arrival

A murder at the Park Side, Dixon thought as he climbed to his feet. He looked back at the glowing screen of his computer. Should I leave it?

Yes. He bent over and clicked the save button with the mouse. He was already mentally on his way out as he grabbed his coat and ball-cap. He turned back to the computer as his screen saver kicked in; a police car ran up and down the screen. He sighed; the case he had been working on would have to wait until tomorrow. Paul Murray and his stalker case could wait. The murder at the Park Side, his favorite places in Ralston, now that was just too inviting to miss.

Rain and snowfall was all the weather that came to Ralston in the winter. When it was not raining, it was snowing. Dixon pulled his coat tighter around him and locked the door to his house. Darby would always say things like-“If it rains in Ralston, it snows.”

This always struck Dixon as odd, although tonight Ralston had proved Darby’s philosophy true. The sheets of rain had given way to a blizzard of snow. Dixon dodged the freezing puddles as he traversed the dark street to get to his car. The cold bit down on him and he was numbed as he fumbled with his keys. Finding them, he stuck his lighter to the key-lock with hopes that it was not frozen in the snow. It was covered with a thin sheet of ice.

            Dixon sighed in frustration, stepped back and kicked the locked door with a thump. He nearly slipped. Stumbling back to his car door he slid his key in a rattled it back and forth until it gave. Forcing the frozen door open he slid into the cold confines of his car. The engine started with the first turn and as the car warmed up, Dixon hunched of the heater. The temperature slowly rose.

            Dixon had bought the Buick after his finally got paid on his most recent case. He had owned a truck before that but it had been too much trouble to park in the city. He loved that truck, smashing it into cars and generally terrorizing his attackers. He had owned the truck along time, since he was at the academy. He smiled as he shifted the Buick into drive and with a last look across the street; he drove east towards the Park Side.

            The Buick, which was dark blue, had been a good choice as it blended into traffic as another unremarkable four-door sedan. The perfect surveillance car, Dixon had found it useful to follow Paul Murray and his many enemies around the area. He had taken to parking the car across the street, so no one would ascribe that the car belonged to him. This reasoning was two fold; first, Dixon hoped it would keep it safer from would be vandals (the truck had suffered that fate on an earlier case) and it would keep Henry Love out of his life. Henry Love was his sister’s ex-husband who thought that Dixon would be the perfect mediator between himself and Laura Dixon. Dixon had decided to stay out of it. He parked his car in different places, so Henry would not know if he were ever at home. So far the plan had worked.

            The idea of buying the Buick had led Dixon to reach over conclusion and he reconsidered them as he sped onto the bypass highway. First, he could not afford to have sports car like Magnum P.I.- Dixon’ hero and inspiration in life. Magnum had a Ferrari and lived in sunny Hawaii, whereas Dixon lived in Ralston where there was always rain and usually snow. Besides the insurance would kill him and the Ferrari was anything but inconspicuous. Driving a junky car like that of Colombo would be signature, but it would probably break down all the time and it was not any less conspicuous than a sports car. So Dixon stuck with his non-noteworthy car, and the fact that it only cost him two thousand dollars.

            He had bought the truck because he thought that Lee Majors had made a valid point about the versatility of such a vehicle in his 1980’s show The Fall Guy. What I really need is a TV-PI show set in Ralston or at least Atlanta.

            Dixon nearly missed his exit to the Park Side, so caught up in his thoughts about the car. The snow had stopped falling, revealing the gray aura of the Ralston night-lit sky. The Park Side sat on a low hillock to the lower side of the East Gate Mall. The theater had been built in the 40’s and had endured through history as a great movie house. The exterior of the theater had been recently redone in a retro-fifty’s facade. The current owner of the Park Side, a fan of big band and swing had it refinished to look like an old dance Palace. The triangulated marquee was lit advertising movies as its’ sequence lights flashed blue red yellow and green filling the winter air with the glow of its performance. Reflections of this and the flashing lights of the eight police cruisers in front of the box office decried a spectacle that had drawn a crowd despite the freezing weather.

            Dixon drove his car off to one side of this riot, and chose a spot between two Toyota Celica’s and headed in on foot. Coming under the bright marquee, Dixon encountered the Police line. Officer Peter Felx blocked his path with a strong arm.

            “Hey!”

            Dixon pulled his faded wallet out and flashed his license out.

            “I know who you are Dix.”

            “So let me pass.”

            “Who invited you?” he shot back.

            “Let him through Felx.” Sergeant Martin Ross joined them.

            “But Sarge, he doesn’t have an invitation.”

            “Let him pass Felx, Darby wants him.”

            Felx made a face but dropped his arm

            “Don’t stay too long Dix.” He sneered.

            Dixon smiled with all his teeth showing and crouched under the Police tape.

            “Thanks Ross.” Dixon told the Sergeant.

            “Don’t flatter yourself Dixon, I only let you in because Darby wants you here.”