Vigilante Virus

Vigilante Virus

By Doug Blair

Copyright © 2012, Doug Blair

Published at Smashwords

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A Brief Story on the Plague of Citizen Justice

The search warrants had been forthcoming after an ex-girlfriend of Carruthers bailed on an alibi tryst accounting for that Thursday night three weeks prior. One warrant for Carruthers' apartment, one for Bell Telephone records and one for a rented storage locker on the east side of Edmonton.

Marko had coordinated the blitz, and by the end of the afternoon Carruthers was in custody, nabbed from his job at the accountancy firm. Marko had been the one in Homicide who had suggested him as suspect. The connection was a recent suicide. Trudy Carruthers, a sister and high school teacher, had been found dead of an overdose. Friends confirmed that she had just gone through a nasty break-up with fiance Steve Thomson, the murder victim. It had looked really hurtful and devious. He was also into her for money.

The victim's body had been found in the parking lot behind Cromarty's Pub in the core of the City. Face blown away by shotgun. Somewhere around 2:30 that Friday morning. Shotguns did not lead to ballistics matches. A bartender inside had confirmed strange phone calls to the bar on a couple of evenings from one "looking for his brother Steve". It had happened again on the night in question.

For Marko the really troubling material had been found in the apartment that morning. The place had looked like a classroom or library for anyone seeking to take the law into his own hands. DVD's with all the recent stories. Movies. TV seasons. Dexter. The Brave One (with Jodie Foster). Sons of Anarchy. Harry Brown (with Michael Caine). Righteous Kill. A Time to Kill. The entire series of Michael Connelly murder intrigues featuring Detective Harry Bosch. Conspicuous websites browsed on the laptop. A black notebook with what appeared to be times and places coinciding with the victim's movements over a matter of weeks. The real estate office, some of the higher end listings, a fitness club, the apartment of a prior girlfriend, one of the slot casinos, late hours bars.

The storage locker had yielded the shotgun.

But this was not the evening for thoughts or talk of work. A long awaited dinner reservation planned by his wife at one of Edmonton's best five stars. He had almost had to cancel. There was also the issue that he and Trisha had had disagreements over the very item of "citizen justice". Austerity in city police budgets. A disappointing apprehension rate of late. Sophistication in gang activity. Shopkeepers everywhere buying guns. Weapons of all sorts showing up in the schools.

Trisha, a triage nurse at a downtown hospital, had seen a lot.

And now a case with an otherwise run-of-the-mill auditor, grieving over his sister's heartbreak and choosing to go for the gun...