Sarah Benadine is Dead

Chapter XIX, Part II

And just like it had never happened at all, the reprieve was over. Something happened one night in mid-May that would finally lead to an arrest related to the murder of Sarah Benadine. But the story was long from over.

Clifford Dent was called to Winkie's at eleven-thirty at night. Mrs. Daisy Walker had gotten anxious when her husband hadn't returned home. He had stayed late to clean up and get everything in order before, but never this late. She had finally given in and ventured to the ice cream parlor herself and found the place open. Behind the counter, she had discovered the corpse of her husband.

Something about the whole thing reminded Cliff of Sarah Benadine, even though there were precious few similarities between the two scenes. Stewart Walker's throat had been cut. His ice cream parlor was immaculate. Nothing had been disturbed. There was very little blood even, something rather disturbing given the cause of death. Without any other context, no one would have made any connection between the ice cream shop owner and the high school junior. Things were too different.

But something about the picture it made, Walker laid out behind the counter like Sarah had been in front of circulation desk, gave Cliff Dent a feeling of déjà vu. There was someone hysterical—the new widow—just like the six-year-old Angela Carson had been. Both in places of business, obviously to be rendered unusable for quite some time.

There was another similarity between Sarah Benadine and Stewart Walker that Clifford Dent did not yet know, but he would soon enough. This had nothing to do with the way they'd been found, but rather it was a person who tied them both together.

Stewart Walker was number one.