12 Hours of Murder

8:15 AM

8:15 am

                  The Sheriff glanced at his watch as he watched the deputy set up barriers a few feet back from the entrance to the bridge. In case crowds started to form he had advised, but Sheriff Brown just laughed and patted the recently deputized officer’s head.

“Ain’t no crowds coming here Mr. James, Veteran Bridge is on the outskirts of town, only people using this road are the farmers, and most of them already in town setting up for the Mayfair.”

“What about the jogger Sheriff? He says he takes this road every day.”

Brown’s gaze wandered over to Walker Collins hunched over body, his head hanging out of the open patrol car in dumbfounded silence as he looked right through them, his eyes glued to the scene being processed.

“I don’t think that will be the case anymore Deputy James.”

James quickly glanced from the Sheriff to Collins and back, his face riddled with accusatory questions. “Shouldn’t we be holding Mr. Collins as a suspect Sheriff? Or at least questioning him considering he was the only one out here?”

Brown gave his deputy a weathered smirk; it had been ages since they had trained a new pup, let alone an out of towner. The little bastard reminded Brown of himself when he first felt the power of the badge.

“Take a good gander at Mr. Collins James, that there is the look of a man that has just seen death for the first time. There’s no way that man had anything to do with this, you can’t fake the shock of death bedding her cold existence into your conscience, that moment will haunt that man for the rest of his life.”

Deputy James seemed unconvinced, but followed silently behind the Sheriff as Brown made his way over the faded yellow tape.

“Been ages since I needed to use this, found the roll being used to prop up the microwave in the break room.” Brown chuckled as they approached the scene, stopping just short of the female drawing chalk lines and placing numbers next to the bloody circumference around the bag. “What’cha thinking Meredith?”

Meredith looked up, her drab appearance a reflection of the fact that she had been dragged out of bed early. “Seems to be a bag of organs Sheriff.”

The Sheriff nodded towards the deputy, whose face turned a hybrid of yellow and green tints. “Um, do we have any idea who might be the original owner of these here inner parts?”

Meredith stood up slowly; removing the elbow length gloves she had been using around the bag and removed a camera from a nearby case. “Won’t know anything till the M.E. gets here, I’m guessing he will have to take them in for processing. Far as I can tell there’s a whole system in there, stomach, heart, lungs…” Meredith checked off a mental list on her fingers as James rotated shades like a chameleon, by the time she had run out of fingers and organs the deputy seemed close to heaving.  

“James, why don’t you take a walk over yonder and get some fresh air, you’re staring to resemble a crayon box son.”

The Deputy nodded his head, running the tip of his tongue across his bottom lip as he turned and made his way back to his vehicle.

“Any skin or bones in that bag Meredith? Anything that can tell us where to start looking?”

Meredith made her way slowly around the marked circle, the camera clicking rapidly as she angled the lens around the bag.  “Not from what I felt, seems like they just slit someone open and boogied all their parts. We’ll know more when Hector arrives.”

Brown wrinkled his nose as he watched Meredith handle the scene like she was photographing puppies.  “Any idea when the M.E. is supposed to get here?”

“He’s driving from two counties over, compound that with the May Fair traffic and I would have to say…” She paused and stuck her lens directly at the bloody seam. “No idea.”

“Right, well best to cool these parts soon, don’t know how long things like this last and I reckon we don’t have a time frame on how long they have been out neither.” The sheriff watched as Meredith removed a meat thermometer from her bag of tricks and stuck it directly in the bag.

“Temperature’s dropped some and the bloods close to resembling that cream tomato soup Mabel’s makes, you know the one with the croutons that just float all up on top…”

Brown’s stomach turned a bit as Meredith compared the two with her hands, one gloved hand caked in scarlet while the other motioned to the bag dramatically. “Yeah, I’m familiar with Mabel’s menu Meredith, now do you know how long it’s been sitting out here or not?”

Meredith studied the thermometer intently. “Given the Celsius of the blood, add in the current Fahrenheit of the air, compound that with the fact that Collins said the blood was still tepid when he got out here, I would have to say…” She stuck a gloved finger back in the bag, opening the hole enough to give the Sheriff a gruesome peek of the slimy blue entrails. “No idea.”

“Right, well when you get a moment can you get on the horn and see how long till Hector gets here, I’ll send James to get some ice for the parts.”

“Will do Sheriff.” Meredith resumed her evidence collecting as Brown walked back over the tape to Collins.

“James, run down the road and get some ice from the Gas and Go for Meredith.” Brown put his hand on the still greenish Deputy and pulled him in close, speaking low enough for only him to hear. “And hurry son before she gets too familiar with those parts.”  

The Deputy nodded his head mechanically and sped off in his vehicle. Brown turned his attention to his own patrol car where Walker Collins sat staring at the sky.

“Hey Walker, how you doing?”

“Can’t say it’s my best day Sheriff.” Collins replied, not wavering from his skyward gaze.

“Yeah, I reckon it’s not, still, can’t be as bad as that Hail Mary pass that got intercepted in the state championships in ‘82”

Collins huffed. “Still harping on that play Ted?”

“Lost me some good money that day.” The Sheriff smirked, patting him on his shoulder, but Collins demeanor didn’t lighten with the playful banter. “Well, it looks like we may be here a while Walker, so how’s about I call Nelly to come get you?”

Collins inhaled deeply as he sealed his eyes, the strained lines indicating just how hard he was chewing over his words.  “Don’t know if I am ready to see her yet Ted.”

The Sheriff nodded knowingly. “Tell you what, James will be back in a minute, I’ll leave him here with Meredith while I drive you home. Trust me, after this; you want to see that pretty wife of yours. She was the May Fair queen back in the day wasn’t she?”

Collins nodded his head.

“Yup, still don’t understand how you lost the championship but won the girl. You must be one agile son of a bitch.” Brown patted Collins on the back hard, earning a weak smile from Walker in gratitude, as both men’s gazes traveled over towards the bridge.