Shay Collins

DETECTION 1: The Mystery Case

Shay Collins

Well when people usually start a fairy tale they say once upon a time. I have no idea why they would do this, I mean they don't even say what time it was, and how do you get upon time? Well anyways with my story it starts more like once upon a hospital. There are two good reasons for this, I needed information, and it made sense. My informant told me to meet him here and he would give me what I wanted. This is one out three places that I and my informant met, also this is the rarest.

This informant has been top on my list of informants for two years now. But then again he's the only informant on my list since I became a detective. When I first started he came in and asked if I needed information. I wasn't sure at first but I learned that he was trust worthy. He helped me on all but two of my cases. But then again I only have worked on ten cases so far unless you count the one I was on.

He sometimes sells me weapons when there are no cases. I like collecting weapons, they have helped me out, on my second case I was attacked in my Office, rather my house with the office in the front room (there's a door behind my desk that leads to my kitchen it's the locked one).

Anyways, the case I'm working on now I like to call the Mystery case. I usually come up with something cooler sounding but that comes after I solve the case. My client is one of the police officers, he was my third client. He asked me to investigate one that the police couldn't even try to understand. After I helped solve that one he started asking me about other ones. This one people keep ending up dead at their home so far three. The police have done autopsies but I haven't found anything about what the police found, my client said it was classified, I wasn't sure why he had asked me. But I knew how to get information, thus my informant. Which brings me to now on the roof of the hospital.

"What have the police found out?" I asked him.

"They can't find anything apparently they just up and died, not even a heart attack." My informant said.

"That's not possible. They were only around twenty each from what my client told me." I said writing it down. "Anyways what about connections, Were they connected in any way?"

"They might have had some mutual friends but not much more." He said.

"Any that knew all three?"

"There are none that the police, or I, can find." He looked across the roof.

"Do you have anything else that I can go on, a schedule or something?" I asked

"I can do better I went to the scene of the crime and happened to take some things that the police hadn't even considered taking, calendars." He said handing them over.

"Which victims were these from?" I said looking at the Calendars.

"This one," he said pointing to the first one "was the first." He pointed at the bottom one. "That was the Second." I pulled out my pen and marked them.

"Were there any connections between the victims?"

"Two of them were owners of rival companies."

"Which victims were rivals?" I asked when I finished marking the Calendars.

"It was the second and third victims."

"Good that should help. Is that all?" I asked

"Yeah, I'll call if I get any more information."

I paid him and climbed down off the roof. I had to think things over at my office. I reached there without anyone reaching out of dark alleyways and questioning me. I opened the door and walked into the office and sat down at my desk. I would have gone in and gotten dinner but my office didn't close till 10:00 it was only 9:30. I waited, looking through the first victim's calendar, and thinking about the case.

At 9:56 I stood up and was about to go inside when there was a knock on my door. My client had come.

"Well what do you have?" He asked.

"Nothing yet, just a couple hunches I have to check." I said

"I have something for you" He handed me pictures of the crime scene. "Hope it helps. Well inform me when you have something for me." He said walking out.

"Well who else would I tell?" I asked, he laughed and closed the door. I unlocked my door and walked in. Peter, my cat, greeted me. I poured him some food and made myself a can of soup. When it was done I started looking through the second calendar along with the stuff that my client had given me. It was descriptions of the victims, and bio's of where they worked and where they lived.

The First Calendar, first victim, was a male about 6', brown hair, brown eyes just your ordinary kind of guy.

The Second calendar, third victim, belonged to a male 5'3, blonde hair, blue eyes the type the ladies go crazy over. He was the owner of the Dugger Company; the company was a shoe factory and ran a small side business. It had something to do with food.

The third Calendar, Second victim, belonged to another male 5'7, Black hair, Green eyes the type that would probably take you into an alley and mug you. He was the owner of the Tinto Company; the company made Apparel.

All had died for unknown reasons. I needed to find the reasons.

I finished looking through the Second calendar and went on to the Third one. I hadn't found anything suspicious yet. I finished looking through the third one and decided I needed to compare them I laid all three calendars out and went over the first month I decided that I would have to have something to keep me awake. I put on some music and continued through the months. I found that the rival company owners were in the same place a lot when it was closer to the time that they died, maybe trying to get the companies to stop being rivals, maybe even further and trying to merge companies. But the last time they were together was the night they died. In fact all three of them were at the restaurant. The Rival company owners had met at the restaurant. Was there something in their food? I'll have to check that tomorrow. I went into my bed room and lay on the bed thinking of other possible answers to this riddle.

"I need to talk to a waiter who was here three days ago." I called after they had let me in. It had been ten minutes before they had finally let me in. They probably had checked with the police. I had decided that I wasn't going to need a story. I waited another couple of minutes before I repeated my question loudly.

"I was!" A voice said from close to the door in between the kitchen and the dining room.

"I have a few questions." I said. He went and talked to the head chef and asked if he and I could step into his office. He had to tell the chef that I wasn't from a rival restaurant trying to steal something. The waiter went over my story for him and one of the soup chefs confirmed it. The head man finally said okay and we went into his office. I started by asking him if he had noticed the rival company owners.

"Yeah I noticed them they were talking business. I could tell because they only ordered drinks and they had been here once before. I wanted to see how the Business ended so when I wasn't busy I watched they seemed to come to the end and the other guy wanted to think about it. I guessed that they would come back the next day but they didn't so I assumed that they went somewhere else to settle it." As he told his story he closed his eyes as if trying to make sure he remembered it right.

"How were you sure of the details?" I asked

"Well the first guy pulled out some papers and handed the other guy a pen he refused and they shook hands and they left. That's how I know that the guy with blonde hair and blue eyes was the one who offered the contract and the black hair green eyes was the one that refused the pen."

"Did you see an ordinary guy he wasn't meeting someone else, he had Brown hair brown eyes."

"There were several men in here with brown eyes, brown hair."

"Was there anything surprising in the kitchen that night?"

"There was only a surprise inspection that night. It was their monthly check."

"What did the inspector look like?"

"He looked like your ordinary type of guy. He had brown hair, blue eyes. He had a nice tan."

"Did you get his name?"

"Yeah, he had it on his name tag. It said Mark Johnson."

I was starting to get the idea of things. I thanked the waiter and left. The pieces were starting to fall into place I just had to make sure that I had the right idea in mind. I went to my office and called the police department. I asked them to see if they could find this guy, Mark Johnson. I finished talking and hung up they said they would get back to me when they had something.

Several hours later the department called and gave me the address to Mark's house. I went over there and noticed several things that were wrong. He had the tan, the hair but not the eyes. His eyes were green. I started asking questions. "Do you wear color contacts?" I asked.

"No..." He seemed confused about the question.

"Were you at the restaurant three days ago?" I asked.

"No; I couldn't go because I couldn't find my name tag. I called it in to the company and they said we could skip the check this month." Mark answered.

"Did anyone come over that night?" I asked getting a picture in my mind.

"Yeah I had one of my friends come over. He didn't stay for very long." He said

"Do you know where your friend works? Also do you know where your friend lives?" I asked.

"Yeah he works at the Dugger Company; he lives just up the road; third one up, on the left." He said.

"What's your friend's name?"

"His name is Henry."

I thanked the man and left. I called it in to the department and told them that Mark wasn't the culprit but to watch him anyways. "I'm checking another lead and I'll tell you what I get." I walked down the road and knocked on the door, it wasn't closed and the door opened. "Hello?" I called. I walked in and closed the door behind me. "Henry?" I called. I walked in even further. I went to where I assumed the living room and found a lab type of place. I went over to it and looked at the chemicals. There was a small bottle that seemed to be the finished product of one of his projects. I looked at them and thought about what this mixture could be. I took the sample and noticed that it was labeled: Test. I looked for anything else that could be helpful. I found very little food in the fridge. I also checked the Garbage can. All that was in the garbage was a receipt for contact lenses and chemicals. I left with a better, understanding of what was going on, and closed the door.

I called the department after I left and told them to watch Henry's house. I also told them to send an officer to my office to pick up the sample. They sent an officer and he took the sample and me with him to the department. They went to the testing lab; and waited for the results. While I was waiting I called the inspection company to check Mark's story. They told me that Mark had called in and said that he couldn't find his name tag. So his story checked out.

When we finally got the lab results back I looked at them. Apparently it was somewhat of a weird chemical that when inside the esophagus, would expand and block it off without even showing anything at all. The person would suffocate and then the stuff eventually dissolved and disappeared. That explained why there was no trace of anything when they had the autopsies done. I told my client and he told the police chief and he sent some officer's to watch Henry's house. But something didn't add up. "What is his motive?" I asked myself. "He didn't ever work at either company. He might be a hired hand." Then it clicked! "I know who did it!" I shouted. Everyone in the room stared at me. "I have to leave." I said standing up and leaving the file on the seat I was sitting on.

I drove as fast as I could to the house of the supposed 'Henry'. When I got there I parked and went up the road to Mark's house. Before I met with the killer I told the Police officer that he needed to switch targets to this house. They quickly changed positions while I went and knocked on the door.

"Hello?" I called. There was no answer. I heard a trash can fall in the back. There was no time to tell the patrol, I had to leave. I ran to the backyard and looked around. I found the trash can and searched the ground. The tracks went straight towards the back through the thick brush. I didn't have time to stop; this murderer had to be stopped. I ran as fast as my legs would let me. As I ran I stumbled over a briefcase. Mark was obviously prepared for himself to be found out. I kept running; I then heard a car starting. I was slowing down from running so fast there was no way I would be able to catch the car. I kept running. I saw the car pulling out of a driveway. I looked for the license plate number and got the first three numbers before the car was out of my view. TRA- something I went back to the house and found the briefcase. I went through it and found a brochure for an airline agency. I took the briefcase with me and walked back, too tired to run.

"Where did he go?" One of the officers asked when I got back.

"He is headed to an airplane." I said. I handed him the brochure and handed a different officer the briefcase. "You probably won't find anything in the briefcase. I already looked. If you want to catch him before he reaches the airport the car he is driving starts with the letters TRA- I need to take a nap."

I went back to my office and opened the door. I put the closed sign on my door. I went over to the door separating my office and my house. I looked around, something was out of place. I leaned down and heard something whoosh past my head. I jumped behind my desk and reached for one of my weapons. They were just out of reach. I looked at the thing that had flown at me. It was a knife! It was sticking in the door. It was out of reach too.

"Aren't you missing your plane?" I asked looking around the desk another knife flew past. I got my head behind just in time. I was right, it was Mark.

I looked up at my door I leaned forward trying to stay behind the desk at the same time. I got the first knife because it was closer to the desk. I had it! I took the knife and looked at it. It was a knife meant to be thrown. I took the knife and threw it through the air into the wall opposite the weapons. I heard it hit the wall and dove for the weapons. I pulled a sword from the weapons. I lay down and heard another whoosh and rolled behind the desk again. I wasn't sure what to do but I had to do something. I wasn't very good trying to throw knives, so that wasn't an option. I didn't want to kill him. So I didn't want to run out and use my sword. I could hear him moving! I stuck the sword out on my left and checked the reflection. He wasn't anywhere in sight on the left.

I jumped to the left side of the desk and checked the reflection with my sword again. He was there about to jump around the desk and try to kill me. I set the sword down and jumped around the side corner and tackled him from behind. He was surprised and I heard a knife fall to the floor. I struggled with him a moment before He shoved me off his back. I fell to the floor and jumped up.

He had the knife in his hand and was ready to throw it when the door burst open and three police officers jumped in the first fell to the ground with a knife in his leg. The second police officer took a shot at Mark. There was a flash of light and Mark grunted with impact. The second officer went over to Mark while the third one checked on the first. The second officer had shot Mark.

The second officer came over to me after checking Mark. "You okay Shay?" He asked.

"Yes, it was just a little interesting. Not like anything I've ever done before." I said. "How did you know to come here?"

"One of our officers found the license plate and decided to check it out. He then called it in and we got here and found Mark about to kill you. It was a good thing we came in when we did. I think the only reason he didn't kill officer Hal was because he was taken by surprise."

"I wouldn't doubt it." I said. "Now if you guys are finished I need to go to bed."

The police came back the next morning to clean up the mess of Mark's and I told them what I had figured out. Apparently he was embezzling funds from both the Dugger and the Tinto Company. When they were going to merge the companies they would have found out that he had been embezzling. He had worked at both companies, a quick call proved that. He had been fired from the Dugger Company because they had suspected him but didn't have any proof. With the Tinto Company they couldn't find out who had been embezzling but had evidence. Several nights before the murder Mark had found a poison that would expand and disappear. On that night Mark had figured out that the company owners were meeting at the restaurant that he was going to inspect that very night. He called and said that he couldn't find the name tag so that he wouldn't be able to be tied into the thing. It had all added up in the end.

There you go my first documented case. I couldn't think of a better name even after a week so I'll stick to the name I started with. There you have it my case, The Mystery Case.