Burning Wire

by Brad Rose

No witnesses, no known motive, the initial police report said. Though he couldn’t have known that at the time. He drove 5 MPH above the maximum speed limit — hoping to put as much distance as possible between the crime scene and his still bloody hands, without attracting the attention of the highway patrol. Eventually, he knew, the police would find him, not because they were smart, but because their forensic technology was even better than their interstate communications. The broken driver’s side window was open an inch at the top, and the wind howled like a siren. Ahead, the sun shone blood-bright as the electrical scent of burning wire rose under the hood, snaked through the firewall, and filled the car like gas fills a chamber.

6S

Brad Rose's website is here.