Who killed the dead man in the woods?
By Todd Hicks
Copyright by Todd Hicks in March 2016
About The Book
This is a mini novel whodunit mystery about a man who has particularly angered ten people and is murdered by one of them in the woods. The characters in this book are fictional. Any similarity between them and any actual persons is purely coincidental.
Darren Pickings, a black man who lived in Killeen, Texas, was mean to almost everyone he knew. Right now, he was watching one of his state’s Major League Baseball teams on TV in his man cave at his house.
The team was down by three runs with the bases loaded, two outs and a three balls and two strikes count on the cleanup hitter. This room was Darren’s sacred space and he hated for others to intrude on this.
As the next pitch was headed toward home plate, Cheryl Heifer, a guest of Darren’s, suddenly opened the door and said, “Honey, it’s been a while since we last had sex.”
While she interrupted Darren, his team won the game with a grand slam.
The infuriated Darren got up from his sofa, walked up to Cheryl and barked, “Look at what you did! You made me miss the batter hitting a home run. You’ll pay for that.”
Whack! Darren slapped Cheryl on her left cheek hard, leaving a red welt.
Now in tears, Cheryl pleaded, “But honey, I was just trying to get intimate with you again. Sorry to interrupt you but you didn’t have to hit me.”
She then left the room, slammed the door and called the cops. Within ten minutes, they showed up and arrested Darren for domestic assault.
He was photographed, had his fingerprints taken and was booked into a holding cell at the local police precinct. Many hours later, he was released after posting $5000 for bail.
While walking out of Darren’s house, Cheryl moaned, “How could he do this to me? I was nice to him and tried to be his friend. I can see why he is disliked by a lot of people and doesn’t have many friends.”
The next day, Darren showed up at Cheryl’s house to beg for forgiveness.
“Please give me a second chance. I’ve learned the error of my ways. I’m really a nice guy who just overreacted yesterday,” pleaded Darren as Cheryl opened her door.
“Fine, I’ll give our relationship another chance,” surrendered Cheryl, being the fool she was.
As they kissed for several seconds on Cheryl’s porch, Cherry Pickings (Darren’s black wife) happened to see this while casually driving by and pulled into the driveway.
“What are you doing making out with my husband, you heifer? I ought to beat you down,” fumed Cherry as she stormed her way to the porch.
“I didn’t know he was married. He lied to me. He’s all yours,” defended Cheryl.
While going back inside, she told Darren, “Please leave me alone and don’t come back, you fiend.”