Racerunner #4

"Yep at's right," a second man chimed in, "I heard they's been dogs...ferensics...the whole shebang all over them woods and ain't found hide nor hair o'them kids."

While eavesdropping on the locals' conversation, Kevin had been scanning the menu to come with some sort of order.  The blonde waitress who greeted him came up and asked, "Can I get you something to drink, sir?"

Kevin looked up to see that the young woman was teary-eyed and obviously struggling to hold her emotions together.  The name on her uniform said "Rachel."

"Umm...yes, how about a coffee please?"

She disappeared briefly and then returned with a thick-walled ceramic cup of steaming black joe.

"Now, sir, will you be enjoying one of our famous burger platters?" she asked, still trying to hide the fact that she was in danger of losing her composure.

"Actually, I was thinking of trying your biscuits and gravy."

"That's an excellent choice too, sir.  I'll get right on that."

Racerunner#3

Racerunner#5

Racerunner #3

He checked in, and then walked across the street to a small cafe.  Over the year's Kevin learned that--especially in rural communities--sometimes your best information came from hanging out, shutting your mouth, and just observing the local scene.

The jingle of a metallic bell announced his entrance, and elicited an ultra bubbly, "Good afternoon, welcome to the Hungry Hut," from a blonde girl behind the counter.  Kevin scanned the room for available seating and spotted a spot at the bar near to four older-looking gentlemen nursing coffees in a corner booth.

"...Tell ya I ain't never see nothing like this in all my years.  Closest wuz in '65 when ole Klimson got arrested fer killin' them two girls.  But they caught him in less than a week.  Sheriff Tand has had deputies out every night since the first one went a'missin'."

Racerunner#2

Racerunner#4

Racerunner #2

By late afternoon, DeGraal's Renault Alpine cruised down the quiet main street of Ketters Gap. From the gawking of the locals, Kevin supposed it was rather unusual for anything lacking a trailer hitch to be spotted on the main drag.  He checked into a local motor lodge, The Spruce View.

He could, of course, have afforded something much nicer...but the nearest "decent" hotels were at least 2.5 hours away; and Kevin's intended work required getting up close and personal.  Additionally, he found that both the proprietors and guests of establishments like The Spruce View made a point not to ask too many questions about each other.  You could rarely count on that sort of personal business-minding in the higher-dollar places. Given the climate of the country these days, assured privacy was exactly what was needed by someone moonlighting as a non-government-sanctioned superhero.

Racerunner #1

Racerunner #3

Racerunner #1

Kevin DeGraal opened his laptop, logged-into the his feedreader account, and began scanning items collated from a variety of governmental and media outlets.  Suddenly, his attention was arrested by a report from a rural mountain hamlet known as Ketters Gap:  "Third child missing in as many weeks; police remain baffled.  Rumors persist of 'monster' in the hills." This is it--he mused--the next case to be taken on by the Racerunner.

Racerunner #2