Breaking a Really Cold Case

A dog, a bone and a neighbor. 300-word flash

Breaking a Really Cold Case
Susan looked out her over-sink window to see an amazing sight. A familiar dog was carrying a large bone proudly along the sidewalk. Although it still had snow coating it, it looked long buried.
Picking up her phone, she dialed her neighbor, Bill, who lived across the street.
“Bill, it’s Susan. I saw Jinx carrying a large bone along my sidewalk. It looked human!”
The phone was hung up abruptly. Seconds later, she saw Bill, hastily dressed with boots flapping; running along the sidewalk, calling his dog. Twenty minutes later, he was back, hauling the dog by his collar.
“I guess he couldn’t get him to give up the bone,” she said to herself. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat at her kitchen table to think. She’d just brought the cup to her lips, when it hit her.
“Bill’s wife died some time ago, but I don’t ever remember if there was a funeral!” Before she could change her mind, she dialed the local police. As she explained what had happened, they agreed to send someone to speak to her.
The officers came without sirens or loud knocking. Susan let them in. The policemen introduced themselves and gratefully accepted coffee.
“Well, ma’am, I’d appreciate you repeating the story you told the officer on the phone, so we can get it on record,” the senior policeman said as he pulled out a recorder.
Susan began again. The officers took notes while she spoke.
“Let me get this straight,” one said when she was finished. You believe your neighbor Bill Classen might have killed his wife and buried her in his backyard ten long years ago?”
Looking at their stony faces, she remembered something. Bill was a retired police detective from the town’s force.{size:14pt}