Five Years Later

A lot has happened since Hyde, from now on known by his real nickname, Mac (after all, no need to protect the innocent anymore), died unexpectedly in May of 2008. For one thing, Mom died six months after that. Then I quit teaching and moved home for almost two years, then back to California, and now I'm getting ready to move home again, for a final time.

Mac's death is still unsettling and mysterious. Many questions remain unanswered. Jeckle (from here on known by her real nickname, Sissy) and I even made a trip to the police station a couple of years ago to meet with the lead detective to try and get some questions answered. We left with little more than we already knew.

As I mentioned in entries back in 2008, Mac had made it abundantly clear that, because he felt he had missed out on much of his life due to his mental illness, he wanted to live as long as possible, by any means necessary. He was very pro life support and heroic measures. It never made sense to us that he did not call anyone for help.

Also, I discovered during my time with "Cap'n John" that Mac had, in fact, been under surveillance by a private investigator hired, Sissy and I assumed, by his neighbor, a prominent and influential (and entirely untrustworthy) citizen (previously referred to in these posts as the Coach). I was told by Cap'n John that Mac was coming and going at all hours and sometimes disappearing for days on end and that this, for some reason, prompted his neighbor's "concern" and desire to keep an eye on him. Then why, Sissy and I have wondered many times, did no one notice the fact that newspapers were piling up by the mailbox and that Mac had not left the house for almost three weeks? Why did no one alert the authorities? We smell a BIG RAT, a.k.a. The Coach, or, The Prominent and Influential Citizen. Unfortunately, small community = Big Secrets.

We know that Mac wasn't right in the head, and that he often got involved in dangerous things with dangerous people, but something about his death just isn't right.