Around Dusk

Suzy had gotten home late from work. Sunset was closing in, but her dog Rocko was anxious. He wanted to go for a walk. Thankfully, the park was right down the road from her house, and she knew that she could get in a quick stroll before it got dark. So, she leashed the dog and away they went.

It was only a mile walk around the man-made lake at Coleman Park. One that could be completed in 10 minutes or so. The sun was already dropping towards the horizon. 

Rocko tugged a bit as they began to walk, but after he found an appropriate spot to pee, he began to calm down. The autumn day felt good, and the orange leaves that scattered across the walkways danced with the October wind. When the wind died down, that’s when Suzy saw someone on the path in the distance. 

There was a man walking a husky. The Husky was gorgeous, and surprisingly calm despite its nature. The man was well dressed for a just a stroll in the park. He had on black boots, dark jeans, a wool blazer, black vest, leather gloves, and a burgundy dress shirt. He was bearded and wore a newsboy cap. 

As Suzy and the man got closer to one another, Suzy noticed that the man had a wide grin on his face. He was glancing around him as if the sights of the autumn day were almost too much to handle. As if his surroundings were bringing him an almost untamable ecstasy. 

“Good evening, madam,” said the man as he soon as he locked eyes with Suzy. Their two dogs began sniff each other cordially. 

“H-hello,” said Suzy. She noticed that his eyes were like milk chocolate. They began to relax under flirtatious, bedroom lids as he spoke further. 

“Do you know when dusk is expected?” he said.

What a strange question, she thought to herself. It was already getting dark. Couldn’t he have just guessed?

“Soon,” she answered. “A little after six-thirty.” 

She then checked her watch. It was six-eighteen. 

“Thank you,” he said. “Say...would you mind walking together? We have a little ways to go and walking in the park after dark makes me uncomfortable” 

Suzy was taken aback by the question. It made her uncomfortable. She didn’t know this man, no matter how charming he was.

“Um...no,” she said. “No, thank you. We are almost done with our walk and will be heading back home soon.”

“Fair enough,” he said. “Have a wonderful evening.”

That was when he turned around and began walking in the opposite direction. 

Instead of traveling in the same direction as he did, she too turned around and headed back from whence she came. She no longer wanted to continue tonight’s walk.

As she moved further and further away, she heard the same man strike up another conversation with a woman who was walking a small white dog at the other end of the path.

Suzy heard him ask her what time he could expect the dusk. 

Suzy and Rocko disappeared around the bend as she heard him extended another invitation to walk with the woman.

It was just after sunset when Suzy and the her dog got back to her car and drove home. 

A few days later, Suzy was sitting at her kitchen counter, checking the news on her phone and drinking coffee. That was when a headline caught her eye. Police discovered the dead body of a woman in the park. She had been beaten and strangled in a copse of trees by the lake. Her white dog was unharmed, and had been leashed to one of the nearby oaks. Police have no suspects and little evidence, but the coroner report stated that the murder happened right around dusk.