Murder in a small town pt4

(The day before the bombs)

Gray was handing out campaign flyers down main street, we he saw Scott approaching,

He expected an angry exchange, but instead, Scott just walked into Gracies.

Gray continued to hand out flyers and ask shop owners to put up posters in their windows, he was approaching Evan’s hardware, when he noticed the sheriff coming out.

“Gray just the man I’m looking for” said the sheriff.

“Afternoon Sheriff, how can I help you?” Gray continued to nod and smile to people passing by, and try to hand out flyers.

“I need you stop by the station first thing tomorrow, so we can have a little chat”

“I’ve just seen Scott and things seemed to have cleared up” offered Gray

“Scott was getting all upset, so I calmed him down, but I’ve been doing some digging of my own, and we need to have a chat” the Sheriff put his hands on his hips.

“Now you’re all busy with the campaign, so lets make it around eight” said the Sheriff.

“Ok eight it is” said Gray, this old Sheriff was like an old dog, throw him a few sticks and he be off my case thought Gray.

(The day of the bombs)

The station was quiet, as Gray entered. Riley was at the front desk, the sheriff came out of his office and extended his hand towards Gray, “morning, can I offer you anything?”

“No thanks” Gray was growing bored with the Sheriff, and his ‘down home’ friendliness.

“Jimmy’s at Baileys now, we could call and get you a coffee” offered the sheriff

“I’m good thanks” Gray said looking around the place

“Ok then, come on through” The sheriff walked Gray towards his office.

“Scott did a heck of a job with all this paperwork, I’ll tell you” the desk was full of papers different shapes and colours.

“If he weren’t a teacher, I might just hire him to work down here” laughed the Sheriff

“With all due respect, I’ve got to call into the office this morning, I’m running a campaign, so if we could get down to business, I’d appreciate it” Gray replied.

“Your wife was a recovering alcoholic right?” asked the Sheriff

The abruptness of the question threw Gray, only a handful of people could have known that, Gray suspected the sheriff may have been a member of her group “two years sober” he said

“Until a month before she died” added the Sheriff

“Right” Gray nodded

“So what happened, what pushed her off the wagon” asked the Sheriff

“I don’t know, I was away on business a lot…I guess…” he didn’t finish

The Sheriff nodded and began shifting through the paperwork

“That when Karl was around there, I guess, while you were away” the Sheriff looked up

Gray saw something in those blue/grey eyes. A look of knowing, he wasn’t the old dog that Gray had thought, he was something much more predatory.

“He did all our gardens” Gray tried to sound casual

“The gardens, …right” said the Sheriff looking through the papers again.

A knock on the door broke the silence.

“You’re coffee Sheriff” Jimmy gave the cup over and shut the door.

“That Mary Bailey, makes a fine cup of coffee” he said taking a sip

“Did you know that Karl hired an extra hand during the summer, and he was working over there, yeah Dwayne, you know Franks kid”

Gray shook his head “Sheriff I thought you had something to discuss”

“This here’s Karl’s appointment book, a month before your wife died he switched most his work over at yours over to Dwayne, of course that’s around the time Karl got engaged, to Lucy Jones, you know Sam and Jeans daughter” said the Sheriff

Gray shrugged “ok, so what”

“Ok Gray, lets talk about your wife, two years sober, makes lot’s of friends in town, then bang, falls off the wagon, and is found dead in the river”

Gray nodded “I’m sorry Sheriff, where’s this going”

“This coffee, if my dear wife could make coffee this good” the Sheriff began going through he paperwork

“This is the autopsy report” he fixed Gray with those eyes again

“errm..lets see blunt force head trauma, drowning, very high blood alcohol levels, also high levels of Benzodiazepine, she probably slipped on the jetty, fell into the water and drowned” said the Sheriff.

“Or was hit on the head and thrown in the water” Challenged Gray

“Or got drunk, took some sleeping pills….” The Sheriff trailed off

“That wasn’t like Beth” Gray protested

“By who, who would have motive to kill her” the Sheriff took another sip of coffee

“I was out of town a lot, …I don’t know” Gray had begun to feel sick.

“Pittsburgh, right” asked the Sheriff

“Colorado” Gray, corrected “could I have some water?”

The Sheriff leant back in his creaking chair and filled a paper cup from the gurgling water cooler, he looked at a piece of paper “Colorado, that’s right”

“We tried to eliminate the foot prints and tyre tracks down by the picnic area, eliminate your wife’s car treads, but it was a real mess down there people walking around, cars coming and going every which way” said the Sheriff

“You failed to secure the scene” Challenged Gray.

“This is fine coffee, if I were single and twenty years younger…” said the sheriff taking a sip

“You never had kids, were you trying or..” the Sheriff left the question hanging

“I fail to see the relevance” Gray finished his water.

The Sheriff poured him another cup “I could subpoena medical records, rumours were you had both been talking about fertility tests”

Gray shrugged, and took a sip of water “we’d been trying for a couple of years”

“You know what I’m seeing on this autopsy report don’t you?” asked the Sheriff.

Gray nodded but couldn’t bring himself to answer, a feeling of nausea swept over him.

“That’s ok Gray, we’d don’t need to talk about that anymore, except it wasn’t yours, but you knew that already” the Sheriff leant back in his chair and stretched his legs.

Except for the creaking chair, a chilling silence filled the room.

“Why did you buy the gun, after you’re wife died” he asked casually

“Protection” mumbled Gray

“Ever use it?” the sheriff looked through paperwork again.

The question went unanswered

“This here is a receipt, or copy at least from Evan’s hardware, just from around the time Karl disappeared, that’s a lot of cement you bought”

Gray remained silent.

“It a real nice pond you have there Gray, what is it six foot by nine foot, five feet deep, still this seems like a lot of sand, gravel and concrete to me” said the Sheriff

Gray took a sip of water, but didn’t respond.

The Sheriff sat forward in silence and looked at Gray.

“I’m not a smart man Gray, not college educated like you, just a simple town Sheriff, but there seems a lot here, a lot to open an official enquiry” he took a sip of coffee

“Karl ran off with Jake Green everyone knows that” Challenged Gray.

Another long paused, punctuated by the creaking chair.

“Old Scott, he bought his son’s truck, from that Jonah Prowse…well..”

The sheriff paused “I had Riley look it over, it had been cleaned up and all, but he found blood in there” the Sheriff leaned back in his creaking chair.

“I’m through here, you’re wasting my time” Gray prepared to stand up.

“Do you watch those cop shows on TV, sure you do, the wife she loves them, I keep telling her it’s not like that in real life but doesn’t listen…..anyway they often explain things in a time line, well this here seems to be the timeline, Your wife has Karl around a lot while you’re away to do her..gardens, then Karl gets engaged, your wife falls off the wagon, she takes a pregnancy test, maybe Gracie can’t fully recall selling her one and the register receipts don’t go back that far, anyway she’s found dead which is a real shame Gray, you buy a gun, karl disappears and you finish that big pond of yours” He took a long drink of coffee.

“I don’t think you’re wife was killed, but if she was it was someone who knew her” the Sheriff said, “she would have been in quite a state, with the alcohol and tablets”

Gray sat back down.

A long pause.

“According to your neighbours, that big pond of your was finished surprisingly fast”

Another pause.

“Have you heard of ground piercing radar, of course you have Gray you’re a smart man”

“by the end of the day, I’ll be filing, a search warrant for your property and requisition order with the State police, for them to bring one of those radars over

 “I loved my wife” mumbled Gray

“I’m sure you did, Gray I hope I’m wrong about all this, I really do”

Gray left the Sheriffs office, his face ashen with shock.

“That Mary Bailey sure can make coffee” said the Sheriff finishing his drink.