The Claw

Chapter 7. The Suspect

The officers had found nothing to place anyone in the suspect seat. Culp and his guys went about dusting for finger prints in the back rooms of the funeral home.

Trimore's son George had taken the call from Clare that morning. He told Clare that finger prints would be necessary for the investigation. Now that more than just windows were broken a new investigation would have to be opened. The damage was set at around $25,000, and the responsible party was looking at a major sentence, of 15 to 20 years.

Culp and his men would leave no stone unturned. They were certain that the person or persons responsible were looking to even an old score. But who?

The Sheriff"s office would be spending many hours on this case. The four officers that had been involved in the various calls to this location would continue on this case.

Unfortunately, this county only had ten deputies. Some of them were assigned to the jail or dispatch. Two of them were part time and one was ancient. Guy Weller had been with the department for over 45 years. He was well into his sixties and now only working two days a week. In years past he would have been the go to detective. Now he was only sitting in the dispatch chair fielding a few calls per day. It was true that this county was low crime. Even with the economic crunch there was little crime.

When Weller was younger he had handled such cases as the hammering brother, become corpse. And the murdering roommate. Both cases were on the news. KW Wayne had been one of the witnesses in the case of the brothers. He was a character witness for the brother that had pulled the trigger. A restraining order had been put in place against the older abusive brother. In breaking the order, the younger brother met him at the door with a gun. Soon the neighbor of the Wayne family was headed to jail. With the story all over the news Weller needed information as did the defense attorney. There was a bee line from town to the Wayne farm. Everyone from police to attorney's to news agencies wanted Wayne's statements.

Now Culp was investigating scratches on caskets and broken window's. He was certain that a large cat was to blame. His deputies had chased what they were certain was a wild cat. Not your average run of the mill domestic variety, and certainly not the ugly old alley cat that sat on the fense meowing at passers by. Rags was a special breed of cat mixed with calico and ugly gigantic face shoved in, fat cheeked instantly horrifying, but extremely friendly and loving cat. But Clare didn't mind. He loved his old friend and would spend time with him whenever he went outback. The old cat would wait for Clare and his culinary handouts. He would set the food next to Rags and pet the kindly old gentlemen of a cat.

Clare would walk along Main St. and listen to the stories of his neighbors. Sometimes he would go into the old diner on the corner and talk about everything from politics to current events. He enjoyed a cup of coffee and a doughnut and would be there for hours.

His cousin was formerly a waitress in the diner. She had spent her adult life working there until one day at age 55, she fell over with a heart attack. She was rushed to Fremont Hospital where she died the next day. A shock rippled through the community with the death of everyone's favorite diner employee. Darla was kind and funny. In her early years people considered her obnoxious. As she grew up they began to realize what a kind heart she had. People learned to love her.

Clare would go in there on days that Jane went off to her quilting club. The club met in the basement of the old church. They would be gone all day until about 5:P.M. Clare would spend two or three hours at the diner around noon. When Darla died it took him a few months to feel comfortable enough to go back to the diner.

One afternoon the conversation turned to a resort that they were building, West of Fremont near Lake Michigan. The resort was only twenty miles from the nuclear plant. A large fense was built around the place with what looked like guard towers. Why would they need guard towers even if it is a private resort? No one could see through the fense. Could it be a prison? The nearest prison was Ionia State Prison. Why did they need a second one this close? Questions began to swirel around this private resort.

Now going to the diner was enjoyable again. People were crowded in the place. It was literally packed out. The news of the week was interesting. The television news had nothing about it. All news these days was coming from the diner. Wether true or a load of crap it was bizarre and everyone wanted to hear about it. Soon the shops and street corners were all abuzz. The diner was not the only place to get the local information.

The story was getting better by the day. Culp was now getting into the action. During the morning briefings he was now hearing stories about the resort, as well. What he was hearing during the briefings was not to be told to the general public.

Though the deputies were keeping quiet the news was getting out. Culp was surprised to hear what was being said on the street corners. Much of the buzz was similar to those A.M. meetings in the precinct. The news was getting out.

In the mornings at coffee Jane would tell Clare what she had heard and he would do the same. Life was much better with a big old conspiracy West of Fremont. The people were completely fascinated by the updates. The community was now convinced that the resort was some kind of a holding facility for people.

Some thought that terrorists would be held there. They figured on seeing some real life guys with turbines on their heads being brought to the place. They would somehow sneak a peek at these strangers from abroad.

The Summer quickly passed and Fall was near. The thoughts of having to start shoveling soon, were now in mind. The talk of the facility was dying down and people were buying sidewalk salt and new snow shovels. Before long the neon angels would be attached to the tops of the light poles. The Town Fathers were holding their Fall meeting and the business at hand was switching to Christmas. This year the annual Christmas parade was in doubt. The first Phyllis, Phyllis Wayne started the thing. After a few years she passed the directorship to another Phyllis, Phyllis Lane. Miss Lane was young and busy with social events. The parade got in the way of her dating and loving and whatever else she was doing. Kerry Greene took the parade over for a few years and then went to work. She tried to juggle the two and did quite well until...well she passed away.

The fourth person in the parade directorship was Jane Howard. As did all the ladies before, she kept a Christian Theme to the parade. This however would be her last year. A New Director would need to be in place next year. They were going to need to look high and low for the next person.

Culp knocked early on the Howard's door. There had been no movement on the case. They had some finger prints in the backroom but the prints were not in the finger print national or international banks.

The only possible suspect was Alice Butner. She was a long shot at best. She could be mouthy but was never considered to be a bad person.

And then there were the black Panthers. LK Wayne and his son KW had viewed them West of town. It was time to hear the LK Wayne Story.