The Diet Cola Killer (working title)
by Joel Wilson
Chapter One
Spring was settling in and it was a normal day for Leroy. He was doing as always each weekday, delivering packages for PDS (Package Delivery System). He drove around Wallop County each day in his rusty orange delivery van. Hudsonville was not a large city but it did have a population of about 100,000 people. His route consisted of mostly businesses but sometimes he would be forced to take a drive into rural areas to service people that lived on the farms in Wallop County.
This afternoon, Leroy was driving eastbound toward Hudsonville on County Highway 21. He had just delivered a package to Ima Riggins. It was a birthday present from her daughter, Lucy who lives in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Rural folks don't often get visitors from the city and even though Leroy wasn't really a visitor, Ima greeted him at her front door with a glass of iced tea and a plate of cookies. He was happy to take a moment to talk with her and enjoy the refreshments. After all, he had no other rural deliveries today and the drive back into town would take about an hour.
As they were enjoying the goodies together, Ima opened the package with an old pair of scissors. She removed the gift from the package to find it was a book. She made a snide comment about how her daughter never visits so she sends her books to keep her mind busy. Leroy heard this and immediately thought her to be an ungrateful old woman.
He completed the delivery and began his journey back to town. Along the way, he listened to his radio. Leroy liked a Classic Rock station for the music and to listen to the news. Today, he was particularly interested in hearing the traffic report. Traffic would not be much of a problem but there was a breaking story on the news that caught his attention.
There had been a murder at the office of one of his customers this day. Leroy had been there earlier and he remembered the receptionist that had been rude to him. Still, this caught his attention and his imagination began to run wild with what might have happened. "Could it be an office lovers spat that turned ugly?" he said jokingly to himself. "Maybe it was something somebody ingested." The news story did not say who was killed or what the police thought the motive was. This left Leroy to wander alone with his thoughts which he did with a smile.
The time was after 6 pm when Leroy had completed his rounds for the day. On his way home he stopped at a small diner called Sunny Side Up. Chicken fried steak was a favorite of Leroy's and this place served the best in town.
As he dined alone in his booth, he could overhear the argument that was emanating from the booth behind him. A young couple was having a blowup because the man had slept with another woman. His young wife was distraught and crying inexhaustibly as the father of her 3 year old son told her that he was leaving her for this other woman. The young man stood, glanced down at his son and left, leaving her with the tab.
Leroy got a good look at him as he passed his table and watched him closely while the man left the diner, taking note that he was driving a late model Dodge Ram pickup. Leroy took his last bite and wiped his mouth with his napkin. As he stood, he stopped momentarily and looked into the booth where the discarded mother and child were sitting, crying. Stepping to their table he said to the young mother, "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing. Please, let me pay for this." He pulled forty dollars from his billfold and laid it on the table with the check. "How are you getting home?" he asked. The mother, sobbing, shook her head as if to say that she didn't know. Leroy dialed her a cab with his cell phone and it arrived quickly. As she stood she thanked him for his generosity. "Do you have cab fare?" he asked her and she replied that she did not. Leroy gently took her hand and placed another forty dollars there. She hugged him and again thanked him for being so kind and got into the cab. Leroy watched as the cab entered into traffic and sped away.
