Eli J. Miletich

The Matchbook and Other Cop Stories Eli J. Miletich

The early fall thunderstorm blew in from the northwest with a sudden fury in the middle of the afternoon, not too much unlike a hurricane, dropping over two inches of rain in less than one hour. The rain was accompanied by wind and golf ball size hail so nasty that motorists were forced to pull off the road wherever they may be, on city street, alley or interstate freeway. At about the peak of the storm several motorists, who had stopped on the shoulder of Arrowhead Road to wait out the worst, noticed something on the other side of the roadside ditch in the high brown grass which had been blown over, almost flat, by the force of the torrential storm. Arrowhead Road, in the northwest corner of the city of Duluth, is a busy thoroughfare, which connects the neighborhoods of Kenwood and Duluth Heights. It also is one of the feeder routes for the nearby campuses of the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and the College of St. Scholastica. Roads spinning off to the Duluth International Airport also intersect with Arrowhead. As the storm subsided, one of the curious motorists left his car for a closer look at the object and found a quilt wrapped around what appeared to be a human body, with legs protruding from one end, wearing what appeared to be black slacks or trousers. Whether it was a young male or a small female could not be determined. 'Call the police,' he hollered to no one in particular.