Murder in a small town pt1

(timeline – 1 week before the bombs)

A light drizzle had begun to fall that Friday evening , as Gray Anderson pulled into his driveway, the weather gave his paved driveway and black SUV a glossy sheen.

Gray, shut the door with his foot, as his hands were full, a briefcase in one and a large bag of groceries in the other, he flicked on the light switch with his elbow and walked through to the kitchen.

 He quickly unpacked and plugged in the universal cell phone charger, he’d purchased at Gracie’s, the display came to life and indicated several missed calls.

“great” he mutted to himself

He checked his answering machine in the lounge as he poured himself a glass of white wine

-‘You have five new messages’- the machine informed him.

-‘Message one’- “hi Gray, this is Paul Metherfield from the print centre regarding your extra campaign signs and bumper stickers, well there here ready to collect when you, have a nice day” Gray made a note, then hit the delete key.

-‘Message two’- “hello sir are you happy with your long range courier services, here at IPS we ensure overnight..”   Gray hit the delete key

-‘Message three’- “Hi Gray, this is Eric Green, we still need to go over the safety reports and check the EPA forms” Gray made another note.

Gray paused the machine and set the table for one place.

He put on some light jazz in the background, and began to unpack his groceries.

Then went back to the kitchen and put the wok on the stove and heated up some peanut oil, and threw in a stir fry pack of mix vegetables, another glass of wine, reduced the heat and threw in some jumbo shrimp.

He refilled his glass and played the final messages.

-‘Message four’- “Hi Gray, It’s Alison, look I had a really nice time last Saturday, but I won’t be able to make it tomorrow, some things kinda come up and well…, listen I’ll call you, take care, bye” Gray pressed the delete button, he looked to the mantle above the fireplace to a photo of a young looking woman with a younger looking Gray, both laughing and their faces fullof energy, life and hope for the future, another drink of wine.

-‘Message five’- a gruff male voice mumbled something, cleared his throat

“Gray, its Scott Rennie, we need to talk,….. I know about Karl and Beth..and I know what you did..you SOB” the line went dead.

A shiver went down Gray’s spine, he couldn’t move, he just sat staring at the machine.

‘beep, beep, beep, beep’ the shrill noise of the smoke alarm in the kitchen, broke his reverie, rushing in he removed the wok and threw the contents into the sink.

Glass of wine in hand he opened the French doors onto the patio, to clear the kitchen of the oily smell and smoke, he stood there in the misty rain looking into the darkness.

Some towns were too small, for big secrets.

I'm back after a few days absence from reading the stories, and now I'm on to part two.

Gwen