Jack ultimately chose to check the Farr house first.
Hope went with him, while Paul and Dr. Morgan took another route.
The Farr house was fairly large, but only two bodies remained inside, a man and a woman.
The man was probably Fred Farr, whose name Paul had told them. They didn't know who the woman was, though she was likely Fred Farr's wife.
Both had been beheaded. They lay on the floor, the cuts across their necks smooth and clean, consistent with the strength the kidnappers had shown on the wooden bed.
Hope dropped to his knees and dry-heaved twice.
"I thought you'd be used to this by now," Jack said.
"Used to what?" Hope pressed a hand to his chest. "Dead people? That's called going numb."
Despite what he said, Hope knew he didn't really feel sad anymore. His discomfort came more from the bodies. He was afraid of those two blood-red openings, where the bleeding had yet to stop.
They didn't linger. Jack searched the house inside and out but found nothing.
He offered Hope a few words of comfort, then set off with him again.
When Jack came out of the Farr house, he seemed considerably bulkier. But between the dim light and his low spirits, Hope couldn't be sure.
They didn't ride horses. Jack drove Dr. Morgan's small truck, with Hope in the passenger seat. It was the early hours of the morning, and everything outside was pitch-black. Fog and dark clouds hung over Dunwich, hiding the moon as it neared the horizon. The landscape was barely visible in shades of gray.
Jack switched on the headlights.
The two beams grounded Hope. They told him he really was in his normal state, rather than facing the Monster or caught in one of Jack's spells.
Hope