Chapter 14

“We, therefore, commit this body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life.” The priest concluded his prayer as the coffin in which Andrew lay was lowered into the ground.

Tears streaked down the faces of Andrew’s Aunt Becky, Joyce, and even Dan. A few more unfamiliar faces were there to pay their respects and were also hindered by their emotional state. Edward Brandt would have liked to join the others in their unity of expression, but he just stood there peering at the lowering coffin through his sunglasses as it went lower and lower into the ground. The sum of the past twenty years left him dead inside while his mind overworked itself trying to figure out how any of this made sense.

Edward had been rather convincing when asked about the scrapes on his knuckles. The extra change of clothes he kept in the trunk of his car served him well when his last set had spots of blood from the two thugs he had encountered the other night. Jumping into the shower right away concealed the rest of the evidence. All except his hands, which he couldn’t do much about that. Both Joyce and Dan had asked about it, but he provided the excuse that he had been hitting the heavy bag at the gym, and the wrappings came loose. Neither of them asked further about it. They knew he was under a lot of stress, and what better way to relieve it than at the gym.

Becky approached Edward with a box in her hand when the service concluded.

“I’ll give you two a moment,” Joyce said as she walked over to talk to Dan.

“I would ask how you are holding up, Becky, but I am pretty sure that I already know the answer.”

Becky wiped a remaining tear from her cheek. “Yes. My sister, nephew, and his father, all taken way before their time.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know if I’m supposed to say, but I’m going to anyways. I am assigned to the case; I will find out who did this.”

“Who better to uncover the truth. I know that you’ll do everything that you can.”

“What’s with the box?”

“Oh yes, Andrew had left this at my house during one of his visits last year. I think it was meant to be a gift for you. I found it strange that he never came back to pick it up, but nevertheless, it’s yours.”

“Why do you think it’s for me?”

“Because it has your name on it.”

The package was a simple shoe box with ‘Edward’ written in black marker on the top.

“What’s in it?”

“I don’t know, I never opened it.”

“One way to find out.” Edward opened the box, and much to his surprise, it was a computer mouse. “Well, that was anticlimactic.”

“I know how you two loved your video games. I suppose it’s fitting.”

“True, but this mouse is aged and worn. I would think that if he wanted to give me something like this, it would be brand new.” Edward picked up the mouse, immediately noticing something strange about the object. It was near weightless and hollowed out. “It’s hollow.”

“Then that is strange indeed.”

Edward took a moment, examining the object from all angles. It was until he shook it and heard a slight rattle, he knew there was more than met the eye. He began prying it open with his fingernails.

“What are you doing?”

“There’s something inside here, something that was stashed away.” It took a surprising amount of force and effort to finally find the handheld piece of plastic. With a snap, it was broken into two halves and a densely folded piece of paper fell onto the grass. Wasting no time, Edward retrieved the paper and unfolded it. It was two pages. “It’s a letter from Andrew.”

“What? Really? What does it say?”

“One second.” Edward began reading.

The letter had given Edward goosebumps. It may have been the only feeling he had had in days. Artificial Intelligence, solve all of our problems? He knew that Andrew was a very smart man but had no idea that this was the level of his thinking. Does Andrew have a woman in his guest house? If there had been, then where was she? Questions answering questions. Edward felt not much more enlightened than before reading the letter, but at least he had a few starting points to look into.

“Well…” Becky had an impatient look.

“Oh, sorry.” Edward thought it was best to leave out the eerie vibe of the letter. “It was just a thank you letter. I guess this was meant to be some sort of trophy with an obvious easter egg attached to it. You know how he loved his puzzles. I guess he was still humble after me winning all of those games.” Edward let out the best fake smile that he could muster.

“I guess that makes sense then. It’s a shame that you broke it.”

“I know, but at least I have the letter.”

“True. I’ll let your wife have you again. Thanks for being there for him.”

“Alright, and once again, my condolences.”

Edward bolted over to Dan and Joyce, which caught them both by surprise. “Hey Dan, would you mind taking Joyce home? I think there’s more I want to check out at Andrew’s house before I head back home.”

“Sure, I can do that. What’s on your mind? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Dan had a concerned look in his eyes.

“It’s probably nothing. I just want to use the opportunity while I’m in the area. Don’t look at me like that. I’m fine, just anxious to get this thing resolved.”

“Well, alright, give me a call if you need any help. I think the STB boys have all wrapped up over there.”

Edward nodded in agreement.

“Okay, you be careful out there.” Joyce also looking concerned, but agreeable.

“I’ll be back home soon, hun.” Edward gave her a kiss on the cheek and ran to the car.