A Deadly Errand

Birds flew from the tree tops as the silence that was so characteristic of the dark forest was shattered, but only momentarily. One loud crack, similar to thunder echoed for a short time and then there was not a sound except retreating footsteps.
A body was lying amidst the autumn leaves, the eyes of the victim barely closed, the chest unable to rise and draw in any breath. From the torso leaked blood, a look of surprise was on the face of the young man, he had no idea it had been coming.
Slowly, and quietly, a shadow lurked through the forest, being careful where it stepped, not daring enough to leave the slightest bit of evidence. With any luck, the body wouldn’t be found for a day or two, but with hunting season starting the next morning, luck was the only thing the killer could rely on.

***

Sherry Hart was finally on her own, she had broken loose from the Augusta Police Department and was now a private detective. She propped her feet up on her desk, taking a break from the unpacking she had been doing for the past hour.
She smiled proudly at her little office, she was now on her own, now able to pursue desperate criminals and work on cold cases. The police department would still rely on her and bring her in on their toughest cases, but now, she was able to work at her own pace, which was rapid, and to do what she wanted.
The telephone started ringing and she stood up and started searching for it, finally seizing it on the fourth ring, it had been in one of the numerous cardboard box that had temporarily taken up residence in the office.
“Sherry Hart,” she stated.
“Are you detective Hart?” a frightened male voice asked her.
“Depends on who wants to know,” she grinned, that was always her response to that question.
“My name is Calvin Lipton, my son is missing.”
“How long has he been missing?” she reached for a pad of paper, and scribbled Calvin’s name on it.
“About twelve hours, I suppose. He didn’t come home last night as he always does,” Calvin continued, “he’s a good kid, with good morals…”
“Did you call the police?”
“The officer I spoke with told me that it had to be twenty-four hours, and then he gave me your number.”
She grinned, that was no doubt, Sergeant Jack Warden, her ex-partner, and on again, off again, boyfriend.
“I don’t know what to do!” the frantic father cried.
“Give me your son’s description,” she told him.
“He’s tall, about six foot. He has wavy blond hair and brown eyes, he’s slow, and last time I saw him he was wearing a faded denim jacket and a Yankees ball cap.”
“Okay,” she wrote it down, “did he give you any idea where he was going?”
“He was just going to go out with Nancy, that’s his girlfriend, pizza and a movie.”
“Nancy who? Give me her name and number,” Sherry told him.
“Nancy Billings,” he then gave Sherry the number.
“Are you married, Mr. Lipton?”
“No, my wife died some years ago, Danny is all I have.”
“Did Nancy contact you?”
“She didn’t answer, so I reckoned she’s missing too.”
Sherry nodded, “Okay, I’ll do some searching, why don’t you come down to my office and bring a recent photograph of your son?”
“Alright, if that would do you more good.”
“I’m sure it would,” she smiled and gave him directions.
Sherry finally hung up and put her hands on her hips, so she could think. Her ex-partner would tell her to wait it out for twenty-four hours, Danny and Nancy probably were just having a fling in some cheap motel room.
Sherry, not naturally a practical thinker, couldn’t believe they were just having a fling somewhere. Something in her gut was telling her something was wrong, something was dreadfully wrong.

***

It was near dinner by the time Calvin Lipton entered Sherry’s office, she had repeatedly tried to call Nancy with no answer.
“I’m sorry I took so long, I had a talk with Danny’s cousin, Brenda, but she knows nothing.”
“Tell me more about your son,” she exclaimed, looking at the picture of the smart looking young man with a big grin on his face.
“He liked basketball and he liked to hike, he was a reader, but was slow, he didn’t do too good at math and science.”
She nodded, “I see… tell me, what kind of relationship do you two have?”
“Very good, we are very close,” he had a worried crease in his forehead and she smiled sympathetically.
“What kind of relationship does Danny have with Nancy?”
“Just typical high-school sweethearts, he loves her to bits.”
“You think they stopped at a motel somewhere and decided to spend the night?” she questioned.
“No!” he said with anger, “my son isn’t like that.”
“Mr. Lipton, I don’t know your son, I don’t know what he’s capable of, but I know what men are capable of when they’re alone with a pretty girl.”
“My son is a good kid,” he insisted.
“I know that, but the thing that matters right now, is if you have any idea or any hunch about your son’s whereabouts.”
“No clue, he was just taking Nancy out to pizza and then to a movie, that’s all.”
“What movie theatre?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied.
“Alright, what is your son’s favorite pizza restaurant?”
“He likes ‘Joe’s.’ ”
She nodded, and scribbled it on a piece of paper, “Okay, have you contacted Nancy’s parents?”
“They’re out of town, Nancy was staying alone, but I went to the house and no one came to the door and no one picked up the phone.”
She closed her eyes then reopened them, “Okay, give me a list of your son’s friends names and their numbers.”

***

The heavy aroma of Italian seasonings mixed with grease whacked Sherry in the face, she was a vegetarian and had a particular loathing for pizza and anything with grease in it.
She walked up to the first clerk and smiled, she pulled out her wallet and flashed her ID, “I’m Detective Sherry Hart, I was wondering if you have seen this boy,” she showed him the picture of Danny.
He shook his head, “I don’t recall, but maybe Amy does,” he then turned around and called, “Amy!”
Amy came from the kitchen and smiled at the detective, “Can I help you?”
“Yes, I’m Detective Sherry Hart,” once again she flashed her ID, “I’m searching for a boy, Danny Lipton, have you seen him?” she showed the picture.
“Yeah, he and his girlfriend were here last night,” she stated.
“Can you tell me about their stay?”
“Just normal, they come every Sunday night, they order a pineapple pizza, sit in a booth and talk about TV and stuff.”
“Anything unusual about them last night?”
“His girlfriend seemed sort of edgy.”
“How was Danny last night?”
“Cheerful, he seems to always be happy,” she told her.
“Okay, did you overhear any part of conversation?”
“Just that the Yankees were having a terrific season,” she answered.
“Anything else you recall?”
“No, its just routine,” she said, she then paused, “why are you searching for him?”
“He didn’t show up last night,” she replied.
“Oh, I see, well I’ll keep my eyes open.”
“You do that,” she said, “thank you for your help!”

***

Next stop, after she had made phone calls to Danny’s friends and coming up empty handed, she stopped at Nancy Billings house. She looked at the vastness of it all and walked up the empty driveway to the door and knocked.
She waited for a few minutes, no reply, she wondered why a huge house wouldn’t have any servants. She knocked and rang the doorbell a few times and sighed. She looked at the windows, curtains drawn in every one, and there was no windows on the garage.
She bit her lip, which was her habit when she was frustrated and headed to the backyard.
She stood on her tiptoes to peer over the fence to make sure no Doberman Pinscher awaited her and wanted to use her as a chew toy. She pulled herself up and climbed over the fence, dropping herself, and landing on knees and hands on the grass.
She cringed, that had hurt more than she had planned it would and stood up, she looked at the windows, and saw a curtain move. She smiled, “I knew it.”
She went to the back door and to her joy she found it unlocked. She opened it, “Hello? Nancy? Nancy? My name is Sherry…” she entered and silently whispered, “wow” at the vast cleanliness of the house. She looked downstairs then headed upstairs, “Nancy? I know you’re here, I’m looking for Danny.”
She heard a thump and immediately headed to the sound and opened a bathroom door, there sitting on the floor was Nancy, tears staining her face.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
“My name is Detective Sherry Hart, I’m hired to look for Danny Lipton. You’ve been pretty elusive yourself.”
“I’m just having a rough time,” she replied.
“How are you having a rough time? Being in a big house all alone makes it awfully hard for you to hear that Danny is missing.”
“There was a message on the answering machine from his dad, telling me he couldn’t find Danny anywhere.”
“I see,” she agreed, “where is he?”
“How should I know?”
“You were the last person with him,” she told her.
“After pizza, we had a fight and I went home, he went somewhere else, I don’t know where.”
Sherry wasn’t convinced, and just stared at her.
“It’s the truth!”
“I don’t know if it is or not, I won’t know anything until Danny turns up.”
“I’m scared he went and hurt himself, he was so mad at me, and I didn’t know what to do. If he did, I’ll never forgive myself!”
“We’ll find out. Now, why don’t you come downstairs and we’ll talk some more, over a cup of tea or something,” Sherry smiled warmly, which was one of her many attributes.

***

When Sherry returned to her office, Jack was sitting in her chair, looking at a piece of paper.
“Hey stranger, what are you doing at my desk?” she teased and walked over to him.
“Waiting for you,” he said in a serious tone.
“You just came from the woods…”
“Now, how did you deduce that?”
“You have a bit of leaf in your hair and a smudge of mud on you pant leg.”
He smiled at her, “What else have you been up to?”
“I got a case, thanks to you,” she smiled.
“And it just got bigger,” he told her.
“How?”
“They found Danny Lipton’s body.”
She gulped, “Where?”
“Private land, he was shot.”
“Any witnesses?” she asked and Jack shook his head.
“Nancy said they had a big fight and she went home, she said she doesn’t know what Danny did after that.”
“Apparently got himself killed,” Jack exclaimed, always stating the obvious.
“But who?” she sat on the edge of the desk and stared blankly at the floor.
“What about Nancy? There is such a thing as lying, you know?”
“Nancy, I don’t know, she doesn’t seem like she has the nerve to kill anyone.”
“Nerve,” he repeated, “I don’t know what it is with you and these crazy ideas.”
“I just want to make sure I’ll nab the right person.”
“We will, eventually.”
“We?” she looked at him in surprise.
“Yes, we… naturally, it’s also police business.”
“You’re going to help me?”
“Of course! Do you think you need it?”
“I always need help from you, Jack,” she told him.
“And after the case is wrapped up, I’ll buy you dinner.”
“Oh, so you want to date again?” she looked at him with a sly grin.
“Who wouldn’t want to date you?”
“Flirt!” she exclaimed, hitting him with a file, “I expect you to be strictly professional during this.”
“As if I’m anything but professional!” he stated with a smile.
“Come on, you can drive me out to the crime scene.”

***

They had to hike to the crime scene, but soon they arrived. A body laid in a black body bag and yellow tape wrapped around an area. Sherry wondered if anyone would be able come there that shouldn’t be there and leave no trace.
She saw her old captain, Oliver Hoffman, talking to a one of the guys in blue. She smiled and walked up to him, “Hi, Oliver.”
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Sherlock Holmes!” he teased, “How are you doing, kid?”
“Pretty good,” she smiled, “I was hired to find Danny, but I guess someone else did, do you mind filling me in?”
“Well, the owner of the land was hunting and stumbled across his body, apparently he’s been laying there for almost an entire day. One shot to the upper chest and by the impact I believe it was a rifle at close range.”
She nodded, her former captain was very thorough, he had been an medical examiner and then worked as a private detective till getting a job as her captain, bringing all his ‘know-how’ to the force.
“No witnesses?”
“Not a one.”
“Do you think it could have been a hunting accident?”
“No, I don’t. For one thing, this is private land, only the owner and his friends hunt here, and the season didn’t open until today. Danny here, was trespassing too.”
“Unwillingly,” she exclaimed, viewing the body in the bag, “if he came here on intention, he would have worn better clothes,” she zipped the bag up and sighed, whispering, “poor Nancy.”
“That’s what I thought, so we can rule out hunting accident.”
“Yes,” she agreed.
“We’re going to have the girlfriend brought down town.”
“Why?” she looked at him in horror, she was convinced Nancy wasn’t guilty.
“Why not? She was the last known person to see Danny alive!”
“Well, yeah, but they had a fight, she probably was all upset and he went and hooked up with some friends,” she said, even though all his friends said they hadn’t seen Danny that day.
“They had a fight, there’s your motive.”
“But you have no evidence,” she told him.
“It’ll come, we’ve already issued a search warrant for Nancy Billings house.”
“How’d you get one? With no evidence?”
“Circumstantial.”
“I doubt she knows how to use a gun!” she argued, remembering Nancy’s pitiful face as she was sitting on the bathroom’s floor and sobbing.
“We’ll see, don’t get emotional on me now, Hart.”
“I’m just thinking you’re concentrating your best men on the wrong person.”
“Oh, then who do you suspect?”
That caught her off guard, “Well, I don’t have a suspect yet…”
“See? Nancy is the number one suspect at this moment, we’re going to question her, okay? That’s all.”
She nodded and shivered, the fall air chilled her through her coat, “Okay, anything else I should know?”
“You know as much as I do now.”

***

Sherry massaged her temples, she was tired and to top it off, she was as confused as she had ever been. She sighed as she sat in her office, the only light that was on was her desk lamp, the digital clock was showing the time as one-thirty a.m.
She rested her head on the desk and closed her eyes, she felt too exhausted to sleep, the case pulsed through her brain. Any attempt to think of something different was aborted since it was virtually impossible. She sighed and slammed her desk with her fist.
Closing her eyes, she forced herself to sleep, to forget, for just a little while.
Morning came, the sunlight shone through the window, blinding her momentarily when she awoke. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, and looked at the phone, almost expecting it to ring.
It did ring, she swooped it up, “Sherry Hart.”
“Hey, Jack here. You’re still at your office?”
“Yeah, evidently.”
“Anyway, that kid, Danny’s girlfriend, wants to talk to you, she says she may know who did it, but won’t tell anyone but you.”
“Poor girl, she must feel so alone…” she stated emotionally, “okay, I’ll be right down.”

***

Nancy sat alone in an interrogation room, she looked around, fear seeped as deep as her heart, not knowing what she was doing, lost in the thought of why she couldn’t think.
Sherry sighed knowingly as she looked at Nancy through the window, Nancy glanced at the window, only seeing her own shivering reflection. Sherry opened the door and walked in, she smiled sweetly at Nancy and sat down across from her, “How’ve you been?”
“Danny’s dead?” Nancy questioned Sherry, her eyes wide.
Sherry nodded, “I know it’s hard for you to believe, Nancy…”
“I don’t know how it happened, I didn’t do anything, but I blame myself completely for it.”
“If you didn’t do it, don’t blame yourself.”
“But if we hadn’t fought, if only we didn’t… then he would still be alive today.”
“Did you break up with him?”
“No, I just got mad at him and told him I was going home and I’d see him later.”
“What did he say to that?”
“He just shrugged and walked off.”
“Did you tell the police this?”
“Yes, but they seem to have everything they need to convict me.”
“I won’t let them,” Sherry promised the frightened teenager, “I know what it’s like to be terrified of what you think is the inevitable. I’m on your side, and I’ll solve this thing.”
“You promise?”
“I swear it,” Sherry grinned, reaching over the table and taking Nancy’s shaking hand, “Nancy, I need you to be strong and tell me absolutely everything about your relationship with Danny and Danny’s relationship with others.”

***

She stood tall, her head held high as she took the news of Danny’s death, from Danny’s own father. Calvin couldn’t believe it when the police had come to his door and told him, now he had to tell Danny’s cousin and childhood playmate, Brenda Lipton, the news.
“Uncle Calvin, you can’t possibly be serious…”
“He’s dead, Brenda,” Calvin was staring at the wall, as if the wall itself was full of answers to his silent questions.
“No, he can’t be!” Brenda screamed, and then calmed herself down, she had to retain her composure.
“He is, no use deceiving yourself, it just won’t work.”
“I don’t want to believe it, Uncle Calvin, I just can’t… Danny? My cousin, Danny?”
“My son.”
Brenda bit her lip and shook her head to keep herself from crying, she and Danny had been best friends all their lives, and were as close as cousins could be, “Anything I can do to help?”
“Nothing anyone can do, except tell me who and why.”
“I can’t tell you that, because I don’t know…” she paused, “probably no one,” and with that she ventured into the kitchen and made a cup of tea, her hands shaking.

***

“You’re a football player with asthma,” Sherry deduced, looking at the boy sitting on a bus bench.
“How did you know that?”
“Very simple. First of all, you’re big, but not too big and you’re mostly muscle, second of all, you have irregular breathing.”
“Who are you anyway? Sherlock Holmes?”
“No, I’m Sherry Hart, I want to ask you a few questions about one Danny Lipton.”
“Oh yeah, I go to school with him.”
“What is your relationship with him?”
“Oh, he’s just a nerdy guy with nothing to do but hang out with his girlfriend and rarely even holds hands with her.”
“I see,” Sherry nodded, “how long have you known him?”
“Oh, four years, why? Did he break the law?” the football player teased.
“No, he didn’t,” Sherry replied, “what is your name?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Strictly for reference purposes, I’m talking to all his classmates, no one is receiving unfair treatment so don’t be afraid, speak now.”
“Jim Beatty.”
“Quarterback or linebacker?”
“Quarterback…” Jim answered warily.
“I see, did you ever tease Danny?”
“Everyone teased Danny, he was so slow, he didn’t seem to know anything.”
“Not exactly the most pleasant remark I’ve heard, did anyone, including you, ever beat him up?”
“A few guys did, but I never did.”
“Their names please…” Sherry was writing in her notepad.
“You think I’m going to rat on them?” he said standing up, “and to you, a complete stranger? What are you doing? Investigating bullying? What kind of freak has a job like that?”
Sherry grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and looked in his eyes, “Listen, I don’t care for your teasing, so cut the crap and give me the facts.”
“I’ll call the police and tell them you’re harassing me.”
She freed one hand and pulled out her ID, “Are you satisfied Mr. Beatty? Or do I have to knock some sense into you? You tell me what I want to know and you tell me right now.”
She let him go and he was out of breath for a moment, “Okay, these two guys, don’t tell them I told you this, their names are Ryan Sweeney and his twin brother Bruce.”
“Identical twins?” she inquired.
“Not in the least, one has black hair and the other has blue.”
“Blue hair,” she wrote it down in her paper pad.
“Why do you want to know this stuff?”
“Ask no questions, just cooperate,” Sherry told him in her hard fashion and walked off to find the twins.

***

“Why do you even care?” the blue haired boy questioned her.
“I’m the one asking you questions. How often did you beat up Danny?”
“What makes you think that we did?”
“Oh, big tough boys like you, in a competitive environment such as this.”
“So? What could Danny want that we don’t have?”
“Nancy Billings, voted the most beautiful in the school pageant and most likely to succeed.”
“She sure is pretty,” the subdued brother, with normal looking hair stated.
“We couldn’t care less.”
“Oh?” Sherry raised her eyebrows.
“Why do you even care?” Bruce, the blue haired one asked her.
“I need to know.”
“You need to know nothing…” Bruce told her and pushed her, she backed up and eyed Bruce.
“Bruce, calm down… she’s a woman, you’d kill her…”
“You think you can manipulate me into telling you things?”
“I’m not trying to manipulate anyone, I just want some answers to some basic questions, it isn’t hard.”
“Well, I’m not going to answer any of your questions!” Bruce grabbed her arm but she broke free.
Sherry jabbed him in the gut with her elbow, kicked him in the shin and twisted his arm around his back, “Okay, we’ll start this over again, did you ever beat up Danny Lipton?”
“Yes,” Bruce confessed, tears of pain actually forming in his eyes.
“Thank you,” she told him and looked at Ryan.
“I never beat him up, I covered though, I’m sorry, I’ll go to jail, I’ll confess to it, I covered up my brother, yes…”
“Is that all you covered up for? Danny being pushed around.”
“That’s all that happened, nothing ever off of the school property, I swear it… why, what’s wrong?”
“Danny Lipton was murdered, and I’m hired to find out who did it.”
“You’re a detective?” Bruce groaned.
“Yes, I am, and you can either tell me everything or I can find it out on my own. I will find it out, no one can pull the wool over my eyes.”
“Okay, I beat him up occasionally, it wasn’t fair that the loser got the best looking girl.”
“Is that all you did?”
“Look, lady, I didn’t kill him.”
“Okay,” she said, letting him go and he rubbed his shoulder, she wasn’t fully sold on his story although.

***

“Prepare to meet thy…” Sherry read aloud and gasped at the last word, she was standing outside her apartment building, reading her mail, she ran up the stairs and headed to her apartment door. Reaching for the doorknob, she gasped at the fact that it was unlocked and cautiously she opened it.
Inside the apartment, everything was in it’s improper place, papers were strewn across the floor and things didn’t make sense. She proceeded into the apartment and looked around, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her snub nose 38 revolver and held her breath as she cocked it.
The lights went out and she rushed to the wall and flattened herself against it.
“What do you think you’re doing?” a voice asked, and Sherry couldn’t tell if it was masculine or feminine, but in the air she could smell cigarette smoke.
She refused to answer the question coming from an unknown source, and searched the dark apartment with her eyes, trying to pinpoint the direction of the voice that came from her.
“Do you know who I am?” Sherry was asked by the unknown person, she heard a door creak and saw a shadow standing at the bedroom door. After a couple moments of silence, she heard the voice say, “I see you, detective Hart…” she saw the hand raise and before she could make a dive for it, a shot ran out and Sherry fell to the ground, clutching her gut.
The shadow walked to her and pointed the gun to her head, Sherry took her gun and pointed it to her own head and pulled the trigger and slipped onto her side.

***

“What?” Jack asked appalled, “you want me to do what?”
“Do it!” Captain Hoffman sternly told Jack, looking in Jack’s eyes.
“I can’t… not now… not when Sherry…” his voice choked up.
“Do it for her, she was the best detective I had the pleasure of knowing.”
Jack nodded, “Okay,” he stepped out of the office and headed down the hall and to the parking lots, he reached his car and sat down. There on the seat beside him was Sherry’s badge, he picked it up and fingered it and started to cry, but could almost hear her voice talking to him.
“A detective mustn’t get too emotional, a detective has to be hard, but a detective must have a soft core to be able to relate to the feelings of people.”
He sighed and gathered his composure and drove out to tell Calvin Lipton.

***

The door opened and Calvin Lipton looked at the distraught detective, “Hello, Mr. Lipton.”
“Sergeant Warden…”
“I’m sorry, but I came to tell you some very bad news, which is most difficult for me to tell you.”
Calvin’s already tired and sad face resumed a even more sad look, knowing that the only outcome of this meeting was more depression, “Yes? Won’t you come in first?”
Jack accepted the invitation to come into the house and looked around, staring at the objects of the living room and then Calvin, “Sherry Hart, the detective which you hired for your son’s case… she was killed last night.”
Calvin’s face took on a new look of surprise, “But…”
“Let me finish,” Jack interrupted, noticing Brenda who had just entered the room, she looked at her uncle then at the detective. “Sherry found a note in her mailbox that read, ‘Prepare to meet thy maker,’ she went upstairs, knowing something was wrong and entered her ransacked apartment. The power went out, and someone shot her in the gut, my captain told me that before she was shot again, she shot herself in the head. Which reminds me of a conversation I had with her when we were partners, she told me she will not let the bad guys have any victory, even in killing her.”
“But I…”
“I never knew her…” Brenda exclaimed.
“Brenda Lipton, you’re under arrest.”
Jack looked up, behind Brenda, Sherry was standing and smiling satisfactorily.
Jack’s mouth gaped and Brenda looked at Sherry in horror, “You’re dead!”
“Apparently not,” Sherry walked towards Brenda and handcuffed her, “your prisoner, Sergeant. Read her rights, she is guilty of the murder of Daniel Lipton and the attempted murder of Sherry Hart.”
Jack read Brenda her rights and took her outside to his car and placed her inside and looked at Sherry smiling, “What the hell…”
Sherry laughed and walked towards Jack, “Rather astonishing, isn’t it?”
“You died… or so the captain said…”
“A bluff, merely.”
“How?”
“I knew someone was trying to get me, after all, ever detective knows that they have an enemy out there. When I entered my apartment I knew someone was there and I had to rely entirely on my brains.”
“But you were shot…”
“That was part of the plan, I was shot in the gut, but fortunately, thanks to you, making me swear to wear a bullet proof vest when I’m on duty, I was only knocked out of breath.”
“You shot yourself in the head!”
Sherry laughed heartily for a moment, “When my killer walked towards me and looked at me and pointed the gun, I got a good look at her and noticed it was a woman, that only left one suspect, one I hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to, Brenda Lipton. I immediately put my gun to my head and pulled the trigger.”
“What? You should be dead!”
“I had three blanks loaded in my gun, so I played Russian roulette… and won.”
“And?”
“After the killer had left I told Oliver to tell everyone I was dead, and even had medical examiners go to the scene pretending. I staked out the Lipton house last night, saw my killer and identified her as Brenda, and recognized a car I had seen in the parking lot of my apartment building but paid no attention to. This morning I sneaked into the house, told Calvin my plan and hid in the closet, knowing you would be sent to tell Calvin of my death. When you were here and at the most opportune time I made my arrest.”
“How simply genius!”
“How simple!” Sherry corrected.
“What about the motive?”
“Brenda was angry at the world and if she confesses she’ll probably tell you she was under the influence and did it because her cousin had pushed her buttons so many times but unintentionally.”
“How do you know that?”
“Nancy,” she smiled.
“Wow, I’m amazed at you…”
“Don’t be, just make sure Nancy Billings is set free.”
“I will, can I give you a lift somewhere?”
“No, I have to clean my apartment.”
“Okay…”
“Thank you anyway…” she started walking down the sidewalk.
“Hey, Sherry!” he ran up to her.
“Yes?”
“I’m glad you’re okay… I was really worried about you.”
“Thank you, Jack,” she smiled and started walking again, wondering what the next case would bring.


© Virginia V. Garland