Murder in Mossland Mississippi

Episode 2

            Chad tried to force his way past Fin to the twisted body that lay below the trail. Fin wrapped his thin arms around him hoping to muster enough strength to hold him back. “Let me go! That’s my mama!” screamed Chad as he tried to push his way down the small embankment. Fin didn’t know that he could break a sweat while the cold winter air whipped against his limbs. He began to tire. Jacob ran up beside the two and thrust his weight against the dueling men. His short stalky frame was just the force they needed to keep their friend from seeing the unbearable sight. The two men fought with as much strength as they could muster. They knew that if Chad saw the terrible sight he would never get that image out of his mind.

            Chad collapsed realizing that there was nowhere for him to go. He fell to the trail floor with a rustle of leaves blowing upward from the concentrated thud.  Chad sobbed intensely at the realization that his mother wasn’t coming back. She would never know how resolved he was to forgive her. Tears welled in his eyes and ran down his face. He rocked back and forth gasping for air under his sobs. He wept for a life lost and for the shame he had placed on her.

            Jacob and Fin each grabbed one of Chad’s arms and slowly hauled him back up the winding trail. The once strong man, who had overcome so much, was now so distraught he was reduced to a childlike state. The weight was unbearable against the stinging chill of the wind. Luckily, Fin’s long limbs forced the three to move against the brush and up the path. Jacob’s stalky frame pushed the weight of the group up the challenging hills. The three finally reached the cattle gate and Chad crashed to the earth once again. “I gotta call Deputy Blake,” whispered Jacob. “Go on. I’ll sit here” breathed Fin in response.

            He folded his lean frame over and crouched next to Chad. Fin couldn’t believe how much time had changed the boy. He remembered when Chad was a teenager, dating his daughter. He remembered taking prom pictures on the front lawn and guiding him to get his first buck. All of that had changed since the accident. Jessica had been taken too young. She was his only child, his princess. Her soft wavy brown hair and her pretty brown eyes might seem plain by some southern standards, but his daughter was a natural beauty. She was petite like her mama, but slim like him. She could out hunt any man and he knew she did it just to please him. Jessica always new Fin wanted a boy so she tried real hard to be that for her daddy. Now Fin only wished he could go back in time and tell his baby girl that she was all he ever really wanted. Now that it was too late.

            He thought sometimes what life would have been like if it never happened. Fin figured the high school sweethearts would have been married by now, maybe even with a grandbaby on the way. They could have bought one of the old building down the street from him. Maybe Jess could have opened a little store. He looked at the lines on Chad’s face and figured they never would have been there if Jess had lived. Knowing that Chad would have never turned to trouble because Jess always made sure he did the right thing. But that was all in the past. Jess was gone five years. He buried his baby. All Fin had left now was Lola and the few young men in town who took up time with him for hunting and fishing.

            Fin snapped out of his thoughts as soon as he heard the sirens blaring. Blake Butler was rounding the corner. Chad and Blake were about the same age, even though Blake was his nephew. Chad had been born to his parents much later in life making his sister so much older most people thought she was his mother. Even though Blake was called to the scene of his grandmother’s body, Fin figured he would handle it like any other case. Blake’s mother and she hadn’t spoken in years and he was poisoned against Lori by his mother’s harsh words.

            The patrol car came to a screeching halt. The worn Crown Vic’s door slammed with a muffled thump. Chad and Fin could both hear Blake’s feet crunching against the gravel on the side of the road. The both men unknowingly sucked in their breath and held it as the deputy approached. Chad and Blake had a strained relationship. Blake upheld the law and Chad used to break it. They had found some common ground since Jacob entered the picture but their old friendship died with Jessica, the same why the man Chad used to be and vanished.

            The deputy slowly staggered down the graveled slope toward the group of men. Each few steps were followed by a quick spit of his tobacco. Fin figured he was taking his time trying to get the courage to speak. And then it came.

“Sorry, Chad. But, I’ve been waiting for this call. I figured she had it coming.”

            With those words Chad jumped up and punched the deputy right in the face. Blood dripped from Blake’s mouth and dripped down to his perfectly pressed uniform. Jacob and Fin leaped into action wrapping their arms around Chad to prevent another punch.

“Damn it! You can’t hit an officer of the law!” screamed Blake.

“I can when you run your mouth like that! I’m not afraid to get in the back of the patrol car. I’ve been there too many times!”

“Go on Blake! She’s down the hill” Fin struggled to get the words out holding on to Chad with all of his might.

“I’ll deal with your sorry ass later, Chad!” Blake began to stagger down the slope towards his grandmother, a woman he once loved but learned to hate.