One

A dark alleyway of the city in the middle of the night. A seedy motel in the middle of nowhere. An abandoned camp by a lake. These are the places that one would expect a gruesome murder to occur. At least that was what Sheriff Cedric Collins was thinking as he pulled up to where the tow truck was pulling a large pickup truck out of the ravine.

It was covered in mud and debris but he could still see that it was painted a bright shade of red. The front license plate was missing and, if he was correct in assuming it had deliberately been removed, so was the rear. Cedric heaved a heavy sigh as he shoved the door open and stepped into the frigid rain that seemed to defy the lightening sky of the dawn.

"Do we know who was driving?" He called gruffly to his deputy and cousin, Kert Collins, by way of greeting.

"No but we do have unidentified victims." Kert said as he gestured to the drivers side of the truck dismissively. It was his way of hinting that Cedric should look closer than an assumption. "I'll get the vin and run it. See if I can't put a name with a face."

"Yeah. Sounds good." Cedric barely acknowledged his cousin as he got closer to the truck. As the night faded away to distant memory he could see the horrors had gone with the shadows into the realm of nightmares. But they had left their mark on the corporeal by way of five bullet holes and a shattered window. Blood and gelatinous globs of what he assumed were brains were sprayed across the interior of the vehicle from what had once been the drivers head. The passenger door was clear of the congealing fluid which could only mean one thing. "Some one was in the passenger seat!" He called to Kert for confirmation.

"Yup." Kert acknowledged briefly as he approached the bed of the truck. "My guess is that it was this poor bastard in the bed." He flipped back the corner of a thick tarp that Cedric hadn't noticed. "Sheriff meet John and Jack Doe."

"Guess it's too much to hope that John and Jack had a falling out and killed each other." Deputy Maxine Swallow tried hopefully as she approached from the road.

"If that were the case then who shot the driver's side door?" Cedric asked pointedly. "Maxine try to find an I.D. for either of the victims. It may help us figure out who wanted them dead and why."

"Wait, Cedric. Are you going to the Tolsen wedding this weekend?" Maxine was pretty there was no doubt about that but she lacked a certain intelligence that rendered her almost useless as a deputy. Cedric rolled his eyes as he turned to her.

"Maxine this is not the time or place to discuss it." He half growled as Kert hid a snort behind his hand. Cedric didn't wait for Maxine to respond before heading for his truck. The radio was buzzing to life which meant he had somewhere else he was needed.

"You can't blame her for trying, Cedric." Kert said as Cedric was reaching for the receiver. "You could be a little more gentle when shooting her down."

"Stay out of it Kert." Cedric warned cryptically. He would never tell his cousin that he had slept with Maxine. "This is Sheriff Collins go ahead." He wanted to let Kert know that he wasn't in the mood to discuss his dating life at the moment.

"Sheriff, you need to head out to the Bennett house. Sherly Bennett and her friend say they saw a UFO late last night while sitting on the roof looking at stars." Tracy, the dispatcher, informed him.

"Were they high?" He asked when it sank in that he was about to go on an aliens-took-my-cow call. He was already annoyed with the day. Kert was saying something else to him but he didn't care enough to listen.

"Sherly says no but Kylie Bennett says it may be a possibility. I'm not sure who to believe but I'll call out an ambulance just in case." Tracy was a lot like her dad, Kert, she was much smarter than she let on.

"Alright I'm on my way." He replied as he started up his truck. "I'm not interested in dating at the moment Kert. So stop trying."

"You say that now Cedric but I know you. You need some one to take care of." Kert called after him as he pulled out into the road and started for the Bennetts. He couldn't help but think it was going to be a long day.