Scream

 

“I didn’t do it!”

“Didn’t say you did.”

“Why’d you scream?”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Old man Richards looks normal to me with that axe sticking out of his head,” Abe said.

They paused to look at the old man who lay across the woodpile with blood seeping into the wood chips beneath his head. His body looked broken by the awkward way he’d fallen but there was no blood anywhere except around and under the axe buried in his skull.

“Who’d have done this,” Jake asked. “He wasn’t liked around here but who’d do this?”

“Someone to rob him… maybe,” Abe speculated.

“Better call the sheriff,” Jake said.

“Does he have a phone do you think?”

They sidled toward the house while keeping an eye on the crime scene. When they found the door closed, Abe put on his gloves to try the door. No need to confuse the police with his prints all over everywhere.The door was unlocked and the two men carefully entered, turning frequently to look behind them. The two room cabin was warm from the cast iron stove that Old Man Richards used to heat his domain. The fire hadn’t gone out so he must have stoked it not too long ago. They couldn’t see a phone or any other means of communication in the living room.

“That’d be his bedroom, I reckon,” Abe said, pointing to the door to the other room.

Jake opened the door and they saw an unmade bed piled high with winter comforters. The room was cozy in spite of the coldness outside.

“Don’t see no phone,” Abe speculated.

“Guess we’ll have to go to town then, get the sheriff.” Jake said.

“I’ll drive,” Abe agreed, “Unless you’d rather stay here with him.”

“Nope; I’ll go too.”

 They walked down the hill to Abe’s place and climbed into his car. As they drove down the rutted county road, Jake thought about how his path had converged with Abe’s just as he arrived at the Richard’s cabin. He’d looked up to see that Abe was coming from an area near the barn heading toward him. Since he was looking toward Abe he hadn’t seen the horrible sight at first and when he did see that axe and the blood, he’d screamed bloody murder.

Abe, on the other hand, hadn’t screamed. He’d immediately stated his innocence defending himself. What if Abe had killed Richards and was now heading to another spot where he’d attack and kill the only witness, the only one who knew that he’d been at the murder scene? Jake shuddered in his heavy coat, sneaking a look at Abe from the corner of his eye. Abe was scowling as he stared out from under his old hunting cap, focusing on the bad road ahead. Jake didn’t like that look. The man looked mean and determined; just like a killer maybe.

Jake remembered a teacher, Mrs. Grant, who asked the kids, “Who did that?” once when an erasure had been thrown while her back was turned. A boy in the class had piped up quickly to say

“It wasn’t me!”

Turning to look at him, she said,

“I know that the one who denies their guilt first is usually the one who did it.”

Jake remembered that the teacher had been right and the guilty party had been disciplined. He’d seen who threw the erasure, so he knew that for a fact.

“I didn’t do it!”

That had been Abe’s first words to Jake.

As they drove, Jake studied his companion. He didn’t know Abe well but he’d heard that Abe had a temper.

I’d better keep an eye on him.

At the police station the men were placed in separate rooms while the crime scene was investigated. Later Jake found himself talking with an officer who asked him to make a statement. He explained exactly what happened including the dialogue between him and Abe at the beginning.

“So you screamed,” the officer asked.

“Yes; I was startled.

“And Abe said that he didn’t do it?”

“Yeah.”

“Why would you have thought that he did?”

“I don’t know; maybe just because he was there; I knew that I wasn’t guilty.”

The officer left and Jake was alone sitting in the room. He heard the two policemen faintly as they discussed the situation in the other room. He heard the word Abe and then the officer who’d interviewed him said…”You know I had this teacher once…”

Jake knew then that they’d take a close look at Abe. He’d bet that the officer had once been taught by Mrs.Grant, just as he, himself had.