MadApple Short Story Contest #3

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(Rated: 18+)
Title: After The Birds, the Fire
Description: A story about a fire that happened where the film The Birds was made.
By: chip (1)

"Here we are, love, Bodega Bay," said Al Hatch.

"I need to use the ladies room," said Jessica. She entered the taffy candy store.

"Damn you bitch," a lady screamed.

"Go to hell you whore," answered Jessica.

"Stop pulling my hair, devil!"

"Take this punk," said Jessica. She slapped her opponent several times before leaving the taffy store.

"What took place in there," asked Al.

"The cashier wouldn't let me use the restroom, so I told her I would pee on the floor. She said to go ahead, and I did," said Jessica.

"She's lucky you didn't have to defecate, love"

Al Hatch has directed thirty mystery films, and Jessica O' Conner has been in four.

Brushing her long, blonde hair out of her eyes, Jessica said, "You chose this spot for The Birds, and it worked, and it will work for After The Birds, the Fire, but will it be as much fun to film?," asked Jessica.

"Why not, let's start now. How about a jaunt to the bar; and have a few Miss. J."

"Are the gin martinis any good?" asked Jessica.

"If we ask for the best gin."

"Waiter please bring my luminary a martini, and I'll take a margarita," said Al.

"Add a fruit-cheese plate and some crackers, OK?" said Jessica, brushing a few hairs from her eyes.

"Looking at this cheddar and Swiss makes my mouth water," said Jessica."Oh oh they're frying fish. MMMM are you hungry, Al?"

"Starved for you, dish. I rented a couple beautiful suites at the Ebb Tide Inn," said Al. "Would you care to see them after this round?"

"I'm hung-hung -hungry, love."

"Oh, okay," said Al. The duo ate and drank to celebrate their beginning the new film.

"That was the best meal I have had in 500 years," said Jessica.

"Heh, heh; tell me about your past lives Jessica," said Al. "I heard that your hypnotist saw you as having several."

"Yes, I was a Mexican beggar in one of my lives, a murderess in one, the prince of Norway in one, and a sausage maker in two. The hypnotist let me know that between my sausage making lives, I was a fairy living outside of time."

"A fairy, huh? What's the hypocrite's, I mean what's the hypnotist's name? Hypnotism may be a worthwhile theme for a film," said Al.

"Marko the Gypsy," said Jessica.

"Let's scoot up the hill to the pads, sweet; I need a little dessert," said Al.

Jessica brushed some hair from her eyes, and the two artists drove up the hill, parked, kissed and hugged, and then went into Jessica's suite. Al emerged from the suite a few hours later and began his way to his place. He made an abrupt stop, looked around as if he sensed danger, and then began walking again. There was a cracking blast from a rifle, and Al went down like a match dropped in water. A bullet smashed into his head like a rocket into an Iraqi. Though Al weighed 240lbs his body flew 2 or 3 feet into the landscaping with the white lilies and a hippy's small marijuana plant.

A raven befuddled by the gun shot swooped down and pecked at the marijuana plant then darted over to Al and plucked out his left eye just before Jessica appeared on the scene.

"My God, my God, what the hell? God help us!" Jessica ran back into her place and called the police. The raven returned and plucked out Al's right eye; neighbors began to accumulate around Al-one here, one there, two more over there, until a small crowd was staring at dead Al, and the smoke from the shot lingered on.

The police arrived and began asking questions, but everyone was stone faced. No one had a clue about the murder, but the police continued searching until morning. The investigation went on for six days without any help before the stressed out lieutenant called Detective Eugene Vibes, PI in San Francisco.

Local police departments asked Detective Vibes for help once in awhile, because he was great. He solved nearly each of the 30 cases the police handed him, but his wife, Kathleen, solved two. Kathleen was a licensed detective and worked for an insurance company. Her job was to verify the validity of accident claims, but like a faithful wife helped her husband.

With in an hour, Vibes reported to the lieutenant, received all the information on the Al Hatch case, and began work. Vibes, on examining Al's case, determined he was shot from an elevated position; the coroner agreed. At the crime scene, he picked up a spent 30/06 shell, and took photographs and cast impressions of some tire tracks in the landscaping with the white lilies near where Al was shot. He also made a plaster cast of a shoe impression. He uploaded his digital photos of the tire tracks from his laptop to the criminology lab's computer in San Francisco and learned the tire track was from a 2006 Winnebago, a recreational vehicle.

Through further mind-numbing investigation of several Sonoma County dealers' ledgers, he eliminated all customers except three. Two of the possible suspects, lived in Santa Rosa, but one lived in the near by town of Sebastopol. Vibes took a ride to the address of the possible suspect, Mr. George Jacobs, and saw a Winnebago in the driveway. He photographed the RV from his car, and studied the images he uploaded to his laptop and was excited to see a white lily petal caught on the rear bumper. He focused his camera on the petal, zoomed in and took another picture.

Vibes argued that his photo of the white lily petal was cause enough for the judge to issue a warrant permitting him check the RV's tires, to search Mr. Jacobs' house for a 30/06 rifle, and look for a shoe or shoe prints that match the cast he lifted at the crime scene. The judge agreed.

"Mr. Jacobs, have you read of the murder that occurred ten days ago in Bodega Bay?" asked Vibes.

"Why are you questioning me, detective?" asked the suspect. "I haven't done anything wrong."

"I have a warrant giving me permission to search your house," said Vibes.

"Go to it cop; I can't stop you," answered Jacobs.

Vibes took out the cast of the tire mark, and held it up to one of the Winnebago tires.

"Sir, look here; this is an exact match! He took his shoe print cast atop the Winnebago, and found shoe prints that matched his cast."

"So! So what does this prove I shot Al Hatch?"

Vibes searched Jacobs' house for the incriminating rifle and shoe. He found the shoe with the exact markings as the cast Vibes held. "Is this your shoe, Mr. Jacobs?" asked Vibes.

"It's my shoe."

"Where were you at 3:00am on the 28th of the last month?"

"In bed where else, killing a director?" answered Jacobs.

Bang! Someone fired a shot from the backyard of Jacob's house. Vibes cautiously ran to the yard and found a teenager with a rifle. Jacobs yelled at the boy, "Give me that, Billy!"

"Dad, a wild pig was running around; I knew where you hid the rifle under the shed steps, so I grabbed it. I shot at the pig but missed. You would've done the same Sir," Billy said.

"Let me examine that rifle, Billy," said Vibes. The boy looked at his dad, who's head was bowed down, then looked at the detective, and gave the rifle to Vibes; he ejected the bullets, checked the caliber, picked up the shell from the ground and studied it. "The same caliber rifle and shell were used in the murder of Hatch."

"I have four pieces of incriminating evidence making you look guilty of murder," said Vibes. I spoke with the service station attendant working the grave shift across from the restaurant in Bodega Bay about you and your RV. He said he knows you and told how you and your daughter visit Bodega regularly. He sold you gasoline on the day of the murder and gave me a copy of the receipt with your license plate number on it. He also informed me that you are the owner of the Sonoma Business' Owners Insurance Company. When I looked this up in the public records, I found it was your company that honored Busoni's claim covering the fire that burned down his Ebb Tide Restaurant. You hated Busoni since paying the claim, because you damn well knew that he was involved in an act of arson performed right after The Birds was completed, but you couldn't prove it.

"I know why you hated Busoni, and I know why you killed Hatch. The day after the film was over at 3:30am, the gas station attendant crossed the highway to check on why a dog was barking. It was from this significant vantage point that he saw Mr. Hatch sneak up to your client's restaurant, pour gasoline all over it, and throw in a match. The attendant called the fire department, but didn't snitch on Hatch. Days later, however, when you filled up your Winnebago, he did snitch to you about Hatch's arson.

"Kathleen reviewed the American Artists' ledgers and found the postings of the expenses for shooting the film at Bodega. Everyone was paid, from the township to the boat owners and from the gas station owner to the citizens for being extras. The unusual posting for the use of the restaurant: [Ebb Tide Restaurant's owner donated its use.]

"My wife searched Hatch's suite and found a journal that read: 'I saved the company thousands by fulfilling Busoni's wish.' But why did you kill Hatch?; he easily had the means to pay you ten times over the two million you dished out on the fire claim? All you needed to do was to let him know that you had proof he torched the Ebb Tide!"

"I could have sought restitution from Hatch; I could have turned him over to the law, but a rich and famous guy like he wouldn't suffer punishment. I wanted revenge for more than torching my client's place of business. When he was here filming The Birds, Al Hatch made my eighteen year old daughter believe he would make her a star if she proved she liked him and his movies. He seduced my girl into loosing her virginity and left her in tears."

Vibes summoned the sheriff.

With in a short time the sheriff pulled up to Jacob's house. An officer read him his rights and put him under arrest for the killing of Al Hatch.

Jacob was tried for murder in the first degree, and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibly of parole; the Ebb Tide Restaurant's owner, Busoni, was tried and convicted of insurance fraud; his sentence would have been six years in the state prison, but for cooperating with the detective on the case, Busoni received two years.

Word Ct: 1,846