Starlet Brace

It was a day like any other day. No, no wait. Um, how about, ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’. Ugh I hate this! Anyhow, I was at my desk reading the funnies, you should read em’ sometime. Ya’ know the classics, Ralphy C, Stick Dude, COSMOS. My name’s Dr. Mathew Brace M.D.; back in med school I excelled in surgery, so I do that to.

You’ll have to excuse my writing, I seem to have watched one too many detective movies while writing down these narratives. Let me tell you something about myself, when I was three I started to hone my amazing perception skills and inert ability to solve crime.

(By the way, if my sister Julia tells you about how I always lost at mystery board games, DO NOT BELIEVE HER!)

When I went to high school (against my wishes I might add! I wanted to become the bearded gecko at the carnival!) I put my skills to the test by opening a Private Eye agency with my old friend Shari Michaels, good times *SNIFFLE*. My first client was some girl who suspected her boyfriend of cheating, (she saw some woman kiss him) turned out it was his mom.

(Also it turned out that she had a perception disorder. last I heard, she was in rehab)

I went to college with Shari, solved a few crimes there, finished college, then Shari and I went our separate ways *SNIFLE* then I joined the police force, that’s when I met Acerbity. Admiral Sergeant Chief Acerbity to be exact, back then he was Lieutenant Acerbity, I worked there for awhile till I got a bullet in between my big toe and my long one.

I was unemployed for a while until I got my act together and opened a Detective Agency, looking back there was only one thing I would change… I never got married. (I could’ve to) Anyway, that’s about sums it up, so back to the story!

Abruptly there was a call from Admiral Sergeant Chief Acerbity, “What’s up chief?”
“There’s been a murder, a real bloody case, it is. The address is 1582 Pike Shear road; can you come over Dr. Brace?”

“I’ll be right over chief.” Acerbity and I go way back. I first met him back after my third or second case, we have a win, win situation going on sometimes. He gives me a case and we both get credit, he usually doesn’t call me unless the case is a real toughie. He sounded morose when I talked to him so I decided to hurry and get there. I grabbed my coat and hat then walked out. I hopped onto my motorcycle and drove down, along the way I stopped at a drive-thru donut shop about a block away, Ah the power of a glazed one.

When I got there I made sure to park in the road, so as to not disrupt any footprints. And it’s a good thing I did to because after I parked I walked down the path to the house noticing indications footprints “Hiya chief”

“Hello Dr. Brace. It’s a bloody hard case alright, the devil has come and gone as it does so many times,”

“Chief, how did you and your deputy get to the house?”

“Along the back walk Dr, that’s where we found this lying by the dead man’s body” he handed me a
plastic zip-lock bag with a knife in it, the blade of the knife was partially covered in blood “A Rocket Pistol8, nice”

“I have no proof; so far, as to what this has to do with the murder”

“Haven’t you checked the body?”

“Yes but I don’t have much of an eye for that kind of thing. And the ambulance is on another call, so I called you Doctor”

“I don’t suppose you know how many people were at the scene of the crime?”

“I would guess one or two men, able-bodied, and of middle age”

“Aha, there you are wrong chief. By examining the dirt on the front walk you can see footprints. There were two men, one between eighteen and twenty-three, and the other thirty to thirty-three, maybe twenty-eight. Also there was a woman of about nineteen or twenty”

“How do you…?”

“Length and stride chief, I could see the soles of two pairs of sneakers; one pair of which was a size seven, woman’s tennis sneaker, and a pair of working boots. You can see here that the man in the working boots stops by the window, while the other two in sneakers check the door…” I kneeled down near the window “Sadly I find that I was wrong on one account.”

“What’s that Doctor?”

“The man in working boots has just become a woman. You can see that the person in the working boots hurriedly jumped into the window; which must have been opened from the inside, since there is no broken glass and the owner in all probability locks his windows at night, and dropped a three karat topaz ring with the name Sophie scratched on the inside. Of course that could mean ‘from Sophie’ or something, I can’t be sure” I picked up the ring carefully with a pair of tweezers Chief Acerbity handed me and put it in an evidence bag “Now lets go see the crime scene” as we walked inside I could smell the scent of blood and decaying flesh “by the smell of things, the victim has been dead awhile. Am I right chief?”

“Yes, at about nine or ten in the morning we got a 911 from a neighbor” I stepped into the living room of the six room house where the body was. He had a business like look to his appearance and had a horror stricken look on his face “I almost forgot to ask, who is this guy?”

“His name is Lance Carson, age twenty-nine. He was an accountant, owner of three law firms: one of which is the famous Carson & Bradford, and a stock market dabbler”

“He’s very ‘well to do’, or at least he was. Now lets see what the cause of death was” I kneeled over the body and saw that aside from a bruise or two he was clean from the head up, but there were two bullet holes in the body; on through the kidney, the other just missed his lung. I took out my notepad and started to write ‘Lance Carson, age twenty-nine. Cause of death, bullet through the kidney.’ “Now, where did you put his golf balls?”

“Right over there in the chair… How on earth did you know about the golf balls I found on the body?” Chief Acerbity shrieked in surprise “chief, as I have told you many a time, I see and notice all I can. This man’s neck has a bit of a hunch to it meaning most likely he has been playing golf almost all his life. Also he carries a receipt for renting out a golf course for three hours yesterday. Therefore I supposed that after he had come, home he left golf balls I his pockets. Does that explanation meet your satisfactory Chief?” Chief Acerbity looked disorientated for a moment, but then a sly grin appeared on his face “Yes, it does. Here you go Doctor.” I took the bag of golf balls and examined the brand name, ‘Cervix’. “Good brand. Were there any foreign finger prints in the room?”

“No sir, Dr. Brace.”

“Well then, you should remove the body while I walk next door” I stepped outside and inhaled the fresh air, and then I walked to the house where the 911 was sent. I walked over to the front door and rang the doorbell, a young woman opened the door after a moment, her eyes were quite red and puffy. “Hello, are you with the police chief?”
“Yes. Did you make the 911?”

“I'm afraid so. Would you like to come in?” the place was well furnished, though a bit messy “so, how do you know the victim?”

“Lance was my older brother by six years”

“And your name is…”

“Carol Carson. And yours?”

“Mathew Brace M.D. Could you please tell me why you went over to your brothers’ house earlier?”

“Last night we got into a fight, so the next day; today that is, I went over to apologize. I found the door open and his room ransacked, then I found his dead body lying in the living room, I hurried back to my house and called 911. Now I wish I had been nicer the last time I would see my brother. I guess it’s true that you don’t really appreciate something until it’s gone”

“Thank you, I know how hard this must be on you. Do you of any one who would have wanted your brother dead?”

“Hmm… not really. He didn’t actually have many enemies, at least not that I know of,” her voice sounded a bit shaky while she was talking. “Do you know anything of his habits?”

“Just that he worked too much, and liked golf”

“Did he ever know anybody named Sophie?”

“Not since we were little kids, our neighbor’s name was, um… Sophie Megans”
“You have nothing else to say?”

“… No”

“Thank you for your time.” I stepped outside and hopped on my motorcycle and drove to my contact. I know what your thinking, classic cliché, where the detective contacts a contact in an undesirable place, right. Well it’s not! I pulled up at the hotel ‘La Dégoûtant Salle De Bains Plage Hôtel’ that’s French for... well you don’t want to know what that means, even I don’t want to know. Well i'll tell you, it means ‘The Disgusting Bathroom Beach Hotel’ anyway; I stepped inside and went to room 285. “Jimmy, you in there?”

“That you Mr. Brace?” came the smug voice from inside. “Yes Jimmy” Jimmy The Kid, A.K.A The Gentlemanly Rat, A known gambler, caught three times for running smuggling gangs, served a total of twenty-one years in his lifetime. He ‘left me out in the cold’ so to speak and I leaned against the wall and pulled out a piece of gum “Jimmy, have you heard about the murder that went down last night?”

“Indeed! Are you on the case?” he replied. “Obviously. Have you got anything on a Sophie Megans?”

“Un moment” Jimmy has a giant filing system on different info he’s gathered “ah, here we are, ‘Sophie Megans, 6’3”, eye color: Silver,’ etc, etc, etc, ‘lives on Maryland boulevard, family: none, job: Accountant’ she lives in town, that’s it”

“Thanks. What do you think of this” I reached into my pocket and handed him the topaz ring “nice, mm hmm.”

“Well?”

“I’d know this craftsmanship anywhere, it’s a Macao, this jewel was cut around 1930. I’d stake my reputation on it”

“What reputation? You’re a criminal!”

“Oh, I nearly forgot. Look, That Ain’t Funny is on, I got to go” he retorted slamming the door shut. I stepped outside and walked to my bike, but when I got there, a crowd surrounded it. I broke through to find my bike trashed and deteriorated with a note attached, it read ‘Get off the case, or you’ll be Mathew in braces!’ “Whose idea of a sick joke is this?” Who? That was the key to the puzzle. I walked home (like I had much choice, I had no money and my bike was a wreck) and pulled out my big bag of Every-chip, you see, every time I buy a bag of chips I put the whole bag in my giant bag (eating them helps me think). The only clues I had was this Sophie Megans person, the ring and the knife and the chance the knife had foreign fingerprints, the knife left my clue list quite fast though, about when I got a call from Acerbity. “Dr. Brace, we found out that the victim owned the knife we found on the premises” strike one, “no fingerprints were found on the knife other than the owners” strike two, “and I’ve already interrogated Sophie Megans, nothing.” strike three, and I was out. “If you come down to the station now, you can ask her some questions” a ball, I got to walk a base. I walked down to the station and walked in, “Hello Dr. Brace, she’s right in here.” I walked into the interrogation room and sat down “Hello Doctor, before I answer any of your questions, I’d just like to say that I did not murder anyone.”
“I’ll try to keep that in mind. Now first off, how did you know Lance Carson?”

“When I was young, I would play with his younger sister, also I went to high school with him”

“Did you talk to him the day of the murder?”

“No” she replied with a slight sneer. I stepped out into the hallway to talk to Acerbity. “Chief, she knows something. I don’t know what, but I think I can bluff it out of her”

“If it solves the case, bluff” I stepped back in one more time, “Now miss, when was the last time you saw Mr. Carson?”

“Months ago”

“I’ll ask you once more, when was the last time you saw Mr. Carson?”

“I just told you” she retorted

“I want the truth, that wasn’t the truth. So tell me, when was the last time you saw Mr. Carson?” she hesitated, I had her in my net, so I prepared to pull her in. “I would like to call my lawyer” she was getting through a hole in my net, that was not good, my only chance to bag her was to take it to court. I stepped out and got a coffee from the cafeteria. “Doctor Brace how could you? Could I what? Put only three creams in the coffee! Well excuse me. Yes I will. Not if I excuse me first!”
“Are you talking to yourself Dr. Brace?”

“Yes… chief, can you do me a favor?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Let me borrow your squad car”

“No can do, Dr. Brace. But I can drive you wherever you need to go.”

“Then off to the auto lot!” after a brief stop at a gas station, we drove down to the auto lot. “Howdy Dr. Brace, I’ve got bad news. Your bike is destroyed, and your price range only covers a quarter of the repair costs. But I can give you a good deal on a 1974 Chevrolet”

“I don’t do cars, especially ancient ones. How about a Harley?” I retorted. “Its seventy dollars over your price range”

“Good condition?”

“Very good”

“How old?”

“3 years at most”

“I’ll take it!” Ah yes, the feel of bugs splattering in your face as you drive on the highway on your new Harley! I stopped by the station courthouse the next day for the three-day trial of Sophie Megans “who’s the judge, chief?”

“Haven’t the faintest idea, hopefully not Perry Spittle” Ah yes, the immortal Perry Spotician. A.K.A. Perry Spittle, you can probably guess why we call him that. “Oh lucky day, here he comes now”
“Hello Dr. Brace, want a piece of plumpish pizza?” I wiped the spit off my face and took a step back “yeah, hi, and no thanks. By the way, your not judging today’s trial are you?”

“No, that’s Sr. officer Fervid’s job” old man Fervid is like a lit dynamite rope, except that the rope is usually quite long. “I will now call this court to order, the defendant, Sophie Megans, VS the plaintiff, Dr. Mathew Brace. Would the defendant’s lawyer please call his first suspect?”

“Yes I will, your honor. I call Chief Acerbity to the stand. Now Mr. Acerbity, how long have you been in the police business?”

“About four years”

“And how long have you known the good doctor over there?” queried the lawyer with a sneer.

“Four or five years”

“What do you think about the case at hand?”

“Well, I’ve never seen anything like it”

“No further questions”

“Dr. Brace, come to the stand and cross examine”

“Thank you your honor. Now chief, have I ever falsely accused someone?”

“Well, there was that one time…”

“Never mind. I'm done, your honor. Now I will call up Sophie Megans. Ms. Megans, you are aware you are under oath, correct?”

“Yes” she retorted, “Now please tell the court when was the last time you saw Mr. Carson?” her lawyer walked up after she motioned for him and whispered something and sat back down “Two days ago”

“At what time?”

“Two or three in the morning”

“So I take it that I can’t believe anything you said at the interrogation room yesterday. Did anyone come with you when you met Mr. Carson?”

“Objection your honor!”

“Your objection is overruled! Take your seat”

I resumed my ‘interrogation’ “Did anyone come with you when you met Mr. Carson?”

“Yes” she retorted. “Who were they?”

“Hired lackeys, I don’t know their names”

“So now I ask the final question, did you kill Lance Carson?”

“No” she clearly was not going to give up easily.

“I withdraw” I stepped over to my bench when the opposing lawyer stepped onto the stand “I call Dr. Brace to the stand”

“That’s a new one” I walked into the stand and sat down “Dr. Brace is it true that you have no proof that anyone besides my client was at the crime scene?”

“No, not at all. There were markings showing that there were at least three people”

“But until you can verify that with either a witness testimonial, solid evidence, or by catching the ‘two people’ that were there, you cannot incriminate my client”

“I will do at least one of those thing at tomorrows trial”

Day 2. I walked up to the stand to examine my first suspect, Carol Carson. “Ms. Carson, what time did you leave the house of Lance Carson?”

“Around 12 O’clock… maybe later”

“So it is possible you may have been awake at the time of the murder, correct?” she hesitated

“yes” I smiled. “Let us pretend that you were awake at the time your brother was murdered. Is it possible, that you, hypothetically speaking, looked out of your bedroom window, and saw the murder of your brother?”

“It may be possible, but I would not watch my own kin get murder in cold blood!” I looked at her face; she looked quite… distraught. “I withdraw” with one day left to convince the jury, I brought over the most solid evidence I had. “Men and women of the jury, I have here fingerprints I found in the window sill of Lance Carson’s front window, a ring, that was proved to be owned by Ms. Megans, and a strand of casts of footprints found on the premises of the crime scene. If this is not solid proof… what is?” Fervid stood up and walked down from his ‘perch’

“This court will take a fifteen minute recess before making a verdict” I waited for what seemed like an eternity… is that a line for a book? Finally, the jury was ready to deliver their verdict. “We the people of the jury find Sophie Megans… guilty of First degree murder” the lawyer for the defendant rushed at the police handcuffing the defendant. “Dr. Brace, you cannot have these… goons take my client without another trial on the terms your questions were based!”
“I can’t, but he can. Take her away chief”

“Yes sir, Doctor. Come along miss” Fervid stood up and addressed the court “I find Sophie Megans, guilty of all charges. Court adjourned” So I had the murderer, but what about the lackeys? I needed answers it was time to take action, I needed an answer and soon. In addition, my typewriter is running out of paper so I should wrap this up, the next day I went down to Shady Acres Penitentiary. My older sister Julia works there, all her life she wanted to work at a jail, when we were children, she would blackmail me into playing a game she called Jail; I would be a dangerous convict on the verge of being put into solitary confinement, and she would be the warden. “Hiya Sis”

“Mattie? What are you doing here?”

“I need some info on a couple of lackeys”

“Height, age, and gender please”

“One is male, about six five, and about twenty years of age, the other female, six feet, also about twenty years old”

“One moment… the only people matching those descriptions is Jason and Mallory Rider, married three years ago after they robed the same bank three straight times. Said to be quite dangerous, they got out of jail last month on good behavior. They’re living at 1596 Jargon Street, that’s down the road and to the left”

“Thanks”

“No problem. By the way, Mom said she wants us over for dinner at her house on Friday”
“Tell her I’ll be there” I drove over to the station and got a warrant and Acerbity and two other officers followed me to the perpetrators’ domicile. I knocked on the door and waited, when it opened a young man (young compared to me at least) greeted me warmly “What the heck do you want?”

“You are the winner of our Apartment Giveaway”

“Really?”

“Yes, but in order to accept the prize my people have to look over your current home. Come on in chief!”

“What’s going on here? Who are you people?”

“My name is Mathew Brace, M.D.” He looked bewildered as Acerbity raided his drawers. I looked behind him just as Acerbity and his men went into his room and saw a gun on the table concealed by a fruit bowl, I rushed for it and took it after getting a blow to the eye. “Hey chief, you’ll be needing to tie this guy up”

“Right-o Doctor”

“Now Mr. Rider, could you please give me a review of the events two days ago?”

“No way pal!”

“Then I’ll do it for you. You and your wife were hired by Sophie Megans to assist in a murder; you followed the grass up to the front door, which was open because Carol Carson had just stormed out of the house. You walked in and unlocked the window so that your employer could climb in, and after jumping in she lost her ring, your wife locked all possible exits while you and Megans came at Mr. Carson, he picked up a knife and you shot him in the chest, then another shot from Megans’ gun killed the man. Upon inquiry of Mr. Carson’s loan records, he had denied Ms. Megans a loan of one hundred thousand dollars. Is all this correct?” he nodded his head slightly “then you came back to get the ring which was the strongest evidence against you and your employer, then seeing you could not get it you followed me around town. Oh yeah, I have something for you…” I punched him hard in the jaw and he fell back into the couch “That’s for my bike. Take him away” I went home and had a turkey sandwich, watched some horror movies got a call from Acerbity congratulating me and thought nothing more of the case.