Burden of Proof

Lieutenant Markham Bailey sat at his desk in the station looking out the window at the clear blue sky. Not a cloud in sight, what a beautiful morning, he thought. The temperature had been pleasant for the past few days and one would believe there was nothing to be troubled about in Evansville on a day like that. Everyone should be out enjoying the weather even though chaos had ensued in the city for the last two weeks, with the murders of one of his patrol officer’s wife and her son. Bonnie Crawley and Officer Jackson {Jack} Crawley had been married for three years. She had a three-year-old son, Sam, at the time of their marriage. The child was from her previous marriage. Bonnie’s former husband had died from a heart attack. She and Jack were married a year later. Two weeks ago, Officer Crawley had returned home after his night duty in the downtown district as a foot patrolman, to discover Bonnie and Sam lying in their back yard. They lived on Park Street near the railroad tracks. The evidence showed that Bonnie Crawley had been hanging out clothes on the line in the yard, with her six year old son nearby when the attack took place. No one saw the attack because the only houses near their location did not have an unobstructed view of the back yard; the house had been ransacked, and the back door was left open. The assailant would have had a clear path to the woods and creek behind the house without anyone seeing him. Since Theodore Banks had recently taken the position of Captain, Markham had received a promotion to Lieutenant and this was his first big case as an investigator; although Captain Banks was attentive to the case as it involved a Police Officer’s wife and her child. Markham was aware that it was still his case to probe and so far there had been no progress. The only scenario he could come up with was that the attacker had hitched a ride on a train and had noticed Mrs. Crawley in the yard, as the railroad tracks run along the back of their property, which parallels Pigeon Creek. The assailant could have committed the crime and then disappeared back onto the next train out of town. The entire town was on edge since the day of the murders. Markham couldn’t blame them as there was a brutal murderer who could still be in town. One night, a week after the attack at the Crawley home, a penniless vagabond was caught on the north end of town, at Mr. Louis Kirkland’s farm; the man was rummaging through Kirkland’s barn. Mr. Kirkland and his two sons nearly beat the man to death and the vagabond ended up in the hospital suffering with severe head injuries. Markham inhaled and exhaled forcibly. He had tried to interview the vagabond with no success, as his injury had rendered him incoherent. The doctor who attended to him was not encouraging about his recovery and had pointed out that he would never be able to communicate. The surgery, which had to be performed on him, was not successful in relieving the damage done to his brain. The prognosis was that he would remain forever incapacitated. On top of everything else, Officer Crawley had made it a point to arrive at Markham’s desk each morning, demanding to be advised of any new leads in the investigation. Markham was aware that Jack Crawley was known to be a bit of a hothead, and if he heard the slightest hint of anyone who may have been involved in the murders, he would certainly take matters into his own hands.