A SUSPENSE By Brian Vaughn Chapter 1 Mark was sitting at the bar with a couple of buddies of his. “Mark is it true that your are interested in Sharon?” asked one the men. “ Yea man I wanna do something with her!” Sharon Delk? Asked B.J. “ Yea her, why?” asked Mark. Little did Mark know that Sharon was B.J.’s high school sweetheart and once fiancé but decided to go their separate ways. “I was just askin’ that’s all” “Do you know her?” asked Mark. “Yea, we went to school together. She was my high school sweetheart but we decided to go our separate ways” said B.J. “Do you still care for her B.J.?” Mark asked. “Yea, I really do,” said B.J. “Sorry it went sour for ya’ man, but that’s my fish now and I’m going to make sure she gets in my net!” Mark replied. B.J. rose from the table and left with Mark in the background making remarks. Chapter 2 About a week later, B.J. picked up the phone and called Sharon. “Hello, this is Sharon.” “Sharon this is B.J.” “What do you want B.J., I don’t have time to argue!” said Sharon. “Sharon, Mark is no good for you!” “You’re stalking me now B.J? Sharon asked. “And how do you know Mark? She asked again. “That’s not important Sharon! All he wants to do is sleep with you!” B.J. said. “B.J. quit being so jealous all the time you have to move on!” Sharon said. “Sharon I’m just looking our for you and you really think I am being jealous?” B.J. asked. “Well mark is not like that and even if you heard that then that’s not your business!” Sharon exclaimed. B.J. hangs up the phone. He sat at home for about an hour then leaves. He’s cruising down the street when he sees Mark walking in the door of the Red Slip, a local strip club in the area. Chapter 3 B.J. pulls over and goes inside the club. He sits there for about twenty minutes then finally walks up to Mark. “Mark, we need to talk about you and Sharon.” B.J. says. Mark exclaims, “what I do with Sharon is none of your business, B.J.!” B.J. replies, “I’ve never let anyone do her wrong and I’m not going to start with you.” Mark replies, “B.J., if you don’t stay out of my business you are going to get yourself hurt. And I mean that literally.” B.J. exclaims, “if you don’t stay away from her I will kill you!” Everyone in the club turns around and looks at B.J. like he’s crazy. He gets up and leaves the club feeling really embarrassed because everyone heard what he said. He goes to his car and goes home. When he gets home he takes a walk. Chapter 4 During his walk he stops at a local coffee shop. He sees a man sitting in the back doing crossword puzzles. The man says to him, “you look like you’re upset. Wanna’ do a few crossword puzzles?” “Sure, why not” B.J. replies. “Why does your pencil have blood on it?” B.J. asked. “Oh that? Oh I nicked myself earlier that’s all” the man replied. He does about three puzzles, drops the pencil and leaves. After his walk he goes home and goes to sleep. Around 1:30am, B.J.’s telephone rings. He looks at the caller ID and sees that it is Sharon. B.J. answered “Hello?” In a crying voice Sharon says, “B.J. Mark is dead!” B.J. replies “What! Are you sure?” “Yes!” she exclaims. “The police called just a few minutes ago. They said they found him on the bathroom floor. They said it look he had been stabbed in the head with a pencil!” Sharon exclaimed again. “A few minutes ago? Where was he?” B.J. asked “At a strip club.” She said depressingly. “Why would he be at a strip club if you guys were seeing each other?” B.J. asked. “We weren’t really seeing each other, we were just friends.” She replies. B.J. gets really quiet because he realizes that just earlier at the club he threatened to kill this man. There are going to be witnesses that can identify him and say he threatened this man. “Sharon, I’m on my way over there.” Chapter 5 They spent the next few weeks together and decided they were going to start seeing each other again. A long time went by and they had not heard anything about the case. B.J. was sitting in the living room watching t.v. And Sharon was in the kitchen reading a book. B.J. said “Sharon there is something I want to tell you.”” There is some good news I want to share with you also, B.J.” Sharon says. The phone rang. “Sharon don’t get that this is really important,” said B.J. Sharon picked up the phone anyway, “Hello?” “Hello is this Sharon Delk?” asked the man. “Yes this is Sharon Delk,” Sharon replied. “Sharon this is detective Smith from Gateyard PD and this has to do with the death of Mark Thomas.” Sharon replied, “yes go ahead.” The man said, “Well Sharon we have a new lead in the case.” Chapter 6 The police offer said, “a pencil was found on the bathroom floor were he was murdered, and the fingerprints match the hands of a man by the name of B.J. Gerard. Does that name sound familiar to you?” Sharon replied in a whisper, “yes that’s my fiancé.” The policeman said, “Sharon, is he there with you?” “Yes he’s right in the other room.” The policeman replied, “Sharon were on our way to your house to come get Mr. Gerard.” Sharon hangs up the phone and runs in the living room. “B.J., what the hell did you do?” she screams. “Sharon what are you talking about?” He replies. She says, “you killed Mark and I know you did. I just on the phone with the police and they are on their way right now to come and arrest you!” B.J. replies, “ Sharon what are you talking about? I didn’t kill Mark, I would never kill a man. Sharon takes a deep breath and says, “B.J., you told me you didn’t like B.J.! And some people In the club said they heard you say if he didn’t stay away from me you would kill him!” B.J. replies, “Sharon, I have to admit I did threaten him but I did not kill that man and that’s on my life!” “B.J. Gerard, this is the police. We have you under arrest. Just come outside slowly and we wont have any problems!” the man outside yells. Chapter 7 B.J. has now been on trial for three weeks and the case is not looking in his favor. “I call Mr. B.J. Gerard to the stand” said the prosecutor. The prosecutor asked, “B.J., where did you go after you left the Red Slip?” B.J. replied, “I took a walk and went into a local coffee shop.” “Were you meeting someone in the coffee shop?” asked the man. “No, but I did sit with some man who was…” B.J. got quiet for a second and then out of nowhere, “The man!” “What are you getting at Mr. Gerard?” asked the judge. “The man in the coffee shop was using a pencil on his crossword puzzle and it had blood on it. I asked him why it was blood on his pencil and he said he had cut himself.” The waitress that was at the coffee shop that night was subpeonaed and was now apart of the trial. She remebered the man from that night and said he looked suspicious from when he first walked in and said she remembered him saying he had just came from the strip club and he was going to go back. The woman gave a disription of the man but the police could not find a man of that discription was found. A week later the verdict was reached. The first juror read, “In the case of Mr. B.J. Gerard versus the state in the murder of Mark Gorham, case number 458-651128 the defendant has been found” “Hold it!!!” yells a man crashing through the doors. Chapter 8 “The real Killer of Mark Gorham has been captured! He’s down at the police station confessing to everything!” “This case is dismissed until further notice.” Said the judge. “We will be contacting you within the next two to six weeks Mr. Gerard.” Two weeks had passed when B.J. received a letter in the mail. It stated: “TO MR. B.J. GERARD” B.J. opened it and on the inside it read: “Dear Mr. Gerard, we have reached a verdict. The man who confessed at the police station is convicted murderer and was just released from jail about six months ago. He went to jail for a drug deal that went wrong and Mark Gorham was involved. The man has been found Guilty for 1st degree murder.” B.J. jumps with joy and goes in the living room and tells Sharon. “Baby I’m so happy!” B.J. says. “Sharon, do you remember that day they took me to jail and I told you I had something to tell you and you said you had something to tell me?” Sharon replies, “yea, I remember and I’ve been wanting to tell you this for a long time now. B.J., I’m pregnant.” B.J. cracks a smile. Sharon says, “B.J. why are you looking like that?” B.J. replies, “today is just perfect!. What I wanted to say to you that day was that I want you to marry me!” Sharon Replies, “of course I’ll marry you B.J.” THE END