Blog #9

Of course! How did Vani not connect the murder of the Maitland brother with the murder of Mr. Evans!

Excited for the first time in years, Vani rushed to discuss the new theory with Detective Linh. She wasn't at the police station. Once Vani got to the station, nobody would take the time to talk or acknowledge Vani. He tried getting someone's attention, but people kept passing by him.

And in that moment that's when Vani had the biggest revelation of his life:

He was not human anymore. He's been a ghost.

He died with his father, and nothing he did mattered.

Blog #8

The weather the past year had not been the best. After snow, fog, and more, yet another snowstorm blew into the Maitland early March. The cold, frigid air just about knocks everyone out, leaving people never wanting to leave their beds and homes. 

Despite the glacial ice and snow, Halle Maze alerts that she believed she saw Ether Maitland strolling through the town towards the West tower. 

It was peculiar, Vani sat in his worn down apartment with holes in the walls and lacked insulation, yet he felt nothing. He felt no cold, no frigid air. He did not recognize it at first, but he began reflecting. Has he felt anything physical in a while? How much progress has he really made in the Mr. Evans investigation? How did Logan give him a clue, wasn't he in a car accident 8 years ago?

There had been so much horrible weather, it was routine for Vani to stay in his apartment and do nothing all day. This snow day, Vani just laid back and fell asleep; he didn't want to worry or stress about anything in his past or present or future, just sleep.

Blog #6

Vani woke up feeling heavy and tired. Fog had covered the town, making everyone in a fuzz. No one was safe outside or inside. Vani even had trouble seeing anything in his apartment. 

Vani headed to the governor's office. People were going crazy, criticizing the newspaper printer, Norman, for grabbing a newspaper edition from 6 years ago. Apparently there was another unsolved murder investigation on this day 6 years ago. Ether Maitland, Edgar Maitland's brother, held the headline on the top of the newspaper. 

The town was crazy; the heavy fog had turned everyone into a daze, making it seem as though people were actually living in the past.

Vani had somehow found his way back home. While everyone was reminiscing or reflecting on the past, Vani sat at home on his worn down couch, remembering when his life was easier and his father had not been taken from him. Even though he was distracted from Mr. Evans' murder, Vani's mind was spinning wishing that he could've done something to save his father. His father is the reason Vani became a cop. 

Vani's eyes slowly closed. He envisioned the moment he decided that he wanted to change. If only Vani's father's job didn't have to kill him, didn't have to run him off the road with his son in it. 

Blog #5

I need to fix that, thought Vani as he stared up at the stars through his broken window. It was a surprisingly clear sky; everyone crowded on the roof of the Maitland to stargaze but Vani couldn't bring himself to try to socialize with people. 

Suddenly a bright gleaming shape flew across the sky! It was a shooting star! The star brightened up Vani's apartment for only a second, but it was the brightest his home had ever been. In that moment, Vani remembered how this apartment changed his life. In that moment, Vani wanted only one thing: he wanted to be with his father again. In that moment, Vani decided that there was hope; it was possible to one day discover who he was on his own.

Vani wished upon a star. It's time to change. My only wish is to grow up like my father, to leave the dark days behind me. I aspire to be like him one day. I tried, and that is all I could've done, Vani thought to himself. It was almost as if fragments of the shooting star fell onto Vani and sparked a reflective spell upon him. Not only did the shooting star introduce unknown hope that Vani didn't know he had, but it also lit up the Maitland. Things were starting to look up.

Just as Vani tried to relax, he was startled by a sharp chime from his cell phone, only it wasn't his cell phone. It was the flip phone that Logan gave him. 

The message read, "Stay on alert. Nothing is as it seems." 

Vani decided to go to the governor. The murder of Mr. Evans had dragged on too long. 

Blog #4

The police station had become Vani's new home; he spent early mornings and late nights trying to wrap his head around the murder of late Mr. Evans. It was two days after the funeral, and snow had just began to fall to add cold darkness to the area.

The flip phone that Logan gave Vani hadn't buzzed since the last and only message was sent the night Logan appeared in Vani's apartment.

Vani not only wanted to pay his respects for Mr. Evans, but he was assigned by the governor and Chief Clark to be on the lookout for suspicious people. The fact that everyone was still shaken up about the murder made the job a little harder to point any one person out.

Vani's stiff slender figure stood in the shadows of the graveyard as the service took place and observed each and every person that walked past him. With a pen in his left hand and a notepad in the other, Vani wrote down descriptions of anyone looking out of place.

Vani heard about the failed meeting that Lamar held to try to get closer to answers about the murder. He joined Lamar at the diner; he listened to him for ours moaning and mumbling about how fear has swarmed and infected the Maitland.

Vani pulled out the flip phone that Logan gave him and dialed the only number stored.

"Hello?" said Vani.

The phone made a clicking sound and silence beamed in Vani's ear.

Lamar looked up from his notes, frowned, and then fell back into the booth.

It was as though Lamar was too invested in the case that he didn't even realize Vani sat across from him.

Blog #3

It was 4pm, and Vani sat in his office chair; silent, still, lifeless. He gazed over Mr. Evans' case file for the hundredth time, yet he still couldn't wrap his mind around what lied right in front of his eyes. With his head in his hands, Vani let out a rough sigh and rose to get a cup of coffee. Maybe it was Vani's lack of sleep last night or maybe it was the fact that he'd had 8 cups of coffee in the last hour, but either way, Vani could not focus. Ever since Vani had returned, the only constant thing in his life was darkness.

By the time Vani finished his cup of coffee, it was 4:15, so he thought he'd might as well take a stroll to his apartment to freshen up before he had to start his night shift with Officer Luong. He and Luong were going to spend a long night together cracking down on the investigation of Mr. Evans' murder. Vani liked Officer Luong, he just thought that she was a little too young to be working with him. There was no disrespect towards Luong; Vani was impressed at how committed and hardcore she was, considering she looked so feminine and fragile. Vani called her the "police princess." Clearly Chief Clark made the mistake from the start to hand over the Evans case to her though; considering the governor had to specially call in Vani, it was evident that the "newbie" wasn't progressing much.

Vani walked half a block down Magnolia and another half block down Maine to get to his apartment. The fresh crisp air felt nice. Vani needed to take that little break.

He decided to take the stairs since the elevator breaks down so often, plus he was in the mood to move his long legs that had been cramped up behind a desk in a rolly chair for nearly 5 hours straight. Vani arrived to his apartment with his keys ready in his hands. Suddenly, with all of his might, Vani stopped; he stopped everything; moving, blinking, even breathing. He stares at his doorknob. I lock my door every time I leave; it's a religious habit, he thought to himself. Out of instinct, Vani pulled his glock out of his holster and opens the door slowly, so that not even the bolts in the door had the chance to squeak. Vani could make out a dark figure lying on the couch, still as death.

"Hands above your head where I can see them, NOW!" said Vani.

The dark figure raised one hand straight up and used the other to slowly yank the the metal-balled string and turn the couch side lamp on. Anticipation built up in Vani only for him to suddenly let out an exastrous sigh.

"Vani boy... good to see ya!" Logan screamed contently. Logan was one of Vani's friends when he first moved to America. He and Vani went through the police academy together and were the top lead detectives in the Detroit Police Department.

"Logan you just about gave me a heart attack! What on earth made you travel to this small town?" said Vani.

"Vani, I have something important to tell you. We can catch up later, but right now, you need to listen to me. We don't have much time, so I need you to focus." Logan reaches in his pocket and pulls out a flip phone that looks ages old. "Take this and speak to no one about  me or this interaction. I am a ghost in this town and I intend to stay that way."

"Logan, what is this about? Are you in trouble?"

"No Vani, you are. Trust no one, especially Chief Clark."

There is a silent eye exchange as Vani senses the fear in Logan's eyes and the sweat that drips down the side of his face.

"Take the phone Vani, please! I must go!" said Logan, and the second the phone was exchanged, on went Logan's fedora, and he disappeared into the hallway like a ghost.

 Exactly one minute later, the flip phone buzzes. All it read was, "I know who murdered Mr. Evans."

Blog #2

Black surrounded Vani. The sky was dark, the town was dark, Vani felt dark.

All Vani could possibly think of was the haunting voice inside his head telling

him that he failed to save a life; it was all his fault. The governor called Vani

in to the office. All blame was placed on him for the lack of protecting Mr.

Evans. The Maitland was supposed to be protected by officers like Vani, but

Vani failed. Now he has failed twice, but he does not blame himself for Mr.

Evans' death; all he cares about is the death he had to escape from.

Vani grew up in the Maitland, but it had been nearly twelve years since he

returned since then. The past three months had been rough since Vani

returned to his hometown, to his home that he grew up in but was now only

a room of filth.

Vani needed to get up and go to work which he dreaded after the incident

that changed his life. He swayed slowly into his bathroom and looked at

himself in the mirror. He rolled his eyes at the loud sound of a random guy

warming up to sing in a concert that the governor tried to set up. Vani

suggested that the governor not invite anyone to town since the investigation

into the death of Mr. Evans is still up and running.

It was time to shave. It was time for the stubble on Vani's face to go. He

actually found himself shaving along to the tune of one of Conrad's, the

concert guy's songs. Vani didn't know a lot about this Conrad guy but he

liked one of his songs that goes like "You can go and blame it on a simple

tof fate."

Cleanly shaven, Vani's tall slender figure leaves his apartment building so

swiftly, so light on his feet, that it looks as if he sways like a ghost.

The body length trench coat over his ragged uniform makes him look

so mysterious and suspicious, as if he didn't belong in the Maitland.

It was time to go immediately to the governor to dive back into the

Evans' investigation. What else was Vani going to do with his day;

it's not like he had anyone else.