Free Red Dog Saloon by R.D. Sherrill

holes in
the old reporter's memory.
    “Okay,
now, about the head,” Cliff asked as he looked for his reward for the
information he had just provided.
    “Gone,”
Sam shot back.
    “Gone?”
Cliff asked.
    “Yes,
nowhere to be found,” Sam confirmed. “We assume the killer took it with him as
a souvenir.”
    “Do
have any idea on the murder weapon sheriff?” Cliff wondered.
    “Yes,
something sharp,” Sam quipped as he got up to leave. “I’ll call you once we
have anything else we can tell you. You do the same with me if you recall
anymore names. And remember, mums the word on the whole Red Dog thing. And,
it’s up to you, but for Eddie’s mother’s sake, keep the whole missing head
thing on the down low if you would. He’s having a closed casket and she never
actually viewed the body so she doesn’t know his head is, well, that his head
isn’t with the rest of him. It’s up to you but I’d say "Dark Man Sought in
Killing Spree.". I think that might sell a few papers.”
    “You
have my word, sheriff,” Cliff said, crossing his heart. “Just make sure I get
the exclusive and the book rights. And I like the headline. If you ever get
tired of being sheriff come down here and I’ll put you to work.”
     
    Sam
was intercepted by Kendal Parks as he stepped out the door of the paper. The
trim, slightly balding investigator pulled into the parking lot just as the
sheriff exited the building.
    “I
got them,” Kendal said as he waved a handful of papers. “It took a
little bit but I got them.”
    Sam
scratched his head as the excited investigator jumped out of his car. What
was the detective talking about?
    “The
phone records,” Kendal reminded the sheriff. “We know who Eddie
Young called and when. All he had was a landline. His cellphone was cut
off for nonpayment.”
    His
eyes lighting up given Kendal’s quick work, Sam took the documents from his
investigator.
    “Nice
work, Kendal,” Sam said.
    The
investigator beamed with pride from the sheriff's compliment.
    Scanning
the paper, Sam immediately noticed several calls the day of Eddie’s death to
the same number. Only one of the calls took up any time.
    “Do
we know who this call was to?” he asked as he pointed to the frequently
called number; the first call made around the time Sam visited Eddie's
home.
    Kendal
referred to his notes and promptly provided the answer.
    “That
would be Foster Motors,” Kendal replied. "It's actually registered to Bart
Foster."
    Sam
ran his finger down the page of numbers and came to the last call made in the
mid-evening hours. The single number reflected a call lasting about five
minutes.
    “Who’s
this?” Sam asked as Kendal again referred to the papers.
    “That
would be to a Karen and Stevie Grissom,” Kendal replied.
    His
answer sent up a red flag. “Bingo!” Sam exclaimed.
    “Excuse
me,” Kendal said, wondering what caused the sheriff’s reaction.
    The
sheriff didn’t want to reveal his suspicions until he had a few more pieces of
evidence to support the theory so he decided to keep his thoughts to himself.
He also didn’t want to reveal what could be a crack in the case to one
investigator before the other since that could cause issues between the two
lawmen who often seemed more like jealous siblings rather than fellow officers
of the law.
    “Nothing,”
Sam replied with a bit of guilt. “Well, maybe nothing, maybe something. I’ll
let you know when I know.”
    Confused
by his boss’ odd statement, Kendal chalked it up to overwork and the stress of
having two unsolved homicides in his county.
    “If
you say so,” Kendal said.
    Stepping
back in his cruiser, Kendal revealed he was going to meet with the crime
lab techs back at the murder scene.
    “I’ll
let you know if they find anything,” the detective promised as he pulled away.
     
     
    Now
armed with a possible connection between the Red Dog and his two murder
victims, Sam made a calculated gamble. He realized Bart would have