|
Mystery
Hard Coal Country Murder
By Paul R.
Lloyd
The pop-pop-pop
ripped through the night to interrupt the distant howling of the
Schuylkill County werewolf. Police Lieutenant Lawson and I held our
position in a rock outcropping in the trees on Gobbler’s Peak south
of Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
“What do you
think?” Lawson grabbed my shoulder from behind.
I kept my voice
low because the shooting came from nearby. “Walther 10+1.”
“Twenty-two
longs?” Lawson wore his police detective stare in the moonlight.
“Yeah. Target
practice pistol.” I turned around.
“Little late
for practice.”
“Wouldn’t hurt
to check it out.”
“Where do we
start?” Lawson looked under a skunk plant like there’d actually be a
body at our feet.
I pointed with
my Remington 760. “That campfire down the hill. See it? The one with
the body next to the fire?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s keep the
silver bullets in our rifles.”
“Good idea. You
never know when that werewolf will jump out at you.”
We arrived at
the campfire where the body waited in silence unlike the werewolf
howling in the woods on the next hill above the old stucco farmhouse
with the big barn covered with painted printer’s plates purchased
used from the Pottsville Republican.
Three women
stood over the body. I spied the Walther in the dirt on the other
side of the fire.
Lawson checked
the body while I kept an eye and my Remington 760 on the ladies, a
blonde, a redhead and a brunette.
Lawson looked
up from the body. “No pulse, three bullet holes. You’re all under
arrest.”
“Back off,
Lawson. This ain’t Chicago and your badge doesn’t mean squat here.
Let’s find out what’s going on.”
“Yeah, sure,”
Lawson stood up, holding his rifle at port arms.
“You ladies
want to explain what happened?” I asked.
The blonde
said, “I like camping with Shirley here.”
“Ginger was
washing the dinner plates with the redhead when the shots rang out,”
said one of the ladies.
“I’m Nancy.
Don’t trust the brunette. I never trusted her.”
The redhead
said, “I saw Nancy in that gun store at the Schuylkill County Mall
this morning.”
“Okay, that’s
enough,” I said.
“It is?”
Lieutenant Lawson asked.
“Yeah, I know
whodunit. It was…”
Whodunit?
Zuk-Lloyd Associates, Inc. – Creative writing and art solutions.
We help
clients increase sales by turning ordinary business information into
extraordinary stories.
Contact:
Paul R. Lloyd
630-393-6516
info@zuklloyd.com
www.zuklloyd.com
Return to Top of
Page |