Sandra shreiked when she saw her husband’s decapitated body.  His hands were still on the keyboard of his computer that his headless body was slumped over.  Blood was still dripping and it seemed like this was a very fresh kill.  She was quite fearful that whoever did this might still be there.  She immediately called the police.  The operator told her to stay on the phone until the police arrived.

As Sandra made small talk with the 911 operator she noticed the letter her husband had written.  The computer screen was still on.  As she read the letter through the blood splattered screen her eyes filled with tears.  When she got to the part about the safe deposit box she became increasingly concerned.  She wondered if this was something to show the police or to hide.  She quickly printed the letter and deleted it from the computer.  She folded the paper and shoved it into her pocket.

She couldn’t help but wonder what or who he was telling her to beware of.  She didn’t know if he purposely typed “m” or if he fell on the keyboard typing “mmmmmmmm”. 

There came a knock at her door, “It’s the police ma’am”.  Sandra invited them in and thanked the 911 operator.  Several policemen entered her home and she escorted them upstairs to her husband’s office.  One officer began questioning her as the others assessed the scene.  A young male officer with blonde hair felt the body, “he’s still warm, this just happened”.

The officer in charge sent one of his men to search the home to see if the murderer was still there.  He used the radio to call for officers in the area to check the surrounding area for any suspicious characters.

As the officer questioned Sandra about her husband she couldn’t imagine what Gerald had become involved in.  “He was just a writer, he wrote articles,” she told the officer. 

“Did you notice any unusual behavior, any new friends?” the officer asked.

“No, really nothing at all.  He would sometimes travel for his writing but he mostly wrote a lot of how to articles.  You know, like How To Fix Your Leaky Faucet and he would write reviews or commentaries for the newspaper. I always thought Gerald was rather dull, quite boring in fact.” she replied.

“Do you have somewhere else to stay? You shouldn’t stay here.” the officer told her.

“I can stay with my sister.  She lives across town.  I’ll call her and pack while you are here.” Sandra said still shaking.

Sandra packed up some essentials and called her sister.  “Oh my dear God, Sandra, yes come stay with me!” her sister begged, “that’s so awful, I can’t imagine what you are going through.”

The young blonde police escorted Sandra to her car, “ma’am if you need anything here’s my card”. He waived goodbye as she pulled away.  As soon as she got a few blocks from the house Sandra pulled the car to the side of the road and opened her husband’s glove box.  She found a small tin can and inside it the key as her husband promised.  There was a business card inside the tin as well that read First National Bank and the address. 

(to be continued)… You get to choose the next part of the story if you were Sandra and you decide to go directly to the bank to see what is in the safe deposit box then you will read Death of a Writer part 3 next

If you instead decide to go see your sister first then go to Death of a Writer part 4 next.