Early Sunday morning is a good time to ride my motor bike.  On a nice Sunny day it is also a good time to take photographs.  Lots of good things to shoot around the downtown.  I live within a five minute ride of the central city.  Of course the downtown isn't much compared to most places.  The town is under two hundred thousand souls, and a few heels as well.  Still we have some interesting buildings, since the town is a convention center.  How that came about I have no idea.  I suppose I should ask someone at the chamber of commerce one day.

I'm sure it had something to do with the railroad, since in the old days our town was a crossing point for the north/south and the east/west rail lines.  I suppose it all started with the Hilltop Railroad Hotel.  The Hilltop has been restored to it's original inglorious state.  It was most likely built as a warehouse for people.  The original plans called for a large dining room which I'm sure doubled as a ballroom after dinner.  Possibly that was the beginning of the convention trade.

Whatever it was, it historically brought meetings and conventions of all kinds to our little town.  By that Sunday morning about half of the town was involved with the convention trade in one way or another.  A lot of the mills had closed so it was about the only game of any size in town.  

I was riding by the train station when I saw the yellow tape stretched across the platform.  I saw a couple of uniformed officers milling about down there.  The platform was at least a complete story below the street so I was looking down on them.

I didn't see the two police cars until I got to the other end of the station itself.  There were three other cars in the parking lot.  At least one of them had to be the car of the station master.  The other two were out of place.

I couldn't help myself, I manoeuvered the bike into the parking lot.  Since it wasn't a motor cycle or a scooter I had no problem leaning it against the wall of the station rather than leaving it sitting alone in the parking lot.  The bike had a simple kickstand which was useless if the wind blew, and sometimes it didn't even need a wind to fall over.

Inside the station I found old man Linker sitting on his stool behind the ticket window.  "Mr. Linker, what's all the excitement."

"Somebody went and got themselves killed over night."

"You mean while the station was closed."  They closed the station's ticket and baggage counter one hour after the last passenger train came through.

"Yep sometime after one this morning.  Nellie left at one and she checked the area before she left."  He looked up at me and added. "If the damn railroad would have put in that video surveillance system I begged for, this wouldn't be a problem.  We would have the bastard on tape."

"Well as usual you were right.  So who was the victim?"  I said it to stroke his ego a bit.  I always get better help if I tell people how smart they are.

"Not sure, looks like a stranger."

"Well there isn't anything going on at the convention center till next week.  She could be an organizer or something for that I guess."

"Or somebody's aunt come for a visit."

"Yeah but Mr. Linker,  either way what was she doing here after the trains were gone."

"Good point." he admitted.

"You know any of those cops?"  I said it waving my arms toward the platform stairs.

"Haven't got a clue, so many new milk drinkers around these days."  I nodded my agreement.

"Well let's see if they will talk to an old man."  I said it with a grin.

"Not a chance if they recognize you."

"Hey I do a public service."  Being retired gave me plenty of time to poke around into things that were none of my business.  Being able to string a couple of words together made it possible for me to sell an article to the news paper now and then.  I even had one or two picked up by the area news service.

"Hey Guy," I called out when I reached the bottom of the steps.

"What you doing out this early?"  It was a police sargent I knew from a shooting I wrote about.  Some kid had shot his windshield out.  He jumped out of the car and emptied his revolver at the running man.  He missed all six times.  It wouldn't have been worth a mention except that he was the state champion marksman with a pistol.  The piece was about how much easier it was to shoot a paper target than a running man.  He took it with good humor since I bought him a fifth of Jack Daniels as a peace offering.

"Riding on the bike," I replied.

"You still got that piece of junk?"

"Yeah and it still runs.  Probably still running cause God loves old men and dogs."  I smiled.  "So Nate what's going on here."

"Mr. Linker found a body this morning when he opened up."

"What the hell was she doing here after the train was gone?"

"You talked to Linker already I see.  We got no idea."

"So how did she get herself killed?"

"Now you know I'm not gonna' tell you that."

"So you want me to write that you found a body and are baffled."  I laughed.

"I don't want you to write anything.  We are keeping this one off the radar for now."

"You know better," I replied.

"You aren't a real reporter, you can walk away from this if you want to.  Besides you know the drill you were a part of it."

"Then lets make a trade.  You give me something I can write or I make up stuff based on having been part of the drill."

"She did come in on the last train.  Other than that I can't help you."

"Do you know where she was staying."

"We are pretty sure she was staying at the Rat."

"Why do you think that, did she look like she had a few beans."

"Yeah, she was 'well taken care of'."

"You got a name?"

"No name goes out till we notify next of kin."

"So she didn't know anyone in town?"

"She didn't have any family or friends here that we know.  I think she was here on business.  Now be a good fellow Jake and take a hike before the bosses get here."

"Fair enough."  

I rode the bike over to the Radison Hotel.  It was the only really classy hotel in town.  All the others were just warehouses for businessmen.  The lobby of the Rat was at least three stories tall with a walkway that allowed every room on those upper floors to look down into the opulent lobby.  Why anyone would want to look was never quite clear to me.

"Lois what the hell are you doing working on a Sunday morning?"

"My turn damn it.  You know I should have you thrown out for the way you dress."

"What?  I can come in wearing cotton dockers and a plaid shirt?"

"Not when they are grease stained no.  We wouldn't even let our maintenance people dress like that."

"Well then help me out and I'll leave in a hurry."

"What do you want, as if I didn't know."

"Who was the guest that didn't check in last night?"

"How the hell did you know about her.  The detectives just called an hour ago."

"Just a freak accident."

"Sure, you must have their phone lines tapped."

"Don't I wish," I replied.  "So who was she?"  Lois hesitated.  "Come on I won't tell them where I got the info."

"Hillary Evans Wilson," she admitted.

"You are kidding, what was she doing coming here on a train?"  

"You know who she is?"

"Of course, everyone knows Hills.  Man this is going to raise a stink."

"Yeah, one of the most controversial lesbians in the country gets killed on our train station platform."

"Well I can't say that she didn't ask for it."  I saw the look from Lois.  "Come on Lois, I don't care how people live but that is not the case with everyone.  Some people object to her stands on gay rights."

"She is right you know," Lois replied.

"She probably is but this isn't San Francisco."

"Well they don't need shaking up.  We do here."

"So what was she doing here?"

"She was coming in to organize a protest at the Southern Fundamentalist Convention."

"Well that would have got her on TV and it might have gotten her killed."  I said that but didn't add that some of those groups made the KKK look like liberals.  

"Most of her protests weren't against people who carry shotguns."  It was just an observation on my part.

"Bastards," she replied.

I left the lobby of the Rat for my ride to the police station.  The bike had been run enough so that it started easily and I didn't look too foolish riding the block and a half to the station.

"Miles what the hell are you doing behind that desk?"

"Twisted my angle in a foot chase.  Man I am getting too old to be chasing kids."

"No crap, it's time to pull the plug when you realize you don't really want to catch them."  I laughed.

"Got that right, if you catch them it might be: hold a butt kicking, or kill them.  Either way I would lose."  he waited a couple of minutes then added, "What can I do for you this morning?"

"Hillary Evans Wilson, who is working it?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"She is the corpse on the train platform."

"Really, word hadn't come down on the Identity.  How the hell do you know so fast."

"Hell Miles I'm the best you know that.  Plus sometimes even I get lucky."

"Yeah, Eddy Lamb got this one.  He is not a fan."  Miles smiled up at me.

"Hell you know he slapped that kid in front of witnesses, what was I supposed to do lie."

"He don't see it that way."

"Well screw him, if he can't take a joke."  I laughed.

"You might as well not bother to ask him."

"Oh I'm gonna' ask and he is going to answer."

"Good luck with that Jake."

"Call  him up and watch a master at work," I suggested.

It took Eddy Lamb about ten minutes to show up.  His greeting left a lot to be desired.  "What you want old man, I'm real busy."

"I'm sure you are Hills is going to be a big case.  You gonna' need the press to take it easy on you, not put pressure on.  If I was you, I would get ahead of this one so it doesn't run over you."

"You ain't me.  How the hell did you know who the vic is.  Nobody is supposed to be putting information out but me."

"Nobody did, I found out through my own sources.  Now here is the deal Eddy, I can speculate and probably make the national news, or I can print the truth but you have to tell me the truth."

He gave it a few seconds thought then said, "We think it was a random act.  Robbery gone wrong."

"So her valuables are missing, you sure that wasn't just a cover?"

"Hey you ain't the only one with a mind you know.  We are pretty sure it was just a common robbery.  We have a guy downstairs that we are talking to now.  So the big mystery ain't no mystery at all.  She got killed cause she was to slow giving up her shit."  He said it as he walked away.

I rode the bike home and wrote it up just that way.  I could have written it with a hint of conspiracy and had a better story, but the truth is the truth.  Not many guys see things the way I do though.

The police news conference was the next morning.  They explained that a man in a stolen cab picked her up.  He tried to rob her and when she refused to give up the money, he killed her then returned her body to the empty train platform.  He hoped that the cops would think she never left the station.

Hey not all murderers are smart like in the movies, some are just plain stupid.  It would have been a better story if it had at least dragged on a day or two longer.

The end.