It is Wednesday Story Day again, and last week we were present when Frank Plano and Jason McDonnell had a meeting. We discovered that Frank Plano has a hunch that he wants to follow. He even offered to do it on his own time. Jason McDonnell gave him the warning to be careful. So now I see Frank Plano walking into the sheriff’s office. I can’t imagine what he is thinking right now. Let’s pop in and see.

“Well, well, well. You got a lot of nerve walking in here.”
“I know sheriff. Just give me a moment.”
“Why should I? You work for that weasel McDonnell.”
“Yes, I do. You are a man of the law right?”
“I swore to uphold the law. Why?”
“Well, I am getting a feeling that the Saveride murder has some elements that have not been uncovered yet.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“You have a belief that Lucas killed his parents, right?”
“You damn well know I do.”
“Based on what evidence?”
“Let’s just say, I find his story about that night to be full of holes.”
“Care to elaborate.”
“I’m assuming you, and I are on the same side, Frank.”
“Good assumption, sheriff. I’m trying to get to the bottom of this.”
“Yet you are trying to clear my primary suspect.”
“True, but let’s say for argument sake that Lucas is innocent. Don’t you want to bring the real killer to justice?”
“Hmmm. I see what you mean. Okay, I’m telling you this in confidence. Deal?”
“Deal.”
“You asked about the story that doesn’t add up. Well, the idea of a kid coming home to a house that was a bloody as the Saveride come scene and not noticing anything is pure hogwash.”
“Say more.”
“The smell of the blood when you walk through the door would have been enough to tell someone there was something wrong. I’ve been to scenes like that, and it is unmistakable.”
“Yeah, I get your point. Anything else?”
“According to the police report, there was broken furniture and torn up upholstery. I cannot imagine anyone walking into that house and missing the debris. In fact, when I looked at the report and the sketch of the layout where Lucas’ room was located he would have to kick several items out of his way to get there from where he came in.”
“Hmm. That does sound incriminating. What about the little dog? Let’s see. Ah yes. Buffy.”
“He says the dog came into his room and the reason he was so calm on the 911 call was he was holding the dog and didn’t want the dog to get agitated.”
“Yeah so?”
“Come on, Frank. Since when do you think clearly enough in a dramatic situation to want to keep a dog calm?”
“I see your point. Could I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“Were you at the Saveride house the night they were murdered?”
“Where did you get that information?”
“Alice Weston said so. Well, were you?”
“Yeah, I was.”
“For what reason?”
“I don’t have to answer this you know.”
“I know, but you have to admit that doesn’t look good.”
“I know. I was there to drag Alice out of there.”
“So you knew the Severides sold drugs?”
“Everyone knew.”
“Why didn’t you shut them down?”
“Not my jurisdiction. I talked to the Chief in Kenosha, and he said he was working it. That was about all I could do.”
“Sad. So you found Alice was gone, then what?”
“I left.”
“You sure?”
“Come on Frank. I didn’t kill the Saverides.”

Wednesday Story day again and last week we were with Frank Plano, Alice, and Mrs. Murphy while Frank was talking through some fine points of what Alice saw the night the Severides were murdered. Mr. Plano implied that Alice did not see what she said she saw. Of course, Harriet Murphy caught on to the implication immediately and politely showed Mr. Plano to the door. It looks like Frank is heading to the lawyer’s office. Let’s join him as he is ushered into Jason McDonnell’s office. You will recall Jason is the attorney hired by Mrs. Murphy to protect Lucas from Sheriff Gibson’s obvious attempts to railroad him to confess the murder of his parents. (Whew, I hope everyone is caught up)

“Well, Frank. Have a seat.”
“Thanks, Jason.”
“I wasn’t expecting to see you today.”
“Yeah, and I’m grateful you could spare the time.”
“What’s up?”
“It is a strange thing. My investigation has been going smoothly with an all roads conclusion that the Sheriff has for some reason been involved in the murder of the Severides.”
“Well, we both came up with that hypothesis given his obsession with hanging the blame on Lucas.”
“I know right? Except some of the facts don’t seem to add up.”
“Like what?”
“Well for one, other than Alice Weston giving an eyewitness account of the sheriff going into the Severides house the night of their murder, there is no other witness to that event.”
“Yeah so? She said she saw him right?”
“Yes that is in my report, but I’m beginning to doubt she did.”
“Really? Why’s that?”
“You ever see anyone on Heroine?”
“No.”
“Well, if she started to nod off while she was in the Severide house like Weston says, she would have been dead gone at the time she supposedly saw the sheriff.”
“What about Mrs. Murphy?”
“She says she didn’t see anything.”
“How about when he left the house?”
“Mrs. Weston and Mrs. Murphy told me they didn’t hang around to see him come out.”
“Well, that’s convenient.”
“I think we need to focus on a different direction. Unless I find someone else who saw the sheriff there, I think I’m going to try to get to the bottom of Mrs. Weston’s reasons for saying she saw the sheriff.”
“Any need to talk to Lucas again?”
“Nope. I still don’t think he had anything to do with the crime.”
“Any theories?”
“One not worth mentioning right now. I need more facts.”
“You are the investigator. So go do your thing.”
“I still wonder why Mrs. Murphy hired us though.”
“To clear Lucas.”
“Yeah, that is obvious. I don’t know, I have a gut feeling there is more to it.”
“Want to explain?”
“Let me get more information first.”
“Mrs. Murphy doesn’t have endless funds you know.”
“I will do this on my own dime. Something isn’t adding up, and I need to get to the bottom of it.”
“Be careful.”
“Huh?”
“There is a murderer out there remember.”
“Oh yeah, right. Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“See ya.”