The Merderer

VIII.

Thursday.
September 24, 2038.

Marilyn didn't sleep a wink last night. Actually she stayed at the police station and also didn't give Oliver a chance to rest his weary self. Not that he even did anything tedious.

She was angry. How could an office of the people who are supposed to keep the law and order have only one police officer who could hardly even be called a police officer. He was lazy, dirty, stupid and to top it all off, he lived in the station. Fuming is the right word to describe how Marilyn was at the moment. She was pacing, talking to herself and her hair was a terrible mess.

"I hope you're happy now lady. Thank you for destroying my night," Oliver said from his desk. He had given up sleep eons ago. His face looked like a hurricane had passed through it. His hair was covered in stuff Marilyn couldn't even fathom and his body... He looked like a dirty old sheep.

"Happy? Happy?! Are you raving mad now?!" She now stood in front of him pointing her index finger right at his face. "You low life! You call yourself a cop? Well I got news for you. You are nothing but a good-for-nothing smelly man. You're the reason the body of my friend got missing, the reason that murderer got away." Marilyn was practically on top of her voice now. "You're the worst person ever. And now because of you!" She looked murderous. "No one is going to believe that I saw a murder. That I witnessed the murder of my friend. That poor innocent man!"

The tears started coming down now. She sat on the tiled floor and allowed them to come freely. She was tired. She felt guilty. She should have offered Adamark to stay at her house. She should have screamed for help immediately she got the chance. But now it was too late.

Oliver was dumbfounded. He couldn't speak. Was she right about him? Maybe she was. He never did anything right. And what if she really had seen a murder? She couldn't be faking those tears. She must have seen something. Either way, he felt guilty, depressed and useless. He had been ordered to live in the office for hitting the mugger unconscious. He was also the clean and mop every morning before work started.

He checked the wall clock. It was 6:00a.m. Other people would start arriving by 8:00. No huge crime ever occurred in Ozark. So the policeman were very lax. If what this woman is saying was true, Oliver thought. It would change the whole... Well the whole everything. He shuddered at what Ozark would turn to.

He got a broom and a mop and started his morning chore. He noticed Marilyn staring at him with questioning eyes.

Marilyn was wondering if this man was even a cop. He was cleaning. Her wonder emotion was immediately replaced by an anger emotion. They had actually left a non cop in the office. She laughed sarcastically. They were mad. They were all mad. Or maybe it was her running mad.

Someone else must have seen Adamark. Someone else. She got up and went out of the office. She walked all over town asking for him. No one had seen him. It was hard to miss the way he looked. But she couldn't have imagined the murderer. He was real. The shot he had fired was real. That's it! She thought. The shot. She ran to where he had fired the bullet. She was filled with hope. But she didn't find anything with a bullet hole. Nothing at all. Fear gripped her. Had she imagined it all? She closed her eyes with her hands and wished she could wake up from this nightmare.

"Marilyn," Someone called her.

She put her hands down and saw Mrs. Edinson. The woman looked frightened. Probably by her appearance. Marilyn laughed. Yeah she was an ugly sight.

Mrs. Edinson was wondering what was wrong with Marilyn. She looked like she had slept in a football field and now she was laughing to herself.
"Are you alright sweetie?" Mrs. Edinson asked. She placed a motherly hand on Marilyn's shoulder.