Walking the Gallows ✔️

Chapter 21

Brian POV

He started to notice that Martin didn't particularly like following simple instructions. For a smart guy, he sure was stubborn. He refused to wear gloves regardless of the fact that he was meant to and he explored rooms of the house unaccompanied despite being told to never leave the detective's side. Only detectives and other police-figures with authority were able to come inside the house and search it. The only reason the psychiatrist was there was that he wanted to help investigate.

"I really don't know what you think we're going to find here. Earl wasn't real. It was just a person he made up so we wouldn't think he had done the crime." Brian rolled his eyes as he watched the doctor stare at every single minute piece of old soiled furniture. The apparent "Earl's" house was disgusting. The first time the house was investigated was after the anonymous tip. It was still empty. Nothing had changed.

"Well, that would be really stupid of him to try to frame a man who lives right next door to him and doesn't exist. If anything, that lead you to Andy, right?" It was true. The tip was no doubt from Andy considering no one else had even heard of Earl before that. The tip had singled him out and lead the authorities to him.

The reports were accurate. There was absolutely no way anyone had lived in the home for years. There was a thick layer of dust on any remaining furniture and appliances. Mould was growing in the corners of every room, birds were nesting in certain parts of the roof and dead mice could be seen occasionally on the floor. It smelled like a pile of rotting dead bodies. It was almost shocking that anything managed to live in the house.

A small hole in the wall made possibly by termites convinced the detective to stay away from the area. He was reluctant to visit that corner of the room initially because of the trail of rat dropping leading out of it. Either the psychiatrist didn't see it or didn't care, because he inspected the hole as if not afraid of some animal pouncing at him from the abyss. He turned his head away, unable to witness if his theory would be proven correct.

It was a small house. All of the curtains were closed. Some of the windows weren't broken but they were all stained a light brown color from the years of neglect. The floor was wooden, decaying, and most likely responsible for the terrible odor that swept over their entire surroundings. No one would ever choose to live in that kind of condition.

There may have been a time where the house was quaint and modest, even homely. Detective Miller could imagine a time a small family could live in it. Had the place not been in shambles he would be able to visualize himself buying the place for himself and a possible family one day. It had the potential to be a proper home but years of neglect had made it unlivable.

"Yep, I'm convinced now. Earl never existed." He had already sensed it for a long time. Brian hoped he could discourage the doctor from looking further and wasting any more of their precious time. He didn't understand what he was trying to find in the first place. Martin kept searching through the house, ignoring the protests from the detective.

They had searched through every room. There wasn't much else to see. It was plainly obvious that their little investigation wasn't at all necessary. It was a one-story house and not many places to hide things. They both had the day off yet Martin insisted on working. In the end, the was no point in looking for clues because there wasn't likely to be a trial or a jury to prove it too.

"We haven't checked the back yard yet." The back yard was almost completely ignored during the first sweep of the property. They went thoroughly through the aged books on the shelf and the all but fossilized carpet that was partially petrified to the floorboards. However, the backyard was only observed through the glass door and barely stepped into. It may have been due to the fact that nobody believed anyone had lived there in years.