"[color=f7976a]Shut up![/color]" and a thud.

The noise of glass breaking and a not so appropriate vocabulary being yelled by the residents next door were enough to wake Jack up, who, in his sleep, punched a nice little crack on the wall. He grunted, realizing he had to pay for the damage, as usual.

"[color=f7976a]Stupid wall...[/color]"

He spent the last three nights at Vertigo Motel, following a brawl he had at Greely's, which caused another dispute with his Pa. He didn't like sleeping at the motel, since it was noisy and he usually had a hangover, but the Harrisons were friends with his father and they were the few people unfazed by the fact that Jack was usually into trouble, probably because they knew him well.enough to know he usually has a reason to.

He sat at the edge of the bed to collect himself and stared at the window. People were moving around preparing for the Fall Festival. Everyone seemed to try to get the uneasiness of the eight murders out of their system by focusing on the upcoming festivities. The costumes, the decoration, the music, everything would contribute to cheer everyone up. Well, not everyone.

Festivals and celebrations were not Jack's cup of tea. It was certain that someone would try to show off to his girl or friends by picking on the town's infamous brawling drunkard or just be drunk enough to ask for a fight. A bad idea, considering Jack was stronger than your average Joe, leading to the other side's broken nose. 

A few minutes were spent in silence, after which Jack decided to stand up from his bed. He had a bath, brushed his teeth, trimmed his beard a bit -he liked his beard a lot- and finally dressed himself -today's getup consisted of a simple black jeans, a black T-shirt and his beige-brown Timberland boots-, readying himself for the upcoming trouble. He opened the window and realized he should also wear a jacket, the autumn chill embracing his body. He went downstairs and met Ms. Martha Harisson, one of the owners of the motel. She was busy helping cleaning the place, as usual, she was psychotic with cleanliness, after all.

"[color=f7976a]Goodmorning Martha...I damaged your wall in the room, here is some money for the repairs[/color]", Jack said and picked some money out of his wallet.

He was down to his last 120 dollars and his flask was almost empty, so he had to be careful to keep some money for his liquor. He left 100 dollars on the reception counter and glanced at the Erehwon Report lying there. Another murder occured, under the same mysterious circumstances. Jack was quite sure that it was because of an alien -the name Jack uses for all supernaturals- going wild on the town.

"[color=f7976a]Another murder? What in the world is Archeletta doing, waiting Sherlock Holmes to catch the culprit?[/color]

After a brief chat with Ms. Harrison and having her deliciius omelette for breakfast, Jack headed for the liquor store, puffing a cigarette, the first of many during the day, on the way.

However, his Fall Festival bad luck had already started. A careless little girl just bumped on his foot, spilling some ice-cream she had on his jeans. Jack looked at the girl.

"[color=f7976a]You should be more careful, girl...[/color]"

"[i]I...I am really sorry, m-mister...[/i]"

Jack' appearance and voice never madw a good impression with kids. The lite girl was really scared of the muscular bearded man facing her. Jack picked the last twenty bucks he had, patted the girl's head and gave her the money.

"[color=f7976a]Never mind...here, get yourself an even bigger and tastier ice-cream. Just be careful, it's cold now, your voice might get coarse...[/color]

The little girl was delighted to see that the stranger gave her enough money to buy a gigantic ice-cream cone.

"[i]Thank you mister! You are not a bad person, after all![/i]

Jack wiped the ice-cream off his jeans as much as he could, then sighed at his misfortune.

"[i][color=f7976a]Shit, now I am broke...Guess I will have to involve myself with the murder case after all. I hope they have issued a reward by now.[/color][/i]

Jack changed his course to the Erehwon polixe department. If there was a chance to get some money, it was by finding a murderer and smacking him a new one and, to do that, he needed as much information as possible. Jack had to speak with his "friend" at the station, Terrence Archeletta.