An hour had passed, and Donovan and Jodi sat in individual jail cells. In fact, the Haneyville Police Station only had two jail cells and rarely had a visitor. They were located right next to Rock’s office.
“What are we going to do now?” asked Jodi while she sat on her jail cell bed.
“I don’t have a clue at the moment,” replied Donovan while he sat on his jail cell bed. “Not a clue.”
Kent was at the coffee pot, pouring another cup of coffee and heard their conservation. He could care less as he felt they probably did kill Charlie Abbott.
Kent walked back to his desk to do some more Internet searching for crime news.
Back at the clearing, Rock had previously placed Charlie’s cell phone back in his pants pocket while Kent booked Donovan and Jodi for murder at their police station.
After Rock secured the crime scene with rope, Andrew arrived in his patrol car.
Then an ambulance pulled up and was allowed to park in the clearing.
Inside the ambulance were EMTs Jerry and Billy. They arrived at the crime scene to take Charlie’s body away to the morgue.
Rock stood by a tree at the edge of the clearing and puffed on a cigar.
Andrew got out of his patrol car at the same time Jerry and Billy got out of the ambulance.
They all walked over to Rock.
“After Andrew snaps pictures of the crime scene, you can take away the body,” Rock told Jerry and Billy.
Jerry and Billy nodded in agreement with Rock’s orders.
Andrew walked into the woods with the camera in hand.
Rock, Jerry and Billy walked into the woods after Andrew.
They walked over to the roped-off area.
Andrew went under the rope with the camera.
Rock, Jerry and Billy waited near a tree and watched while Andrew snapped pictures of the crime scene, the two shallow graves with visible skeletons and the shovel in the dirt.
Billy noticed the cut on Rock’s face where the blood had dried. “Do you want me to take a look at your cut, Sheriff?”
“Naw, I’ll be fine. I’ll have Andrew take a picture for evidence,” said Rock.
Billy looked again at the cut and thought that the blood dried a little too quickly, but he shrugged it off.
“Sheriff, do you know who those skeletons might be?” Jerry asked Rock.
Rock looked at the shallow graves. “Well, the only missing persons we have in Haneyville are Howie Anderson and Tiffany Carlson. So it very well could be them, but I’ll see if Doc Lorre has any dental records on those two kids,” said Rock.
“That was way before my time, but I recall momma talking about them and how they ran off to Canada back in like nineteen seventy,” said Billy.
Jerry nodded in agreement. “But now I guess they probably never made it,” he added.
“Do you know who that dead guy is in the dirt?” asked Billy.
Rock reached in his pants pocket and removed Charlie’s wallet. He opened it, and Charlie’s California drivers license was visible. “He’s Charlie Abbott. He once lived here and was friends with Howie Anderson,” he told the two EMTs.
Jerry and Billy looked at Charlie’s dead body.
“Do you think he killed those two?” asked Jerry.
“Sure looks that way. I guess after the news of finding Tiffany’s car in the lake hit the Internet, he decided to come back and dig up their bones to get rid of them to save his hide,” said Rock and looked serious.
Jerry and Billy looked at the two shallow graves and nodded in agreement. Rock’s theory made perfect sense at the moment.
“But why would those two reporters kill him?” asked Billy.
“I can’t figure that part out. But I caught them by the body. And that’s proof to me that they killed him.” said Rock.
“I’m done with taking pictures, sheriff,” Andrew told Rock when he walked up to him with the camera in hand. Then he looked down at Charlie’s body. “Hard to imagine I saw him yesterday alive and well,” added Andrew.
“Take a picture of my face with the cut for evidence,” he told Andrew.
Andrew snapped a picture of Rock’s cheek with the cut.
“You can take the body to the hospital,” Rock told Jerry and Billy.
Jerry and Billy walked over to a nearby tree and grabbed the gurney that leaned by a nearby tree.
Jerry and Billy took the gurney and headed over to Charlie’s body.
They placed his body on the gurney and walked through the trees and headed back to their ambulance, parked in the clearing.
“I’ll call Chief Adams down in Knoxville and have him send up some forensic experts first thing Monday morning,” said Rock.
“Okay. I’ll download the pictures into the computer as soon as I get back to the station,” replied Andrew while he looked at the two shallow graves.
“Good.”
Andrew walked away and headed back to his car.
Rock continued to look at the two shallow graves. He started to have a flashback.
In Rock’s flashback, it was back to that August night in 1970.
Young Deputy Rock Riley was dressed in those coveralls and stood by two rocks he previously placed in the ground.
He looked down at naked bodies of Howie and Tiffany on their backs dead in the dirt.
He grabbed his shovel and started digging a hole by one of the rocks.
Some time had magically passed in his flashback, and Rock looked down at the dead naked bodies of Howie and Tiffany in the shallow graves he just dug.
He looked at their clothes and shoes in a pile between the two graves.
Some more time had magically passed in his flashback, and Rock looked down at the dirt where those two rocks marked their graves. He also placed leaves and small dead branches all over the area to hide the fact someone was buried at this spot. He did an excellent job covering his tracks, as you could not tell this was a gravesite.
Rock walked away with his shovel in hand and headed back toward the clearing.
Some more time had magically passed in his flashback, and Rock stood by Tiffany’s Buick Special in the clearing.
All the windows were rolled down and the car engine idling.
Rock opened up the passenger door and sat in the front seat.
He placed the Buick into drive and stomped on the gas pedal.
The Buick raced down the clearing and headed to Lake Haney.
Tiffany’s Buick splashed in the lake.
Rock climbed out through the opened driver’s door window and jumped into the lake.
He swam to the shore.
He stood on the shore, soaking wet and watched while the Buick started to slowly float away and sink into the water.
Back in reality, Rock snapped out of his daydream.
He walked over, bent down, and grabbed the shovel by its handle.
He walked away from the shallow graves and headed to the clearing. He saw Andrew while he just opened the door of his patrol car.
“Andrew, I changed my mind. Stay here and make sure nobody and I mean nobody enters that area. I want to preserve the evidence,” Rock told Andrew while he walked over to his patrol car.
“Yes, sheriff,” Andrew replied and thought it was cool that he was on his very first murder crime scene.
“I’ll download the pictures into the computer,” Rock said and held out his hand for the camera.
Andrew handed Rock the camera.
Rock walked over to his Impala and opened the driver’s door.
“Sheriff, why would those reporters kill that guy?” asked Andrew.
Rock glanced back at Andrew. “Well, I don’t know, but people do crazy things, and murder is one of them,” he said then sat down inside his car
Rock started up its engine, turned his car around, and drove down the dirt road.
The woods started to get eerie quiet for Andrew, and he began to get a tad nervous since there were two skeletons near him.
While Rock drove his Impala down the dirt road away from the clearing, he had a smirk on his face. He knew that he could easily pin Charlie Abbott’s murder on Donovan and Jodi. He also knew that he could make people believe that Charlie Abbott killed Howie and Tiffany back on that August night in 1970. Rock was proud of himself for getting away with killing three people.
Back at the clearing, Andrew got curious again while he stared at the area of the woods of the two shallow graves.
He slowly walked away from his car and headed in that direction.
He stopped when he got to the woods and wondered if he should proceed.
He stood there for a few minutes and decided to head back to his car. So he turned around and walked back to his patrol car.
He stopped again as his curiosity started to get the best of him. After watching TV crime shows like Criminal Minds, Cold Case and CSI, the urge to take another peek were overwhelming.
Andrew turned around and walked back to the woods.
After the trek through the woods, Andrew arrived at the roped-off area for the two shallow graves.
He removed his small flashlight off his belt and turned it on.
He went under the rope.
He started to illuminate the ground and soon found the two graves. He inched closer while he kept the beam of light on the graves.
He stopped when he saw the skeletons of Howie and Tiffany that were halfway exposed out of the dirt. He could not believe that he was seeing the skeletons of two people that once were alive and well. He felt sad for the two that never had the chance to enjoy what life had to offer.
“At least the killer got what he deserved,” said Andrew quietly while he continued to look at the skeletons.
Andrew decided he had enough, so he turned around and walked back to the rope.
He went back under the rope and headed through the woods.
A little while later, Andrew sat behind the wheel of his patrol car.
“Boring,” he muttered while he listened to the nighttime critters and the sound of the Lake Haney.
He looked at Charlie and Donovan’s cars parked in the clearing.
Way across the country in San Diego, California, Dee Abbott was watching TV in her bed.
She reached over and grabbed her iPhone off her bedside table. She made a call to her husband, Charlie.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not available at the moment, please leave a message,” said Charlie’s recording from his cell phone.
Dee thought that was strange, as she always called him during this time of night when he traveled for business.
She disconnected that call then grabbed a piece of paper off her bedside table. She made a call with the phone number she wrote down on that paper.
“Motel 6, Haneyville,” said the night shift clerk answering her call.
“Yes, my husband Charlie Abbott is staying at your place, could you please ring his room?”
“Yes Ma-am,” the clerk replied, then there was silence from Dee’s iPhone.
“I’m sorry, but he’s not answering his phone. Would you like to leave a message?” said the desk clerk.
“No, thank you,” she said then disconnected that call then called Charlie’s phone again. “Honey, call me,” she left us a message.
Dee put down her iPhone back down on the bedside table. She looked concerned, as she knew Charlie was not out drinking and partying. He gave that when their daughter was born.
Dee returned watching TV and hoped to hear from Charlie in any minute.
Back at the Haneyville Police Station, Donovan and Jodi still sat depressed in their jail cells. They could not fall asleep.
Kent lay on a cot so he could keep a watchful eye on the two prisoners. He stared at the ceiling while he pondered today’s events.
Donovan walked to his jail cell bars. “Deputy, we didn’t kill Charlie Abbott. He was already dead when we arrived in the woods.”
Jodi walked over to her jail cell bars. “He’s right deputy, we found Charlie already dead then the sheriff was suddenly there and arrested us.”
“I know you got a text from him when we were out at the walkway,” called out Donovan while he stared at the ceiling from his cot.
“Someone framed us,” said Jodi.
“All the criminals say that,” replied Kent then he got up off the cot and decided to make some coffee and headed over to the coffee pot on the other side of the room.
Donovan and Jodi both walked back to their beds in their cells. They sat down and wondered how they could get out of this dilemma.
“You’ll be seeing Judge Olson first thing Monday morning, so make yourselves comfortable,” said Kent while he placed three scoops of coffee into a filter.
Over on Elm Avenue, Rock pulled his Impala into the driveway of Rachel Collins, a sixty-two-year-old widow.
Rock got out of his Impala and rushed to the front door of Rachel’s home. He rang the doorbell numerous times.
After a few seconds of waiting, Rachael opened up her front door. She was sleepy-eyed and wore only a tee shirt.
“Rock, what brings you here so late?” she said then yawned.
Rock rushed into her home and closed the front door.
He grabbed Rachael by her hand and rushed her through the living room.
“Oh, I see you want some middle of the night nookie,” she said while Rock rushed her down the hallway and headed to her bedroom.
The second Rock got Rachel into her bedroom, he removed her tee-shirt, and she stood before him naked.
It took him seconds to strip naked then he pushed her onto her bed.
Rock climbed on top of Rachel and started to have his way with her, as tonight’s events got him incredibly horny.
Outside Rachel’s home, Paul walked his golden retriever Rusty down the sidewalk. Paul could not sleep, so he thought a little walk with Rusty might help.
Paul waked past Rachel’s house and saw Rock’s Impala in her driveway. He knew it was Rock’s car by the dented rear quarter panel by the driver’s side.
“Looks like Rock’s at it again with Rachel,” he muttered in disgust while he continued his walk down the sidewalk.
Back at Rock’s home, his wife Melinda waited in the living room and watched TV. She decided to stay up and wondered when he would come home after tonight’s discovery of a murder outside Haneyville.
She was used to Rock stating he would be home late because of police business. But she also knew he was seeing someone else. After all, she had seen his Impala parked in Rachel’s driveway in the past. And she knew of Rachel’s reputation for loving sex. She put up with it because she was too old to be living alone, so she ignored his infidelity ways.
At the Haneyville Hospital, Charlie’s lifeless, cold body lay in the morgue. Doctor James Hudson, the Medical Examiner, was scheduled to start his autopsy first thing Monday morning. He was out of town for the weekend for a little fishing in Kentucky.
Over at the clearing, Deputy Andrew Barker fell asleep in his patrol car.