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One For The Road

Entry in the Mystery and Thriller Contest - #35 Small Town Mayhem

As the fireworks display lightened the night sky, the festive town hall suddenly felt eerily dark. Almost all the people were out on the front lawn watching the display, while in the basement, a window was silently swung open and a dark clad figure slipped inside.

Stealthily it moved to the basement door and crept up the stairs to the office in back of the main hall. A screwdriver pried open the desk drawer with a crackle of splintering wood, and the figure froze, listening. The metal box was pulled free and opened on the desk. Inside, gloved fingers scrabbled through the contents, then stepping back the figure held up the child's hair clip.

The Start of the Story

"Say, who's the old guy at the end of the bar. Every time I come in he's sittin' there sipping a glass of bourbon. He live here or something?"

"Gus Hammond. Yeah, he's a bit of a fixture here."

"So, what's his story?"

The bartender leaned over, looking down the counter at the old man. "It's an old one now. One he never recovered from really."

"Whadda you mean?"

"Gus was our grade three public school teacher some forty years ago. Man, I haven't told this story in ages, I forget some of the details now. Everyone living here at the time knew it. He was in his middle thirties then."

"Yeah, so?"

"A family named Podano had a daughter went to Loughton Public School. They lived across Bollard Green. Their daughter, young Penny was in his class. She would walk across that green every day, comin' and goin' from school. Did it ever since she was in grade one."

"Alone?"

"Sure. Things were a lot different back then. Smaller population. Folks all knew one another - just different. Not like today."

"What happened?"

"One day Penny didn't show up for class and Gus called her mom. Next thing, Sheriff Hutt's tramping across the green looking for her. All he found was her lunch bag."

"What happened to her?"

"Didn't know right away. Hutt formed search parties from the townsfolk, and had them scouring the town for miles. Then one of the men found a shoe, and her little school binder, in a culvert just steps from the edge of town."

The customer stole a glance at Gus, wondering about his involvement. "So then, what's his story? Was he the one that found her?"

"No, one of the women from the church guild stumbled over her body in the church stable. Sent her into a right shock it did." He shifted his position, gesturing a refill of his listener's glass.

"Yeah, sure. So, what? Had she . . .?"

"There were some signs. A lot of her stuff was missing. Gus there had to tell the mom, and she collapsed. Spent some time in hospital here. He saw her every day, promising her he would find out what happened to her little girl."

"No father?"

"No. Gus kinda took that role."

"Why was he so involved?"

"It's who he was. It was one of his pupils got- it was just the kind of man he was."

Gus tapped his glass on the bar and the bartender immediately carried a bottle down and refilled it. No words. No reaction.