Misfortune or Murder? - A Seaside Mystery
By: P. J. McAllister

Bernie Stephens was resting on the bulkhead when he caught sight of an unusual object floating in a small stream of a nearby marsh. To his surprise and with a jolt, he found a body floating face down in the water.

The victim had stopped breathing but his demise was not from drowning. During the autopsy the doctor recovered a substance that she was unable to identify. She sent a sample of the substance to the Center for Disease Control.

The most popular theory was that the victim had been poisoned and that the son did it. After much wrangling the self-appointed head of the grand jury said, “I don’t care if he’s guilty or not, let’s indict him on first degree murder charges and let the full jury sort it out.”