Burnt Out …Part 32 …Betraying a Friend?

I thought of my losses, and wondered why things I lost
defined me more than things I possessed.
― David Anthony Durham

Doris

Back in my loft apartment I have an album of photos and there's one shot of Doris taken by Sarah outside a restaurant where we were attending a staff function.

It was a snapshot from happier times and my mind goes to that image whenever I think of Doris because she had that elfin grin she always had when teasing me.

That's why it's painful for me to be investigating Doris as a possible suspect in Sarah's murder. It's almost incomprehensible.

"You're finding this really hard, aren't you?" Clare asks sympathetically.

I nod. I realize I had stopped looking through files and had been fixed in a brown stare, gazing off into space , visualizing Doris' sunny smile and trying to reconcile that with my last glimpse of Sarah's face when she was shot.

"I just can't do this", I confessed, "if it's Doris it will upend my whole view of things."

She reached out a patted my hand tenderly. "You need to do this, as difficult as it may seem."

"It'd be a lot easier to do if Doris weren't so damned nice."

"You know what Cyril once told me? Clare smiled, "He said start with the least likely suspect."

"That makes no sense. Why would you do that?"

"Because no one would suspect them or pay them any attention at all. Even if you rule them out, they may tell you something that would help, because the perp may not consider them a threat and not be as careful to conceal things from them.”

Truthfully, that observation of Cyril’s was brilliant and was something I’d never even consider.

"Okay, I'll do it if it removes her as a suspect."

We spent the entire morning checking every record and file we had on Doris and she still came up clean. I was beginning to feel encouraged. Maybe she wasn't our perp.

"We should look into her family history and friends and acquaintances next," Clare suggested.

I agreed, although it seemed like a red herring, but if it eliminated Doris as a suspect, I was all for it.

Suddenly Clare perked up, "Here's something interesting—it’s from a Toronto Star obituary—it seems Doris' best friend was killed in a skiing accident."

I did an inward eye roll. This whole exercise was beginning to wear on me.

"We can't examine every incident in Doris' life," I complained.

"I know that, but you didn't let me finish—this girl, Hillary Cooper, was an Olympic athlete who excelled in summer games and was a world-class sharpshooter."

"That's interesting, but how does that connect Doris with the sniper? Hillary is dead."

"I get that, Cam, but what if one of Hillary's teammates knew Doris and did the shooting for her?"

"Pardon the pun, " I smiled cynically, but that seems a long shot."

Clare was adamant. "We need to check it out.”

She was right.

I was letting feelings get in the way of my reason. We needed to clear Doris as a suspect, or we could never be sure moving forward.

The only problem was that Doris was so supportive after Sarah was killed. If I found out she was somehow involved, it would devastate me.

Maybe that’s why I needed her to be innocent.

But it was also selfish on my part―I had already endured too much to lose another friend.

To be continued…

© 2025, John J Geddes. All rights reserved

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