“This just in. The
body of a young man thought to be in his early to mid-twenties was discovered
in a park in Hermitage early this morning. The semi nude man, yet to be
identified, is thought to have gone there for a sexual encounter. Anyone with
any information is encouraged to contact the Hermitage police department or by
calling the anonymous tip hotline 5-1-1.
***
I turned off the
car radio and drove the rest of the way to Hermitage in silence. I wanted to
consider carefully now the implications of what I had started. What were the
police up to? What evidence made them think this anything other than a possible
robbery? Sure, the man’s pants were down, but he was wearing underwear. His
attacker could have made him drop trou to allow more getaway time. What made
the police suspect a tryst with a not happy ending?
Suddenly, offering
my bits of insight didn’t seem like such a good idea. I never expected to be
party to a sex crime. Was I to be considered a possible suspect? After all, is a
gay man with no attachments to anyone, sexual or even romantic, who comes
forward to say he knows something about the death of a man found seminude in a
park to be presumed innocent? I pulled into a gas station. The gas gauge showed
the tank was down barely a quarter, but I needed time to think this through and
something to do while I did so.
If I were to turn
back, the detective only has my last name. Did the police have time to trace my
phone? Do police stations have caller I.D.? If the police do know where I live
and I don’t show up do I look guilty or just capricious? Oh, what to do? What
to do? I had a dream was all. There have been several dreams like this one
involving the dead body of a stranger I later read about in the newspaper. Why
did I choose this particular dream to share with the authorities? What
possessed me? Why am I agonizing over this?
I have done nothing
wrong. I saw something in a dream, I think. I noticed something in a newspaper photograph
I thought was being overlooked. I wanted to bring attention to a detail in the
photo, not to myself in anyway. Certainly I didn’t intend to be attached to a
sex crime investigation. I heard about things like this happening before. An
innocent bystander steps forward intending to help, but his story gets twisted
around and he ends up being arrested for the crime. Poor Buster! If I go to
jail, who will take care of him?
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