1.01 - Pilot
Title & Soundtrack~ Stillwater, OK ~
MURDER-SUICIDE AT LOVER'S POINT
October 29, 2005
Only days before Halloween, the city of Stillwater, OK was rocked by a devastating murder-suicide. The bodies of two teenagers were found at the overlook of Stillwater Lake that is popular with young couples.
Eric Birnham, a senior on the Varsity Football team at Stillwater High, was found in the back seat of his vehicle, parked at the overlook. Police declined to comment on the condition of the body, but sources say that the running back died from a single stab wound to the heart.
The body of his sweetheart, Stacy Winters, was spotted floating in Stillwater Lake by a passing motorist.
"I don't understand how this could have happened," Janice Birnham, Eric Birnham's mother, stated tearfully, "Eric and Stacy seemed so happy together. They were going to go to the same college. They were going to go to Homecoming together. They were even on the Homecoming Court. I don't understand why Stacy would kill my boy!"
This is not the first occurrence of such a tragedy at Lover's Point. Two other such murder-suicides have taken place at the same overlook of the placid Stillwater Lake, one in 1972 and another in 1987.
***
~ Blackwater, OK - 60 miles from Stillwater ~
The Devil's Trap stood on a lonely stretch of Hwy 177 just off of I-35, and it was a good thing, too. Few businesses would have survived with such an establishment next door. Like a dirty, dingy biker bar with a paranormal bent, The Devil's Trap served a specific clientele, and the general public didn't seem to care all that much for the unshaven transients that always seemed to frequent the bar.
The bar didn't actually look all that odd inside, if one were to ignore the bricks of pink salt that were set into the floor just inside the door, or the strange symbols that were painted in white on the ceiling here and there. Pentagrams inside circles with strange letterings. Otherwise, the place looked like any other dirty biker bar. Old pool tables with faded green felt took up a large portion of the floorspace, and against the back wall stood a long bar stocked with bottles, mostly types of whiskey.
The two young men that sat at the bar nursing beers were currently the only patrons. One had a military-style cut to his hair and wore a leather bomber jacket and a sour look on his face. The other was a few inches shorter and had a much more mischievous look about him, although it may have been the long fire-engine-red hair that he sported. They were in the midst of a whispered conversation.
Gabriel Brooks, the owner-proprietor-bartender, stood behind the bar, many feet off to the left of the whispering duo. The surprisingly clean-shaven middle-aged man apparently had a thing for the Old West, because the sleeves of his white long-sleeved shirt were rolled up and held with a snappy pair of black arm-garters. Regulars knew not to make fun of them, but every so often a new hunter would roll in and make a snarky comment about Gabe's choice in fashion. Other than his reaction to snide comments about his choice in clothing, Gabe Brooks was a fairly genial man, always forthcoming with any sort of knowledge he had, mundane or...not.
This was the kind of place to come to not only have a few moments of downtime, but to plan a mission and get some intel. The perfect place to start.