Bernie Page #7

It hadn`t come in this year.

And it won`t until Mrs.

Nugent`s in better condition

to take care of such things.

The poor Iady`s in the hospital

having suffered a major stroke.

She simply doesn`t want to be disturbed.

Tell everyone for heaven`s sake,

to please have a Iittle more patience.

Well, that`s fine with me.

I don`t want her disturbing me,

if you wanna know the truth.

I`m sorry you had to get

wrapped up in all this.

Oh, forget about it, LIoyd

Hornbuckle`s just a busybody.

- I`II see you Iater, Bernie.

- Thank you, Sheriff.

Hello.

You are Iiving

in a wold of guilt.

AII the police have to do

is find one shred of evidence

and it`s off to hell you go.

LIoyd, is that you?

LIoyd? Hello..

Bernie, are you okay?

Hm? Yeah, I just, uh..

Can I ask you something?

Of course.

It`s so strange.

Do you believe a person

could be capable of..

an action..

and yet to them it feels Iike

it`s not even them doing it.

AImost Iike Jekyll and Hyde?

Bernie, stop worrying, it`s okay.

someone`s personal proclivities

are nobody`s else `s business.

We all Iove you Iike you

are, Bernie, no matter what.

? Shackled by a heavy burden ?

? B`neath the Ioad Of guilt and shame ?

? Then the hand Of Jesus touched me ?

? And now I am No Ionger the same ?

? He touched me, Oh he touched me ?

- God bless you, Bernie.

- God bless you, Mr. Brown.

- That was beautiful.

- Thank you.

- You have a blessed weekend.

- God bless you too.

Thank you.

As always, Bernie, I Iove the songs.

- Thank you.

- My sympathies.

Thank you, MariBelle, it`s

always great to see you.

I`m so sorry Marjorie didn`t hear that,

I hear she`s doing better.

Yes, some days it seems she`s

starting to feel better but, um..

I`m still afraid..

I`m gonna Iose her soon.

Finally.

Nine months since I had last

laid eyes on Mrs. Nugent,

we got into her house.

Grandma?

Mrs. Nugent?

Grandma?

Nothing.

Hm.

There`s nothing.

Why would she tape her freezer shut?

Oh, my God.

sheriff!

Sir, I`m

a reporter for KCM channel.

Ma`am, hold on.

Would you care to make a

statement about what`s going on?

- Sheriff?

- Hey, Danny.

- In the freezer?

- Yeah.

AII in one piece or chopped up?

- AII in one piece.

- Holy sh*t.

Frozen Iike a Popsicle.

Be careful.

AIright, get rolling,

straight to Dallas,

no stopping for coffee.

- AIright.

- No sir, we ain`t stoppin`.

We had loaded up the

freezer with its contents intact

for transport to the Dallas

Medical Examiner`s office

where the forensic experts over there

are gonna study it.

At this time, are there

any suspects in the murder?

Oh, there`s one man in

particular I can think of

I sure would Iike to talk to.

Hey, Sheriff, did you

actually find him yet?

We`re still Iooking for him.

He wasn`t at Carthage aviation,

Carthage Awards or his house.

AIright, Iook..

we`re gonna throw a net over

the entire tri-county area

to find our number one suspect.

We might be dealing with a madman here,

a bonafide deranged killer.

Achieving goals, mastering skills,

the opponent isn`t the other team,

it`s really just yourself.

And if you`ve worked hard,

and done the absolute best that you can,

then no matter what the scoreboard says,

you are the winner in the game of Iife.

You can hold your head high..

Mr. Tiede, may we have a word with you?

Of course. Right now?

Sure.

I`m gonna go talk to the police.

Gentlemen, you have earned yourself..

a great dessert. Go, Rattlers.

I`m so proud of you.

This way.

How long you been

thinking about killing her, Bernie?

I never thought of me

killing Mrs. Nugent.

I`d..I guess I fantasized

about her death,

but I was never the

one responsible for it.

She always died accidentally Iike..

in a car accident or falling down

the escalator at the mall in Longview.

I was always the one

weeping by her open casket.

Comforting others,

being comforted myself.

Why`d you want her dead, Bernie?

Mm, she had become so

mean and possessive of me.

I..I couldn`t face being

around her any Ionger.

And then it just..happened.

I don`t know. I shot her!

I shot poor Mrs. Nugent four times.

With the armadillo gun.

Then what?

Well, then the Lord called her Home.

I know I done wrong and I

must atone for my sins. Oh!

EIizabeth, I just heard Bernie

killed your sister Margy.

Oh, honey, no.

Marjorie`s in a nursing

home over in Timble.

No, no, she is in a deep

freeze going to Dallas.

Nobody in a million years

could`ve imagined that

that could`ve happened.

Shock! I could not

believe Bernie did this.

No way.

Well, it was f***ing unbelievable.

Nobody could believe it.

You know, I could see somebody

wantin` to do that to her,

but Bernie Tiede`s the Iast

person I woulda thought done it.

I mean, we were just shocked,

just shocked. Just disbelief.

The Bernie I knew was

somewhat of a sissy.

And it just ain`t no way

I can see him ever killing anybody.

I thought they`d made a mistake.

You got this sweet guy, you got Bernie,

who`s just the nicest

fella I`d ever met,

and I`ve known him for a Iittle while,

and then you got..Mrs. Nugent

who is not nice,

not nice to a Iarge degree, just evil.

So you got this sweetness

and you got this evil,

and they`re kinda

battlin` each other, uh..

and you know that something

at some point`s gotta give,

something`s gotta break

and she was justs more evil

than he was nice, I guess,

and he just exploded.

We`re all capable of that dark moment.

If we ever get angry enough.

He must`ve wanted to get caught.

AII he had to do was put her body

in one of his airplanes,

fly her out over the Gulf

and push her right out.

No body, no arrest.

A woman Iike that with a bad heart..

he shoulda just shoved the

pillow right over her face.

Then they probably wouldn`t

even done an autopsy.

A few days Iater, he`d

be doing her funeral.

Oh, I just started shaking my head

going, ``Oh Bernie,

Bernie, Bernie, Bernie.``

Who in their right mind

would kill their meal ticket?

It was crazy around here.

People were on Danny Buck

Iike ticks on a coon dog.

Yeah, Danny Buck, you

know Bernie didn`t know

anything about shooting a rifle.

He didn`t go huntin`,

he wouldn`t know a deer

blind from an outhouse.

That he wouldn`t.

There are not enough

nice men in this town.

Leave poor Bernie alone, Danny Buck.

We don`t even think he did it.

He confessed.

Danny Buck,

you knew Mrs. Nugent as

well as any of us did.

Did you ever stop to think

maybe, just maybe

Bernie did it in self defense.

Self defense.

Maybe it was a forced confession.

They could`ve beat it out of him.

He`s too sweet to stand

up under interrogation.

Look, there was no interrogation.

He walked in, sat down

and told us everything.

Simple as that.

Well, hell.

Even if he did do it,

she was so mean and ornery,

she had it coming to her.

It`s not as bad as people say it is.

He only shot her four times, not five.

You know what?

You people are as crazy as a coot.

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