Murder in a Small Town

By Gary T Brideau

Thomas and his girlfriend Sasha were on their way home from a 1950s dance and had to stop for the night. The next day they sat in a restaurant called asked eddies to order breakfast when somebody came in and reported murder on route 11. Thomas, being a detective, went to the crime scene with his wife to see if they could help. But Thomas and Sasha become tangled in a web of lies and deceit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669839682

Gary T Brideau

I was born in a small house in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1947 and moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut as a small boy. I met Lauren, the love of my life in1985 and were married years later and moved to Bristol, Connecticut. One night, I had a vivid dream that caught my attention, that spurred me to write it down, and sent it to my sister T. Jene Brideau, for an interpretation who also is a writer. She wrote and told me that the story was good. I took her encouragement and my imagination went to work. That’s when I discovered my God-given talent to write great space adventures stories. From then on, I have written over fifty stories of which only seven of them have been published with great reviews.

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Copyright © 2022 by Gary T Brideau.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 07/23/2022

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Contents

Character reference

Storyline

Chapter 1 A rude awakening

Chapter 2 Back to Square One

Chapter 3 Callie’s in charge

Chapter 4 Dirty Laundry

Chapter 5 Under attack

Chapter 6 To the rescue

Chapter 7 Thalia returns

Chapter 8 A new place to live

Chapter 9 In Search of

Chapter 10 Callie exposed

Chapter 11 The evidence is stacked

Chapter 12 This is a quiet picnic?

Chapter 13 A close call

Chapter 14 Down, but not out

Chapter 15 Callie makes a play for Thomas

Chapter 16 At it again

Chapter 17 Callie is wanted

Chapter 18 A change of heart for Sasha

Chapter 19 Stakeout

Chapter 20 Plenty of hot water

Epilogue

Character reference

Sasha Gillespie: lives in New Mexico and is a paralegal. She is 5’5", 22 years old, dressed modestly, has long dark brown hair, brown eyes, fair complexion enjoys listening to Chopin. She is outspoken and will come to the defense of another. She earns just enough money to live comfortably. Sasha speaks Scottish Gaelic.

Rosella Puckett: She lives in Rode Island; she is a struggling writer. She is 33, 5’3" tall, petite, with brown hair done up in a pixie. She keeps to herself and only enters a conversation when she has something to say. She likes soft, easy to listen to music.

Callie Swanson: AKA Mouthy, she lives in Spokane, Washington, and is a successful writer. She is 30, 5’ 5" tall with short wavy black hair, outspoken on women’s rights, and a writer. She is wealthy but doesn’t flaunt it.

Inspector Noel Richards: He is the detective investigating the murder. He is 5’8" tall, is 45 years old, and is neatly dressed, with short dark brown hair. And a Vandyke. And smokes a pipe.

Briana Chase: lives in Connecticut and works in the bank. She is 37 years old and is 5’ 8" tall with medium-length brown hair. She is a born-again Christian with three years of bible school under her belt. She prefers to listen to old gospel music.

Thomas Cooper from Ohio. In love with Sasha. Thomas Jay Cooper, a six-tall clean-cut thirty years old with chiseled features, Chad black pants, and a light blue shirt.

Allan Pumpwater: a heavy-set, well-dressed man in his thirties. He is devious and cunning.

Terry: A medium-built man in his thirties with neatly combed black hair casually dressed he likes lots of women and is into big time crime and has a thing for Sasha.

Harold Zimmerman: I high school Harold was the Captain of the football team,

Storyline

Thomas and his girlfriend Sasha were on their way home from a 1950s dance and had to stop for the night. The next day they sat in a restaurant called asked eddies to order breakfast when somebody came in and reported murder on route 11. Thomas, being a detective, went to the crime scene with his wife to see if they could help. But Thomas and Sasha become tangled in a web of lies and deceit.

Chapter 1

A RUDE AWAKENING

Thomas Cooper, a six-foot-tall clean-cut man in his early thirties with chiseled features clad in black pants and a light blue shirt. Drove east in his Ford SUV on Route 202. Thomas glanced at his lady friend, Sasha Gillespie, a five-foot-five woman in her early twenties with long dark brown hair, brown eyes, with a fair complexion. Dressed in bobby socks and a hooped skirt asked her, Would you mind if we stop for the night? Because we have about 50 miles to go before, we get home.

I have no problem with that as long as we sleep in different rooms.

Thomas pulled in the ‘Last Stop Motel’ in Winthrop, Maine, and went in to reserve a room with Sasha. The desk clerk, a small thin man with thick glasses, stared at Thomas and Sasha and said, I am sorry. All that I have left is one room with a king-size bed.

Thomas glanced at Sasha and said, I guess we will have to keep going.

Sasha bellowed, «We›ll take it!»

The two walked down a hall with its dark brown rug and yellow walls and entered the motel room. Sasha stared at the bed with its blue bedspread, blue chairs, brown desk, and a 40-inch flat-screen TV. Flopped on the bed and stated, That 1950s dance was well worth the trip even though it took us almost three hours to get there. So, what do you want to do about the sleeping arrangements?

The bed is big enough. I’d say we sleep in our underwear; you take one side of the bed, and I’ll take the other.

«I have the right side, and we undress in the dark.»

Sasha went into the bathroom to undress while Thomas sat on the edge of the bed, took off his clothes, turned out the lights, crawled under the covers, and hollered, Okay, you can come out now!

Sasha gingerly exited the bathroom in her coral pink underwear, made her way to the bed, then turned out the light.

Thomas stated, «I like your thong undies and the heart on your left butt cheek.»

Hey. You’re not supposed to be looking, and these aren’t mine. I asked Briana to buy some underwear at the store for this trip, and this is what she got me. Sasha crawled into bed and muttered. Lord, I feel funny doing this. She reached across the bed and held Thomas’s hand, saying, Let your sleep be sweet, and you wake up refreshed; good night, Love, and stay on your side of the bed."

In the middle of the night, Sasha woke suddenly as a loud clap of thunder echoed through the sky. She jumped, let go of a squeal, and fell out of bed. Thomas turned on the light and inquired, Sasha? Where did you go?

I’m on the floor. Where else.

«What are you doing down there?»

Looking for dust bunnies under the bed in the dark, okay. Now turn out the light so I can get back in bed.

Alright, but you don’t have to be so testy.

Just as Sasha was in bed, a blinding flash of lightning lit up the room, followed by a thunderous crash. Sasha squealed, quickly scurried across the bed, and held on to Thomas, saying, I hate thunderstorms.

No more three-foot rule in bed? inquired a puzzled Thomas.

Touching in bed is okay during obnoxious thunderstorms. But I’ll feel safer if I can hold your hands.

I promise I won’t handle the merchandise.

Humor me, okay.

In the morning, Thomas woke just in time to see Sasha tumble out of bed again and asked, You still looking for those dust bunnies?

I’m trying to keep our relationship out of the flesh, and I got too close to the edge again. she then called back in bed.

Thomas stated, Now that it’s light outside. Do you have any suggestions who’s going to leave the bed first to get dressed?

Sasha said, On the count of three, we both get out. One, two, three. Sasha stood, stared at Thomas’s white BVDs with pink bunnies on them, snickered, and said, They look so precious on you.

Hey, my mom gave them to me for Christmas.

I supposed your other pair have cute little yellow chicks on them.

Matter a fact, they do, and I wish you wouldn’t make fun of my underwear.

As long as you don’t make cute comments about my rose tattoo.

It’s a deal. Sasha then thought, "Oh heck, I’m tired of covering up, she took off her underwear, saying, I’m taking a shower."

A surprised Thomas stared at Sasha and asked, What happened to modesty?

I know you like a well-read book, Thomas, and all during this trip, you’ve been wanting to see me naked, so here I am.

Thomas tossed Sasha the brown throw from the bed, saying, Cover yourself with this and remove temptation,

"No thanks, and I want you in the shower with me,

Be there in a minute,

Later that morning, Thomas and Sasha drove several miles to a restaurant called Fast Eddies. Sasha rubbed Thomas’s right arm saying, I know as Christians I should not have done what I did this morning. But I was tired of trying to resist temptation. Now let’s pray and ask the Lord to forgive us.

Later, Thomas opened the door to the restaurant and saw a long counter on the left which was crowded with customers sitting on bar stools and a single line of the booth on the right. He escorted Sasha down the single row of booths to the last one and seated her.

Sasha reached across the table, held Thomas’s hand, and said, I am sorry for being curt with you this morning because this sleeping arrangement had me uptight. I kept waking up thinking you were going to try something but didn’t. Thanks.

«We will be home today, so relax and enjoy the rest of the trip and I am not going to manipulate you into doing something that you don›t want to do.»

«That means a lot to me.»

Before they had a chance to order breakfast, a tall, lanky farmer dressed in old, faded jeans plaid shirt came in and said to the waitress, «The police just found some poor woman lying in the ditch. Whoever it was, did a number on her with a club.»

Thomas closed the menu, saying, Come on, let’s go, Sasha. Maybe we can be of some help.

At the scene, Thomas flashed his badge to the state trooper, saying, Thomas Cooper, Homicide. What do you have?

«A white female, six feet about one hundred and fifty pounds, with numerous contusions. Two boys were walking up route 11 when they saw her lying face down in the ditch.»

Thomas lifted the sheet covering the woman in the ditch who was dressed in new jeans and a red paisley blouse with her right black loafer missing. He glanced at Sasha and said, «Do me a favor. Walk back along the road and see if you can find the woman›s shoe.»

Thomas stood and stated, Trooper Summers, I think the woman knew her killer. Her clothes aren’t ripped the way they would be if she were being attacked by someone. All the contents of her purse are there. It could have been her boyfriend or husband.

The state trooper said, I think she could have been hitchhiking when she was attacked.

«No. I don›t think so. The dead woman›s driver›s license says her name was Mrs. Jacklyn C. Bissonnette, 27 years old, and she lived at 727 Glendale Drive, Chicago, Illinois. Which is a very posh neighborhood.» Thomas opened her wallet, pulled out six hundred dollars, and asked, «Why would anyone thumb a ride with all this cash on them?»

Sasha raced up to Thomas, handed him the shoe, and said, I found it in the grass on the other side of the ditch.

Thomas inspected the scrapes on top of the toe of the shoe and stated, Mrs. Bissonnette might have had an argument with the person driving the car and opened the car door and dragged her right foot on the pavement when she tried to jump out of the car to escape. The driver then stopped the car and beat her to death with what I think was a baseball bat.

The state trooper ordered the paramedics to remove the body. Thomas hollered, «Wait! Don›t touch her! Something isn›t right.»

What’s the wrong, Detective?

For someone who fell in the ditch after being beaten to death. Why are her arms by her side and her legs straight? It looks like she was placed in the ditch after she was murdered. Get a bomb-sniffing dog here on the double.

"Why would someone put a bomb under a dead woman? Besides, I checked, and there is no explosive under her.’

«These days, you never know what some wacko is going to do.»

The bomb-sniffing dog arrived 25 minutes later, then one minute after that, the officer reported to Thomas, Nope, nothing.

The Detective glanced skywards and saw a white drone approaching carrying something.»

Trooper Summers inquired, What’s up?

«I don›t like the looks of that drone. Do you have a pair of binoculars?»

The trooper studied the drone through his field glasses and ordered, «Everyone, take cover! The drone is carrying a bomb!» Thomas and Summers crouched down, took aim, and fired. The drone suddenly disappeared in a ball of fire as it exploded, sending bits of shrapnel everywhere.

Trooper Summers shook Thomas’s hand and said, "I owe you one big time.

Thomas stated, I’m going to stick around Winthrop to find this sicko. Here’s my card. My lady friend and I are staying at the Last Stop Motel.

That Flee Hole? I’m close friends with Pastor Roberts of the First Assembly, who will put you two up at his place, and all you have to do is show up for church service.

Sasha sighed in relief and said, Thanks.

Back at Fast Eddies Restaurant, Sasha ordered a double ham and cheese omelet with home fries and English Muffin. Thomas ordered A Western omelet with home fries. He then answered his smartphone and asked, Thomas here. How can I help you?

«This is Chief of police; I am calling in a professional sleuth to help you crack this case.»

When will this Detective of yours be arriving?

«Tomorrow.»

Thomas contacted Inspector Noel Richards and said, Sasha and I are going to be in Winthrop, Maine, on a murder case.

«I›ll be there in a few days.»

Thomas ended the call, then said, Be back in a bit Sasha. and left for the washroom.

A tall man casually strolled up to Sasha, saying, "Fancy meeting you here, and pushed Thomas’s plate aside and sat down.

Sasha growled, Terry. What garbage truck did you fall off of?

Terry slipped his arm around Sasha’s waist as he replied, Cute; you walk out on me at the Trade Winds Inn when things were getting interesting. I’m just here so we can finish things.

I had to leave because I took one look at you in your jockey shorts, and I was about to lose my lunch, so we are not going to finish anything.

"Do I need to remind you that you owe me big time for getting you out of