January Flash runner up: Unfinsihed Business, by Roxie

“What ya got here?” Detective Hardy said as he approached the scene.
“It’s Judge Robert Buckley, sir.”
“Buckley? Of ‘The Buck Stops Here’ fame?”
“That would be him, sir.”
“What happened?”
“Face is all swollen and his lips are blue, looks like stings all over his face. Coroner’s office is on the way”
Borrowing a phrase from Harry Truman, Judge Buck, as he was commonly known, made a name for himself for his tough stance on crime. He established his reputation by issuing unorthodox and humiliating sentences. He once made a father who was delinquent in his child support payments attend a NOW convention wearing a placard that read ‘I’m a Deadbeat Dad.’ He required a teenager with a drunk driving conviction to spend two weeks in the county morgue. He was a champion of the conservatives and a bane to the ACLU. Fancying himself somewhat the cowboy, although he’d always lived in the city, he kept a leather belt with an enormous silver buckle in the shape of Texas on display in his courtroom. For each conviction, he made a knotch in the belt. Now the mighty judge lay against the curb in the clubhouse parking lot of the Riverview Golf and Country Club, decked out in formal garb, tux, silver tipped bolero tie, snakeskin cowboy boots.
“Anybody see anything?” Detective Hardy said.
“”Nothing, sir. Grounds keeper found him this morning.”
“How’d he get here?”
“Guess he walked over here from the charity ball last night.”
“What about the tire tracks?”
“Don’t think they’re related. Probably just some rich brats doing donuts in the parking lot in Daddy’s Benz”
“Anything suspicious?’
“Not really, sir, just that he was wearing a Medic Alert bracelet and had a full Epipen in his jacket pocket, guess he didn’t get a chance to use it.”
Now isn’t that ironic? Detective Hardy mused as he walked to his car. The notorious Judge Buck, taken down by something as small as a bee.
*****************************************
It was 1972, they met in high school and fell in love. They were full of hopes and dreams, marrying shortly after graduation. Robert attended State University, Linda supplemented his scholarship money by working at the local bank. Their resources were limited, but they were young and in love. They made a promise not to touch the trust fund that Robert’s grandfather had set up for him. That money was for a trip to Hawaii for the honeymoon that didn’t get to have, and a down payment on their first house. They managed to get by. Linda would pick up some extra work catering from time to time to supplement their meager income.
Then came law school and a move to their next locale. Linda again found work at a bank and they leased a small apartment near campus. The years slipped by and she was content with their simple lifestyle and big dreams, he would be a politician or a judge, or maybe even both. She would always be content to be by his side and anticipated the lavish lifestyle that awaited her.
Linda thought Robert was beginning to be a bit aloof, but she passed it off as pressure from his studies. When he got a summer job clerking at Rosenberg, Weisenthal, Anderson and Arnold,she felt he was beginning to look down on her. And when he began having drinks with the fellows from work and didn’t come home until late, she knew something was wrong. She knew the relationship had changed, but she was ill prepared for the bombshell he dropped.
“I just don’t think I love you anymore, I think I’ve outgrown you.” he said, after she begged him to talk to her.
The divorce was simple, save for the trust fund money. The court ruled that Linda was entitled to none of it since it belonged to Robert prior to the marriage.
*************************************** Ovarian cancer, back for a second bout. She knew the odds and couldn’t muster up the fight she did the last time. She glanced at herself in the mirror, straightened her wig. Not too bad as a blonde. The most recent round of chemo had stolen the last traces of her hair. She painted on some eyebrows and tried to put on the false eyelashes, but ripped them off because they liked a couple of tarantulas on her eyelids. She looked quite svelte in her slinky black dress, thanks to the latest chemo induced thirty pound loss. Wonder if any of those snooty bitches will know I picked it up at the outlet store.
She thought about her sister. They had been the best of friends, could tell each other anything. Not twins, but couldn’t have been any closer if they were. After her sister’s suicide, both her parents died, and now Joe was gone, she did not think she had the strength or the willpower to wage the cancer battle again. She thought about her joys and disappointments over the years, the down side was weighing heavily.
She knew she could pull it off. All those years in the catering business, she knew how such functions went and how the so-called elite conducted themselves. She could slip in unnoticed, blend in with the crowd, she didn’t need an invitation, just follow a group in, mingle with the crowd, nobody would notice her.
*************************** The Furs and Spurs Annual Charity Ball was the social event of the season. Every A lister in town scurried to buy tables for this soiree. The limos lined up outside the Riverview Country Club to deliver the local movers and shakers. She arrived a little late, parking her aged Taurus in the parking lot of the golf course clubhouse.
Judge Buck attended the function solo. His latest bride, some twenty years his junior, couldn’t be there because she was recouping from her latest surgical enhancement in Puerto Vallarta.
She made her way halfway around the room before spying him. Judge Buck was engaged in conversation with a few other gentlemen as she quietly joined the group. It took a moment, but they finally made eye contact. His eyes widened, but the ever composed judge maintained his stoic demeanor. She smiled graciously and extended her hand.
“Hello, Judge Buckley. You remember me, don’t you?”
“Why of course,” he said as he shook her hand.
Judge Buck introduced her to his colleagues as an ‘old friend from high school.’
She joined the polite conversation for a few moments before pulling Judge Buck aside.
“Can I meet with you alone for a few minutes? I found something, a necklace, I think it’s probably belonged to your mother.”
He nodded in agreement.
“Meet me at the golf course clubhouse in fifteen minutes.”
****************************************** Alone in the parking lot, she waited beside a well used brown Taurus.
“Ok, so what’s this all about?” Judge Buck said, breathless from the long walk. “Why are you here?”
“Just like I said, Buck, just wanted to give you this necklace. I found it in an old jewelry box when I was doing some spring cleaning. I’m pretty sure it belonged to your mother, just wanted to give it back to you.”
“So why didn’t you just give it to me in there?” he said.
“Thought it might get too complicated to explain,” she said, “Me being your ‘old friend from high school’ and all. Anyway, it’s right here in the glove box.” she said as she pointed to the car door. “Have a look for yourself.”
He opened the glove box to be greeted by a small nest of yellow jackets, who were none too thrilled about being trapped in the dark, hot box. The wasps swarmed his face and he looked like a mad man flailing and swatting at the angry little demons.
“P-p-pen, Epipen, p-pocket,” he said as his face began to swell to grotesque proportions, his tongue so thick he could barely get the words out, gasping for breath.
“Here it is.” she said as she slowly retrieved the cylindrical object from his coat pocket. “Just a little stick,” she said as she jabbed the object into his arm, “Here we go.”
She watched as he wriggled and writhed and then stopped moving at all. She placed the Montblanc pen she was holding in her evening bag, took a quick look around, and got into her car.
As she was leaving, she just couldn’t resist the temptation to squeal the tires and yell as she drove off.
“This one’s for Linda, you son of a bitch!”
******************************************** Rhonda savored the sweet taste of revenge as she mentally checked that one off the list of things she wanted to do before she died.