Case 1.
Saturday, September 1996. I walked up the driveway slowly, the wind rushing up and through the trees. I approached the front steps, and began ascending them. Stepping lightly on to the porch, I knocked on the door, it slowly creaked open. I pulled out my pistol, and remembered that young Mr. Farnsworth never left his doors unlocked and certainly never gave away keys to his house; but the door being left unlocked and open disconcerted me. I poked my head in, glancing around the front entryway. The room appeared to be normal, with nothing out of place. I walked in through the front door, locking it behind me, advancing to examine the rest of the house. I turned the corner, down a small hallway, moving into the living room, which looked typical, a small throw rug occupied the center of the room, and just in front of it laid a brick fireplace, which was filled with a few dead coals, loosely coated with ash. A couch, facing the fireplace, was gently covered with a white linen cloth, as it was not likely in use. Farnsworth’s cherished gilt silver candlesticks were laid out in a cluster on a small coffee table, just next to the sofa, except for one, which appeared to have been knocked over onto the floor in front of it. Placid green curtains were drawn up away from the window, flooding the living room with sunlight. Everything looked normal. The only thing that appeared to be out of place was a small letter that had been left on the floor, adjacent to the table. Picking it up gently with my gloved hands I read it aloud,
Dear Jacob,
I regret to inform you this will be our last night together, I have found a man I love more than you, and he is taking me away. I’m sorry about the short notice, and I do still care about you, but this man has stolen my heart in a way you never did. I hope you will understand.
Sincerely,
Sally Walker”
I placed the letter down, confused, and left the living room, continuing further down the hallway to where my friend’s kitchen was. I knew he had a girlfriend, but I didn’t think that there were any complications within their relationship. I approached the kitchen and and called out softly, “Robert?” I stepped into the kitchen, and immediately knew he was dead. His inanimate body laid on the floor, with a shattered wine glass lying next to him, wine spilt all over his face. The foam surrounding his mouth told me it had most likely been a paralytic drug that had killed him. I stepped forward to further investigate his body, when something caught my eye. One of his cabinet shelves was partially left open. I stepped up away from the body and opened the cabinet. Nothing was there except for a few beige colored plates. A glint of light reflected from behind the plates, however. I moved the plates aside, and discovered a length of wire, about three feet long. It was clean, other than the dark red stain on the leftmost side, most likely left from a bloodstain. I glanced back at the body, there was no evidence of a cut, or even blood around his mouth. I wasn’t sure how there was blood on it, or even sure why he had that wire in the first place, as it would make a most unusual dish cleaning tool. I thought back to the letter, I just couldn’t get it out of my mind. Sally… Sally Walker, it couldn’t be Sally, the small brunette who was just up the street? Perhaps Rob was using the wire to cut himself, perhaps he suicided, as a result of his emotional distress. I examined the body closely, there was no sign, or hint of scars. The only evidence of distress on his body was a light red circle around his neck, which may have been a result of the poison.
I turned sharply around, grabbing my gun after hearing a creak from behind me. Jacob Sumter walked into the room, dressed in a pair of jeans and a cowboy hat on. He had a pair of gloves in his bandaged hand. I holstered my gun and looked at Jacob, “What are you doing here?” I asked him.
“What am I doing?” he yelled. “You killed him! You killed Robert! My dear friend…”
“Get ahold of yourself man! I didn’t kill him,” I replied. “I came in and found him like this. If I did kill him, you would be right dead now. I’ve had plenty of chances to kill you already.”
“I was supposed to meet him here for our friday afternoon horse ride! But that means his death was suicide! Why would he kill himself?” he asked, obviously changing the subject.
“Out of despair?” I proposed.
It was well known around town that Sally and Robert had been in love. This note might have thrown him over the edge, I thought as I retrieved and showed him the note.
“I doubt it was actually suicide. He was in too good of health.” I looked closer at the dead corpse.
“And this here proves my suspicions,” I said, pointing at his body. “See that small ring around his neck? He wasn’t poisoned at all, he was strangled by someone. The murderer would have been smart enough to put real poison in the drink however, so that it would look like suicide. The drug that would have made him foam at the mouth like that, makes the liquid it is dispersed into chalky-white. This wine is obviously unchanged. Robert must have been knocked out, as his body shows no evidence of a struggle. The thing the murderer must have used to kill him was probably the small wire I found in the cupboard, judging by the mark on his neck. I know for a fact that Robert was always clean and tidy, and would never typically let any stains stay long on his shirts. The small bloodstain on his shirt obviously denotes it was from the murderer, rather than suicide.”
“Who could have killed him?” Jacob asked. “And leave poor Sally all alone? I shall have to go and bring her the bad news. She’ll be heartbroken.”
I turned and fired the gun with two shots before Jacob could unload his revolver into my back. He fell to the floor letting the gun drop?
How did the detective know?
Answers next week.
Post your comments about what you think the answers are.
Answers next week.
Post your comments about what you think the answers are.
