Ripples - Chapter 5: Zachary's Dollar

And the ripples travel a bit farther.

 

       “We couldn’t help but notice that you were on the schedule to be at work last night but you were lucky enough to be gone when the robbery happened” the tall, handsome detective asked as the sun crept up to ten-O’clock high.

 

       “Yes, I quit and walked out at about six-fifteen last night.”

 

       “How come? What made you lucky enough to walk out on the exact night that your workplace was robbed and all of your co-workers were killed?”

 

       “Oh my God! You think I had something to do with that … don’t you,” Dana gasped, “listen, do you want to know why I walked out? I walked out because I took in that orphaned little puppy from the alley behind the Café and Jimmy told be he couldn’t stay in the break room until my shift was over.”

 

       “The last normal transaction was made at eleven twenty-seven last night and the 911 call was placed by your boss, Jimmy at eleven thirty-six. He was shot while he was on the phone with the 911 operator at eleven-forty. I don’t suppose you were someplace that someone can verify at that time?”

 

       “As a matter of fact, I was,” she said with a hint of disgust in her voice. She rummaged through her purse for a few moments and then spoke. “I was at the Wal-Mart thirty five miles from there buying Puppy Chow, here’s my receipt.”

 

       After looking over the time-stamped receipt, the detective changed his tune.

 

       “Well I’m sorry to have put you on the spot like that, but we have to check out all possibilities and to be honest, you don’t seem very broken up about it.”

 

       “I’m not a social woman. I go to work, I do my job and I go home. That was a very social group. With social people, if you get even a little bit close to them they pull at you; they refuse to leave you alone. They just can’t accept that some people like to be left alone. Look, I feel awful about what happened to LeAnne and Pam and Jimmy, and I cried about it a little this morning, but I just wasn’t all that close to them.”

 

       With the detective gone and satisfied, the puppy fed, and Dana still out of a job, she put the yet to be named canine in her laundry room with a blanket and went to the local bank to apply for a teller job that was advertised in the morning newspaper. As she climbed from her car, a one-dollar bill fell from her jacket pocket and fluttered to the ground.

 

       Dana passed Jack Lounsberry and his five-year old son Zachary who were leaving the bank as she was walking in. Zachary found the dollar bill between his dad’s truck and Dana’s car and excitedly showed it to his father who gave the okay to keep it since it was only a dollar and it wasn’t at all likely that the owner could be identified.
 

 

Reviews

[nostal]

Mysterious dollar bill. I'm still mourning for Stephen. Oh and that detetctive was really bitchy in the beginning. Nice work.

[Emily B]

hmmmm . . . wonder where that dollar will go from here?