A Long Night Cry 25-27

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Chapter 25

It took nearly two hours for the Justice of the Peace to arrive, positively I.D. the body and pronounce the death of twenty-four-year-old Samuel Verlice. The passage of time allowed for the shock to wear off Eli and for the New Braunfels Police Detectives to complete their on-scene investigation, which included separate interviews with Preck and Eli.

Preck and Eli convinced the New Braunfels PD to allow them to notify the parents of Samuel since they were working an active investigation on three missing girls and because the parents might be able to help. The lieutenant in charge okayed it, so long as they took a seasoned member of the Victim Assistance Team with them.

Just after eight PM, Preck and Eli arrived at the home of record for Samuel Verlice’s parents.

“I’m a veteran like their son. Can I do the talking?” Eli asked.

Preck and the Victim Assistance Team member who met them agreed to it as they walked to the door. Eli wondered if Samuel grew up in the well-kept, two-story Victorian residence. Preck knocked twice. A few moments later, an interior light flashed on. A couple in their sixties wearing night clothes appeared behind see-through window dressings. The man stepped in front of the woman shielding her when he saw the unknowns on the porch.