A Detective Story...

I was perusing my book,(A Detective Story) and ran across this incident I enjoyed so I decided to post it for you. It is what took place immediately after the murder of Old Man Rafton, the Mayor of Tulla City, Ohio. Enjoy!

*'Tom' is a detective and 'Billy' is a patrolman.

"...A week had passed since the murder of Old man Rafton and the police weren’t any closer to knowing who did the killing than they were on the night it happened. The sheriff regularly called the officers together to get a report from them about any possible clues or ideas they may have. Calls began to come in suggesting different people who might be responsible; who might be the ‘perp’.

A lady called the station to say she thought her husband was the killer. She said he hadn’t come home that night and refused to say where he had been. *Tom called him and asked him to come to the station. He took a taxi to the station and Tom asked him where he was on the night in question. He wanted to know why Tom was asking him these questions and Tom told him that it was just routine. He refused to answer any questions unless Tom told him why he wanted to know and why he was asking him specifically.

Tom said someone suggested that he might know about the killing of the Mayor and the man said,” It was my wife, wasn’t it,” and Tom said it might have been. The man said, “Boy, what a bitch. I can believe it. She thinks I am supposed to clear everything with her before I do it. She wants to treat me like I am a child. I was at an all night poker game with a few friends.” Then he gave their names to Tom.

“I used to play poker with my friends every week before I got married. She knew that and didn’t object to it before we married. After I said,”I do,” she changed.

At first she asked me to tell her when I planned to play poker. Then she asked me not to play so often. Then she wanted to go with me and I said OK. She didn’t like it because some of my friends smoked cigarettes so she wouldn’t go again. Then she said I shouldn’t play, it was too expensive and, if we ever had children, it would set a bad example for them. I stopped going for a while then thought, ‘What the hell! I need some kind of entertainment.’ We never went anywhere because she said we couldn’t afford it. I got tired of sitting home every night and that is all she wanted to do. She said that if we have each other, that should be enough. Frankly, she’s not that great.”

While he was talking to Tom, *Billy called a couple of his poker buddies and confirmed his story. Tom asked if he needed a ride home. Tom said he was satisfied and sorry he had bothered him. The man said he could use a ride so Tom took him home.

When they got there, the man asked Tom to wait for just a minute. Tom thought he would bring his wife out to verify everything. Instead, in a few minutes, the man came out carrying a suitcase. His wife followed him out, crying. The man didn’t look back. He asked Tom to take him to the bus station. Tom said all right, he would, and on the way, the man told Tom that his brother owned a store in another town and he thought working in a hardware store would be more satisfying than being married to his wife. Tom let him out at the bus station and went back to the police station.

When he walked in, Billy asked him what had happened. Tom said,” Not much,” and sat down at his desk, chuckling to himself..."

Later...