A Perfect Spiral

by David Bart

About the Author: David Bart’s work has been published in Mystery Writers of America and other anthologies, Mystery Weekly Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. His latest work appeared in the March 2021 issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine and the May/June 2021 issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.

Excerpt

Rick Payton stumbled, recovered, and positioned himself to throw the lethal pass—aimed at the killer’s forehead, urged on by a primal need to move, to fight—do something!

Faded images flickered through his mind like sepia frames in an old-time movie, a single incident overshadowing everything: a bizarre occurrence that’d put Maggie and him on a winding path downward.

He’d been a high school star quarterback, shoo-in for a college scholarship, scouted for the NFL. Local sport pages celebrated “Payton’s perfect passing”—

Then the car smash-up. And when his knee healed it only bent when it wanted, stiff leg the rest of the time. So, no college, pro ball, cheering crowds or million-dollar endorsements. In the blink of an eye Rick’s rising “star” plummeted into a black hole.

So, not being able to sprint downfield to hurl a perfect spiral bummed him out and he started moping around; friends drifted away, Rick figuring they didn’t want to get any of his failure on them.

But Maggie? Prom queen to his prom king. Sweethearts since seventh grade.

She’d accepted him after the accident just as he was, damaged and depressed; they married and she pulled him out of his dark mood with “special” attention, leaving him blissfully relaxed. At least for awhile.

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