The Trophy

Diane smiled at the picture of Roger relaxing. "Have you enjoyed yourself tonight?"

"Oh..." he started choking "...yeah. That champagne...tasted a little...bitter."

Diane took his glass, "That's because of the poison Roger."

Chris tried to stand but was too weak. Short of breath, he started coughing and gagging.

"You were mean to us Roger. You should have married me, but instead you laughed when I told you I was pregnant. That hurt us Roger." Diane got right in his face, "I got an abortion...It was a girl...Our daughter Roger." Diane shuddered, "I could hear her scream in my mind. She looked at me as they ripped her out of my body! I heard her ask me, "Why are you killing me mommy?" Diane started crying, "Now, every night as I lay awake I relive that moment over and over. Late at night, I can sometimes hear her crying for me, but I can't get to her." He sobs shook her entire body. "Our daughter needs me and I can't comfort her."

She stood up, "Now it's time for you to pay for hurting me and your daughter Roger."

His choking was making it hard for him to breathe. Chris watched Diane going back to her bag; it was the last thing he ever saw.

The blood rage over, Diane came out of the fog of her revenge. She saw Chris's blood mixing with the bath water and knew that she had done it again. She had fought it and lost, once more.

Changing back into her old man disguise, Diane cleaned the rooms of anything that could implicate her. Taking his keys, she packed up her things and took everything necessary to keep from being caught. Driving his car back to the bar where she had left her car, she parked on the opposite side of the building. Making sure no one was outside to see her; she left the car with the seat pushed back as if a larger person had driven it and then carried her things to her own car.

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The next day housekeeping discovered the murder. Police were called to the Overlook Inn and found a mystery. The victim was a white male in his late forties identified as Chris Evans, a production manager at the Hartfield Company. He was in a bathtub full of water mixed with blood. His penis had been cut off. All evidence that could identify who had committed this crime had been removed. The victim's wallet with credit cards and money had not been taken but it had been gone through. They eventually found his car when the manager of a neighborhood bar complained that it was abandoned in his parking lot, but that lead went nowhere.

Besides what Chris Evans had eaten in the normal course of his life, toxicology found a mix of champagne, sleeping pills and cyanide. At the motel no other fingerprints had been found in the room but his and the motel staff. His car had his, his family and a mechanic's fingerprints. The sheets and towels had been taken. All guests of the motel had been accounted for, mostly locals having a one nighter, and not one knew a thing that helped. No one that he worked with had any idea why someone would want to do anything to him. The only clue they really had was a report from a taxi driver that he had driven an old man to the motel.

After about a year later, the case was still officially unsolved. Diane decided it was safe to leave.

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Diane drifted into town at the beginning of summer; besides a few personal belongings she had only a box; a very special box. The box contained SEVEN trophies.