The Vague Threat

This morning, on the way to work, I stopped at a Costco gas station to fill up my tank. Like one does.

When I got out of my car, something strange caught my eye. Sitting on a concrete barrier meant to stop people from driving into the gas pump (video games have taught me that's a bad thing), was a single spent bullet casing.

It's standing on its end, like it was deliberately placed there.

Like it was a message.

It's the sort of thing a character in a movie would notice, then look curious, then overcome with a sudden mysterious dread, then look up and out into the distance just in time to have his head blown off with a long-range rifle shot.

It wasn't rifle ammo, though. It was a .380 ACP casing, otherwise known as "9mm Short," a relatively weak pistol round. Not many guns use it. Mostly small, lightweight guns like the Walther PPK.

I picked it up to examine it. There was a dimple on the firing pin. The round had been fired, naturally.

Fired, picked up, and placed gingerly on that concrete post.

Not strewn casually on the ground, like a clue in a mystery. Placed there, in plain view. To taunt me.

I looked around, and didn't see any more casings or dead bodies. Other patrons of the gas station met my curious gaze with suspicious half-glances.

The mystery would remain unsolved.