The Perfect Crime

Chapter 5

"You've got the wrong man"

The words swirl through the sheriff's mind. First Betty and now this strange note, it can't be a coincidence.

The sheriff slaps himself out of his daze and quickly changes his course to the station instead. In his mind he was hoping that Bob was still there looking after Mr. Tucker.

Just as the sheriff is about to open the door to the police station, it swings open with Bob on the other end.

"Sheriff! I'm so glad to see you! I called Miss Mary's house an' she said you had already left, so I was about to go out to find you!" Bob explains, puffing out large breaths of air as the sheriff could tell that he was anxious about something.

"What's wrong Bob?" The sheriff holds onto the man's shoulders, trying to stabilize him.

"My men found another body, sir! This one's fresh though," Bob huffs, moving his focus to the sheriff's eyes.

"Another one? And Mr. Tucker is still in holding?" The sheriff asks, his eyes wide as he glances behind Bob.

"Yes, which means Old man Tucker didn't do it."

"And our killer is still out there...." The sheriff mumbles his words as he looks out towards the streets. The wind howls softly as the sheriff's eyes scan around at the people walking by without a care.

"Sir?" Bob snaps his fingers trying to get his boss' attention. "Sir!"

"Huh?" The sheriff looks down at the man in front of him, "oh, sorry Bob. Can you and your men look for someone with similar handwriting to that on this note. Please?" The sheriff pulls out the paper crane from his pocket and hands it over to the man.

Bob looks at the note that the sheriff placed in his hand before looking up at the sheriff.

"I'm on it! You can count on me!" Bob raises his hand into the air before running back into the station to gather his men.

The sheriff looks down and sighs softly, "I'm sorry Betty." He mumbles to himself before wandering over towards the new crime scene.

The smell of death was fresh, just like Bob said. The body still had a pink tint to their skin and they were still warm to the touch. The sheriff squats down in front of the body and inspects it closely.

"It was still beaten... but it appears that they fought back." The sheriff mumbles to himself as he notices the man sized sausage finger marks upon the child's neck which leads him to believe that the child was strangled to death after being beaten.

The sheriff stands up straight and looks up at the sky.

"Sheriff?" Mary's voice sounds from behind him, causing him to turn to face her. "What happened to that poor child?"

"Um the child beater strikes again." The sheriff looks down, knowing he would lose the town if he didn't find the killer soon.

"Hey." The sheriff looks up to Mary as she reaches her hand out to him. "It's going to be alright. You'll find the man responsible." She gently pulls the sheriff's head towards her, letting him rest it on her shoulder.

"Will you help me get him?" The sheriff shifts his eyes up to look at Mary's face.

"Of course I will," Mary smiles softly as she removes his hat from his head and runs her hand through his hair.

"Great..., cause I need to question your brother in the matter of miss Betty's murder." The sheriff stand up straight and looks into the bar maiden's eyes, he was dead set on Will being the prime suspect.