Abraham … or Abe, as everyone besides his parents called him … McAndrews worked hard and obeyed the law all his life … always did what was expected of him … and yet never got respect from anyone in Charleville. … Always seen as a boring lump of a bore … he ambled through the town as an Unwanted.

This was the father of the brother and sister, Arnold and Chelsea, whom I murdered … I found out more about him and what he did when later … I won’t say how or when … I discovered a journal he’d been keeping in his car ever since Chelsea and Arnold’s death. … Perhaps … to some my narrative of Abe’s life will come across as too harsh … and perhaps to others not harsh enough. … However it is … it’s important I tell his story … however little I know of it … as well as my own.

Abe was seen as a loser in town … not someone anyone really liked. … Small towns can be unrelenting in their cruelty. … If someone is disliked … for reasons no one can really explain … It’s rare for that person to ever get back into the good graces of everyone else. … Once you’re defined as this or that … you will forever be this or that. … That Abe McAndrews … Yeah? … I tell ya he ain’t really alive … he just walks through town like air … like he’s not even there. … Once a worthless good for nothing loser … Always a worthless good for nothing loser.

It was no different when he walked into the sheriff's office just then … just as Sheriff Ostertag was eating his lunch. … Despite the fact Abe McAndrews was an orderly, law-abiding citizen of Charleville … his daughter, Chelsea McAndrews, and son, Arnold McAndrews, were not … and because of this, the Sheriff didn't care much for Abe McAndrews. … It was commonly accepted it was the older man's fault for his daughter and son’s … recklessness.

Everyone assumed he must have done something to them … brother and sister … incest relations … drug addicts … trouble-makers … violent streaks … criminal activities … People just don’t pop out bad … do they? … No, everyone said to themselves and to each other … Abe must’ve had something to do with it. … But what?

- What's up, Abe? the Sheriff asked with little effort as he continued to eat his ham sandwich and eye Abe McAndrews over his desk.

Sheriff Ostertag was a tall, bulky ex-basketball player … so tall he played the center position at Arizona State. … But college ball was as far as he went. … His lack of foot speed and overall athleticism … and his prone to choking when it counted … kept him from being drafted to the pros. … Of course, to him it was the fact he wasn't black and all the teams his draft year already had their token white guy. … Rather than play in Europe with crazy socialists and fascists … Ostertag turned his back on basketball … took over his father's job as Sheriff of hometown Charleville.

The fact Ostertag even played college ball at all made him the most respected person in town. … Local Hero Done Good. … That … and his size … made him an intimidating Sheriff. … Abe was always scared of Ostertag. … He knew the Sheriff hated his daughter and son ever since they robbed his wife … and they robbed her not just for the typical crack-head’s reason of getting whatever cash they could find … but because they stole his wife’s bi-weekly stash of 3 grams of cocaine. … It put him in perplexing position to say the least … being Sheriff Ostertag and all … but he found other things to arrest them for.

Ostertag was itching to catch them for something big … so they could be put away for a long time … but in a way … he thought to himself … their deaths were just as good. … Easier, in fact. … He had to do barely any work at all. … Little old Abe was the only one who cared about an investigation at all.

- I wanted to know if you were … you know … any closer to finding my daughter and son’s killer. … Abe finally said … as he watched the Sheriff eat a ham sandwich.

- Nope. Ostertag said simply with some ham hanging from his mouth.

- Any leads?

- Not much. … All we know is the killer was an out of towner … young guy … and that your little boy and girl ran into him at the bar. … They then went to the motel … did some crystal and some crack … both meth and crack were found at the murder site … the meth pipe already used and some crack found on the carpet … amidst the blood … then something happened … he killed them … then he left.

- We know where he's from?

- Nope. … Just out of town.

- Wouldn't Stan at the bar know something … or Cindy or Gerald at the motel?

- Apparently not.

Abe waited for Ostertag to say more … waited and waited … all he got was a steely, cold reserve from the Sheriff. … Abe hated being judged … but was used to it.

- Come on … you've got to have more than that. Abe suddenly relaxed out of passive fear. … At least give me some kind of indication you’re going to pursue it further.

- No, Abe, we don't have more than that … and I don’t plan to look into it further.

- How … how can you let a killer be out there … free … on the loose … Abe slouched in retreat inwardly but was searching for some kind of pride. … this is my son and daughter we're talking about.

- I know that.

- Don't you care who killed them?

- Look, we all know you're upset … losing Chelsea and Arnold … it’s a natural reaction any reasonable parent with an ounce of love in them would have. … But the fact of the matter is … no one but you misses them. … Sorry to say this but you know what my heart, my gut tell me … Good Riddance to both of them … if you want my honest opinion.

Ostertag was testing Abe McAndrews. … He wanted to see if the poor old man would jump into Manhood for at least a moment. … Abe wanted to kill the Sheriff right then and there. … He knew what he was doing … hated being challenged by anyone … least of all Ostertag. … But this was his son and daughter he was pushing his buttons with. … Abe felt a line had been crossed.

- Holy Mother of God … How can you be so ruthless? … Abe finally got out … but more of a whimper than an outrage.

- Ruthless about drug addicts … drug dealers … thieves … punks … low-lifes? … And their relations, Abe … for Christ’s sake …

- Don’t take the Lord’s name in Vain.

- They were brother and sister!

Pause. … Abe said nothing and expressed nothing.

- Sorry for not being a kinder sheriff, Abe. … I'm just doing my job.

- But you're not doing your job! … You're sitting on your ass while my son and daughter's killer is out there somewhere! … Abe said with more defiance than he usually displayed. … Ostertag was caught off guard … then quickly reminded himhyself of how pathetic Abe was to him in his mind.

- You're crossing the line, Abe. … I don't want to see you lose it in my office. … Ostertag said calmly … yet under the quagmire of day’s woth of shows as he sat up from his chair. … He stood at 6'11'', towering over the fragile, quaint Abe McAndrews.

Abe stood still … trembling. … Why was he always losing at everything he did? … Why were other people always beating him? … He hated how the Sheriff intimidated him … made him powerless. … At this time in his life … after a lifetime of following the Law so obediently, now he needed the Law behind him … they needed … he needed support … not ridicule … not belittling intimidation. … He'd been getting that all his life and now the only thing he cared about … his son and daughter … had been killed and no one cared.

- Maybe some day you'll understand how I feel. … Abe said as he shrank away … heading towards the door.

- Maybe some day … you'll see you didn't do your job as a father, Abe.

How could the sheriff say that to him? … Now, of all times? … It was another blow on his bruise. … Why did people continually hit him, pound him, attack him? … Because they knew he'd never hit back.