Did I Or Didn’t I? [FICTOID]

Well, that’s my confession.

Now let me add one last little thing to make your job a nightmare, detective.

You were very good at hiding your reactions, but in one or two places I could see you trying to conceal your disappointment when you realized the details I gave you of the crime didn’t match the actual evidence.

That’s because I made them up.

I lied to you, officer.

You know I hated the victim, you know I possess ample reason to want revenge, you know I not only despise him but his family as well.

And you know I’m going to be dead in three months or less from cancer.

So when my lawyer told you I wanted to confess, you scurried down here to record it.

You notice my lawyer recorded it, too.

You doubtlessly found my fingerprints at the scene of the crime, and quite possibly some hair or DNA evidence as well.

So what?

You know I visited the victim several times in the months before his murder, months in which he continuously lied to me, stole from me, sicced his own lawyers on me when I tried to stand up to him.

I told you a few details that can be found in the news reports.

But the other details, they don’t match, do they?

There may be a reason for that.

I may be a befuddled old man dying from cancer expressing a wish fulfillment…

Or I may be a befuddled old man dying from cancer who is trying to make a clean breast of things but got confused…

Or I might be an old man dying from cancer but nonetheless clear headed enough to know exactly what I’m doing.

I didn’t reveal anything that you could take to a prosecutor to get me indicted.

You can’t drag me before a grand jury; I’m dying and my lawyer would block any attempt to do so.

If I did it -- and I know you suspect I did -- you’ll never be able to prove it before I die, and when I do die, you’ll never be one hundred percent sure because after all, the dear departed was a rat bastard with a list of enemies longer than the streak of yellow down his back.

And if I did it, you and the victim’s family will never know for sure, no matter how strongly you suspect me.

But if I didn’t do it, and you find evidence pointing to another suspect, and even if you get a confession from them…

…well, my lawyer will share this recording with them.

And their lawyer will play it in court and shift the blame to me and create enough reasonable doubt for that suspect to walk.

Like I said, the victim and his family are rat bastards.

I couldn’t get revenge on them in this life.

But I will in the next…

© Buzz Dixon