Cool Demise by Stanley Sauerwein

Author:Stanley Sauerwein [Sauerwein, Stanley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-30T16:00:00+00:00

It took me most of that afternoon to settle down. I knew in my heart I couldn’t stand by and let the police find a convenient way to blame Barney. To them it was an open and shut case. Barney and Mrs. Podeski had been having an affair. They fought and she died. End of story.

I walked home from the police station, replaying everything I knew about the murder in my chaotically confused mind. We knew Barney had been at her house but he hadn’t hurt her. I was certain of that. Someone else must’ve come in after the neighbor saw him leave and killed her. But why put her in the freezer? That made no sense at all. I had to find out who that person was. And figure out why. I knew that was the only solution. But while plenty of people disliked her and there were motives galore, no reason seemed strong enough. Nothing I’d heard about her or the way she treated people jumped out at me. Nothing seemed bad enough. Why kill her? Why?

I asked myself what every mystery novel I’d ever read had boiled down to. Motive and opportunity. To catch a killer one must think like a killer. Who had the motive? What were the details of the opportunity? What are the most common motives? Money. Love. Revenge. So far, I hadn’t found a financial angle. Barney and Utta Podeski were having an affair though and if her husband found out, he may have wanted revenge. He had to be someone I concentrated on.

I called Barney’s lawyer when I got back to The Grind and my emotions were promptly deflated even more when he gave me his bad news. “The case is definitely going to trial,” he said with plain indifference, “and it doesn’t look good for Barney.”

I shouted into the telephone. “How is that even possible? The evidence is slim and circumstantial.”

Barney’s lawyer talked back at me calmly, like he was talking to a child. “He was there at about the time she died. The police have a witness. He admits to his affair. He admits to having an argument with her. His skin was found under her nails. Now admittedly, there were other things under her nails too, but she definitely scratched him.”

“She did that at The Grind! The woman had painted claws, for heaven’s sake.”

“We can obviously call the skin cell evidence questionable, but there’s all the other stuff. He went to the bar afterwards and got blind drunk. That was totally out of character. Would he do that because he had a spat? He’s been on the wagon for years. To be honest, I think a jury may not believe they just argued or that he left and decided to forget he was an alcoholic for the night.”

“What about her son or her husband as suspects?”

“Her son hooked up with friends at supper time for beer and pizza and he spent the night with them. She died sometime later and certainly after he was gone.

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