The Murder of Mrs. Katie Hilliard

"By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire", I read aloud four times over before I closed my notebook. "I need a break, Chance", I told my Pit Bull pup. "Let's go for a walk."

He jumped up from his bed and spun circles as I got up to grab his leash. Chance was very well trained already and sat down at the door while I hooked his leash to his collar. He stayed sitting until I told him to come on after I opened the door. Chance stayed by my side the whole walk to the park, stopping when I did, and never strayed too far away.

Once at the park, we stopped in front of the sign that read, "park name", and I unhooked his leash. He stayed sitting right beside me until I told him to go play. I laughed as he ran straight for the mud puddle and jumped in. I shook my head as I walked over to a bench and pulled out my phone before I sat down.

Chance barked excitedly as another pup came barreling over to the mud puddle. She was a beautiful brindle Great Dane, about a year and a half old. Her tail was wagging as she greeted Chance, then she ran over to me, sniffed my hand I held out to her, and ran back to Chance. A young girl came running over, laughing, and jumped into the mud puddle with the pups.

"Cindy," a man exclaimed, snickering, "what are you doing?"

The little girl laughed as she rolled over and said, "Look Daddy, I'm a puppy, too!"

Chance had come back over and layed down in front of me. Cindy looked over at him and tried to get him to go back into the puddle to play, but wouldn't leave my side. Her dad told her to play with Lilly and that he might come back to play in a bit. The man looked at me and nodded, making Chance growl a little bit, and Lilly stand still. I nodded in return and told Chance down to make him stop growling. Cindy laughed and grabbed at Lilly to play and missed, landing in the puddle and splashing her father.

"Be careful, Cindy," her father told her, "this is an expensive shirt your mother bought me.

"She is not my mother", she shot back at him firmly. "You made my Mommy leave me", she whispered as she started to cry.

Lilly came over, licked her face making Cindy smile again, and continued to play in the mud once her tiny human was no longer sad. Chance still stayed by my side as I sat there a bit longer before getting up to go down to the lake's beach.

Once Chance set paw on the sand, he put his nose to the ground and was on the hunt, for what I thought, would be a stick. About seven feet away from me, he started to wine and dig into the ground. Just a little over two feet down into the hole he was digging, his tail started to wag as he pulled up a bone. He proudly presents me with his tiny bone and I quickly realize it's a human's finger.

Chance went back to the hole to dig some more and pulled out a small portion of a hand with two fingers still attached to it. I pulled him away, hooked his leash back to his collar, and called the police. They asked me to stay by the hole so they can easily find it, and so I can keep everyone else away from it until they arrive.

The first officer that approached me was five feet and three inches tall, about one hundred and forty pounds, jet black hair cut just above her shoulders, with green eyes, and light freckles sprinkled across the bridge of her nose. Her partner was a taller man, with bland features, and stayed farther behind her, scowling.

"I'm Officer Willow," she said pointing behind her, "and this is my partner, Officer Davis. He's staying farther behind because this is a test for me. It's still my first week in the field."

"I'm Billy and this is Chance", I responded. "He's the one that found the bone and the partial, unattached hand."

Officer Willow asked me a few questions and then asked for my information, so she could contact me if she had further questions. Officer Davis nodded before turning to follow Officer Willow back to the car to call in the forensics team. Officer Davis came back with stakes and Police: Do Not Cross tape to tape off the hole first. They would expand it later on as they uncovered more body parts if they needed to.

I took Chance home, carrying him inside to the bathroom to clean him up, so he didn't track mud all over the apartment. After his bath, and my shower, I fed him before making dinner for myself. By the time I had dinner cooked and ate, it was eleven thirty-seven at night. I took Chance out to go potty before curling up in my bed for the night.

My alarm goes off in the morning and I roll over, slamming my hand down on the snooze button to shut it up. Chance jumps up on the bed and pulls at my hair whining. I look up at him and he licks my face. I shove him to the side and sit up, groaning. He curled up in my lap as I gave him his good morning loves. I smiled down at him as he playfully nipped at my hands, his tail wagging.

After a bit, I patted the bed beside me and he jumped over so I could get up. I got dressed and went into the kitchen after grabbing my phone off of the charger. I held the power button to turn it on as I placed it on the kitchen table so I could feed Chance his breakfast and give him fresh water. He went running into the kitchen and out the back doggie door to do his business as my phone rang. I laughed as I answered without looking at the caller ID.

"Mr. Young," a gruff voice said on the other side, "It's Officer Davis. I need you to come to the police station so we can get your fingerprints for elimination, as well as your dog's DNA."

"Of course, I'll be there with Chance as soon as I'm able to."

"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Young."

"It's not a problem", I responded. We hung up and I got Chance ready to leave.

Once at the station, I asked for Officer Willow or Officer Davis, and I was asked to have a seat, that one of them would be with me shortly. The receptionist saw that I had Chance with me and asked if she could pet and give him a treat. I smiled and told her yeah. I told Chance to behave and he sat still. She held out her hand that didn't have the treat in it for him to sniff. He licked her and she gave him the treat while scratching his head.

"Mr. Young, thank you for coming in so soon with Chance."

I nodded in response. He led the way into the main conference room where Officer Willow had everything ready to get Chance's DNA and my fingerprints. I sat across from Officer Willow and she asked for my right hand first. Once she was done collecting her elimination evidence from us, Officer Davis walked us back out to the lobby and gave Change some water before we left.

"Thank you again, for coming in, Mr. Young", he said as I led Chance out the door.

I smiled and nodded and continued to walk to my truck. I stopped about three feet away from the door to the police station and turned around. Officer Davis was still standing there and his head inclined, as if to ask me what was on my mind. I told him how Chance had acted around the man at the park the previous day, and that he'd never acted that way around anyone before. He then asked me if I'd sit down with a sketch artist to describe him.

"When would be a good time for me to come and do that?"

"You can come back in right now and do it if you want to. I'll watch Chance for you", he said smiling.

"Alright, I'm okay with that", I replied as I walked back in.

Officer Davis took Chance's leash as he held open the door to Mr. Brinks' office. He introduced me and told him what I was there for. Mr. Brinks gave a small nod, waved me on in, and told me to have a seat after shaking my hand in greeting. He grabbed his pencils and drawing pad, then turned to me and had me describe in as much detail as I could remember of the man.

"He was shorter than I am, about five and a half feet tall, a little on the chunky side with about a four inch beer-gut, dirty blonde hair, buzzed three inches short all the way around his head, and hazel eyes. He had a tat on his upper left arm of an anchor, freckles up and down both arms, and a good sized birthmark on his right calf that looked like a witch's hat."

He flipped the pad over for me to look once he was done and I nodded, telling him that's the guy. He nodded in response and asked if there was a little girl with him. I nodded as confusion spread across my face. He looked at me and explained that he personally knew the little girl because she tries to run away a lot.

"Why does she do that", I asked, my curiosity getting the best of me.

"She blames her father for her mother leaving", he explained. "Her mother left two years ago and hasn't tried to get into contact with her since. But, between you and I, it's better that way. She wasn't a very good woman or mother, though, rumor has it that she left to get better for her daughter."

A knock on the door halted our conversation as Officer Davis opened the door to tell us that the body has been identified as Mrs. Katie Hilliard, Cindy's mother. Mr. Brink shook his head, sighed, and said a small prayer for his small friend, Cindy. Officer Davis asked me if I knew any of them personally and I told him I did not. He nodded, handed me Chance's leash back, and walked me back out to the lobby.

He once again thanked me for my help and I nodded. I helped Chance get into the truck and as I was getting in myself, I felt a sharp pain enter my back, I heard Chance bark, and Officer Davis yell freeze. I looked down and all I could see was blackness as I fell to the ground, never to see the light of day again.

A week later, the murderer of Mrs. Katie Hilliard and myself, was caught and arrested. It was Mr. George Hilliard, Mrs. Katie Hilliard's husband, and Cindy Hilliard's father. Cindy Hilliard was placed in foster care until she was adopted by a couple of the name, Vance.