"Finding Earl" --Excerpt "Heather Darling and the Case of the Clockwork Cannibal"

With a nap and a good breakfast, Detective Farina is looking better. The search plans are mapped out, dishes are done. We leave Ian, Uncle Will, and Stump to set up and oversee the helpers. Farina and I head back down the old tractor trail to take another look at what’s left of Earl’s pick-up.

“I was able to take a better look at the sample that we took yesterday and found rust. I think that Will and Ian are right. The floorboards of vehicles rust out. They don’t burn. The hole in the passenger side floorboard had to have already been there. If the floorboards were rusting out then odds are good that the vehicle was in poor shape to begin with.”

“So in other words, the rust had done most of the damage the fire just finished it off.” I say.

“Yes.”

We reach our destination and stop there.

“I’m out in the middle of the country and my truck is on fire. Where would I go?” Detective Farina asks. “More importantly, why would my truck be on fire?”

“There are several reasons that a truck would catch fire. Something is wrong with the truck.”

The detective nods and says, “Mechanical error.”

I continue. “You’ve had an accident. You’ve pissed someone off. Knowing Earl, that wouldn’t be hard for him to do at all.”

“Foul play.” He says.

“Or you set the *^%&er on fire all by yourself.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Insurance fraud or did he decide to leave Beth again?”

“If he did, this time it was for good.”

“He left Beth.” Detective Farina says. He tries the theory on and decides that it works. “For Good.”

After a few moments of contemplation, I shake my head. “No way.”

“Why not?”

“It’s too good to be true.”

“You have my attention.” The detective says.

“Say on the one hand, you have a good job and you travel a bit, you have girlfriends, several girlfriends. You pick a new one up all the time. On the other hand, you have a wife at home. A woman that you met in high school, she makes half the money, pays all of the bills, keeps the home fires burning, takes you back whenever things get rough, and puts up with all of your shit. Would you break that tie off completely?”

“I would have to say, ‘No’.”

“Earl has it way too good with Beth. Beth is right. Something has happened to him.”