NaNoWriMo Day 18: 16,299 of 50,000
Theo tries to offset his obsession by adopting a new family member!
To read the previous chapters head HERE!
Chapter Thirteen
A few weeks had passed as Theo walked out of his place for the fourteenth time that day. Normally, Theo would say it was time to find a new hobby, but the Theo that had existed six months ago was not the same Theo that was present now. After that day in the coffee shop Theo spent hours trying to glean more information about not only the three women who had gone missing, but also obsessively tracking Stanley and his van.
Over these past two weeks, Theo had noted that Stanley moved his van at specific times of the day. He also observed that Stanley only trimmed the weeds in the morning and the evening. Currently Theo was tracking the man’s routine wanting to catch him doing something off so he could go to the police with some evidence. As Theo made his rounds for the neighborhood watch team he realized something. Maybe it was time to take a break. Theo wanted to keep going, but he realized he was starting to unravel when Alice had reached out to him through text message because she had been knocking on his front door for hours everyday. Theo never once recalled hearing anyone knocking on the door when he was home, but he had barely been home in the past two weeks because he was always out looking for Stanley.
With nothing new to report in his journal, Theo made his way back to his place and opened his laptop. An ad for a dog shelter outside of Seattle appeared on his screen and that’s when he realized what needed: a dog. No better way to cure the obsession than to get a pet. Having felt discouraged by his past pursuits he followed the ad to the website that explained the shelter was new and located in Kitsap County which meant it was across the Sound. After some searching Theo’s eyes stopped on a newly born chocolate lab and hound mix puppy named Delilah. Theo wrote down the phone number, noticed it was late, and decided to call them in the morning.
A few more weeks had passed with Theo all but forcing himself to stay indoors. Alice had been out of town visiting family so Theo’s only distraction was his work. Both Tyler and Ophelia basically stopped talking to Theo apparently for Tyler he was just too into his relationship with Natalie to focus on pretty much anything else. As for Ophelia she had grown colder toward Theo which was making no sense as the days wore on. Nonetheless the chilly February night led Theo to snuggling under his covers with ESPN blaring from his TV.
Theo’s phone buzzing on his bedside table forces him to pull an arm out from under the covers. “Hello?”
“Is this Theo Henderson?” a lady’s voice on the other end asked.
“Speaking. Who may I ask is calling?” Theo always tried to be respectful on the phone because it was always hard to read a person when you weren’t face-to-face with them.
“This is Kaitlyn from the Kitsap Animal Center. We have some great news for you!” she said excitedly.
Theo sat up in his bed. “You do?”
He couldn’t contain his excitement now. “Delilah is all yours!”
Theo excitedly responded and received the information needed to get Delilah in a few days time. This made me enthusiastic now except without a car he needed to figure out how to get there.
“Chloe!” he exclaimed aloud in his bedroom to no one but himself. Soon he was texting his younger sister who agreed to the adventure.
The next day Theo spent most of his time buying all sorts of things for his new puppy. The lady helping him at one dog store laughed at Theo’s excitement.
“Whoever this dog is she is going to be lucky to have an owner like you!”
Theo’s permanent smile followed him out of the store and back to his house. The next afternoon Chloe would be arriving and they would be making their two-hour journey to Bremerton to get Delilah and the best part was his sister had no idea.
The next morning Theo gathered what he was going to need and put it together in a backpack. Before going to the coffee shop where he was going to meet his sister Theo made his way to the library near his home. As his research spanned multiple books and articles that were currently taking over his desk, Theo was interested in reading more books about the reasons killers do what they do. He had been studying Stanley for nearly half a year and wanted more background on the mind of a killer, or at the very least a kidnapper, as his observations became more frequent.
“Good morning, how can I help you?” the librarian cheerfully asked as Theo strolled up to the front desk.
“Hi, um I am looking for books similar to “The Mindhunter”? Anything really about the motivations of serial killers. For a research project at school,” Theo added wanting to sound less psychotic than what first came out of his mouth.
“Ah, okay then. You got lucky because I am the resident expert on all things serial killer literature around here,” the man said genuinely smiling. “Are you more interested in the research of the cult-like serial killers or the psychological mindset behind a serial killer?”
Theo considered the librarians question. For Theo it wasn’t about a cult, yet, so he went with the second one. “The mindset. Right now at least, who knows where one’s research will take them.”
The librarian laughed. “Absolutely, alright my recommendation for you is this book,” he began writing down the title and author name of a book on a piece of paper before sliding it over to Theo, “it’s an old book but by far the best one due to its thorough research.”
Theo took the piece of paper that read The Anatomy of Motive and looked up at the man who was smiling back at him. Theo thanked him before going to the shelf where the book was located. After reading the first few pages Theo decided it was well worth checking out and walked back to the front before checking the book out, waving to the librarian, and making his way to the coffee shop his sister would be arriving at any minute.
Follow along with me this month at Jenna Pratt!
