Imagine waking up one morning and when you look at your friends or loved ones, you see their ears, noses and mouths stretched back with deep grooves on their foreheads, cheeks and chins.

All the people you know have suddenly turned into hideous demonic creatures, and it's not even

remotely close to Halloween.

That's what one Tennessee man is experiencing right now.

I talk about him in this week's Mind of Marler,

which you can find at mind of Marler.com. dot com.

Westminster, Colorado.

It's a police where the Rockies loom like watchful sentinels and secrets hide in the shadows of suburban dreams.

Little did I know that on that crisp October morning in 2012, I'd be dragged to this part of the country into a case blacker

than a moonless night and colder than the peaks of the mountains on the city's horizon.

It all started when Sarah Ridgeway mountains on the city's horizon.

It all started when Sarah Ridgeway stumbled into my office.

Her eyes redder than a stop sign, her voice shakier than a leaf in a tornado.

Her little girl, Jessica, had vanished.

Sarah had no way of knowing until it was too late.

She'd just come off work in a graveyard shift and had just enough time to kiss her daughter

goodbye that morning as she started walking off to school.

Jessica never arrived.

The cops were already on it sure but Sarah wanted someone who could dig deeper

someone who could sift through the grit and grime of human nature. That's where I came

in. My name's not important. I'm a private eye. And

bourbon enthusiast. And professional unwinder of life's tangled yarns.

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