The earth shook, sending anything not tied down crashing onto the floor and people scurrying for the safety of doorways. Downtown, near the epicenter, the damage was more extreme. Buildings were crumbled, trapping people under the rubble, and the pillars around Town Hall had fallen and split open.
It wasn’t until all the commotion settled that someone noticed an arm in one of the broken pillars then a leg in another. Horrified, they began the task of cracking open all the pillars. They found five bodies, one in each of the pillars. The bodies were chopped up and distributed throughout the cement structures.
The faces were difficult to make out but one of the town’s elders looked them over.
“That’s Mayor Edwin Mollusk,” she declared with absolute certainty. “We always did wonder what happened to him and the council.”
The builder was still alive, living in the county nursing home. The police chief visited him.
“Charlie, who made the pillars for town hall?”
“I did. They were perfect, too.”
“Did you bury them in the pillars?”
“Them blowhards was corrupting the city, ruining all that was good.”
“You’re under arrest for the murders.”
“I’m a dying man. Do what you must.”
The chief couldn’t be judge and executioner, but Charlie had confessed. And, it would cost thousands to move him to the jail and sustain him on life support. As the chief left the room he ‘tripped’ over the cord and whispered, “This court finds you guilty. Rot in hell.”
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