Small Town Knowledge

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the phrase "That was the last time I saw him."

Small Town Knowledge

Sheriff Tucker looked hard into his friend’s eyes. He had known Tom Harding for a long time. He had been a sheriff even longer. Something wasn’t right.

“Are you sure you haven’t seen that Johnson kid around here recently. I know he’s done some work for you in the past. Ed Powell from down the street said he thought he saw you two talking earlier.”

“Sorry Sheriff, but it’s like I said. He came by a few days ago looking for some work. I paid him to cut the lawn. My son Bobby used to do it for me but he’s gone off to college. That Johnson fella cut the lawn, collected his pay and left. That was the last time I saw him.”

Sheriff Tucker tipped his hat before stepping off the front porch and heading back to his car. He drove down to the end of the block, turned right and quickly parked along the side of the road.

He placed a quick call in for backup.

“Yep. He’s in there alright. My guess is he’s armed and holding those poor folk as hostages. He probably figures to use their car later tonight to make good his escape.”

Within minutes, he was joined by two more units, all parked well out of sight of the Harding house.

“Sheriff, how can you be sure that he’s in there?” The young deputy was nervous. If they were going to bust down a door and start shooting, they had better be right.

“Well son, it’s like this. Tom was sweating slightly and it’s a nice cool day. Also, his lawn hasn’t been mowed for at least two weeks.

“Sheriff, are you sure that’s enough?”

“There is just one more thing. Tom Harding doesn’t have a son.”