Background
Thirteen-year-old Drew Larsen confessed to the brutal slayings of his family members. The question remained, did he?
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BUILD A BETTER BOY TRUISM #8: Take him for walks and introduce him to the world of bugs. Good exercise for you and opens a whole new world of discovery for him.
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Last Time: He exited Marjorie Miller's home with the blueberry muffins in hand and scanned the front porch of the Larsen house. It was there Drew Larsen had set naked on the swing awaiting the arrival of the Police after the bloodbath transpired inside the residence. The image conjured up the remembrance of Otis Jackson, and the Lancaster massacre, that occurred twenty years before.
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The redwood porch that led to the Larsen's home featured five cement steps. There was also a wooden, wheelchair accessible ramp. Detective Darden knew if Drew Larsen had been fourteen years old, in the eyes of the law he would have been deemed to possess the significant capacity to form criminal intent.
Translated into English, he realized that meant the boy would have displayed the conscious decision to injure or deprive somebody else. This in turn, would have lead to Drew Larson being charged as an adult for the murders he confessed to, as well as a life in prison without the possibility of ever being paroled sentence. He was much too young to receive the death penalty, although it was more than warranted under the special mitigating circumstances surrounding this case.
Approaching the house, Darden noticed the yellow Police seal restricting access to the dwelling had been removed off the front door. It had previously been placed there to signify the abode was an active crime scene. With Drew Larsen committed to the psychiatric hospital, under a preliminary ruling of insanity, the detective pondered why it was discarded?
He unlocked the door with the key Marjorie Miller provided him, entered the structure, and closed the door tightly behind him. Darden waited for his eyes to adjust to the blackness. He would not turn on the lights, or risk being observed inside the house by any passersby who happened to walk down the sidewalk in front of the home.
He paused to listen to the sounds the slaughterhouse made. At no time had the detective acquired the authority to enter the property. Nor had he been officially assigned to the Larsen case.
If Darden had been unable to locate a neighbor with a key to the residence of the deceased, he would have burglarized the habitat. A strange feeling someone sinister awaited him in one of the rooms that constituted the place overcame him. This betrayed a false conviction.
In solitude, the detective had entered other murder houses before that were related to cases he worked. Each time he did, he experienced the sensation of a hovering presence. None ever materialized.
The ranch-style house provided ten rooms, all of which were located on the ground floor. Long, and casual, it offered a varied roofline and a wide open layout. Upon further inspection, Darden counted bedrooms for Mark and Emily Larsen, Peggy Morrison, the wheelchair-bound grandmother, and Dorothy Larsen.
He found Drew Larsen's bedroom on the east end of the house. Darden noticed a baseball glove and autographed ball laid on top of the dresser in a far corner of the room. He visually scanned them in their resting place. The detective also spotted Drew Larsen's IPAD. He was not sure why the electronics had not been confiscated as evidence by Forensics? That one was puzzling to the seasoned investigator.
In addition to the bedrooms, there was also a kitchen and a sunken living room. A den, three bathrooms, and cathedral ceilings rounded out the interior of the house. The vastness of the rambler manufactured a hollow silence.
Darden knew the aftermath of violence often brought him to the brink, particularly when the murders involved family members. Because he was conducting a personal probe, the shadows cast within the dwelling soothed his troubled soul. He withdrew a LED flashlight from the pocket of his windbreaker but did not turn the illuminator on.
He realized the evidence that supported the killings in the house had already been contaminated, collected, or obliterated so it did not matter where he walked, nothing would be destroyed. The detective did not pursue crime scene subtleties critical to prosecuting Drew Larsen. What he sought was much more evasive.
The keen intuitiveness on which Darden operated desired a revelation. He needed some insight that would enlighten him, and support his hunch, that the Larsen family was not the only one in jeopardy. A putrid odor stopped his progression one step before crossing the threshold that led into the kitchen. With a flick of his thumb, the LED's high beam brightened the room. Darden advanced with caution.
The flashlight revealed the source of the smell. Emily Larsen's blood had gelatinized with patches of fungus. With his mental faculties, Darden imagined the sounds the woman must have made consequent to being pierced with the knife upon her son's attack.
Having read the discovery surrounding the case, Darden learned the most important matters in Emily Larsen's life had been the strength of matrimony, the significance of her family, and setting a good example for her two children. All gratifications the boy deprived her of.
(To Be Continued:)
Cast of Characters:
Detective Sean Darden - Lead Investigator of the Larsen family murders.
Drew Larsen - Thirteen-year-old boy who confessed to the brutal slayings of his family members. The question remained, did he?
Mark and Emily Larsen - Drew Larsen's parents.
Dorothy Larsen - Drew Larsen's younger sister.
Peggy Morrison - Drew Larsen's wheelchair-bound grandmother.
Otis Jackson - The self-proclaimed Son of Kronos, the Greek equivalent of the Grim Reaper, who massacred the Lancaster family.
Lancaster Family - Slaughtered by Otis Jackson twenty years before this story occurs.
Marjorie Miller - Provided Detective Darden with a key for the Larsen's house.
Author Notes
Friendly Ghosts After Dark, by Pink Flutters, selected to complement Chapter 5 of my book.
So, thanks Pink Flutters, for the use of your picture. It goes so nicely with Chapter 5 of my book.
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