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 Carl Baker drove his state car down the street with a great big smile on his face.
Deep down inside he knew he would be able to close this case soon. This thought made the sun shine brighter on his happy face.
About four month's ago Carl was assigned the case of Lisa K. Truman. Lisa was a 15 year old girl who had been murdered. She wasn't raped or assaulted, just shot
through the heart at close range. It was no secret who killed her, anyone in town would tell you it was Alan Sweat. But, according to the case file, no one had ever
seen the two together and Lisa never mentioned Alan.
The local authorities had worked on the case for nearly eight months before they realized they couldn't gather enough
evidence to bring charges against Alan. The community was getting impatient and wanted a conviction soon. Partly to
hide their ineptness and partly to take the heat off. The case was assigned to Carl, special agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Carl had been with the bureau for more than 16 years and was used to the way local law enforcement handled the
tough cases. He was very happy it took them eight months to turn it over to him. Some TBI agents received cases up to a ten years later.
Carl read the case file and talked with the investigators. He knew Alan was the prime suspect and centered his
investigation around either proving Alan guilty or proving Alan innocent. Either way, he'd have a start.
Today was the one year anniversary of young Lisa's murder. Carl had been planning for this day for the past two
months. He had the local media run stories on Lisa. He blanketed the town with fliers and was interviewed by local reporters. All in an effort to add freshness to the case and maybe jog some memories.
Lisa was pregnant. The locals had neglected to pull a DNA sample from the fetus so Carl received permission from
the all-to-willing family and had Lisa's body exhumed. Now, tucked safely away in the TBI lab in Nashville, was
evidence that could tie Alan to Lisa. Carl just needed to get a DNA sample from Alan. And Carl had his ideas of how he was going to get that sample.
Lizzy Franklin, Lisa's cousin, had heard Carl on the radio. She called Carl and set up a meeting to "set the record
strait." Lizzy was very close to Lisa and was the last person known to have seen Lisa alive. This interview could prove to be very interesting.
Upon arriving at Lizzy's mobile home, Carl knocked on the door. Lizzy greeted him.
"Hello Ms. Franklin, I'm Special Agent Carl Ba..."
"Hi Mr. Baker, I'm Lizzy. Come on in and have a seat. I'll be with ya in a minute. Got a baby to change," she interrupted. She then rushed off to the back of the trailer.
Carl walked in and sat down on the couch. He watched a little boy walk by in front of him and enter the kitchen. The
boy couldn't have been more than five years old. He opened the refrigerator and pulled out a can of beer.
The boy then walked into the living room, sat beside Carl and opened the can. He sprinkled a little salt on top of the can and took a big drink. Then he looked at Carl and said, "Aaaaah!"
At about that time Lizzy came into the room and yelled, "ROMAN! How many times must I tell you not to drink
those things in here! Git to yer room!" Roman quickly left, beer in his little hands.
"I'm sorry 'bout that Mr. Baker. Want some'um to drink? Juice? Beer? Oh, I suppose you can't drink beer while on duty, huh? Maybe some coffee?"
Carl didn't know what to say. This is not something you see every day.
"Are you aware that you can't give ..."
Lizzy interrupted Carl again and asked, "You know when you told that radio man that Lisa didn't know Alan?"
"Well, yes, I ..."
"That wasn't true," she injected, sitting down next to Carl.
"Oh?" Carl knew he wasn't going to get more than one word in with this gal.
"Yep. When Lisa was in Knoxville with the band, she called him," Lizzy said.
"Really?" Carl asked.
"Yeah."
Carl waited a moment for Lizzy to say more. Then he asked, "How do you know she called him?"
" 'cause she used my calling card when she called."
The fact that this information was coming out now and the beer drinking boy didn't matter. This news was the link.
"Do you have proof?" Carl asked.
"Just my phone bill. It shows a calling card call from Knoxville to Alan's number. I know'd it was Lisa 'cause she was
the only one who could've called from there. And I axed her when she came back." A baby cried and Lizzy excused herself.
Carl wasn't going to wait. "Do you have a copy of the bill?" he yelled back toward where Lizzy had gone.
"Yeah, I'll bring it to ya in just a sec," she yelled back.
Carl knew he could get proof Lisa was in Knoxville at the originating number and Alan had a phone number registered in his name until shortly after the murder, when he moved in with his grandparents.
Lizzy returned with the bill, sat down next to Carl and handed it to him.
She pointed at a number listed, "You see? This is the number she called from in Knoxville. And this is Alan's number
from here in town. She talked to him for 23 minutes. Cost me twenty bucks. Never did pay me back."
"Why didn't you tell Officer Brock about this?" Carl asked, not that it mattered now.
"Forgot about it and Jimmy never asked. All he wanted was to take me out and momma told me not to date policeman. They'll break my heart and I don't want no broken heart right now..."
Carl looked at Lizzy and tuned out. She was talking and Carl knew she was only answering his question. Her lips
were moving but all Carl could hear was "Blah blah blah blah." The only thing Carl could concentrate on was how he
was going to link Alan to Lisa. Alan said he didn't know Lisa. How would Alan explain the Knoxville call? This was
a chance to bring Alan in and harass him a little. He'd probably say he didn't remember the call or someone else took
the call. Either way, it was an excuse to get Alan in the office, maybe Carl could even get a DNA sample.
Carl tuned back in. Lizzy was saying, "daddy never did it, but I want my next husband to do it."
"Look, Ms. Franklin, may I keep this bill?" he asked.
"Yeah, I don't need it no more. Almost throw'd it out," she answered.
"Would you be willing to testify for the DA?" he asked.
"Sure, if it'll help put that stupid idiot in jail. Never liked him. With all that rap music and MTV messing with his head," Lizzy answered.
"Did Lisa tell you she called Alan from Knoxville?" Carl asked.
"Oh yeah, she told me. Said it was business. I know'd she was lying."
"Thank-you, Ms. Franklin. You have been very helpful. I need to go now and get this back to my office," Carl said while standing up.
"Glad to be of service to my country," Lizzy said.
When Carl got back into his car he promptly picked up his cell phone and called the sheriff. He asked if he could
send someone over to pick up Alan Sweat for questioning. The sheriff assured Carl he would send someone right away.
"Oh, by the way," Carl had to ask, "are you aware that Lizzy Franklin lets her son drink beer?"
"Oh that Lizzy," the sheriff said with a giggle, "that boy of hern been drinking beer for half his life ... and he's only five!"
Carl thought this town was nuts and this only confirmed it. Carl thanked the sheriff and started back to the office. It was a long shot but Carl intended to play this new lead for all it was worth.
The trip back to the office would take about twenty minutes so Carl used the time to reflect on the case and how he
would proceed. What kind of responses would Alan give? Would he call for his lawyer? Just then a call came out over the radio for backup. Location: The very place Alan was living.
Carl turn on his lights and siren and sped off towards Maxey Sweat's place. All went well until Carl headed into town.
People moved out of his way and let him proceed until he reached a red light. Almost directly under the light, in the
cross walk, was an old man. He was walking in the crosswalk waving a white stick in front of him. He heard the siren and stopped.
Carl brought the car to a halt with the old man in front of him. You'd think the old man would move on, but no, this fool stood in front of Carl's car and started 'looking' around.
"I don't believe this!" Carl said aloud to himself. Does being blind mean you loose your intelligence? Surly not. Carl
knew better than that. So Carl put the car in park, hopped out and ran over to the blind man.
"I'm with the TBI and I'm in sort of a hurry. I would appreciate it if you would move on," Carl said to the man as he
pushed him from behind to the curb. Please wait here until you don't hear my car's siren any more."
"What, what?" the old man exclaimed, "TBI? You say. Was I jay walking?"
Carl didn't have time for this man and he ran back to his car, ignoring the blind man. He then sped off to the Sweat residence without further incidence.
When Carl arrived at his destination he found five sheriff's deputies and their cruiser's park out side the Sweat
residence. They were positioned defensively, just the way they were taught at the academy. Carl parked his car about
one hundred yards away, put on his bulletproof vest and carefully made his way down to the deputies. He slipped in beside the closest one, Mike Turner, and asked, "What's going on?"
"Well sir, looks like we have a hostage situation. The purp is hold up inside with his grandpa. There's lots of noise
and carrying on inside, but we don't know what's going on yet," Mike answered.
Before Carl could get any more details, the front door of the Sweat house opened and Alan fell out onto the front
lawn as if he was kicked out (and he was). Right behind him, standing in the doorway, was Alan's grandfather, Maxey
Sweat. He was yelling at Alan, "Go ahead tell 'em. Tell 'em what you told me. Tell 'em boy!"
Alan ran over to the deputies. Everyone was yelling, "Freeze!" and pointing their weapons at Alan. But no one fired. Alan kept coming until he met with Deputy Larry Spelling.
"I did it!" he yelled, "I kilt Lisa. I kilt her." He grabbed Larry and said, "Please lock me up. Git me away from that crazy old man! Please, Oh God, please!"
"What's he saying down there, Larry?" Maxey yelled from the doorway, "Is he telling you he killed that little girl ... Lisa?"
This kind of stuff only happens on TV. Carl could almost hear the closing music and see the credits. Not the way
Carl had expected this case to close but he'd take it. What a wonderful anniversary gift for Lisa's family.
Alan was convicted of second-degree murder. Seems he and Lisa met up at a campsite in the woods after he told
friends he was going hunting and she told family she was going camping. She wanted to tell the world about their
relationship and her pregnancy and she wanted to get married and live as a family. Alan didn't see it her way. Lisa
said if he didn't do things her way she would tell grandpa Maxey. So Alan shot Lisa clean through the heart. Not
exactly the best reason to kill someone but it was better than no reason at all, which is what the town folk had for little over a year.
Carl closed this case with little fanfare and pulled the file for his next case; a local had gone missing. As he read
through the file his heart jumped. The file was just under three years old! Is life great or what?
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