"Catch of the Day"A Story by Jack Buckner After a dead body floats ashore, local drunk Terry gets accused. But did he really do it? “Catch of the Day” By John Smith
Terry
Miller reached down beside is lawn chair grabbing his can of beer and taking a
sip. He set it back down and grabbed a fishing poll along with rubber bait. He
put the bait on the hook and cast the line in the water. Terry was in his mid fifty’s
and had a quite large beer gut. He had a baldhead and not the best reputation
in the tow. In fact, he was known as the town drunk. Terry sat there in silence
for a moment waiting for something to bite. Nothing ever did. “S**t!”
He said as he reeled in the line the line it. “What the f**k is going on? I
haven’t had a single Goddamn bite all f*****g day!” Terry said taking another
sip of his beer. He looked out to the lake as he noticed that something began
to surface. “What the f**k?” Terry said as he sat down the fishing poll and
stood up from his chair and got closer to shore. As it grew closer and closer
to shore he realized what it was. It was a body. “Holy s**t!” Terry said
leaping back and tripping over his lawn chair. He picked himself up off of the
ground and ran into the woods to the highway. Just then a country deputy was
driving by. “Stop!
Stop! Please! Police!” Terry shouted waving his arms at the officer. The deputy
pulled his car off of the highway and parked in a gravel pit. The officer
slammed the patrol car in park and stepped out of it. “What
the hell do you want Terry?” The officer asked him. “Officer
Paisley! Thank God it’s you. I never thought I would say that! But there is a
dead body in the lake!” Terry said now out of breath. Officer Paisley looked at
him with amusement. “Are
you out of your f*****g mind? Have you been drinking?” Officer Paisley asked
him. Terry looked at him offended and pointed through the bushes to the lake.
Officer Paisley nodded and led the way to the lake. There it was. The body of
Raymond Swift. “Holy
s**t!” Officer Paisley shouted as he quickly grabbed his CB radio from the side
of his belt. “This is Officer Paisley! Repeat this is Officer Paisley! We have
a code red situation! A dead body found in Warner Lake.” He said into his CB
radio. He clipped it back to the right side of his belt and walked over to investigate
to body. He reached into his shirt pocket pulling out a pair of latex gloves.
He put them on and reached down grabbing the body. He examined the body for a
moment noticing that this couldn’t have been a mere accident. He didn’t just
fall in the water and drown. He had two bullet holes in his abdomen. He was
murdered. But
why? Why was he murdered? Raymond was never one to hurt anybody. In fact, it
was often said that he wouldn’t hurt a fly. And this was absolutely true.
Raymond was loved through the town. Nobody had any ill feelings towards him. So
why would somebody do this to him? Why indeed! When
the help first arrived, Officer Paisley knew something was wrong right from the
start. There was someone missing. Officer Gilbert wasn’t there. Gilbert was the
chief of police and he absolutely loved crime cases. There was no way he would
just not show up. Something had to be horribly wrong. Horribly wrong. Officer
Paisley walked over to Lt. Ramsey. Ramsey was second in command to Sgt.
Gilbert. If anybody knew if something was wrong it would be him. “Hey
Lt. Ramsey. I can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong here. Where the hell
is Sgt. Gilbert?” He asked him. “I
don’t know. I haven’t seen him since he left the office last night. He said
that he wouldn’t be in today. He said he had loose ends to tie up.” Ramsey said
as he began to scribble in his notebook. Paisley looked at him confused and
turned his back to him. “Something
just doesn’t add up here. Why would someone kill Raymond?” Paisley asked
himself. He looked over to Ramsey who was locking Terry in handcuffs and
reading him his rights. Paisley walked up to Ramsey and grabbed him by the
shoulder. “Hey,
what the hell are you doing?” Paisley asked. “Taking
him in. He’s under arrest for the murder of Raymond.” Lt. Ramsey said. “What
proof do you have?” Paisley asked him. “He
was the only one here when the man in question was found.” Ramsey said. “So.
He came out flagging me down nearly scared to death when he found the body. If
he did it then why would he tell on himself?” Paisley asked Ramsey feeling
quite cleaver. Ramsey looked down at Paisley feeling quite annoyed. “Look.
I just want to get home all right? He’s guilty! Period!” Ramsey said as he
grabbed Terry by the arms and shoved him into his patrol car. He knew something
wasn’t right. It just didn’t feel right to just accept that Terry committed the
crime. He needed to know for sure. He walked to his car and got in it. Paisley
started it and drove off. ‘I
got to go to the station. Maybe I can find some answers there.’ Paisley thought
to himself as he drove to the station. When
he got there, he parked the patrol car and walked into the back door of the
station. He noticed something odd. Ramsey said that Gilbert would not be in at
all today. But he noticed a small light coming from his office. He walked over
to his office door and knocked on it. “Hello?
Sgt. Gilbert?” He shouted knocking on the door. It sounded as if something fell
and shattered on the floor. He grabbed the gun from his belt and threw himself
against the door busting the door in. “Fre…” Paisley began to shout. But what
he saw froze him with terror. At the desk sat Sgt. Gilbert with a bullet hole
in his head and blood gushing out. Beside of him on top of the desk sat the
severed head of Terry and Terry’s decapitated body lied on the floor next to
him. “Ohh.
You were close! You were really close.” A man said from the shadows on the
couch. The man pulled out a gun and shot Paisley in the hand making him drop
his gun. The man then stepped out of the shadows. It was Lt. Ramsey. “Close,
but no cigar!” He said to Paisley with a wicked smile. “Why?
Why did you do it?” Paisley asked him grabbing his hand with pain. Ramsey just
stood up and walked over to him pointing a gun to his head. “You
know I’m a sucker for crime stories. That’s why I joined the force. I guess I
just wanted to create one of my own. He smiled with a sick smile and pulled the
trigger. Copyright 2013 by John Smith Courtesy of The True Crime Press A division of TTP Entertainment
CW3G-6UBH-C0YR-NLEX" width="150" height="40" src="http://static.copyrighted.com/images/seal.gif" /> © 2013 Jack BucknerAuthor's Note
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