Bill," he said quietly, but seemed to have his mind on other things.
"Thank you, Bill. Well, I'm a reporter and I've been sent to interview you, Kenn. To begin with, I've never heard anything about your being a vampire."
"Well, shit. That's kinda awkward." Kenn chewed on his lower lip.
"I mean, you know? If there was a rumor going around that I was a zebra, I certainly wouldn't feel any urgent, pulling desire to have to show you proof that I'm not, in fact, a zebra. I'd hope this truth would be self-evident." There was an uncomfortable silence which lasted for twenty three consecutive seconds which definitely seemed to feel as if they were more like twenty three business seconds not counting weekends and holidays. It was time enough for Mina to realize that she wasn't absolutely sure that she didn't have something embarrassing hanging out of at least one of her nostrils. She rubbed her nose and stammered, "Don't get me wrong. I assure you I am very glad to see that you do have a reflection. I only saw your picture for the first time on the news last night and again in the paper this morning. What I did hear is that you're a detective and that you have a parrot who helps you solve your cases."
"Yes, I am a detective and I guess you can say that Stratford here is my psychic sidekick."
"Oh, huh. I see what you did there with the little rhyming alliteration thing with the thing or whatever. Anyway, um. So, that kind of answers my question as to how Stratford knew to call us Bill and Mina. Well, not really, but at least we're getting somewhere. Why weren't you here in the house when I got here earlier and why was the door open if you were gone away and why did you leave Stratford here if he helps you?"
"Well, alright. Whoa, one at a time. Earlier today, as I told you, I got the call from Barney saying that you'd be coming to do a piece on me. I was sitting here munching my way through a bag of Ignacio's Pistachios, waiting for you when Stratford there yelled out, 'She's in trouble. You've got to save her now!' He gave me an address and I knew I didn't have time to take him. I thought he was talking about you. I just flew out of the door and drove off to see if I could save whoever it was Stratford was talking about."
"So you left in a hurry, leaving the parrot behind and the front door wide open?"
"Yeah, then I drove over to this man's house and I followed a trail of clothes to an upstairs bathroom. Inside, I found a dead woman lying in a bathtub full of blood."
Mina dropped her pen noiselessly to the carpet. "Oh, my god! What happened?" Mina was shocked and suddenly understood Bill's sullen silence.
Kenn was just over six feet tall and had closely-cropped brown hair. He wore black slacks and a dark brown buttoned up shirt with the top three buttons undone. He looked perhaps to be of German descent. His brown leather shoes looked as if they'd seen their share of action and years.
Now this strange detective came out of this house, which had only been a short drive away from Bill's home, with a young woman who was obviously quite shaken up and distraught. Kenn came back to the car and asked Bill if he would come into the house with him and the woman. Bill unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car. The three of them crossed the threshold into the living room. Kenn invited Bill and Mina to have a seat on the couch as he sat in a cobalt blue metal fold-out chair.
Bill sat at the very edge of the light brown, tweed couch on the opposite side of Mina. He seemed to be just a lump taking up space. His thoughts were miles away from this little room in a bathtub filled with blood. Mina sat straight up, looking like she might bolt at any time. She held her pen and paper as if they were the only things keeping her from falling off a cliff. She sat as far from Kenn as possible, though she felt slightly safer with Bill in the room with them.
Kenn reclined comfortably in his chair, facing Bill and Mina. This was more from fatigue than from any real comfortability afforded by that hard ass metal chair. It had been quite a strange day and he was anything but comfortable. Time to sort out this sticky situation which ended up with two strangers in his living room. "You two are probably wondering who I am and what is going on." He got out of his chair and moved over to a box that was covered with a sheet which was sitting in a corner of the room. With one swift hand motion, he whipped the sheet off the box which turned out to be a large bird cage. The bird was mostly the color of lime rinds with red feathers on his head. "This is Stratford, a talking parrot."
"Hello, Bill, Mina," the parrot squawked.
"How the..." Mina rasped. They could have used a picture of her face to illustrate the definition of the word 'dumbfounded' in the dictionary.
"Let's start by addressing a rumor that has been going around about me. Some have accused me of being a vampire, but if you'll kindly look at the mirror in the hall, you will see three people and one parrot sitting in this room. Am I not mistaken in saying so?"
Take that aforementioned dictionary and thumb a few pages to the left to the word, 'confused' and wouldn't you know it, there's Mina's picture again. So far, this man was only creating more questions than answers. After pulling her out of the closet, he had told Mina that he had been expecting her because Barney from the paper had called him. He just hadn't been expecting her to be in his closet. Maybe he's just old-fashioned that way. He told her he was Kenn Varson. She had never heard the rumor that he was a vampire. It was a ludicrous thought anyway. There were too many questions to know where to begin. "OK, let's try to go about this in a systematic way starting by getting our names straight. You're Kenn Varson. I'm Mina Renard." She turned to the man sitting on the couch beside her and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Bill," he said quietly, but seemed to have his mind on other things.
"Thank you, Bill. Well, I'm a reporter and I've been sent to interview you, Kenn. To begin with, I've never heard anything about your being a vampire."
"Well, shit. That's kinda awkward." Kenn chewed on his lower lip.
"I mean, you know? If there was a rumor going around that I was a zebra, I certainly wouldn't feel any urgent, pulling desire to have to show you proof that I'm not, in fact, a zebra. I'd hope this truth would be self-evident." There was an uncomfortable silence which lasted for twenty three consecutive seconds which definitely seemed to feel as if they were more like twenty three business seconds not counting weekends and holidays. It was time enough for Mina to realize that she wasn't absolutely sure that she didn't have something embarrassing hanging out of at least one of her nostrils. She rubbed her nose and stammered, "Don't get me wrong. I assure you I am very glad to see that you do have a reflection. I only saw your picture for the first time on the news last night and again in the paper this morning. What I did hear is that you're a detective and that you have a parrot who helps you solve your cases."
"Yes, I am a detective and I guess you can say that Stratford here is my psychic sidekick."
"Oh, huh. I see what you did there with the little rhyming alliteration thing with the thing or whatever. Anyway, um. So, that kind of answers my question as to how Stratford knew to call us Bill and Mina. Well, not really, but at least we're getting somewhere. Why weren't you here in the house when I got here earlier and why was the door open if you were gone away and why did you leave Stratford here if he helps you?"
"Well, alright. Whoa, one at a time. Earlier today, as I told you, I got the call from Barney saying that you'd be coming to do a piece on me. I was sitting here munching my way through a bag of Ignacio's Pistachios, waiting for you when Stratford there yelled out, 'She's in trouble. You've got to save her now!' He gave me an address and I knew I didn't have time to take him. I thought he was talking about you. I just flew out of the door and drove off to see if I could save whoever it was Stratford was talking about."
"So you left in a hurry, leaving the parrot behind and the front door wide open?"
"Yeah, then I drove over to this man's house and I followed a trail of clothes to an upstairs bathroom. Inside, I found a dead woman lying in a bathtub full of blood."
Mina dropped her pen noiselessly to the carpet. "Oh, my god! What happened?" Mina was shocked and suddenly understood Bill's sullen silence.
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