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“The Exhumation of Shawn Leslie” by Jesse Freeman (2012) [after letter is presented] I came to possess this letter simply by asking about it. Since it was mentioned in Mr. Leslie’s obituary, I became curious and inquired with the newspaper. The letter was eventually located in a file of papers left behind by the obituary reporter. The letter wasn’t included in the obituary because it wasn’t available at the time of publication. It was buried in rubble when the office collapsed, from a delayed aftershock of the same earthquake that impacted the graveyard in which Mr. Leslie’s body was found. It came to light with some other of the reporter’s desk effects a few years later, at which point it was tossed in the file drawer and forgotten. It’s possible that nobody read it first. I could sympathize with that obituary reporter. Here he is, he’s solved the “crime of the century”, and he can’t say jack because the evidence is buried! The incident does appear to have affected him greatly. Colleagues say he strove mightily to locate the lost letter, then gave up and filed a perfunctory obituary that mentioned it only in passing. He loudly pronounced himself sick to death of earthquakes, quit the paper, and moved to a part of the country known for its lack of seismic activity. He filed a couple of free-lance pieces, then stopped. Everybody assumed he’d found a position with the local daily. Thinking the reporter would be delighted to have his letter back, I contacted the newspaper in the new hometown. They were surprised to hear he had journalistic experience, as he had never contacted them for a job. He’d left town recently leaving no forwarding address. Nobody particularly cared about the disappearance. He’d kept to himself, and made his living buying and selling odd pieces of antique jewelry. The only reason the staff knew of him at all was that he’d been quite civic-minded. He was deeply committed to the preservation and protection of local historic sites—especially the cemetery next to his home. Copyright ©2012 Jesse Freeman. For information about the Horrific Fables anthology, which includes “The Exhumation of Shawn Leslie,” please visit Horrific Books. |