The Mind's Eye

[Jacky]

"Yeah, I read a book on it." Mort answered dryly. "Miss Dickens, I realize I am a suspect, but in this country a man is still innocent until proven guilty. And I'm not. So I don't know why it's *your* right to act any different than the law." He frowned.

[Jacksblackpearl]

".. people who commited a crime and they tell the world a different story. And the more they tell the story the sooner they will believe it. They believe it to the fullest and even if you test them in a lie detector test they could be so caught up in their own little lie that they'd pass.. Parents who murdered their children do it.. perhaps you did it too ? ...." She took her eyes off of him for once now.
"But you're right, I should act like that law, and if the law doesn't want the truth then why should an honest journalist try to figure it out?" She looked down at the table and was happy with herself for handling this situation her right way. She had said what she wanted to say yet tried to cover her words up with what he wanted to hear.

[Jacky]

He frowned now. "You say you're looking for the truth, miss, but why the hell is your mind already determind about the outcome of your investigation then? Wouldn't a good journalist have no prejudices?"

[Jacksblackpearl]

"I had none before I started the investigation" She states and then gets up. In her hurry to talk to him she had forgotten all about having diner and therefor the plate filled with goo was still untouched in front of her. She took a ten twenty dollar bill out of her wallet and dropped it next to the plate,then she grabbed her purse and turned around. Without looking at Mort she said "See you around Mr. Rainey".

[Jacky]

I hope not, miss whatever-you're-called. He didn't react in words though, instead turning his attention back to the paper. He figured he was done with this woman, she wouldn't be able to proof *anything* if even the police couldn't.

[Jacksblackpearl]

The minute Carolina walked out of the diner she started shivering, feeling goosebumps all over her body. She wasn't sure wether it was because of that creep inside or just because she had forgotten to bring a jacket.
It seemed as if hours had passed in the diner yet it was only barely one hour. It had gotten dark outside though.

"Okay... maybe I should warn someone that if they don't see me here again he got rid of me' She said to herself, clearly feeling somewhat intimidated by this Mort Rainey. Not as much by the person himself but more because of what was lying underneath this roughly handsome face with the shy writers image..

Carolina grabbed her recorder and put it to her mouth "First contact with Mr. Mort Rainey, at the [insert name] diner. Rainey seems too convinced of his story and he has something creepy underneath the surface. He's not like other creeps.. he seems normal actually..".
She glanced through the window back at her project, right before she walked away, towards the supermarket to get some food any way.

[Jacky]

(skippen naar een mogelijkheid voor volgend contact?)

The rest of that day turned out to be ruined for Mort. He went home after he finished the reading the newspaper, intending to write some more. He didn't feel like it. He spend some time in front of his laptop but nothing would come to his mind. The journalist girl had surprised him, the Questions came too quickly in this village too. He was afraid things were gonna be ruined for him. He wasn't very social by himself, was pretty shy around new people... if her talk would get to others, would things be the same as they were in Tashmore? He went to bed at eleven, not wanting to think about it, and wanting to dismiss this day with the oblivion of sleep..

[Jacksblackpearl]

(good idea, already felt a sence of boringness coming up )

A few days had gone by before Carolina dared to come closer again. She had observed Mort from time to time, whenever he was outside that was. It seemed like he lived in that house 24/7.. talking about not having a life..
She had found his house through the phonebook, which seemed to be printed brand new whenever this 'big' town got a new citizen.

"51 Clareroad, rather gigantic house for such a fragile little guy. He keeps wearing his wooly hat, as if it's stuck on his head" Carol talked to the recorder as she was standing near Mort's house, sort of hiding behind a tree to go unnoticed before she'd take a closer look..
"Let's see if we can find some dirt on him, the story isn't moving fast enough. I wanna get out of this dump asap". She stopped recording and looked around, not seeing anyone on this cloudy day.
With a few quick steps she walked around the house to the back, then she took a few deep breaths before going over to the next step of her 'plan'.

[Jacky]

Mort was in front of his laptop again, but this time he has more inspiration, and he moved his fingers over the keyboard to pen down his thoughts in script. He had finished a chapter today and had moved on to the next succesfully. If he kept writing at this pace he'd be finished with this book within the month, he realized. The only evening that he had not written was when he had met Carolina, but that remained only vaguely in his mind cos he hadn't spoken to her since.

He looked up from the keyboard when he thought he heard something in the backyard. He adjusted his glasses and paused writing for a moment to just listen..

[Jacksblackpearl]

With not much effort Carolina managed to find a place to peek into the house, without being seen. First there was the kitchen. It looked rather untidy.
She walked along the back of the house and saw the livingroom. This one seemed as if only the couch had been used resently..
"What kind of a hermit is he?" she wondered out loud. Her eyes drifted to the stairs, where she saw someone sitting..
"oh sh!t" she whispered and duck immediatly, letting herself fall down to the ground, with that she managed to push the garbagecan which top fell off, making a lot of noise.