Atlas Missing - Part 9

The #nudistertian day began with me moving everything I owned into storage except for what I needed for a cheap one-bedroom apartment, and now here I was just a few days later, pawing through the remains of someone else's life. I wondered if I would ever get mine back.

***

'Why is it always a post-#jentacular jogger that finds the bodies?' Jaci asked. 'Is no one else up that early?'

'Who else did you want to find them?' I countered. 'Dog-walkers? Little old ladies?'

'It's such a cliche.'

'There's a reason for that,' Hannah interjected.

***

'It's a cliche because it's true,' I told Jaci and held up an evidence bag. 'This is a hair sample, but it hasn't been tested. Why not?'

'They don't have the funding to test for DNA on cold cases,' Hannah said. 'According to the police report, the hair is #ulotrichous.'

***

'And?'

'All of their suspects had straight hair, not curly.'

'Clearly they don't have a very enhanced #kakorrhaphiophobia,' I said.

'What does fear of failure have to do with anything?' Hannah asked.

'If you don't fear failure, you have no reason to try and succeed.'

***

'That's not entirely true, but the hair does need to be tested,' Jaci said. 'Put it in a separate pile. There might be other stuff that needs testing.'

'Is she always this #erinaceous?'

'Not usually,' I answered. 'She's got personal stuff going on.'

'Can I help you?'

***

'No.'

I stared at her. 'I'd have expected you to be less #pauciloquent than that in your answer.'

'Sorry to disappoint. We should get on with looking through this evidence.'

'Sorry I asked,' Hannah said and joined us at the table. 'What exactly do you hope to find?'

***

'I hope to find something we can use.'

Two hours later, we'd gone through all of the physical evidence from the five cases. We wanted to test everything that hadn't been tested yet and had it taken to the crime lab. I took the opportunity to do a #pandiculation exercise.

***

I stretched, and yawned, and then sat down in one of the chairs. 'I don't know why, but I'm #wabbit.'

'She means exhausted,' Jaci translated for Hannah.

'Why didn't you just say that then?'

'I like the word. It's unusual.'

'It's Scottish.'

'Why does that matter?'

***

'I just thought you'd like to know where the word comes from,' Jaci said with a tone.

'What are you feeling right now?' Hannah asked.

'I don't know. I need to get out of here.'

'I think you might be suffering from #alexithymia,' Hannah said. 'What are you feeling?'

***

'I know exactly how I'm feeling,' Jaci countered. 'My ex husband is missing, my daughter won't tell me if she saw what happened, and we have two serial killers on the loose in Houston. It just feels like my life is going a little #widdershins at the moment. I'll be fine.'

***