It is Wednesday Story Day again. Last week we attended a gathering of the characters in this novella. It was there we watched Frank circle the room with his comments until he made a strange statement in which he used the phrase, “soldier of the Lord.” We need to get back because Frank is continuing his discussion.

“So Henry. What does Soldier of the Lord mean to you?”

“To me? Why absolutely nothing.”

“Oh, come on Henry. You are a devout believer aren’t you?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Don’t you just hate sin?”

“Sin is the devil’s work if that’s what you mean.”

“What I really mean is don’t you just hate people who do nasty things like selling illegal drugs?”

“It’s against the law if that’s what you are saying.”

“Isn’t it a fact that you hated the Severides.”

“They were scum.”

“And you have been spreading all kinds of lies to take the spotlight off the fact that you were involved in a plot to have them killed as a form of revenge?”

“You have no proof.”

“Would you like to know what is in this envelope?”

“What do I care?”

“It is a copy of your bank statement showing the deposit of sixty thousand dollars in your savings account.”

“That is private. You have no right to invade my privacy.”

“Maybe so, but the fact that I did will be overshadowed by authorities issuing a subpoena for all your finances. Seems like you have been running an interesting little business in the drug trade. Sheriff do your duty.”

“Not so fast, Sheriff. You know full well that if I go down, you are going with me. So far this private dick has nothing. You need to make sure it stays that way.”

“All I ever did with you Henry is to buy a couple of ounces of Cocaine. That doesn’t stop me from doing my duty. I’ll take the hit on that. Right now you are under arrest for the murder of the Severides.”

“How about you Mr. Big lawyer McDonnell. You going to stand there and let them do this?”

“Shut up Henry. As your lawyer, I’m advising you to be quiet.”

“Yeah and take the fall for you? You wanted all that insurance money and talked the Severides into making you executor of their estate. You figured by getting the Severides out-of-the-way you would have a clear shot at the money. Well, the laugh is on you. Old man Severide hid all the cash and the big policy. No one knows where it is now.”

“Henry. You are upset, and your lies are not helping you. Please be quiet.”

“Then you got chummy with Trish thinking that she might know something. You better watch your neck, Trish. This man is evil.”

“Henry you willing to swear all this is true?”

“You bet, Sheriff. Can we talk deal? ”

“Jason McDonnell you are also under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder.”

“Sheriff you are making a big mistake. My only involvement here is trying to clear Lucas.”

“Makes me wonder, Jason, why you did such a good job given Frank’s expertise.”

“Because I’m an innocent man, Sheriff. Tell ’em, Frank.”

“Sheriff I have other evidence to the effect that Jason was not only responsible for the Severide murders but is the kingpin of one of the largest illegal drug operations in the US. He didn’t kill the Severides for money like Henry suggested. He did it for the pure pleasure of eliminating competition.”

“Bold words Frank. You’ll be truly sorry for your part in this miscarriage of justice.”

“See you in hell, Jason. I would cuff these two Sheriff and call the State police. I have a lot of information for them.”

“Thanks, Frank. Alright, you two. Let’s go.”

“I’m shocked.”

“I know Mrs. Murphy. It is shocking.”

“What happens to me?”

“Well Trish, I think you better find a new boyfriend.”

“Seth bought that cocaine for me. He is innocent.”

“I’m sure he will be cleared, Alice. Don’t worry. He’s a good man.”

“Did I miss anything?”

“No Lucas, you’re innocent. I can also tell you where your father buried all that  money and the policy.”

“Can you donate it to charity? Seems like it’s dirty.”

“It’s going to be tough  eliminating Jason as executor, but I think it can be done given his involvement in their deaths.”

“Thank you so much, Mr. Plano.”

“Just doing my job, Lucas. Just doing my job.”

That concluded this novella. Tune in next week for a new story.

It is Wednesday Story Day again. Last week we saw that Frank Plano had an idea to set up some kind of Agatha Christi drawing-room finale to trap the killer of the Severides. Jason McDonnell was all for it and encouraged him to proceed. The reading audience (that’s you) overwhelmingly commented on how much fun that would be. I, of course, have reservations since this is a dialog only story and there will be a number of suspects gathered. I wonder if I can keep the parties’ discussions separated without using the “said,”convention. (For those who don’t know, I challenge myself to produce cogent conversation and storyline without dialog tags.)  “The hell with it,” my brain screamed. “Let’s do it.” Off we go. It appears Frank sent out letters to each of the suspects along with a subpoena requesting that they show up for a deposition in the Severide murder. The location is Jason’s office and we see everyone gathered in the conference room. Everyone that is except Lucas who is present from the hospital by video conference. Time for us to join the party as we were sent a subpoena too.

“Ladies and gentlemen. I want to thank you for being here on such short notice. Yes, Sheriff, you have a question?”

“I do, Frank. I thought this was going to be a deposition. Why are we all here? Depositions are supposed to be one on one.”

“Good question, Seth. The judge who authorized this gathering decided that there would be some information shared that all of us would want to hear. You are right. This is not your normal deposition. You see, one of you is responsible for the death of the Severides.”

“That is the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. I know all these people except for that guy over there.”

“Right you are, Mrs. Murphy. By the way, that guy over there is Henry Wiscosill. He is a Pharmacist from Kenosha.”

“Hi, everybody.”

“Yes, well, as I was saying. One of you has blood on their hands and we are going to expose you today.”

“Excuse me, Frank.”

“Yes, Alice. What is it?”

“Didn’t Harriet hire Jason McDonnell here to find out who killed the Severides?”

“Yes, he did. What is your point?”

“Why is Harriet here? Surely if she hired a lawyer to find a killer then she is innocent.”

“Would be a good point, Alice, except for one thing.”

“One thing?”

“She hired Jason to prove Lucas innocent. She said nothing about finding the true killer.”

“Mr. Plano. I think you are splitting hairs.”

“Why’s that Trish?”

“If Jason proved Lucas innocent he would have to identify the killer.”

“Notice I said, “true killer,” Trish.”

“What does that mean?”

“It would be very easy to craft a scenario that points to a suspect but not the killer.”

“Is that what happened?”

“Tell me. Aren’t you going to get five million dollars from the estate of your parents?”

“Yes, so what?”

“Could be motive.”

“I didn’t even know about that insurance policy.”

“So you say, Trish. So you say.”

“You leave my sister alone. She had nothing to do with our parent’s murder.”

“Says the lad who was asleep while his parents were lying dead in the next room.”

“You accusing me?”

“No Lucas. Just stating the facts. I think the whole world thinks you did it. The whole world except for Jason and me.”

“As sheriff of this county I demand we stop  this foolishness and if as you say, you know who killed the Severides just spit it out.”

“Nicely said Sheriff but it’s not that easy.”

“Why not?”

“The person responsible for this deed believes they are not answerable to normal rules and morals. This person believes they are above the law. In fact, they have such a solid alibi, a conviction will be all but impossible. No, we need them to come forward and tell us why they hired contract killers to eliminate the Severides. We need them to explain why they took the law into their own hands. We need this soldier of the Lord to come forward and claim the proper credit for eliminating this smear of offal from the Earth.”

To be continued