Detective-Inspector Corrigan looked down at the corpse and shook his head in regret. "It never gets any easier, does it Beaulieu?"
His companion, Detective-Sergeant Beaulieu, shrugged. "I don't know, sir. All we had to do was take a statement. Good as a confession, that one."
Corrigan gave the sergeant a disgusted look. "You know exactly what I meant." He pulled the cover back over the victim's body and stood up. "I can understand it when a jealous husband murders his wife's lover. With the paramilitaries it's just business as usual. But this ... !" Corrigan turned away and walked out of the bathroom onto the upstairs landing.
Beaulieu followed close on Corrigan's heels. "Well, you heard what Mrs O'Connell said. Her husband had it coming."
"No!" Corrigan stopped and turned to face Beaulieu. "No! Nobody ever 'had it coming'! Nobody ever deserves to die." As Corrigan paused for breath, there was a horrible moment of silence. He knew that everyone in the house must have heard his raised voice, his angry words. Corrigan raised a hand in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, sergeant. That was unprofessional of me."
Beaulieu put a hand on his superior's shoulder. "I wouldn't worry about that sir. We all have our own ways of coping with this job. It gets on top of everyone eventually. But, I have to agree with you on this one. if ever there was a pointless death, this would probably be it."
Corrigan leaned back against the stair rail and nodded. "It would be funny if it wasn't such a tragedy. I mean - who deserves to die just because they wanted an avocado bathroom suite?"
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In 500 Words Or Less
Short Story'In 500 Words Or Less' is a collection of short stories, all of them 500 words or less, written for the WattPad WriteOn Writers Weekend WriteIn.
