Materialistic Appetite

Materialistic Appetite

By Mckyla Coeyman

It began as a normal day for Lorelai Grey. The morning sky was full of dark blues and grays like it had been all week and the streets were full of misty fog. Lorelai started her morning routine by making herself a crispy bagel with cream cheese spread and a hot cup of black coffee. Her husband, Jack Grey, would normally treat her to breakfast in the mornings but he was gone all morning driving around his taxi for work.

While eating, she began to flip through the local newspaper Jack had brought in from the morning before and noticed a full page dedicated to people reported missing from her town Dallesroe. Each one reported missing within the same week. The most recent being reported on January 15th, 2012, only two days ago. Just as she started reading the latest report, her office phone broke the silence of her house. She quickly ran to it, bagel in hand.

It was her detective partner, Anastasia Daughtery, calling from the station.

”Hey Grey, ya there?” Anastasia exhorted. Hearing how out of breath she sounded, Lorelai quickly chewed the bite of her bagel she had just taken and managed to croak out a response.

“What’s going on Anne?” Lorelai questioned with a tone of worry growing in her voice.

Anastasia responded hastily, “We need you down at the station. Well, more so I need you down here. Chief wants to go over a missing person case and have us go around questioning. When’s the earliest you could get here do you think?”

Lorelai’s eyes dashed over to her digital clock on her counter and noticed it was only 6:24 in the morning. She originally planned on arriving at the station at 7am, so she sped up getting ready.

Throwing on her shoes, she replied back to Anastasia. “About 6:40 I think. I’ll leave now.” She grabbed a napkin for the small bit of her bagel left and ran to the door. “See you soon.” She sputtered out right before hanging up the phone and snatching her hanging keys and badge.

The sign read “Police of Dallesroe”. The department just repaired it after getting the building slightly remodeled. Lorelai parked her vehicle in her assigned spot and rushed inside. She saw her partner in crime, Anastasia, waiting for her outside one of the many conference rooms and headed over.

“Got here just in time.” Anastasia started. “Chief Castro wants us to move into one of the rooms with a projector. Apparently they have an idea of how she might’ve disappeared.”

”What’s the girl’s name? Do we know yet?” Anastasia asked.

”Mhm. Dorothy Frye, seventeen years old. Just vanished from her family’s sight while they were having an outing in their neighborhood park two days ago.”

Dorothy Frye. The same name Lorelai read in the newspaper page earlier. “I just saw her name in the newspaper this morning. She’s still missing? She hasn’t returned to her family at all?” Lorelai’s tone of worry started to come back.

Anastasia slightly chuckled, “Apparently not. Most girls her age just need a break from home, you know. I bet she’s camping over at a friend’s and just didn’t tell her family. I remember doing the same when I was her age.” Anastasia had a large smile on her face now. “Probably nothing too big.”

Walking towards the room labeled “Meeting Room”, they both picked up a case file that was already prepared for them by Chief Castro and sat in the front two seats of the room. On the projector was a picture of Dorothy, along with the date she was last seen and some noticeable features of her’s. Lorelai peaked into the case file she received and saw a copy of flyers that were found around town for her. Dorothy’s family did not hesitate. The picture her family used was one of her school pictures that could be found in a yearbook. She looked gorgeous and happy, not the kind of girl you think would run away from her family or be troublesome.

The door made a loud noise as Chief Castro walked in. Anastasia and Lorelai looked back towards the door and greeted him as he walked in.

“Thank you for meeting with me here.” He looked over at Grey, “And thank you, Detective Grey, for coming in earlier than you needed to.” Lorelai nodded with a slight smile. Castro continued, “This is the girl reported missing, Dorothy Frye. A seventeen year old girl from around here. She was reported missing by her family two days ago, and was last seen at her family’s outing in their neighborhood park. Her family claims her to be an introverted and loving daughter. The family also informed us that no argument or issue at home occurred that might’ve caused her to possibly run away. We need to take every precaution we can here and assume the worst.”

Anastasia raised her hand and without hesitation began to speak. “Do we think this might have something to do with all the other recent missing person cases? I saw online like three days ago that the town is beginning to believe Jim Hull might be back to doing crazy things.”

Jim Hull has been known as the boogeyman of Dallesroe for the last 11 years. Before becoming best friends with Lorelai’s husband and moving to Dallesroe, it was rumored that he had murdered his wife. No evidence ever surfaced, not even his wife’s name did, but the town decided to believe it and let it stick.

“There’s been no evidence of a murder taking place, but like I said, take all precautions necessary.” Chief Castro responded. “Not a single one of those people reported missing recently have been found. For some they’ve been missing two days, others even four months. We’ve had few reports four months ago, but now they’ve grown rapidly.”

All this talk of possible murder and Jim Hull took aback Lorelai. It had just then come to her realization that she hasn’t seen Jim or heard of him from her husband in over four months. Jack was normally the secretive type, he kept to himself, but it is a little weird he hasn’t gone over to visit Jim in several months.

“I’m asking the both of you to go question around the town. Especially her neighborhood. Her family’s address is on a sticky note in the file, bring those with you as you go about. If anyone asks for a description of her, one can be found in the file as well. Thank you and good luck. You two may go now.” Chief Castro let them go after delivering the last lines of their meeting and led the two detectives to the door.

Anastasia made two coffees to bring along for the car ride, then they left for Lorelai’s car. They decided to first head to the Frye’s house. The very first thing the two detectives noticed was that a light post in the streets of the family’s neighborhood was decorated with missing person flyers. While Anastasia was on look out duty in the passenger seat, she could see they weren’t all the same people. Almost every paper was of the many different missing people Grey saw that morning in the newspaper.

“Hey Grey, pull over.” Daughtery sounded concerned.

Without hesitation, Detective Grey pulled the car over towards the curb, almost hitting it. The two exited the police car and investigated the papers posted on the wooden light post. They discovered that each paper had one thing in common — they were all from Dallesroe.

Grey and Daughtery quickly stopped at the Frye’s house and asked if they’re doing okay and if they happened to know where Dorothy might’ve ran off to, if anything. They were convinced something happened to her. While they conversed on the front porch, Daughtery looked around the street at what she could see.

There it was. There was Jim Hull’s house.

Detective Daughtery managed to slip in a quick question regarding how the family views Hull and if they talked to him at all, considering how close they lived. The mother told her that the only person who did know Hull or have any affiliation with him, would be Dorothy. She was close friends with his son and sometimes visited. Hearing this news, Daughtery headed over to his house to check if anyone there knew anything, whether it be his son or Jim Hull himself.

She knocked on the door but no one answered. After 5 minutes of knocking and asking if anyone was there, she went to the backyard and began to ask through that door instead. Not a minute passed when she noticed something frightening. A pink silky blouse. A women’s shirt laying in the Hull’s backyard. The entire town knew he never remarried, who’s shirt could it possibly be?

Alerted by what she found, Anastasia, sounding startled, radioed for Lorelai to come to her. Lorelai halted the conversation with the Frye’s and jogged over, Dorothy’s family following as well. Shortly after Lorelai and the family arrived, a loud scream of pure horror could be heard ringing through the town. It came from right behind Lorelai. It was from Dorothy’s mother. She ran to the shirt and dropped to her knees, sobbing.

“No… no it can’t be.” Detective Daughtery thought to herself as Grey became as still as ever.

”This shirt…”, Dorothy’s mother managed to croak out through her sobs. “It’s Dorothy’s. This was the last shirt I saw her wearing before she went missing.” She continued to scream and cry for her daughter.

Lorelai spent another 6 and a half hours at the station before heading home. When she got there, she could see her husband’s taxi parked in front. Excited to see him, she hurried inside and greeted him with a big hug. He also seemed exhausted, but still gave her a light hug back. When she stepped away, she could see a bag of dirty old film cameras hanging from Jack’s arm. He liked collecting them but would never show them to Lorelai. It was a weird collection to have, but it never bothered her.

They sat down on their sofa and talked for a good hour or two. Lorelai told him everything that happened during her day, that she’s exploring a missing person case and that it may end up being more. While having the conversation, Jack looked worried and scared.

Jack began to sweat and became slightly paranoid, then asked “Have you guys figured anything out? Is it looking like it may end with a murder charge?”

All Lorelai could respond with was a shrug. Truth be told, she had no idea where this case was leading. She gave him another hug as a goodnight but he was too startled by the news to give her one back. Lorelai then made her way upstairs and stepped into her closet to change into pajamas. She glimpsed over at the collection of film cameras growing on her husband’s side. He’s been collecting them since 2001, but Lorelai doesn’t know much about them. It’s been eleven years and they’ve always made her curious.

Lorelai slept roughly throughout the night. She couldn’t help but have nightmares about what could have possibly happened to Dorothy. After her alarm went off, she got dressed and headed downstairs to her kitchen. Laying on the table sat freshly made breakfast. Homemade french toast with butter, syrup, and strawberries. It was her and Jack’s favorite. When she walked up to the table, she saw a note left by her husband. It read “Won’t be home for a while. Going to my mom’s after work.” Lorelai thought it was weird but didn’t think too much about it since he hadn’t visited his mom in a while. She went to take her first bite of the french toast and suddenly realized she’d forgotten a jacket. So, Lorelai quickly sprinted up the stairs and into her closet. She grabbed her comfiest jacket for the station, but on her way out noticed the mess made of Jack’s film camera collection in the corner. It looked messier than it did last night, but she thought that was probably because he added his new ones while she was asleep. With her focus shifting to work, she made her way down to the kitchen again, finished her breakfast, and left for work.

Today the station planned on bringing Jim Hull in for questioning. They would be using Dorothy’s shirt as evidence. Lorelai met Anastasia inside and felt how dense the atmosphere of the station was. It felt heavier than a regular day.

“What’s going on in here today? Did something happen? The air is so heavy.” Lorelai asked Anastasia, scared to hear the true reasoning.

Anastasia let out a loud exhale, then motioned for Lorelai to take a seat at a nearby coffee table.

She began to explain, “What I’m about to say is going to shock you, but it also gives us some answers. I thought I’d wait to tell you this when you got here,” Lorelai gulped, and Detective Daughtery continued, “but Dorothy Frye is no longer alive. Detectives checked that house of Hull’s super late last night and unfortunately, to their own surprise, found remains of her. The rest of her clothes, strands of her hair, all in the basement.”

”Oh my God.” Grey could hardly produce another word. “How could we be so blind?” Her eyes still watered to sad news like this.

Daughtery reached out her hands across the table in an attempt to hold and comfort Grey. “That’s not even the worst of it.” She took another deep breath before finishing her thought. “In a cooler they found her insides. Most were missing, but all DNA traces back to her. That poor girl.”

Grey felt sick. How could someone do this to a seventeen year old girl?

It took Detective Grey a second to feel like herself again, but she soon got up and went into the interrogation room. Through the glass, she could see Jim Hull sitting in his regular gray hoodie and blue jean shorts. Around his wrists sat handcuffs, and by his side, a lawyer. As Grey stepped into the other side of the room, she overheard Hull asking his lawyer to let him do the speaking. She heard him say something among the lines of him being able to defend himself. His lawyer simply gave up and sat in agony afterwards while Hull dug his own grave deeper.

“Mr. Hull, does this look familiar to you?” Chief Castro held up the shirt they found in his backyard. Castro wanted to be the one to question Hull, considering how serious the case is.

“No. No it doesn’t at all. I- I don’t understand how this all happened.” Jim Hull started to lose his patience. “I mean, I’ve only seen this girl like four times. She’s my son’s friend, why would I do that to her?” He pointed to one of the many pictures taken by the crime photographers that were laid out in front of him. The one of the cooler. “This. I would never do something like this. I know it may not seem like it to the town, but I wouldn’t murder. At least not again. I changed. I’m a changed man. It’s been 11 years.”

Hull looked over the photos again, this time with tears forming in his eyes. Until he noticed something. A small object placed on his basement shelf.

”Did one of your guys place that there when investigating?” He pointed again to a picture that included the object up close.

It was a camera. One Hull doesn’t remember.

“No, the only cameras there would be those that took the pictures you’re looking at right now.” Chief Castro seemed lost. “That means it was there when we found the scene.”

Jim Hull pushed for the camera to be picked up by officers and brought back to the station.

Once they retrieved the item, Grey noticed it instantaneously. It was a film camera. The kind her husband collected. They quickly brought it in for DNA testing within the same hour. It took four days to get back the results. Detective Grey was working in the station when they received it. Due to her being involved in the case, they called her into a special room to discuss the DNA results along with Detective Daughtery and Chief Castro. The two assisting officers were somewhat hesitant to deliver the group’s answer. Noticing the officers were too scared to relay their answer, Chief Castro took the paper and read it aloud.

“Jack Grey.” He said in a clear voice.

Lorelai’s heart sank. Her chest grew heavy.

”W-What?” She immediately took the paper from Castro’s hands. In big bold letters read her husband’s name. His DNA was on that camera.

Lorelai instantly headed over to the interrogation room where Hull was sitting again, and proceeded to question him regarding how her husband’s DNA could possibly be found in his basement. She was horrified, but she believed with all her heart that Jack couldn’t have done anything.

During the interrogation, Hull admitted that Jack would visit sometimes and that he knew of Jack’s film camera collection. Hull, however, claimed that Jack never showed them to him, let alone bring one over. So how could his DNA possibly be on it?

While Lorelai continued to question Jim, Anastasia inspected the camera. She realized it still had the film inside it. Chief Castro was inside the room while Detective Daughtery investigated the camera, and also helped her then remove the film from the inside. They were soon directed to a room that had the equipment needed to view the film.

It soon became clear to Detective Daughtery and Chief Castro who the real culprit was. On the film were pictures documenting Jack’s disgusting life. The most graphic ones contained the cut out insides of his victims, some had him chewing on them. Dorothy wasn’t his only one.

The next month was extremely difficult for Detective Grey. The evening after they pinpointed Jack, officers visited Lorelai’s house in search of her husband’s camera collection. It took about two days to go through all the films they were able to find, and it proved Jack to be a cannibalist and murderer. Each camera had different documentation of a victim of his. All film was brought to court, and without a doubt, Jack Grey was sentenced to death. He was to be hung publicly following his heinous crimes.

When the day of his execution came, three weeks later, Lorelai felt no sympathy. She went about with her morning like any other and spent breakfast with the Frye family and Anastasia. Then together the group of them walked to the hanging, right after laying flowers amongst Dorothy’s grave.