HIGHWAY HOMICIDE

by Bill WENHAM

For David Gates, it was like when you’re trying to recall a name that seems to be on the tip of your tongue. Or like a file your computer refuses to give you access to, even though you’d created the file yourself.

  Then suddenly, in the middle of the night sometimes, that elusive name or memory would just pop into your head for no reason at all. David’s memory of that terrible night popped into his head in much the same way.

  But for David, it wasn’t in the middle of the night when it came back. It was in the middle of the Interstate!

  He swerved the Buick off the highway and skidded to a stop on the shoulder. The image of what had happened that night was now crystal clear in his mind. His subconscious mind had finally seen fit to bring it to the surface.

  He now knew exactly what it was that he’d seen!

  He’d seen Maria!

  He’d seen his former lover lying dead on his own living room carpet. She’d been lying there; eyes wide open in shock, with her whole head surrounded by blood. No wonder his mind had refused to accept it. His last recollection was of a bulky figure crouched over her.

  Whether the figure was male or female, it was impossible to tell. It had been no more than a fleeting image as he’d passed out.

  But what was Maria doing back in his house, he wondered? Had she returned to get back together with him? But neither question mattered at all because somehow she was now dead on the floor.

  He realized she’d been dead already when he’d entered the room and that changed everything. It would change his whole life. There was no doubt in his mind his perceived situation as a possible killer had made him into a car thief. Well, a car and tractor thief actually, but he also knew for sure now he wasn’t a killer.

  He sat in the Buick with his heart pounding as sweat poured down his face. His whole body felt drained and weak with relief and he couldn’t stop himself from trembling.

  He wasn’t a murderer!

  But if he wasn’t, then who was?

  Had the shadowy figure in the room discovered Maria dead, just as he’d done, or was that the person responsible for her death?

  He sat and thought about it for a moment. Until his heart rate settled down, he was in no fit state to resume driving. He finally realized he really only had one good option. And that was to return to the diner and the spot on the highway where it had all started. He was gladder than ever now he hadn’t hurt the waitress there.

  In his heart, he’d known at the time he hadn’t hurt the girl out on the highway either. It was just that, with the body being face down and progressively getting more covered with snow, he hadn’t recognized her.

  He had no doubt in his mind now just who the girl was. It had been Maria! It just had to be. There was no other explanation, was there? And someone had transported both of them out to the highway somehow. And that someone had also left him there unconscious to freeze and to die of exposure beside her.

  Was that someone the same person he’d seen crouching over Maria’s body? He’d never know because he’d never got a clear look at the person.

  The important thing right now was he hadn’t killed her and it was only the belief he may have done so, that had sent him on the run.

  Ethan Lanchester, of the Vermont State Police, ‘A’ Troop, slowed his cruiser as he came up alongside the Buick on the Interstate’s shoulder. He had seen the Buick swerve suddenly off the highway in front of him from way back and he wondered if the driver was perhaps ill or required some other kind of assistance.

  David had seen the police cruiser approaching in the rear view mirror and as he came up alongside, David smiled and gave him a thumb’s up sign. The trooper nodded once, gave David a casual wave, and accelerated away again.

  It was obvious, David thought, the theft of the Buick was not widespread on the police networks yet. Taking a deep breath to calm his jangling nerves, he put the car into gear and pulled back on to the Interstate.

  Just past the Camel’s Hump State Park, he was able to cross back over into the eastbound lanes. Once he was heading back in the right direction, he drove slowly and carefully, turning north on to Highway 100. He drove straight on through Cooper’s Corners and a few minutes later he pulled into the diner’s parking lot.

  He got out of the Buick, walked over to the door of the diner, opened it and went on inside. Today, there were two women working in the diner. The younger one of the two was waiting tables and looked like she might be the older woman’s sister.

  There were also several customers sitting at the booths but none were at the counter. The older woman, the one he’d met before and the one whose car he had stolen, looked up from the grill as he sat himself down at the counter.

  “You!” she said in a loud voice, loud enough for everyone in the diner to hear, “Christ, buddy, but you’ve got a bloody nerve, coming back in here.” She glanced over David’s shoulder at the Buick in the parking lot, “And still stealing cars, I see,” she said contemptuously.

  David looked at her and shrugged his shoulders.

  “Ma’am,” he said, “I came back here to apologize, to say I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry for what? Stealing my car or killing the girl out on the highway?”

  Actually she already knew he wasn’t a suspect in the murder any more, because Carl had already told her. But she wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily. He’d still stolen her car.

  “I didn’t kill the girl on the highway,” he began, fully aware that everyone in the diner was listening to every word. “I loved her and we were planning to get married. Well, I was. But she had other ideas and we broke up. But I didn’t kill her. I swear it.”

  At his mention of killing, several of the male customers had moved to the edge of their seats, in order to be ready in case there was any trouble.

  “And I suppose you didn’t take my Honda then, either, I suppose?”

  “Yes, I did do that and I’m really very sorry,” he said, and then rushed on before she could interrupt him again. “When I came in here that day, I thought possibly I had killed her. I was scared to death and I just wanted to get away from here.”

  “In my car” Lisa said.

  “Yes, alright, in your car, and that was just because it was the only one available.”

  “My friend Pam’s car was parked right outside the goddamned door,” Lisa said. “Mine was parked out back and covered in snow, so why didn’t you take hers?”

  “I know that, but you would have both seen me take her car and I would’ve had the police after me in seconds.”

  The reaction to this statement surprised him by bringing guffaws of laughter from the diner’s customers. It even made Lisa smile.

  “Listen, buddy, this is Cooper’s Corners you’re in right now and our local cops sure as hell aren’t the N.Y.P.D. either. They’d get out here eventually if they really put their minds to it but, believe me they’d take their own sweet time about doing it.”

  “Amen to that, Lisa,” one of the customers called out.

  “Can you call them for me, please,” David asked.

  “Call them? What, the police? What do you want to do that for, if you’re on the run?” Lisa said curiously.

  “It was me who notified them in the first place about the girl on the highway. I called 911 from a phone booth at a feed mill down the highway.”

  “Well, I’ll call them, pal, but what do you want me to tell them?” Lisa asked.

  “I don’t want you to tell them anything. I’d like to speak to them, please,” David said quietly.

  Lisa shrugged, picked up the phone and called Judy.

  “Hi, Jude, Lisa here. I’ve got a fella here who wants to talk to Carl and I’m pretty sure Carl will want to talk to him as well. Can you ask him to call me, please? Yes, that’s right and as soon as possible and thanks, Jude,” Lisa said and hung up. “She said our Sheriff will be calling back in a few minutes.”

  But barely thirty seconds had gone by before the phone rang. All conversations in the diner stop
ped instantly. Nobody wanted to miss a word of what would be said next. This wasn’t the usual gossip. This was the real thing.

  “Olde Tyme Diner, Lisa speaking,” Lisa said. “Yes, Carl, hold on a moment.”

  She held out the phone to David Gates. “That’s our Sheriff, Carl Berger. You’d better make whatever you have to say to him pretty good, because believe me, pal, he’s pretty damned pissed at you. Even more than I am.”

  “Hello, Sheriff,” David said. “This is David Gates. Can you come and get me, please?” He paused for a moment, listening. “No, sir, I’m not armed and I’m not dangerous either. But I am a stupid bloody fool and right now I’m scared out of my mind.” He paused again and listened some more. “Yes, sir, you’re right, I did steal another car. A black Buick. It’s parked outside the diner, and no, sir, I’m not planning on going anywhere. I’ll be here waiting for you. I’d like the opportunity to explain my recent actions to you. Yes, sir, and thank you.”

  David handed the phone back to Lisa.

  “Thank you,” he said politely.

  There wasn’t a sound in the diner from the other customers.

  “You’re giving yourself up then, are you?” Lisa asked.

  David nodded. “I really didn’t do anything, you know,” he said.

  “Didn’t do anything! You should see the mess my car was in when I got it back. You left the bloody window open and it was full up with snow. You think that was nothing?”

  “I’m sorry,” David said simply. “I just didn’t want to hurt anyone else. And believe me, ma’am, you came awfully damned close. I just wanted to get away from here.”

  “I thought you said you didn’t do it, hurt the girl, I mean.” Lisa said, a little nervously. Carl had said this guy wasn’t guilty, but he wasn’t standing right in front of him like she was, was he?

  “I didn’t kill her or even hurt her in any way, but I didn’t know that for sure until about a half an hour ago either.”

  One of the diner’s customers broke their silence by calling out, “Give the guy a break, Lisa. Even if he did steal that old heap of yours, the guy deserves a medal not a hassle.”

  One of the other customers, a woman, yelled, “Give the poor bastard a coffee and a bite to eat, for Christ’s sake. I’ll even pay for it if you want. If he’s been on the run for days, the poor devil must be starving.”

  “Yeah, Lisa, get off his case,” someone else called.

  Lisa looked David up and down. He really does have nice eyes, she thought. She heaved a sigh of resignation and said in a more friendly tone of voice, “I guess she’s right, you must be hungry by now, right, Bud?”

  David nodded.

  She placed a hot cup of coffee down on the counter in front of him.

  “Cheeseburger and fries okay with you? It’s on the house if you’re broke,” she added, to a round of applause from her other customers.

  David smiled. “Thanks, but I’m not broke. I can pay for it and a cheeseburger will be just fine, thank you.”

  Suddenly Lisa put her hands down flat on the counter in front of him.

  “Well?” she demanded.

  “Well, what?” he answered, surprised that she wanted payment for the meal already.

  “Where the hell are my keys?”

  David reached into the pocket of his jeans and dropped her key ring down on the counter between her hands.

  “I must have known I’d be returning them,” he said, smiling nervously at her.

  Lisa picked them up, dropped them in her pocket without a word and turned back to the grill.

  David was halfway through his burger when the Sheriff came charging through the door. He stared at the fugitive, his wanted felon, calmly eating lunch at the counter.

  “What the hell is this then, Lisa?” he said. “Still consorting with a wanted felon then, are you?”

  “As I’ve told you once already, Carl Berger, I’m not consorting with him. I’m merely serving him lunch. A lunch he’s planning to pay for, I might add, which is far more than I can say for you.”

  Carl strolled over and sat himself down beside David at the counter. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of crumpled one dollar bills, slapping them down on the counter.

  “A coffee, then, Lisa, and keep the change.”

  “Put it away, Carl. You know I was only teasing you,” Lisa said, pushing the bills back at him.

  David waited patiently while this exchange took place.

  Finally, he turned to Carl, held out his hand and said, “David Gates, Sheriff. I’m sorry if I’ve caused you any trouble, but I have a lot to tell you.”

  Lisa looked shocked as Carl slipped one side of a pair of handcuffs on David’s outstretched wrist.

  “Carl!” she exploded, “For Christ’s sake, man, that’s not necessary. He’s not doing anyone any harm.”

  Carl thought for a moment.

  “Oh, what the hell,” he muttered. “Finish your meal.” He unlocked the cuffs and put them back on his belt.

  “Its tough to do any proper police work around here, without women interrupting and getting in your goddamned way,” he said in a loud voice to the diner at large.

  “Are you going to arrest me then?” David asked him.

  “Well, that depends a lot on whether you come willingly for questioning, or not.”

  “Of course I’ll come willing, Sheriff. That’s what I’m here for, and it was me that called you, remember - both times actually. I’m here to give myself up.” David told him.

  “Whether I arrest you or not depends an awful lot on whether this young lady wants to prefer charges of auto theft against you.”

  Lisa shook her head.

  “No, Carl, its okay. There was no real harm done. And all it cost me was another free breakfast for Jack Tyler. So, no, I don’t want to lay any charges.”

  David thanked her as Carl said in a conversational tone, “Well, that’s one down, I guess, and two to go. Fortunately for you, if not for him, the owner of the tractor you stole has been dead for years. But you know that already, don’t you?”

  David nodded, wondering where this conversation was headed.

  “Well, that makes it two down and one to go then, doesn’t it? So, have you done any damage to that Buick out there?”

  David shook his head.

  “Alright, then, if you haven’t banged it up, I think I can get Sam Connor to agree to a joyriding charge, instead of auto theft. Sam was pretty pissed at you though, because he and his wife were about to leave for a day in the Capital. Sam’s okay, but the one person you don’t want to piss off around here is Sally Connor. One look from that woman can strip the hide off you.”

  “We’re gonna tell her you said that, Carl, so watch out, next time you see her,” Al Barrow called out.

  Carl swung around on his stool.

  “Tell me something, Al. You ever seen one of our jail cells from the inside looking out? No? Then don’t plan to start now, okay?”

  Al grinned back at him but didn’t say anything else.

  “Anyway, to continue, Mr. Gates, I’d strongly suggest you pay him for any gas you used. Also, it might be a good idea for you to buy him and his good lady a dinner when they go into the Capital next. If you were to sweeten the pot like that, he may be more inclined to drop the auto theft charge against you.”

  “That’s bribery, Sheriff. Are you condoning bribery now?” one of the woman diners said.

  “Condoning it? Hell, no, Joyce, I’m suggesting it! A means to an end to solve a problem here.”

  David stared at him in amazement.

  “So what do I get for a joyriding charge then?”

  Instead of answering right away, Carl picked up David’s hand and held it out over the counter towards Lisa.

  “You get a slap on the wrist, Mr. Gates. Slap him for me will you, Lisa.”

  Lisa gave David’s wrist a playful slap and smiled at him. Man, but he does have the cutest blues though, doesn’t he, she thought.
/>   “And that’s it?” David asked, absolutely stunned at the turn of events. “What about the dead girl out on the highway?”

  Carl looked hard at him, sizing him up one last time.

  “I don’t know what exactly caused you to run, Mr. Gates, and perhaps you can explain all that to me down at the station house. The fact is, though, we know for a fact you weren’t responsible for the girl. When we talk later we can perhaps compare notes. A lot has happened since you left here, including another murder.”

  Carl paused to see if that news had any effect on David Gates, but he appeared to just be an interested listener. He hadn’t reacted at all.

  “A lot of what has happened here does concern you directly though and I’m afraid it isn’t something you’ll want to hear, I’m sure. But the good news for you, Mr. Gates, is I won’t be charging you for anything. But Lisa here will be.”

  “But you said…” David said, alarmed.

  “Just pay her for the burger and let’s get out of here.” Carl grinned. “You might remember, too, we aren’t all the bunch of country hicks the flatlanders take us to be.”

  In Vermont, anyone who wasn’t from the hill or mountain country was considered to be a flatlander and consequently a somewhat lesser mortal by implication.

  Lisa reached over the counter and gave Carl a quick peck on the cheek.

  “Thanks, Carl, you’re a good man,” and to herself she said, and I’m a good woman, if you’d only take the goddamned time to notice. “You’re good for a free lunch, next time you’re in too. An extra special hoagie.”

  “Christ, Lisa, I’ll let all my felons go, if you want to make that a regular arrangement.”

  “Just get out of here, Carl, while you’re still ahead of the game. Oh, just a minute, though, I’ll be right back,” she said as she went out into the back room. A moment later she returned.

  “Here,” she said, handing David a fleece lined parka. “This is a gift, not a loan. I told you the last time you were in here you weren’t dressed properly for the winter, didn’t I?”

  David thanked her and slipped the warm coat on.

  “Ready now?” Carl asked and David nodded.

  As they left the diner, Lisa’s sister Rosetta who had finally sat down at the other end of the counter said, “He’s pretty nice, isn’t he?”