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500 Word Short Story
Retribution
Scott A. Gese
500 word short story
“Good God man, what went on here?” Alex Sweet was in a state of bewilderment bordering on all out shock. The two men at his side were slack-jawed. They had never seen such a thing as this. Their law offices had been brutally ransacked.
It was more than a typical burglary. Everything from the file cabinets to the wall hangings were emptied, torn apart and thrown down. Drawers were removed from the desks, computers were in the salt water fish tank. The glass was broken and the water had drained onto the floor. Exotic fish were flopping around in an inch of water at the bottom of the tank. The curtains were torn from the windows and ripped to shreds.
The three men climbed over the debris field looking for any sort of clue. “Check the computers,” ordered Alex. They were pulled from the tank and as Alex had feared, the hard drives were missing.
It was Monday morning. The office thrashing could have happened at any time over the weekend. Alex called the police to see if they could come up with anything. Before they showed, Alex thought of the security cameras around the building. Maybe the tapes would give him a clue. The men took a look before the police arrived. The one camera that might have showed them something had had a sign in front of the field of view. It had one word, “Retribution”.
“Retribution? Retribution for what?” Questioned Alex.
One of the other men chimed in. “We are divorce Attorneys. We represent clients whose spouses can get pretty upset. Maybe this is someones revenge?”
“You may be right,” replied Alex. “We'll let the police sort this out.”
Alex Sweet knew better. He knew exactly why this had happened, but he wasn't letting on.
It was one month ago he had borrowed money from Jerry”Big Boy” Lemming. He was a local hood with a few connections trying to make a name for himself in the town's loansharking business. It was a short term loan that was to be paid back with interest over a week ago. Big Boy had warned Alex, but he had shrugged it off, telling him he'll have his money in a couple of days. Alex gave Big Boy a threat of his own, telling him he had enough evidence to put him behind bars if he tried anything stupid.
It was a threat Big Boy wasn't ready to accept. He had the offices thrashed and the computer's hard drives removed hoping to get his hands on any evidence in Alex's possession. Now it was Alex Sweets turn to respond.
The following day Jerry Big Boy Lemming was killed by police officers as they raided his office in the back of the Tic Tac Saloon. Alex walked in just before Big Boy died. “Retribution”, was all he said as he stood over Lemming. He looked over at the officer in charge. “He thought he had connections. He didn't have squat.”
© Copyright 2019 by Scott A. Gese All Rights Reserved.
