It was a calm summer evening in the small Alabama community of Hartselle. The summer air was just starting to cool as the sun slowly fell behind the trees. Hartselle was typically known as a very peaceful town. Everyone who lived there thought of it as a town that nothing ever happened too. The peaceful silence was interrupted as a police siren could be heard in the distance.

The Hartselle Police Department had just gotten a call about some possible gunshots coming from the local gas station. Greg and his police partner Jeremy were around 3 blocks away at the time of the call.

As the squad car headed to the scene, Greg the driver said to Jeremy, “Hope it’s just another false alarm.” He was only 20 minutes from his 8 hour shift ending.

Jeremy responded, “It better be. I’m supposed to to take Linda and the kids out for dinner.”

The gas station was now in sight. As the squad car slowly pulled into the parking lot, it became obvious that this was no false alarm. The glass on the gas station door was shattered into a thousand pieces. Jeremy picked up his walkie talkie and calmly said, “We’re gonna need some backup.”

It was getting dark, as the sun had sunk beneath the hillsides. The two cops slowly opened the car doors with their sidearms drawn. They tentatively walked towards the broken gas station door. A few seconds later they ran into the gas station with their guns pointed up. Greg gasped at what they saw. It was like one of those scenes from a horror movie. The cashier had been shot in the face and there was blood splattered

everywhere. Greg said, “Oh my god.” He had a disgusted look on his face. The cash register was open. To no one's surprise it was completely empty.  

Jeremy yelled, “Where the hell is our backup.” A few seconds later, you could hear some sirens screeching in the distance. Pretty soon, the parking lot was full of cop cars. It had been a few hours.  There now were multiple detectives looking at the crime scene. One detective was in the middle of looking through the camera tape. The Police Chief came over to where Greg and Jeremy were standing. He said,  “You guys must be exhausted. Go home for the night. You have been through a lot.”

Jeremy responded, “I’m sure my wife is already mad at me for not making dinner.” “We will probably have a suspect by morning.” Jeremy and Greg headed to the squad car.

When they got to the squad car, Greg said, “Looks like work the next few days is gonna be different.”

Jeremy responded, “It isn’t so exciting when you have a family to provide for” He went on to explain,  “When I was your age, this kind of thing was what I lived for. Things really change when you have a family.”

Greg started the squad car and headed back towards the police station. By this time, it was very dark. The downtown street lights were the only source of light. Greg pulled into the Hartselle Police Station parking lot. They both exited the vehicle and proceeded towards their personal vehicles. Greg turned around and said, “Good night Jeremy. See you in the morning.”

Jeremy responded, “See ya bud.”

Greg entered his 2016 GMC Denali truck. He did not have a family yet, so he was able to buy brand new truck. Hartselle had always been his home. He graduated from the local high school where he was an outstanding athlete. He was 6 foot 1 and was over 200 pounds.  After high school, Greg furthered his education at Auburn University. He graduate in four years and picked up bachelor's degree. He became a police officer as soon as he was out of college. He always thought of being a cop as an exciting job, but he soon found out in a hurry it was not what he imagined. As he drove his truck home he thought to himself, “What is going to happen tomorrow.” He was excited, but nervous at the same time. He then turned into his apartment parking lot.

He had lived in this apartment complex ever since becoming employed with the police department. His apartment was far from perfect, but it was plenty for living alone. It was a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment. The best thing about the apartment was the location. It was located just a few blocks away  from the Hartselle Police Station. He exited his car and went to bed.

He woke up to his 6:00 alarm. The first thing he did was check his phone. He saw that the Police Department called a few minutes earlier. They left a message, so he played it. It was the police Chief. He said, “It looks like most of the main case details are out. Try to get down to the station as soon as you can.” Greg rushed to get ready. He was halfway out the door before he even had his police uniform all the way on. He jumped into the GMC and raced to the station.

As he pulled into the parking lot, he noticed that Jeremy's car was already there. He got out of his car and ran into the police station. As he entered the main conference

room, he saw the both the police chief talking. When Greg shut the door behind him,  the two men liked up at up at him. There was a blank expression on there faces. After a few moments of awkward silence, Jeremy said, “We have some serious news about the main suspect.”

Greg responded, “what is it. What's wrong!”

Jeremy continued, “The detectives went over the gas station camera footage. We believe that the man who shot and killed the cashier was Billy Joe.”

Greg thought to himself, “Oh no.” Billy Joe was in the same high school class as Greg. Billy Joe was a big, strong kid who played football with Greg during their Sophomore and Junior year. He was around 6 foot 3 and well over 250 pounds. He was by far the teams best lineman. His parent died in a car accident after his junior year. After his parents death, he dropped out of school and started looking for work. He started drinking just a short time after that.  Ever since then, he has lived in a trailer and was known around town as a bum.

Greg responded, “ There's no way. He's rough, but he would never kill someone over a few hundred bucks.”

The chief said, “Either way, we need to go over to his trailer and check on him.” Greg agreed and the three of them headed out to the squad cars. Greg and Jeremy entered there norml seat, while the chief hopped into the back.

Greg said quietly, “I pray that  it wasn’t him. It couldn’t have been him.”

Jeremy replied, “We must plan for the worst and hope for the best.” The rest of the ride was very quiet.  As Greg pulled into the dirt driveway, Jeremy observed that Joes 1990 Chevy truck was nowhere to be seen.

Chief exclaimed, “This is not good, guys.”

Greg said, “Where to now?”

Chief replied, “Continue down this road, but be careful because I’m sure he’s armed.”

Greg turned around and pulled the squad car out of Billy Joes dirt driveway. He continued driving down the road. This road lead to the middle of nowhere. They continued down this road for about half an hour. The ride was perfectly silent.

As they were driving, Jeremy said, “what's that?” He pointed out the window towards the woods. It was Billy Joe's old truck hidden between the trees. Greg slammed on the breaks. The men got out of the car and slowly walked towards the hidden truck.

Chief said, “Be careful. Who the hell knows what's going though this guys mind. As they approached the truck, it was clear Billy Joe had driven into a tree. You could tell that he had tried to cover of the vehicle with some brush, but he obviously was not very successful. Greg opened the trucks door and looked round inside. At first, he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, but he soon saw an empty box of 12 gauge ammo.

“He is definitely armed.” yelled Greg. “There's an empty package of shotgun ammo on the backseat of his truck.”

Jeremy said, “He can’t be far. Should we call in backup.”

Chief said, “Greg go back to the squad car and call in backup. Me and Jeremy will take a quick look around.”

Greg didn't argue and followed the Chiefs orders. He rushed back to the squad car. The squad car was around 50 yards away Billy Joes truck. The next thing Greg knew was he was on the ground. Billy Joe had been hiding near the squad car. He was probably trying to steal the squad car. Greg yelled “help, help.” Then there was a gunshot. The struggle was over. Greg looked over and saw that Billy's shotgun had gone off. The buckshot had destroyed Billy Joes body.

By then, Jeremy and Chief were both running towards the squad car. By the time they got to the squad car, Greg was crying. He said, “I killed my high school teammate.”

Chief said, “You did what had to be done. The whole community of Hartselle will be very relieved.”