The Other Daniel - A Camille Grisham Novella by John Hardy Bell

PROLOGUE
    THE OTHER DANIEL – BY JACOB DEAVER
     
     
     
    Between 2008 and 2012,
Daniel Alexander Sykes savagely murdered twenty-seven people,
including the FBI agent who was attempting to capture him. Sykes
was a monster in every sense of the word – a true representation of
the worst that humanity had to offer. And as the grisly details of
his four-year crime spree slowly emerged, no sane person would have
dared argued otherwise.
    But as you are about to
read, there is much more to Daniel Sykes than the man who the world
came to know as ‘The Circle Killer’. He was a first-grade teacher
from Kutztown, Pennsylvania, a loving husband, a doting father,
and, dare it be said, a human being. By the time you are finished
with this book, you may very well want to label me more
pathologically twisted than the subject I am writing about. Or you
may come to a more rational and balanced conclusion: that it is
very easy to judge someone without first knowing everything about
them. But it isn't always fair to do so.
     
    Meredith Park slowly
exhaled as she put the two-paragraph
manuscript down on her desk, only now realizing that she had been
holding her breath the entire time she was reading it.
    The author of the manuscript sat across from
her, nervous anticipation accentuating the tightness of his face.
"So? What do you think?"
    Meredith carefully considered her reply as
she scanned the top of the page. "I think the title is
brilliant."
    The author smiled the same way all authors
smiled when they heard the 'B' word. Images of Hemmingway and
Salinger were undoubtedly swirling through his head, and Meredith
knew she had to bring him back into the realm of the living -
quickly.
    "But I'm not seeing much else of value
here."
    She had never seen a face drop faster.
    "I'm sorry, Jacob. I've always believed in
the concept, and I still do. But the fact of the matter is that
it's been three months since you've collected your advance. I know
I don't have to preach to you about the importance of deadlines,
and given your track record I’m confident you'll find a way to meet
this one. I just thought there would be a little more meat on the
bone by now."
    Jacob Deaver's stiff
posture was betrayed by the pronounced quivering of his chin. It
was a reaction that Meredith had seen too many times before. In her
experience, writers were the most prideful human beings on the
planet, and no matter how much they extolled the virtues of honest
feedback, deep down the only feedback they truly valued was the
kind that confirmed the perfection of their words. Entering her
tenth year as a literary agent, Meredith had come across perfection
only a handful of times. In three years of critiquing his work,
Jacob had yet to come close. But The Other
Daniel contained all the necessary
elements of a potential bestseller: dark subject matter, intriguing
players, and most importantly, controversy. It was the kind of book
that got people talking. And no matter if that talk was positive or
negative, it was still talk, which in Meredith's business was
everything. She was on the verge of reminding her client of this
potential, but felt no need to further inflate his ego. She needed
words on the page. And no matter how much potential the book had,
two paragraphs in three months simply wasn’t enough.
    "The publisher hasn't asked for a progress
report yet, but it's only a matter of time. And when the time does
come, they are going to expect a lot more than this. Frankly I
expect more too. A lot of people are sticking their necks out to
get this to press. It's time to give them a reason to believe that
it's worth it." She sighed, then slid the manuscript in his
direction. "What are you going to do to make them believe?"
    Jacob eyed the page as if the answer was
hidden somewhere deep in the margins. "It's going to come together,
Meredith." His tired brown eyes communicated a doubt that his words
did not.
    "How? When?"
    "The outline is finished and the basic
narrative is