Tom was confused. A person had been murdered--- or killed --- and the police would send a patrol car out in a few days. That's not how they did things back where he was from. If someone was killed, heck even assaulted, they had the patrol car out within ten minutes. This was a real slow town he could see. Perhaps there was some benefit to that.

It looked like they would be spending a few days longer now. The trip had originally been looking like it was winding down. He looked at Shelly. Made sure she didn't see his grin appearing. A few more days. He could win her over again during this time. Maybe his accidental murder was a blessing in disguise. No. Tom. Don't say Murder. IT was just... it was an accident. Yes. Self defense.

It had happened three times before in Tom's life. All of them self defense. Tom really couldn't explain why he kept finding himself in these situations. Other people didn't seem to run into them. He had never met anyone else who had killed so many people by accident. At support groups, the usual scenario was someone who had accidentaly ran someone over while backing out of the driveway. There was a woman who was an amazing potter, but a abysmal chemist. She had accidentally glazed all her mugs with lead. Her husband wanting to be supportive had used exclusively her mugs until one day he died from chronic lead poisoning.

That story stuck with Tom the most. What a way to accidentally kill somebody.