Murder! Too Close To Home by J. T. Lewis Page A

preparing to again knock on the door when I noticed the reflection of a light on the ground beside the house, the shape of window panes clearly outlined in the shadows. Presently the light on the other side of the door switched on and I heard someone fumbling with the lock. The door creaked slightly as it slowly opened a crack, and then continued on its arc as the owner stepped forward.
    “Well hello, Gabriel, what brings you to my neck of the woods?”
    Before me stood a short African-American man, slight of build but with the bearing of a one who had worked hard for a living and was proud of what he had accomplished.
    “Hello, Zeke, I had no idea that you lived out this way,” I said, taken aback a little at knowing the owner.
    “You mind if I come in for a moment, I’m afraid I need to ask you a couple of questions?”
    Motioning to follow him, he turned and led me into a small but tidy living room with two upholstered chairs and a couch. These were arranged in a semicircle around the old TV set. He held out his hand palm up at a chair as an offering to sit down, which I did, observing pictures of his wife and kids spread out throughout the room.
    Ezekiel Green was a fixture around town, having started life in what was called New Town in the old days, always considered at that time “the wrong side of the tracks.”
    Graduating high school in the late thirties, he enlisted in the Marines to see the world. When the Japanese started World War Two, he was stationed in the Philippines and was eventually captured with the rest of his command at Bataan. Forced on the Bataan Death March with his fellow soldiers, he and his buddies survived the ordeal by sheer willpower and propping each other up when the other faltered. 
    For the rest of the war he existed as a prisoner in numerous Japanese internment camps. Upon his release and subsequent discharge he came back to town and got busy, the pent-up energy of his confinement pushing him relentlessly. 
    He courted and married his high school girl friend and found a job in construction. After a few years he went out on his own and made a good name for himself as an excellent carpenter. After his wife died six years ago, he abruptly quit working and entered retirement, a good portion of which he spends at the Legion with old Doc Elliot.
    “I guess you’re involved with the circus across the road eh? What’d old man Longstreet do to get all you out of bed in the middle of the night?”
    Looking him straight in the eye, I broke the news to him that Mr. Longstreet had been murdered.
    “You don’t say,” Zeke stated, suddenly very serious. “Loony as a bird that one, but still, you don’t wish that on anybody.”
    “Did you see anyone over there tonight, or see or hear anything strange?” I asked, almost knowing what he was going to say.
    “Yes sir, I did notice that he had a visitor earlier in the evening. Fellow didn’t stay very long though, so I didn’t pay him too much attention. Thinkin’ back on it now though, fellow left out the back door wearing different clothes when he come out, left in a car he parked down the road if I recollect correctly. But that can’t be the guy you’re looking for.”
    In answer to the confusion showing on my face he continued, “That guy was one of yours.” 
    “I’m sorry, Zeke, I’m still confused, what do you mean he is one of mine?” I questioned, almost dreading the answer.
    With a serious look on his face he leaned forward, as if trying to teach a dense child a tidbit of knowledge.
    “The guy I saw tonight was one of yours Gabriel, he was wearing a uniform, same as some of them fellows across the road is wearing right this very moment.”
    “The man I saw was a sheriff’s deputy.”
     
    Chapter 20
    March 10, 1997
     
    The man was ecstatic!
    He had already called off work; there is no way he could pretend to do his menial job at the Save-A-Bunch today…no not today. The well laid out plan had worked like a charm. It