He had been there for a total of four days, and each morning that he sat outside enjoying the cold air, he would see Ellie Talbot appear from the double French doors at the side of the building that was the bed and breakfast she ran with her husband Henry. And each morning he would curiously watch her as she would take her cup of hot tea and walk the trail that lead up the hillside into the tree’s above and behind the Shady Oak Lodge overlooking the small mountain community of Corbett Lake. Even the light dusting of snow that had fallen over night and the bitter cold didn’t stop Ellie from making her appointed rounds, he watched her as she slowly disappeared into the trees, and then there came the strange uncomfortable feeling of a cold, cold silence that seemed to hang into the morning air, until Ellie’s piercing scream shattered it. He heard her screaming that odd name that she called him, “Mr Smith! Oh my God! Mr Smith! You must come! Quickly Mr Smith! She was now bare foot running back down the pathway towards him, both of her knees were bleeding from scraps that he’d gathered she’d gotten from falling as she’d ran back down the path in her hysteria, he met her at the entrance to the trail and caught her as she fell again.

He tried to calm her, “Mrs. Talbot? What is it? Tell me what happened sweetie, what’s wrong?” Henry Talbot soon appeared at his side, and the man that they called “Smith” ushered Ellie Talbot into her husbands arms and motioned for them both to go back inside while he went to investigate. Henry Talbot watched on as Smith disappeared up the trail and into the woods, Ellie was now sitting in Henry’s Chair by the fireplace with her knees pulled to her chest and both arms wrapped tightly around them, she was sobbing uncontrollable. But all that Henry Talbot was able to do was stare through the open doorway at the entrance to the pathway, waiting anxiously for Smith to return. moments later he stepped through the door and told Henry to call the police. There was a dead body in the Woods, it was the third one in a week that had been found there in the small community, and that in and of itself was very disturbing to the people that lived there, because Corbett Lake was so small and that kind of thing just didn’t happen very often if at all. Henry Talbot was there to greet the sheriffs deputy when he arrived at the front of the building and officer Danny Gauge informed him that Sheriff Jacks would be along shortly, when Smith appeared in the entrance of the Shady Oak Lodge wearing only a Tank top and work out sweats in zero degree weather, he gave Deputy Daniel Gauge the chills from just looking at him, moments later Sheriff Albert Jacks arrived on the scene.

Smith led them up the hillside along the path into the woods to where Ellie Talbot had discovered the body, and both sheriff and deputy were taken aback by the ease and almost effortless way he seemed to move in the bitter cold temperature. Smith was tall and well toned older gentleman that jacks guessed to be in his early fifties but he moved like someone much younger, his hair was almost as white as the snow on the ground and fell to his broad shoulders. Jacks found it odd that he had these eerie almost black eyes that gave him a menacing look. He didn’t seem to even feel the cold, Albert Jacks was nearly freezing, Smith stopped, “the body is back in about twenty five yards that way,” he pointed into the trees, “I retraced my steps back out so I didn’t disturb the scene, there’s probably forensic evidence to consider, the only other person to come up here was Ellie Talbot, and of course the person who did it.” Sheriff Albert Jacks nodded his approval.

He instructed Deputy Daniel Gauge to return to the Lodge to wait for the Medical Examiner to arrive with the forensics team, while he questioned Ellie Talbot and Mr Smith, who was already making his way back down the path to the Lodge when Sheriff Jacks turned to question him. “Oh Mr Smith! one moment please,” he turned to face him, “Sheriff, there’s something that we should probably clear up from the beginning, You see, there seems to be some confusion about my name, you see it isn’t Smith,” he gave him a blank stare “ So why did Ellie call you that?” Smith smiled. “You see when I checked in at the lodge I was carrying a file with the Smith Pharmaceuticals logo on it , that’s a company that I was sent here by my associates to do an audit on, we are considering recommending them to a group of investors, we need to be sure they can deliver the product on time, its all pretty hush, hush type of business. The Smith Name was in big black letters on the company header she must have confused it for my name, seeing as how I didn’t even register under the name of Smith, I suppose I should have corrected her sooner but she’s such a sweet lady I didn’t.” Sheriff Jacks held up his hand “ yeah I know,” he smiled, “Ellie’s a real sweetheart, so… How did you know about preserving the crime scene? Just a logical guess or did you see it on television?” when he didn’t answer right away the sheriff found himself becoming anxious, “No actually, my future son in law is a police officer in River City, I have been around crime scenes more than once, as for the rest, well, let us just say that he is a wealth of information.” The medical examiner made his way up towards them and Albert Jacks directed him and the forensics team to the body, and when he turned to once again face the former Mr Smith who was already to the end of the pathway, he ran down the path to catch up with him, and when he did he was almost out of breath, “So, if Smith Isn’t your name what is?” he stopped to extend his hand to the sheriff. “McLain.. Sebastian Alexander McLain.”