Dylan dropped flat to the floor. He wasn’t moving. The butt of the gun had hit him squarely on the back of the skull. Ida screamed and stepped back, dragging her two boys close into her.
“What are you doing?” she hollered.
The sheriff slowly moved his gaze up towards her. His face now looked manic. It scared Ida.
“Whatever I want,” said Sheriff Glick. “You see, I’m the sheriff around these parts and so I have the power to do what I want. To whom I want. Do you understand?”
“No. Not at all. Why are you acting like this, James?”
“Like what? It’s just a friendly visit. Like I paid to the Birch family. Whelan, Miss Jolie. Oh and Chuck, bless him.”
“You killed them?”
“Yes Mam.” the sheriff announced, beaming with pride.
“You said it was the vagrant. The killer hobo.” said Ida.
“Well, I can’t really have said it was me now could I? I would have lost my place as the sheriff. And that just won’t do.”
“But why?”
“Well, now I don’t like being crude as you well know. It is very uncomfortable for me to say to a lady like yourself, but as you’ll be dying soon I guess I owe it to you to tell the truth. You know, as one friend to another. Well Ida, I have to say, and please excuse my blushes, but…well…it’s a sexual thing. I don’t think we need to get too involved in it. Suffice to say that your dead body will satisfy my…urges…for a while. Like I said though, I don’t want to get into too much detail. I may be a psychopathic sexual predator, but I still have the good manners that my Mom installed in me.”
Ida started to back away, her arms wrapped round the shoulders of her two boys. As she edged her way back, she pushed Jake and Joel round to the back of her so that she was protecting them.
“Now don’t be scared,” said the sheriff. “It’ll only hurt for a little bit. I promise. You have my word.”
At the sheriff’s feet, Dylan had started to regain consciousness. He was groggy and dazed. He reached up behind him and felt the sheriff’s leg. Sheriff Grick’s face turned cold once again and he looked down upon the struggling man at his feet. Dylan felt around trying to grip something and get himself standing.
“Mother fucker!” snarled the sheriff. He raised up his gun once more and struck Dylan again. Then he raised the gun again and continued to rain down blows to the prone man’s head. “Die, you piece of shit!” raged the sheriff. The first strike sent out a hollow thud. The next few strikes let out cracking and crunching noises and then after a while, the sheriff was ferociously ramming the butt into mush and fluid. Most of which sprayed up onto his trousers and cascaded over his shoulder and onto the wall. He was possessed, continuing with the frenzied attack way after it was clear that Dylan was dead. Dylan was now unrecognisable.
The sheriff breathed heavily as he stood back up straight. He arched his back to stretch it out after the intense effort. He looked down at what was left of Dylan and smiled in satisfaction. The smile soon dropped from his face when he looked up and noticed that Ida and her boys were now no longer standing there. He heard the back door close. They had fled outside. The sheriff made off after them.