A Bloody Little Black Book

I watched my breath materialize in front of me as I ran, my throat stinging and raw from the cold air, my lungs expanding and contracting within my chest. The park was deserted this late at night, save a few teens smoking weed down on the creek bed, I heard their faint laughter as I sprinted farther away from them down the trail, trying to keep pace. The trail curved, leading me deeper and deeper into the woods, as the sky darkened above me. I knew it was dangerous for a woman to run alone in the dark, but with my work schedule it was the only spare time I had for myself, and oh, how I loved the silence. And the endorphins.

A flock of chickadees fluttered out of the bushes as I passed by, my pounding footsteps wreaking havoc on their tiny world. I kept moving, feeling my heart rate quicken as the winds around me blustered through the trees. I shivered, thinking to myself that I should have grabbed a heavier jacket when I left the house. As I turned another bend in the trail, I then shivered, for a very, very different reason.

I slowed to a walk, and then almost a shuffle, and then my legs locked themselves in place. My eyes, in slow motion, as if resisting what they knew they were about to see, fell onto the brush alongside the trail. There, in the bushes, was a man.

I had never seen a dead body before, but in my gut I knew that was the situation here. His eyes, almost illuminated against the darkening of the forest floor, stared outward, as if trying to signal an eleventh hour plea for help.

I stood, in what must have been shock, for several seconds. And then, all my fears rushed into my adrenaline system in one fluid wave. The most alarming thought of all, clanged around my emptied brain, what if this wasn’t an accident, and I was alone, in the woods, with a killer?

My body shook, my flight or flight instincts were fully activated and leaning very heavily towards flight the hell out of here. I couldn’t just leave this guy out here, could I? I was pretty sure he was dead, but I was no coroner, what if he needed medical attention?

I tried to steady my frantic breathing and pulled my phone out of the waistband of my leggings. The screen flashed an unforgiving, NO SERVICE. Of course.

I was going to have to leave to get help, feeling guilt and relief all at once.

I felt like I needed some more information to tell the police, other than there may be a guy that needs help or might be super dead in the woods.

Slowly, I approached him. I had watched enough police procedurals on television that I knew not to touch him. I looked around his strewn body. His clothes were disheveled, the contents of his pockets were laying about. If his wallet were around here somewhere, I thought, at least I could just get a name for the police and then I’d feel less guilty about leaving him in the woods alone. I scanned the ground, no wallet in sign. And I definitely wasn’t going to go digging around his pockets. I turned to leave, planning on running the trail back the way I came, and hopefully I'd have service up by the trailhead.

Just as I was about to turn and run away, I noticed something in the corner of my eye, caught halfway under a fallen limb. That could be the corner of a wallet I thought. I bent down and pulled it out with the edge of my sleeve. It was not this man’s wallet, as I’d hoped, it was a small, smooth, black book. The cover was smeared with dried blood.

Maybe his name is in it, I picked it up, carefully, and by the edges, so as to not touch the blood. I opened it, and an envelope fell out. I picked it up, and flipped through the pages looking for any kind of information. The pages were filled with some kind of chart, initials, lined up with dollar amounts, and dates at the end of each line. It looked like some kind of ledger. I opened the envelope, and was so shocked, I almost dropped it. Inside was a serious wad of cash, I thumbed through hundred’s, fifties, twenties, what seemed like dozens of each. Tucked in the back was a folded stack of checks, one for several hundred, thousands even on some, all made out to CASH.

Holy shit, I thought this guy must have been some kind of bookie.

If this guy really was murdered, there was no way the killer wasn’t coming back for this money. I needed to get out of there, fast. I was not about to leave that much money just laying around in the woods, even if it did mean potentially getting in trouble with the cops for messing with evidence. I slipped the little black book in the waistband of my leggings, and tucked the envelope with the money still in it in the side of my sports bra. Gross? Maybe. But it was definitely the safest place on my person.

Before I left, I turned to give him one last look, “I'm so sorry” I whispered, “I promise I’ll send help.”

The sun had officially set by the time I made it back to the trailhead, I flipped my phone back out, and sure enough, I had a few faint bars.

The cops pulled up in a fervor of organized chaos, an ambulance announcing its unabashed presence not long behind. I pointed a few officers in the direction of the body, and sat with another and answered the questions he fired at me.

He nodded as I talked, writing with fervor in his little black notebook. That triggered the memory of the one I had found, but before I had the chance to pull it out of my waistband, he asked me to stay put and went to talk to the offices that were reemerging from the woods.

I shivered as I sat on a parking block in the brisk night air, waiting, and for the second time that evening, wishing that I had brought a larger coat.

I looked up as the officers approached me once more, this time, their faces markedly different.

“What, you thought this would be funny? Call and waste our time?” one gruffed.

“This some kind of joke?” asked another, scowling.

I stared, confused.

“What do you mean? I don’t understand.” I choked out.

“That makes all of us” the officer replied. “There’s no body out there, Miss, and no evidence that there ever was one.”

I shot up onto my feet.

“Of course there is!” I yelped. “I saw him myself, right of the side of the trail! You must not have gone far enough!”

“Calm down m’am, I can assure you, we checked the entire length of the trail, twice over, if you did see anyone out there, he isn’t there now.” a kinder tone from one of the more youthful officers in the back.

“That’s impossible” I muttered.

“Could he have gotten up, tried to get help himself?”

“I really, really think he was dead.”

“Enough!” an older officer announced, he seemed like the leader. “I don’t know if you have some kind of wild imagination, or you’re trying to pull some kind of prank, but you need to quit wasting our time.”

“I just..”

“Go. Home.” He snarled.

And they left.

Defeated, and confused, I made my way back to my car. It was only then, as I turned on my heater, that I remembered the notebook, and the money. I pulled them back out, and opened my phone, intending to call, once again and report what had to be at least twenty grand in cash. And then slowly, I put my phone down again.

Instead I slipped the cash into my glovebox, and started my engine.

After all, I didn’t want to waste their time.