Murder in a Small Town: Prologue

Prologue

Hearing noises in the attic again is quite unnerving for Carl. He’s lived in this old house with his wife for over 50 years and knows the difference between settling and “unsettling”. He folds the creaky ladder down from its compartment on the ceiling and, with lantern in hand, slowly creeps up until his head is above the attic floor. Holding the lantern high over his head to illuminate the inky blackness, he sees nothing out of place or anything scurrying about. Of course, the sounds he thought he heard were much heavier than that of a small rodent. This just adds to the mystery of the footprints he found in the powdered snow leading to his barn a few days ago, the page from the Milwaukee Journal in his yard, and the missing house keys. Things were just not adding up Still, the rafters were old and maybe, like all of us, they were protesting their age.

The next day Carl spots his neighbor, Archie, from across the field and motions him over to talk. Archie, as well as the entire town of Lancaster, is aware of Carl’s history and doesn’t really want anything to do with him but decides to find out what he wants. The two men converge at a barbed wire fence that separates their properties. It’s December and cold in central Wisconsin. 
“Hey, what’s going on?” asks Carl. 

“Not much, just trying to get these cows fed before the snow starts falling again”, remarks Archie. “What’s going on with you”?

“Well, I was just going to ask you if you’ve noticed anything weird going on around your place?” Carl asks.

“No, nothing really to speak of. There was a couple of chickens that have wondered off somewhere. Coyotes probably got them by now, though”, says Archie. “But, other than that, really nothing else. Why”?

“Well, there’s been some strange stuff going on at my place for sure. It might be nothing, but it’s kinda got me spooked”.

“Like what?” inquires Archie.

“For one thing I noticed a set of footprints in the snow leading to my barn the other day,” explains Carl.

“Just one set”. “There’s always someone off the highway coming in to keep warm for a night while traveling”.

“Yeah, I know”, says Carl. “But the weird part is that there aren’t any footprints leading away from it. It’s like they’re still there”.

“That is weird”, says Archie. Did you look through the barn to see if you could find anything?”.

“Well, of course I did!” exclaims Carl. “Couldn’t find anything in the barn. No clothes, not a place where anyone would bed down, or nothing. No sign at all”.

“Well, I’ll keep my eyes peeled and let you know if I see anything”, says Archie. He turns and starts walking away, but Carl calls after him,

 “Then there’s the noises in the attic, the missing house keys, the newspaper…”, Carl says raising his voice.

“I’ve got to get back to the house Carl, says Archie as he quickens his tempo. “I’ve got a heifer getting’ ready to calf and I need to be there. Like I say, I’ll keep a look out and let you know if I see anything”. Archie is barely audible as he disappears across the field.

“It’s just really weird”, Carl says to himself, shakes his head, and starts the trek of the half mile back to his own livestock.

Three days later the mail carrier notices that none of the mail for the Hansens has been removed from their mailbox. The farm looks eerily quiet and he decides to notify the Lancaster Sheriff’s department.