Fatal Decision

by John Greenwood

  "Hey Mr. Smith, it looks like Buster is doing great. How are things going with you?" He walks towards me and holds his hand out for me to shake it. I firmly grasp it.

  "I'm doing much better. So glad to be home and have Tommy back. Thanks for all your help." I watch curiously as he starts to walk back towards the way we just came from.

  "What do you say we take a little walk?" I look back at Buster. He has already gone in. He's probably drinking from his water bowl in the kitchen.

  "Sure." I turn around and quickly catch up.

  "I wanted to update you on where we are." I look over at him. He's dressed in a white button down, his red tie is loose, but he looks much better than anytime I have seen him since all this started. "First of all, we still haven’t found our main suspects. In fact, I don’t think we are any closer. We have APB's on both, but nothing has turned up. It’s like they're ghosts." I remember how easily they escaped in their BMW a while back. "What I wanted to talk to you about is Douglas Sorenson." I feel a large lump forming in my throat. "How well did you know him?" I'm not sure how to immediately answer this. I feel his eyes boring down on me and the sweat forming on my forehead, so I know I need to answer quickly.

  "We talked a few times."

  "Where?"

  "His office and house."

  I watch his eyes focus on something above me for a second. "The reason I ask is because we found your prints all over the crime scene at his house." I feel my heart begin to beat quickly, "And also in his office." He slows down almost coming to a stop, "Any explanation?"

  I don’t look at him directly. "I saw him in both places. We talked about what he knew and how it might be able to help me find Tommy."

  "We also have a witness that claims to have seen gold Chevy Tahoe on his street at about the same time the murder happened." I look back at our driveway. The Tahoe is parked in the garage so you can’t see it. "What do you think?"

  "Like I said, I did visit with him at his house?"

  "On Sunday afternoon?"

  "I think so. It was sometime Sunday. I don’t really remember exactly. I was a little upset at the time about Tommy being gone."

  "I understand. I just need to follow up on everything." I feel my nerves kicking up causing my brain to misfire a little. "Can you try and remember what time you were there? Was it after 1:00? “

  "I think it was before, but like I say I really don't remember."

  "It could be very important for us to set a timeline if you could remember. The responding officers said he was watching the Redskin game when they arrived. Do you remember if he had the Redskins on?" I'm not sure if I'm being set up, so I try and give a vague answer.

  "There was some kind of football on, but I didn't really pay attention."

  "Don’t tell me you’re not a Skins fan?"

  "Dolphins." I see him smile which cause my pulse to instantly slow down about twenty beats. He slowly turns around and begins heading back towards the driveway. He doesn’t say anything else the rest of the way. When we get by his car, he reaches out and shakes my hand again.

  "I'm sure I'll have some more questions for you and I'll need to get a statement, so I'll be back." I watch him back out of the driveway. I take a deep breath and as soon as I turn around I jump seeing Michelle standing right behind me.

  "What did he say?" We slowly walk up the driveway.

  "He said they found my fingerprints all over the crime scene."

  "What do you think he's going to do?"

  "I'm not sure. He said he would be back in touch with me." She stops and grasps my hand in hers and lowers her voice.

  "We will do whatever it takes to keep you away from all that. I promise." I stop and place my arm around her. I can’t believe how supportive she is.

  "Thanks, but whatever happens…happens. We got Tommy back."

  "And we're going to keep you back too Sheldon." I almost trip over Buster as he comes running out of the garage and lands at my feet, "besides who would take care of Buster." The rest of the day we stay home and relax. The next morning we all attend Lawrence's service. I keep Tommy beside me the whole time in case he has any emotional problems, but we all do well and meet up at local steakhouse afterwards and tell stories about Lawrence throughout the meal, some funny some sad. After lunch, I pay the bill and walk out to the parking lot to get the Tahoe. Luckily, it's big enough to fit everyone in it. As soon as I unlock the door, I notice something isn’t right. The back passenger door is slightly open. I know I locked it when we went in because I heard it chime. I have taken to locking everything since all that happened. I walk around the back of the vehicle to close the door and I almost fall over backwards when I see a foot and a leg hanging out the door. I run and open the door and feel my insides begin to rise up seeing Brian's lifeless body hanging on the seat. There is blood all over his face and clothes. It looks like he has been shot, but I can’t tell because I quickly turn away. The only thing I remember is seeing a clear tarp underneath his body covering the back seat. I immediately dial 911 and begin walking in small circles besides the truck. I can’t believe this is happening again. I thought it was all over after Tommy and Sorenson. Two minutes later, I hear the sirens. I feel my phone begin to ring, it's Michelle. I fill her in and she decides to take everyone home out another entrance in a cab. A minute later, I feel a slight tap on my shoulder and Stanton is standing behind me. I quickly turn around and tell him what happened. He keeps asking me about the tarp and if it's mine. I deny it and tell him I have never seen it before. I explain to him who Brian was and that we haven’t heard from him in several days. I watch him go back towards the Tahoe and examine the body. I slowly walk back towards the restaurant feeling a gnawing headache take over inside me. As soon as I get near the door, my phone starts vibrating. I look down and read the text message from the private sender, "that's what happens to your friends when they get too close to my business." I immediately try and think of what Brian must have been doing. I wish I could have warned him. I suddenly feel responsible for someone else's life. I walk back into the restaurant and head to the restroom and end up sitting in a stall. I'm not sure how long I stay in there, but when I walk back out the place is empty and a tow truck is taking my Tahoe away. I watch it disappear down the road. I can only imagine Harris is somewhere laughing about this. There are still several police cars parked in the parking lot and I can see officers inside speaking with employees. I casually walk past them, and no one seems to notice me so I begin walking down the road. I decide to call Jim and let him know what happened. We agree to meet at Brian's house in a few hours. I keep walking ignoring the passing cars and looks until my legs begin to stiffen and then I finally call a cab. I arrive in front of Brian's house a few minutes later. It's a small bungalow located close to the road. I've never been here before, but I'm impressed at how well maintained the place looks. The yard and shrubbery are immaculate and the off-white siding looks new and clean. I walk up the short sidewalk and sit on the steps. I don’t see Jim's car yet. I call Michelle and let her know where I am and she seems to understand. She says that Tommy is doing well despite what happened. A few minutes later, I see Jim's Prius pull in front and he slowly gets out. I can see the sadness is his face. I stand up and we lightly embrace. A minute later, he opens the door and we step into one of the most beautifully decorated houses I have ever laid eyes on. There are Persian rugs covering highly polished hardwood floors and furniture that looks as though it was imported from all over the world. I look at Jim, but he doesn’t seem to notice anything. I'm not really sure why we're here, but I figure maybe we can find something to tell us why he was killed. We quickly walk through the three rooms on the first floor. We don’t see anything out of the ordinary. It almost appears as if no one lives here, the place is just too clean, but there are a few personal touches here and there. I notice a picture on the mantle of Brian with what must be his parents. I point it out to Jim and we agree to track them down and let them know. Hopefully, I have something at w
ork that lists his emergency contacts. We climb up the small staircase. There are two rooms on the second floor. The first one we enter must be Brian's bedroom, because there's a small bed with the sheets pulled tightly. We fumble around in his room for a minute, but don’t see anything of interest.

  "Sheldon, you better come see this." I slowly back out of the bedroom and enter the room next door where Jim is standing. I feel my breath struggling to exit my chest. There are at least thirty computers, a mixture of laptops and desktops placed around the small room making it almost impossible to walk in, and every one of them is smashed to pieces. It looks like someone has taken a sledge hammer and destroyed both the computer and the monitor on each one.

  "What do you think happened in here?"

  "I know Brian didn’t do this. When I came in here before the place was a mess but nothing appeared broken." I run my fingers across the pieces of a desktop next to me.

  "Why does he have so many computers in here?" I'm running my eyes around the room amazed at the amount of technology.

  "You know Brian. He loves computers. Why are they all smashed? What's going on here Sheldon?"

  "I think someone is trying to keep us from finding that out. We need to see if any of these will boot up." We both start trying to piece together the various computer parts, but after several hours we determine they are all destroyed.

  "It looks like a magnet was used as well." I nod my head.

  "We need to keep looking. There has got to be something here." We both rummage through the room for a while, but there just isn’t anything. Jim hands me a floppy drive from one of the desktops.

  "We should keep this as a reminder." I toss it back and forth in my hands. "I'm surprised he doesn't have this one at work." I picture Brian's cluttered desk, which is such a sharp contrast to his home and I can see the various floppy drives he has all strewn all around him. We both take one more walk through the house to make sure we didn’t miss anything and then head out. Jim gives me a ride back home. I arrive back inside and the only one to greet me is Buster, everyone else is sound asleep. I set the floppy drive down and grab Buster's leash, but then I suddenly stop. There's something different about the drive. I don’t know how I didn’t notice it before. Buster is jumping up and down pulling me towards the door, but I ignore him. I pick up the drive and push the button that normally ejects a disk and instead it opens up and there's a small piece of paper and a key inside.

  Chapter 24

  I wake to a loud pounding on the door. I look through the window and see Stanton outside with two uniformed officers. I quickly open the door.

  "Good morning Mr. Smith. May we come in?" I open the door and allow them to step inside. He hands me a piece of paper. "We have a search warrant for a tarp like the one that was used for Brian's body."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "I'm sorry to have to do this, but we need to find everything we can. This needs to end." I nod and watch them head towards the garage. "Your friend was killed by a single shot to the head. As you know there was a lot of blood, but the weird thing was, there wasn't a drop on your car." I keep my eyes focused on the garage door where I can hear the officers rummaging through our stuff. "Please sit down." He points at the couch. The same one Michelle and I spent many hours on waiting for Tommy. "I'm going to level with you Mr. Smith." I look at the clock it's 3:00 AM. "There are two theories on what is going on around here. Half of the station is convinced you are involved, and the other half like me, are convinced you are just a victim. We're getting a lot of heat to stop this. We've had more murders in the last two weeks than we've had in five years, so clearly we are receiving a lot of community pressure." I look down at my feet. "So if there's anything you're not telling me, now might be the time." I touch my hair on the back of my head.

  "There isn’t anything else. I've told you everything I know." I can’t believe how easily that comes out of my mouth.

  "Your fingerprints at the crime scene certainly don’t help you. The only reason you're not being questioned is because I am telling them you aren't involved, but I need you to tell me if there's anything else which I think we both know there is." I shake my head.

  "Look, his son was taken, his brother was murdered and now one of the guys who works for him was found murdered in his own car. I think he has been through enough don’t you?" I watch as Michelle stands directly in front of Stanton.

  "I agree. You have all been through a lot, but some of stuff just doesn’t add up and we need to tie up all the loose ends. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn't."

  "Just please don’t push him. Remember he just came out of the hospital." She sits down next to me and places an arm around me. We both turn our heads towards the garage door. The two officers are carrying two tarps.

  "They're the same Detective." Stanton stands up and grabs hold of one of the tarps and looks directly at me.

  "Any explanation for this?" I shake my head.

  "I'm sure it's the same as everything else. Someone is trying to make me look guilty." Stanton follows the two officers out the door. He stops at the door and looks back.

  "I'm sure I'll be back. The tarp connection may put more people over the top. Hopefully, you'll be ready to talk soon. You’re only hurting yourself Mr. Smith by not telling us everything." After he shuts the door, I explain to Michelle about the tarps and what happened at Brian's house. She hugs me and heads back upstairs. I pull the small piece of paper out of my pocket and read the address again over and over again. I don't feel like I'll be able to go back to sleep, so I pull up the address on Google and find it. It's about an hour south of here off Route 29. It looks like it's a pretty rural area, though it's difficult to see because the Google imagery isn’t really clear, but it looks like small housing development. I fall asleep on the couch and wake up to Buster's wet tongue. Tommy and I take him for a walk up the street. It’s early enough that there is no one outside so I guess we won’t be bothered. I keep Tommy as close to me as possible. We don’t talk about what happened to him. None of us do at all. It’s just too painful and he doesn’t remember much and Michelle and I don’t want to remember. I still can’t take my eyes off him. It’s still like I'm looking at him the first time. By the time we get back, my parents and Michelle's parents are packed and ready to go home. We say goodbye to Michelle's, and then Tommy and I drive mine to the airport. We don’t get out so no one will recognize Tommy. We decide to stop at the ball field and throw the ball around. We end up spending several hours playing catch and hitting balls. Tommy even runs the bases several times and asks me when he can start playing again. I tell him I'll call the coach when we get home. I end up dropping him back off at home. Luckily, a rental has shown up to replace the Tahoe, so I leave Michelle's Honda in the garage and set off for where I need to go. I quickly program the address into the GPS and start following the directions. I'm not sure what I'm going to find, but I know I need to go. I decide to make a stop in Alexandria first and pay a visit to my new rich friend, Mary. I'm able to park the rental right in front of her charity office and I see her seated inside. It looks like she's by herself. I knock on the door and watch her curiously walk towards me. It looks like she recognizes me when she gets closer, but she seems hesitant on opening the door.

  "Hi, what can I do for you? You were here the other day asking about the Harris boy’s right?" I nod my head. "I haven’t heard or seen any sign from them." She is holding the door open.

  "May I come in?" She looks back into the office and then steps aside so I can enter. I step inside and don’t see anyone else inside. "Is there anyone else here?" She nods her head. "I wanted to let you know you might be in danger." She looks at me strangely.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Douglas Sorenson is dead." I can’t believe I just said that since I'm the one that killed him.

  "What? Doug is dead. How?"

  "Apparently he was shot at home." It feels so weird saying it. I watch the emotions sweep across her face.

/>   "Oh my God! Doug is gone. I can’t believe it. He was such a great guy. What about his family?"

  "They're all fine. I think they weren't at home." She leans against her desk.

  "Wait a minute. Why are you telling me this?"

  "I thought you should know. Especially after you told me your money goes to him if something happens to you." She sits on the edge of the desk and wipes her eyes with the back of her sleeve.

  "That's not totally true. It doesn’t really go to him. It goes to a trust that he would be in charge of, but thanks for letting me know because this definitely changes things. I guess I'm next."

  "Maybe you should hide low until you get everything worked out." I watch as she looks back at her desk.

  "That's the thing. I don’t think I can work everything out. Doug was in charge of everything. In fact he was responsible for investing the money and maintaining it as well as the charity. I don’t know what I'm going to do now." I place my arm around her and she leans into my shoulder. "He didn’t do any of this with the firm he's with; it was all on his own."

  "There has to be other safeguards." She slowly pushes away from me and walks around to the front of the desk.