"Plot"

(It would do well for anyone who read the first version of this to forget that one and read this one anew!)



For years he had been trying to come up with something new and at long last he would get it,Not come up with it but get it from a close friend as a reward for doing some work for him.
“So when I do this you'll give me what I won't!?”He asked his friend who was hiding in the darkness as he swayed back in forth outside a 7/11.
“Of course,when all is done you'll get it, now do what I tell you!” Salvatore answered.
“Arrrr...I mean arrreee you surrre I have to do this? I mean this seems a little ...crazy?”
“Are you questioning me? Because you know what happens to those question me,don't you?”
“No No I mmmean yes YES I know I know,Ill do what you ask then Ill be back on easy street right,yeah easy street!”
As he said that he turned away from the dark alley were his friend was and walked straight for the door of the 7/11,as he did he heard Salvatore reply,
“Yes,easy street.”
Upon walking in the door he went down to the cooler with the tea and as he decided which beverage he wonted he stoled glances of the Indian clerk reading Us News & world report.
After choosing an “Arnold palmer” he walked up to the Indian clerk who put down the magazine and said,
“Is that all sir?”
He meant to say yes but instead he pointed to the magazine and asked the clerk a question,
“What you reading in there?”
“Oh,I am reading about the assassination of Behnizer Bhutto. Its very well written.”the Clerk replied seeming more interested in talking then he had thought.
“Yeah well what of it?”
“Its not good sir,very much chance of war in Pakistan over it,it makes me worry. Will that be all sir?”
“No”
“What else would you like perhaps lottery tickets,cigarettes...?”
“No,” he interrupted.
“Then what sir?”
“THIS!”
Just as he said that he pulled out a loaded .38 revolver he had tucked in the back of his pants and shot the clerk in head.
As the murderer walked out of the 7/11 sipping on his drink,he through a crumbled piece of paper from his pocket on the floor and after he said to himself,
"Thank you come again."
Then he laughed.

                                                                   #
Driving up to the 7/11 on 35th street Detective Bill Grey thought that,based on what Lieutenant Robin told him over the phone, this would be an open and shut case which would be nice for once.
Grey had seen hundreds of conveniences store clerks dead bodies,there brain tissue spewed all over the cartons of cigarettes and liquor bottles that are always safely behind the counter so this scene was nothing new to him,he didn't even flinch at the smell of blood and feces.
Yes,there wasn't anything very remarkable about the murder or the crime, there was a security camera staring right at the man who shot Mr. Hadar and they even had a witness so it all seemed like easy street untell he actually got there and looked around.
Grey looked through the crime seen for a moment fully expecting to find that his colleagues had done their job but upon spotting a crumbled piece of paper half under the checkout counter he knew they hadn't. Not wonting to contamination the evidence he called Lieutenant Robin over to come pick it up with his gloved hands.
“Where did that come from?”Lt. Robin asked.
“I don't know open it.”
The lieutenant opened it and both silently read the header,
The Franklin Reaper Chapter 12
Both also looked at the ripped page itself and found a short passage highlighted that read,
The clerk at the liquor store always looked at me suspiciously,sometimes I wonted to justify that suspicion and last night I finally did.
“Shit,so what does this mean Det. Grey?”
“I don't know but better ad it to evidence. Sounds like are killer left us a note we'll figure that out later. For now,wheres the witness?”
Pointing to a homeless man across the street sitting on a bench he said,
“There.”
As he walked over Grey looked at the man and sighed he thought that this filthy looking bum probably wouldn't be any help all.
“Hey there my name is detective Grey and I'm told you witnessed the murder yesterday.”
“Ttats right offficor I was just laying down over here for the nite and all of the sudden I hear voices so I turns around and theres a guy talking to some one over in that alley,”As the bum said that he pointed to an alley next to the 7/11,
“It was weel dark and I couldn't see the guy in the alley but I got a good view of the guy out front talking to him and hes the killer.”
“Is that right?” Grey asked surprised that the bum was more coherent then he expected.
“Yes sirr,I was awake listening to the killer talk to the other guy and then I saw him go inta the stor' and shot the Indian.”
“What did he look like?” 
“Oh he looked kind of like me,what I mean by that is he looked maybe homeless. Unshaved,shaggy brown hair,dirty old cloths,had on some sandals,you know.”
“Ok” Grey replied as he wrote all this down, “now you said you saw the murder,was there a struggle?”
“Nope, no warning for the poor guy ,One minute they talking next the Indian guys got a whole in his head,I still got good eyes saw it all through the window from over here.”
Grey thought if there wasn't a struggle and there wasn't any warning then the killer must have had a personal vendetta against the clerk but that the clerk didn't know him.
Grey Thanked the bum and handed him a 10 dollar bill before he walked away.
“Bless you sirrr.”
On reentering the store he asked Lieutenant Robin to show him the security vidoe. After  Lt. Robin lead him to a back room he walked over to a table and pressed play on a VCR.
“Is there sound?”
“No sir.”
“Goddamn it.”
The camera was focused on the counter and Grey saw an Indian man,Mr. Hadar, reading a magazine. A moment later a short bearded Caucasian man walked up to the counter with an Ice tea and Mr. Hadar put the magazine down. They had a conversation it seemed but Grey didn't focus on that,he couldn't read lips,instead he focused on there facial expressions. About a minute into the tape the short bearded man quickly pulled a revolver out of the back of his jeans and shot the clerk in the head but the most interesting part of it was not the murder but the expression on Mr. Hadar face less then 10 seconds before the shot,he didn't seem afraid at all,in fact he seemed relatively indifferent or even happy.
After the shotting the murderer walked right out the door smiling oddly only stealing the Ice Tea.
“It doesn't make any since.”Grey said out loud.
Lt. Robin replied,
“Not a bit but does it have to? We got the tape,we got a witness and from the descriptions of both we'll put out an APV get are guy in no time.”
“Maybe,” Grey whispered, “But by then we might already be to late.”
“What do you mean?”
“Did you watch Hadar and the killers faces?”
“I guess not why?”
Grey rewound the tape a little and hit pause right before Hadar got a lead deposit in his skull.
“Look,”Grey said as he pointed to Hadar's face,“Does he look scared to you?”
“No”
“Does he even look nervous or even a little frazzled?”
“I guess not, kind of strange isn't it, Id be at least a little off if someone threated to kill me.”
“Who said the killer threaten him? I seems to me this was all very sudden maybe the killer plained it all out before but I wouldn't bet on it.”
“So whats the motive then?,”Robin asked,“I mean the killer only stoled a 99 cent Ice tea he didn't even look at anything else, If he didn't kill Mr. Hadar for the money in the register and he didn't kill Hadar over some argument they had then why?”
“I don't know,”Grey replied as he played the tape to the section where the killer walked out with a smile and then paused pointing at his face, “But the only kind of person Ive seen in my career who leaves clues like that ripped book page and could smile like that seconds after a murder is a serial killer.”
“Oh fuck,are you serious?”Looking into his stern eyes Lt. Robin saw that he was, “Well OK then um excuse me sir Ive got to get this evidence to the station right away.”
“I think you'd better lieutenant,”Grey replied gravely.