Genevieve walked down the street, it was late but she had no reason to fear, she had walked this way many times before. She was late coming home from a small party at the Calistars, it had been a lovely time of dancing and talking. The Calistars had been hosting some of the largest events of the social season since before she could remember, but this evening had been a small gathering of close friends. She smiled as she thought back through the evening's events, "I wonder when we shall have another gathering like the one tonight," she thought. Suddenly she became aware of footsteps behind her, they sounded heavy and in the late fog of the night, they seemed almost menacing. "Hello," she called, there was no reply. She walked on, telling herself she was hearing things, but again the footsteps started and again she turned around to address them,

"Hello there, if this is some sort of joke it isn't the least bit funny." Again, there was no reply, she began to walk toward where she had heard the footsteps;

"Hello, isn't there somebody there?" she called out again, and as she walked closer she caught the outline of a gentlemen figure. But as quickly as it had appeared through the fog it retreated, "Wait," she yelled, "why were you following me?" she began to run after the figure, she chased it to the corner of the abandoned street, where the beaten down path met a small alley, at the end of which was a dead end. She reached the corner, but the figure had disappeared. She looked around and suddenly her hat seemed to tilt forward and fall off, she bent down to pick it up, when very quickly a thin, long, black streak pass right in front of her eyes and she was suddenly pulled back toward the end of the alley by something around her throat. She struggled to fix her fingers on whatever it was, but it was too tight, she felt a hand on her arm pulling her back even further and as she struggled, she began to feel herself lose air. Her vision began to turn dark red and with the last of her strength, she turned her head around to see an outline of a familiar looking face. Then the last of the air was gone from her lungs and she fell into darkness, and then there was light.....

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In all his years, Chief Martin McCollough had feared what would walk through his door. The Fairs daughter, Genvieve, had gone missing the night before, last seen leaving the Calistars gathering, her father had called late last night after she didn't arrive home. What would happen next was like something out of a ghost story, or the famous events in the newspaper, the stories that had seemed to happen so far away, like something out of a book, that it didn't seem possible that they were real. One of the officers walked into his office,

"Sir." the young officer said.

"Yes." Chief McCollough replied.

"Genevieve Fair has been found, sir." The officer had a strange look on his face.

"Good," the Chief said, "where was she all this time?"

The officer almost stuttered the words, "She was found at the end of the alley on Smith street," he said, "Dead."....