Adventure at the Cemetery
1. Stanley sat waiting in the dark, gloomy room, tapping his feet impatiently for the arrival of his friend. Two more days and he would free from all his debt and retirement in an exotic place with a huge mansion. Suddenly, the screeching of brakes, the squealing of tyres and the usual crash against the wall broke his train of thoughts. The door slammed and a disheveled man lumbered into the room. He nearly tripped over the rug and knocked over a bottle of water. Stanley gave him a disapproving look and retorted, “Tom, if you carry on like that in a drunken state, both you and I will be in hot soup.” Tom apologized and immediately pulled into a chair and was given a cup of water. After taking a big gulp, Stanley peered at him and asked, “News?”
2. “Not very good news I afraid,” Tom replied after catching his breath. “The surroundings were clear the whole day but after sunset I could see three boys hanging about the cemetery just beside us.” Stanley’s forehead immediately creased with worry. He did not like meddling children to be around, especially the next day. After a few minutes of silence, furrowed eyebrows gave way to a smile as he instructed Tom, “Get two pieces of white tablecloth and some phosphorus paint, and we’ve got a job to do”.
3. It was dark and kind of chilly as the duo sneaked behind a massive headstone. They sprayed generously on the tablecloths with the phosphorus paint until they gave off eerie glows. They started to dance wildly in the centre of the cemetery with the tablecloth draped over their bodies, at the same time making eerie noises; confident that the three boys would be scared.
4. In the thick hedge, the trio of boys, Jack, Alex and Peter’s eyes were transfixed on the very spot where the apparitions were waltzing away. Fear showed on Alex’s face, only to be transferred to Jack’s. They shouted in unison, “Ghost!” and ran off in a flash towards the main road. Peter had his doubts but walked briskly after them. Along the way, he could feel shadows lurking around some tombstones. “No! There are no such things as ghosts!” he muttered to himself as he quickened his pace. Near exit of the cemetery, Peter saw his two friends heaving and panting away with wild look in their eyes. Back at the cemetery, the strange thing was that the ghosts seemed to be cackling.
5. “What do you think, Peter?” both Alex and Jack chorused. “Look here, we are here at the cemetery during this Hungry Ghost month so that we can have the thrill of meeting ghosts, so why are two of you so afraid?, Peter reasoned. “I suggest we go back to investigate!” The look on the faces of Jack and Alex told it all. “Fine with me,” Peter said, “I’ll go there myself!” and with a contemptuous look stalked back to the cemetery.
6. Peter was all alone at the cemetery where they last saw the ‘ghosts’ and nothing seemed to be stirring after an hour. He decided to call it a day when he caught a glint of light coming from a supposedly haunted house beside the cemetery. The curiosity got the better of him and without a second thought he got onto his fours and started crawling towards the house. His sixth senses were still picking up movements and shadows nearby the houses but he ignored them as he was more interested in what was in the house. He nestled himself next to a windows and heard people talking.
7. “We really did scare them didn’t we? You are a real genius!” Tom laughed as he heaped praises on Stanley. “Don’t get complacent over a little success. We still have the deal tomorrow to think about, “ Stanley retorted. “Go to sleep now and get rid of the light. We don’t want to attract attention, do we?”. The light went out and silence descended.
8. Peter met Alex and Jack at the school canteen the next day. Despite what happened the night before, they both looked quite spirited as they pestered Peter to share his exploit. Peter stared at them with a mocking grin and recounted what had happened. “Let’s see what they are up to!” Alex blurted out and Jack immediately agreed. “Suddenly you are so brave,” Peter teased them.
9. After school, the trio spied on the house and nothing happened until sunset. Alex had just bought some burgers for dinner and they were settling down next to a huge tombstone to eat when the sound of a car broke the silence of the night. They spotted a sleek black car drive up to the front of the house and two burly men emerging from it. They then entered the house quickly. Quick as a flash, trio sneaked to the window.
10. “Well Stanley, let’s have the stuff!”, the older of the burly man in long jacket grunted. Stanley plonked down two large travel bags on the table and unzipped them to exposed bags of white powdery stuff. “Money?”, Stanley countered, “ these are top grade stuff from Thailand.”
11. It quickly dawned on the boys that there was an on-going drug deal. The event was turning out to be more serious than they could imagine. “Does anyone know how to stop those guys from getting away?” Peter whispered in an urgent tone. “Allow me!” Alex suddenly said. With great stealth, Alex sneaked behind the car and punctured two of its tyres, letting it lean slightly backwards. “There! Now, we call the police!” instructed Peter as he whipped out his hand phone. “Not so fast!” hollered the man in long jacket brandishing a revolver at the doorway. The boys froze in terror and knew that they had it this time. “Tie them up and bury them in one of the graves”, the man ordered his partner. Jack fainted on hearing this while Alex started to wet his pants.
12. “Bang” a cackle of the rifle went off and the man in jacket suddenly froze. He dropped his revolver as blood oozed down his forehead. “Freeze! Police! You have been surrounded!”, the loudhailer blared while floodlight zeroed on the house. Knowing the consequence of arrest, the men tried to make a run for it but none of them managed to escape as police officers piled on them.
13. When the smoke cleared, the officer-in-charge in his SWAT outfit walked over to us. Jack had just recovered his consciousness and kept on asking if he was in heaven. Peter had to wacked him a times just to really wake him up. Meanwhile, Alex looked utterly ashamed in his wet pants. “Next time do not take matter into your own hands OK? You could have been killed!” the officer chastised us. “We have been observing them since yesterday and did not keep you away as we thought you were their accomplice,” the police officer added. Peter realized that the shadows in the cemetery and funny feelings that he had been watched the night before were all due to the presence of Police. It looks like the Police were ahead of them after all.(1197 words)
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
MSS24-Solomon Chann
The case of the murdered wife
1. She was showering in the middle of the night, in a hotel waiting for a guest.
2. “Ding Dong!” The doorbell rang.
3. “Hold on! I’m coming!” She said as she put on her bathrobe.
4. He entered the room and smiled ominously: “Could you come out to the balcony with me? I have to tell you something important,” she followed him out into the dim moonlight, curious what was going to happen.
5. He pushed her off the balcony, the fingertips barley holding on to her weight. He punched her fingers with brute force, causing her to plummet down 20 floors to her doom…
6. During the period of the murder, a famous private consultant for the police, Herman Cress, went out to see a play at the community center featuring his assistant’s daughter in a play. They sat down in their seats, getting ready for the play to start. While waiting for the play to start, the detective’s assistant saw someone in the V.I.P. area: “Hey! That’s Areola Comuston, that famous critic! Oh my god I hope he gives Julie a good review!” Herman decided to go to use the bathroom to kill some time before to show started. He went into the bathroom and a man in a suit was standing there greeting him. “Who are you?” “Me? I am the men’s bathroom assistant.” The detective stared in amazement and was very pleased with his work.
7. He returned to his seat and by then, the show had already started and his assistant’s daughter was singing on stage. In dim light, he glanced at Areola and he was staring at his watch. “He doesn’t seem too interested…” “I hope he doesn’t go too hard on Julie.”
8. The next day, the police came to investigate on the case and Herman came too. It was room that was a usual one, there was a chocolate strawberry on the table half-bitten, and two potted plants with leaves dropping, and a suicide note with newspaper words. The captain briefed them on what happened,: “Suicide, Female Caucasian 5’7’” “Hold on, I don’t think she killed herself, you can see those plants, one of them has an over excessive drop of leaves and you can see traces of soil in the carpet if you strain your eyes closely, there was a struggle.” “So she was murdered, but how?” Herman’s assistant asked. “I don’t know…”
9. When they left they building, Herman’s assistant, Natalie bought a copy of the newspaper and she was shocked beyond words. The newspaper read: ‘A completely forgettable voice that kept me bored and a song that seemed like forever sung by Julie Teeger.’ “What? How could he say that? Hold on, I’m going somewhere. Meet me at home!”
10. She stormed into his office, made an immediate complaint to Areola, and had a word with him.
11. When she went home, she said: “He’s the guy, I know it, the hotel was only two blocks away, he could have run out back and murdered him. He also had a paper bag for his lunch; it was from the same place as the bag at the hotel.”
12. “Natalie, I know he wrote a horrible article about your daughter, but really? Do you have any proof that he did it?”
13. “And you know that bathroom assistant, he also works for Areola, an inside job, there has to be a connection. That is why you’re here.”
14. “Fine, if you feel so strongly about it, we’ll go talk to him.”
15. They brought him into the interrogation room and started questioning him: “ Where were you during the period of the concert?” “Well, as you know, I was in the V.I.P. area, I’m sure that there were many witnesses that saw that I never left.” The detective silenced for a period of time and thought deeply. Areola sighed and said while staring at his pocket watch: “Well, if that is all, I really have to go now. I’m late for a meeting. “I guess there is no evidence or even a lead to whether a murder even happened.” His assistant said: “Well, then we’re going to the theater to find out how he escaped.”
16. They went to the theater and looked around with the theater manager, Herman looked around and said: “Excuse me, your light switch in the V.I.P. section is broken.” “Sorry, we’ll fix that as soon as possible.” The detective thought for a while and said: “I think I know how he did it, it’s a theory, but I can get evidence.”
17. On the very same night, the bathroom assistant was helping Areola carry some boxes down to the office when all of a sudden, ‘Bang!’ a piece of lead piping hit him at the back of the cranium.
18. The next morning, they went to investigate on this case. “What? Two murders in two days? This is definitely not coincidence and I think I can arrest Areola not just for one, but two murder cases.” said the detective.
19. They all went to the office of Areola and Herman explained what happened: “For some reason, you were having affairs with your wife and we probably will never know what and why, you wanted to murder her, but you needed an alibi. So you bought a room in a nearby hotel so you and your wife could ‘have sex’. But somewhere in the middle of the process, you realized that there would be too many eyewitnesses, wouldn’t they notice if you left? So during the performance, you asked if the bathroom assistant could take your place for a few minutes. No one would know you left or even swapped places with another guy because the light was broken, no one could see who it was. But when the police started interrogating you, you got nervous; they would eventually figure it out and ask the bathroom assistant? So you murdered him.” “Hold on. How can you prove any of this?” “One, during the performance at some point, you were wearing a watch. But during interrogation, you took out a pocket watch and there was nothing on your wrists.” “True, but so? This doesn’t prove anything, I am a very rich man, I have many watches.” When Herman heard this, he stepped aside and showed him a girl; she was dress elegantly, as if in moonlight. “This girl is the evidence to you murdering that woman. I want you to take a good look at her and tell me what you think.” “What do you mean? I am a 100% sure that I have never seen her in my life!” “Are you sure?” “Yes. Yes I am.” “Well, we have a lot of witnesses here, because this is the girl that was on stage that you wrote your review on that had a solo on stage, you weren’t there, were you?” He was sent to jail for life and 400 hours of hard labour. (1149)
1. She was showering in the middle of the night, in a hotel waiting for a guest.
2. “Ding Dong!” The doorbell rang.
3. “Hold on! I’m coming!” She said as she put on her bathrobe.
4. He entered the room and smiled ominously: “Could you come out to the balcony with me? I have to tell you something important,” she followed him out into the dim moonlight, curious what was going to happen.
5. He pushed her off the balcony, the fingertips barley holding on to her weight. He punched her fingers with brute force, causing her to plummet down 20 floors to her doom…
6. During the period of the murder, a famous private consultant for the police, Herman Cress, went out to see a play at the community center featuring his assistant’s daughter in a play. They sat down in their seats, getting ready for the play to start. While waiting for the play to start, the detective’s assistant saw someone in the V.I.P. area: “Hey! That’s Areola Comuston, that famous critic! Oh my god I hope he gives Julie a good review!” Herman decided to go to use the bathroom to kill some time before to show started. He went into the bathroom and a man in a suit was standing there greeting him. “Who are you?” “Me? I am the men’s bathroom assistant.” The detective stared in amazement and was very pleased with his work.
7. He returned to his seat and by then, the show had already started and his assistant’s daughter was singing on stage. In dim light, he glanced at Areola and he was staring at his watch. “He doesn’t seem too interested…” “I hope he doesn’t go too hard on Julie.”
8. The next day, the police came to investigate on the case and Herman came too. It was room that was a usual one, there was a chocolate strawberry on the table half-bitten, and two potted plants with leaves dropping, and a suicide note with newspaper words. The captain briefed them on what happened,: “Suicide, Female Caucasian 5’7’” “Hold on, I don’t think she killed herself, you can see those plants, one of them has an over excessive drop of leaves and you can see traces of soil in the carpet if you strain your eyes closely, there was a struggle.” “So she was murdered, but how?” Herman’s assistant asked. “I don’t know…”
9. When they left they building, Herman’s assistant, Natalie bought a copy of the newspaper and she was shocked beyond words. The newspaper read: ‘A completely forgettable voice that kept me bored and a song that seemed like forever sung by Julie Teeger.’ “What? How could he say that? Hold on, I’m going somewhere. Meet me at home!”
10. She stormed into his office, made an immediate complaint to Areola, and had a word with him.
11. When she went home, she said: “He’s the guy, I know it, the hotel was only two blocks away, he could have run out back and murdered him. He also had a paper bag for his lunch; it was from the same place as the bag at the hotel.”
12. “Natalie, I know he wrote a horrible article about your daughter, but really? Do you have any proof that he did it?”
13. “And you know that bathroom assistant, he also works for Areola, an inside job, there has to be a connection. That is why you’re here.”
14. “Fine, if you feel so strongly about it, we’ll go talk to him.”
15. They brought him into the interrogation room and started questioning him: “ Where were you during the period of the concert?” “Well, as you know, I was in the V.I.P. area, I’m sure that there were many witnesses that saw that I never left.” The detective silenced for a period of time and thought deeply. Areola sighed and said while staring at his pocket watch: “Well, if that is all, I really have to go now. I’m late for a meeting. “I guess there is no evidence or even a lead to whether a murder even happened.” His assistant said: “Well, then we’re going to the theater to find out how he escaped.”
16. They went to the theater and looked around with the theater manager, Herman looked around and said: “Excuse me, your light switch in the V.I.P. section is broken.” “Sorry, we’ll fix that as soon as possible.” The detective thought for a while and said: “I think I know how he did it, it’s a theory, but I can get evidence.”
17. On the very same night, the bathroom assistant was helping Areola carry some boxes down to the office when all of a sudden, ‘Bang!’ a piece of lead piping hit him at the back of the cranium.
18. The next morning, they went to investigate on this case. “What? Two murders in two days? This is definitely not coincidence and I think I can arrest Areola not just for one, but two murder cases.” said the detective.
19. They all went to the office of Areola and Herman explained what happened: “For some reason, you were having affairs with your wife and we probably will never know what and why, you wanted to murder her, but you needed an alibi. So you bought a room in a nearby hotel so you and your wife could ‘have sex’. But somewhere in the middle of the process, you realized that there would be too many eyewitnesses, wouldn’t they notice if you left? So during the performance, you asked if the bathroom assistant could take your place for a few minutes. No one would know you left or even swapped places with another guy because the light was broken, no one could see who it was. But when the police started interrogating you, you got nervous; they would eventually figure it out and ask the bathroom assistant? So you murdered him.” “Hold on. How can you prove any of this?” “One, during the performance at some point, you were wearing a watch. But during interrogation, you took out a pocket watch and there was nothing on your wrists.” “True, but so? This doesn’t prove anything, I am a very rich man, I have many watches.” When Herman heard this, he stepped aside and showed him a girl; she was dress elegantly, as if in moonlight. “This girl is the evidence to you murdering that woman. I want you to take a good look at her and tell me what you think.” “What do you mean? I am a 100% sure that I have never seen her in my life!” “Are you sure?” “Yes. Yes I am.” “Well, we have a lot of witnesses here, because this is the girl that was on stage that you wrote your review on that had a solo on stage, you weren’t there, were you?” He was sent to jail for life and 400 hours of hard labour. (1149)
Monday, April 11, 2011
MSS23-Timothy Soepadmo
1. It was a bright and sunny Saturday morning. Neither Mrs. Granger nor her husband had to go to work. Mrs. Granger was getting very excited as this was the day that she could retaliate for what her husband had done. Lately, her husband had been completely ignoring her and forgetting about her. He had spent very little time with her, although it was not because his workload was heavy. Instead, he had been hanging around with friends until 3am in the morning lately. Mrs. Granger had been so upset and heartbroken by him. And today, she decided to get rid of this unloving and uncaring husband of hers. While going through the process in which she had planned to kill her husband and pretend that nothing had happened and to cover up for the crime, that usually calm and sweet face and harmless eyes had shown an evil expression with the intention to use violence or kill.
2. Mrs. Granger woke up an hour earlier than usual to make breakfast without her husband seeing. That day, she had planned to make bread with marmalade jam and a nice hot cup of coffee. After brewing the coffee, she poured the coffee into two cups and poured some cyanide into one of the cups – the one meant for her husband. After that, she proceeded to make the bread.
3. Just as Mrs. Granger had finished spreading the marmalade jam on all pieces of bread, her husband woke up. “Good morning, darling. Did you sleep well?” Mrs. Granger asked.
4. “Well, I slept soundly. What is for breakfast this morning?”
5. “I have made you a fresh cup of coffee and some nice marmalade bread. I knew you would like this.”
6. “Mmm, this smells great! Thank you, darling!”
7. After that, Mrs. Granger and Mr. Granger started to dig into their breakfast. They had kept quiet for most of the time. Unfortunately, after Mr. Granger had finished his bread and his cup of coffee, he suddenly went unconscious and fell to the floor with a loud thud. She hurriedly cleared up all the plates, washed them, and went back to bed, making the house look like nothing had happened and that an unknown person came into the house and killed Mr. Granger.
8. After about one and a half hours, Mrs. Granger woke up again. She repeatedly told herself to stay calm while reporting to the police and not to reveal to the detectives directly that she had killed Mr. Granger. She also told herself to cover up and not make it seem that she had killed her husband. Those eyes that were filled with hatred and evil intentions would now have to seem worried and scared. She calmly approached the telephone and telephoned the police department. She told the operator her home address, and asked him to send the investigators quickly.
9. Soon after, the policemen came together with a detective and a doctor. He was wearing a brown coat and hat, and had a moustache. He also wore a pair of black sunglasses. “My name is Detective Gil Grissom. Nice to meet you.” The detective took off his sunglasses and shook hands with Mrs. Granger. He then proceeded to take a seat on the couch together with Mrs. Granger.
10. “Now tell me exactly what happened,” Detective Grissom asked.
11. “I... I was in bed when my husband woke up,” Mrs. Granger replied, “I could feel him getting out of bed but I continued to sleep. When I woke up, I tried calling him but there was no reply. I felt that something was strange. So I went to the dining room and found him lying on the floor near the table. I tried to whisper into his ears but there was still reply. That was when I decided to call the police.”
12. “Hey, Grissom, there does not seem to be any wound or stuff like that,” one of the policemen announced.
13. “Is he dead?” Mrs. Granger asked in an uncertain voice.”
14. “He seems to be dead to me,” the doctor said. “I think that he had most likely died of poisoning or natural causes like heart failure or stuff like that.”
15. “Did your husband have any underlying health problems?” Detective Grissom asked Mrs. Granger.
16. “I guess so,” Mrs. Granger replied. “He was a heavy smoker and smoked a cigarette thrice a day. He would also hang out with friends and drink alcohol.”
17. “I think I am going to send this body to the lab to find out the cause of death,” the doctor said.
18. “Great. Thanks, Doctor Robbins,” Detective Grissom replied. Soon after that, the doctor left together with the policemen, leaving Gil Grissom and Mrs. Granger alone in the house.
19. “Do you mind if I take a look around the house while you stay here?” Detective Grissom asked Mrs. Granger.
20. “Nope, you can have a look around my apartment as you wish,” Mrs. Granger replied. Hence, Detective Grissom started scavenging the house for anything he thought could have been the murder weapon.
21. When Detective Grissom opened one of the kitchen cabinets, he discovered a can of cyanide, or rat poison. He took the can of cyanide and brought it to Mrs. Granger. He asked her, “What do you use this can of cyanide for?”
22. “Oh, 3 months ago my house was infested with rats, but now although there are no more rats, I still keep the can.” Mrs. Granger said.
23. Just then, Detective Grissom had received a call from the doctor. “Grissom, autopsy results have shown that Mr. Granger was killed by … cyanide.”
24. “Thanks, Robbins. I will follow up.”
25. Detective Grissom then turned back to Mrs. Granger. “Looks like your husband was killed by the same substance. Was this bottle of cyanide used to kill your husband?”
26. “No, I mean, I do not know. I was not the one who killed him.”
27. “I think that I will send this can of cyanide to the lab to check for fingerprints. I will come back tomorrow afternoon to tell you the results. Goodbye for now.”
28. The next day at noon, Detective Grissom arrived at Mrs. Granger’s house. After Mrs. Granger had opened the door and invited him in, Grissom said pointing to the can of cyanide, “Only your fingerprints were found on this can of cyanide. It all comes down to one statement: you had killed your husband.”
29. “Yes, I did,” Mrs. Granger admitted. “He had lately been not caring for me and I decided to kill him to get revenge.”
30. “Mrs. Granger, you are coming with me to the police station. Further action will be taken against you there.” Grissom proceeded to handcuff her and bring her to the police station. (1133)
2. Mrs. Granger woke up an hour earlier than usual to make breakfast without her husband seeing. That day, she had planned to make bread with marmalade jam and a nice hot cup of coffee. After brewing the coffee, she poured the coffee into two cups and poured some cyanide into one of the cups – the one meant for her husband. After that, she proceeded to make the bread.
3. Just as Mrs. Granger had finished spreading the marmalade jam on all pieces of bread, her husband woke up. “Good morning, darling. Did you sleep well?” Mrs. Granger asked.
4. “Well, I slept soundly. What is for breakfast this morning?”
5. “I have made you a fresh cup of coffee and some nice marmalade bread. I knew you would like this.”
6. “Mmm, this smells great! Thank you, darling!”
7. After that, Mrs. Granger and Mr. Granger started to dig into their breakfast. They had kept quiet for most of the time. Unfortunately, after Mr. Granger had finished his bread and his cup of coffee, he suddenly went unconscious and fell to the floor with a loud thud. She hurriedly cleared up all the plates, washed them, and went back to bed, making the house look like nothing had happened and that an unknown person came into the house and killed Mr. Granger.
8. After about one and a half hours, Mrs. Granger woke up again. She repeatedly told herself to stay calm while reporting to the police and not to reveal to the detectives directly that she had killed Mr. Granger. She also told herself to cover up and not make it seem that she had killed her husband. Those eyes that were filled with hatred and evil intentions would now have to seem worried and scared. She calmly approached the telephone and telephoned the police department. She told the operator her home address, and asked him to send the investigators quickly.
9. Soon after, the policemen came together with a detective and a doctor. He was wearing a brown coat and hat, and had a moustache. He also wore a pair of black sunglasses. “My name is Detective Gil Grissom. Nice to meet you.” The detective took off his sunglasses and shook hands with Mrs. Granger. He then proceeded to take a seat on the couch together with Mrs. Granger.
10. “Now tell me exactly what happened,” Detective Grissom asked.
11. “I... I was in bed when my husband woke up,” Mrs. Granger replied, “I could feel him getting out of bed but I continued to sleep. When I woke up, I tried calling him but there was no reply. I felt that something was strange. So I went to the dining room and found him lying on the floor near the table. I tried to whisper into his ears but there was still reply. That was when I decided to call the police.”
12. “Hey, Grissom, there does not seem to be any wound or stuff like that,” one of the policemen announced.
13. “Is he dead?” Mrs. Granger asked in an uncertain voice.”
14. “He seems to be dead to me,” the doctor said. “I think that he had most likely died of poisoning or natural causes like heart failure or stuff like that.”
15. “Did your husband have any underlying health problems?” Detective Grissom asked Mrs. Granger.
16. “I guess so,” Mrs. Granger replied. “He was a heavy smoker and smoked a cigarette thrice a day. He would also hang out with friends and drink alcohol.”
17. “I think I am going to send this body to the lab to find out the cause of death,” the doctor said.
18. “Great. Thanks, Doctor Robbins,” Detective Grissom replied. Soon after that, the doctor left together with the policemen, leaving Gil Grissom and Mrs. Granger alone in the house.
19. “Do you mind if I take a look around the house while you stay here?” Detective Grissom asked Mrs. Granger.
20. “Nope, you can have a look around my apartment as you wish,” Mrs. Granger replied. Hence, Detective Grissom started scavenging the house for anything he thought could have been the murder weapon.
21. When Detective Grissom opened one of the kitchen cabinets, he discovered a can of cyanide, or rat poison. He took the can of cyanide and brought it to Mrs. Granger. He asked her, “What do you use this can of cyanide for?”
22. “Oh, 3 months ago my house was infested with rats, but now although there are no more rats, I still keep the can.” Mrs. Granger said.
23. Just then, Detective Grissom had received a call from the doctor. “Grissom, autopsy results have shown that Mr. Granger was killed by … cyanide.”
24. “Thanks, Robbins. I will follow up.”
25. Detective Grissom then turned back to Mrs. Granger. “Looks like your husband was killed by the same substance. Was this bottle of cyanide used to kill your husband?”
26. “No, I mean, I do not know. I was not the one who killed him.”
27. “I think that I will send this can of cyanide to the lab to check for fingerprints. I will come back tomorrow afternoon to tell you the results. Goodbye for now.”
28. The next day at noon, Detective Grissom arrived at Mrs. Granger’s house. After Mrs. Granger had opened the door and invited him in, Grissom said pointing to the can of cyanide, “Only your fingerprints were found on this can of cyanide. It all comes down to one statement: you had killed your husband.”
29. “Yes, I did,” Mrs. Granger admitted. “He had lately been not caring for me and I decided to kill him to get revenge.”
30. “Mrs. Granger, you are coming with me to the police station. Further action will be taken against you there.” Grissom proceeded to handcuff her and bring her to the police station. (1133)
MSS8-Yi Lin
1. Sirens wailed, as the car sped along the busy road. I was deep in my thoughts when the car halted abruptly. “Sir, we have reached,” Jimmy, my personal assistant said. I nodded, and stepped out of the police car, heading steadily towards the crime scene. People were gathering outside the house, trying desperately to get a peek of the scene inside the house. “Make way for the police officer!” Jimmy shouted, as the people stepped aside reluctantly. I walked hastily into the house, past the mob of people, and saw Sherlock Holmes, the great detective, kneeling down examining the sofa beside the kitchen. It was nothing to get amazed at, for he was always kneeling down at crime scenes. That was his belief-: the deeper you look, the more you find out. Personally, I did not agree with him, for it takes a person’s intelligence to crack a case too. I glanced around the room. However, I felt that it was the least I could do to support him. Everybody was busy with their own work, and I was completely ignored.
2. I cleared my throat, unhappy about the ignorance of my arrival, and said, “So, Holmes, my friend. Share with me your discoveries.” The other workers turned their heads around, but after seeing that it was me, they continued with their work. Sherlock Holmes gestured for me to go over, not even taking a glance at me. I walked over, and knelt down beside the sofa that he was examining. Holmes handed me a glove, and as I was putting it on, he pointed to the leg of the sofa, and there was a hole pierced right through it, and the borders of the hole had dark grey marks around it. The leg of the sofa acted as a support, and it was going to crumble into pieces at anytime, giving the sofa a look as if it was going to collapse anytime.
3. “That was the work of a bullet, wasn’t it, Holmes?” I asked. Years of professionalism had taught me the strong inferential skills needed for investigations, especially murder cases, like this one.
4. “Indeed, Watson, my friend. That was the work of a gun. Now, the presence of the bullet marks the presence of a gun. The presence of a gun, from my experience, marks the presence of the murder weapon. Now, all we have to do is to find the murder weapon, which we cannot do so, for we had been searching for it the whole afternoon, and nothing was found. The victim’s in the kitchen. There’s a bullet mark on his forehead. Be careful not to touch the victim. “Holmes remarked, without even looking at me. He continued examining the sofa, as if it was the most interesting object in the world. I ignored him, and left him there, as I headed off towards the kitchen.
5. Jimmy was already at the kitchen, receiving an envelope from another officer. Upon seeing me, Jimmy nodded at the officer, and the officer walked out of the kitchen. I gave a mere glance at the officer, and asked Jimmy,” What’s inside the envelope, Jimmy?”
6. “The death report of the deceased, sir.” Jimmy answered me, as he handed me the envelope. I took the envelope from his hands, and opened it.
Deceased: Sam Jones
Death cause: Loss of blood due to wound on the deceased’s head(believed caused by bullet).
Murder weapon: Gun
Date of death: 20-03-1999
7. I glanced up at Jimmy. Jimmy was looking at me, waiting for my orders. “So is that it? That’s the whole death report?” I questioned Jimmy.
8. “Yes, Sir Watson. That’s the whole death report.” Jimmy answered me.
9. “And Mr. Jimmy, my professional assistant,” I said sarcastically, “How do you expect me to investigate the case by providing me with such a lousy death report?” I asked, folding my arms, gritting my teeth, trying not to get angry.
10. “Sir, they did not provide a better death report. Boss says that we are to investigate from the death report.” Jimmy answered, and he walked out of the kitchen. I sighed and flung the envelope at the wall in despair. The question marks were forming at the rate that I was breathing, very rapidly, increasing by the minute. The many answers, however, were unknown. This was indeed the hardest case to crack since the day I joined the police force.
11. Without given a choice, I headed over to examine the victim- Sam Jones. The victim’s forehead was stained with blood, and there was a bullet in his head. I examined the wound, and found nothing suspicious. I leaned forward, and suddenly tripped. I almost hit the body, and I pushed myself up, heaving a sigh of relief. I looked at the place where I had tripped myself. There, peering out of the pocket of the deceased’s pants was a small piece of paper. “Could it be a note?” I thought. Suddenly, I got very excited. “Holmes! I think there’s something!” I yelled at my friend that was busy examining the most interesting sofa ever.
12. Holmes sauntered in, humming a tune. “Mr. Sherlock Holmes, do you even have the ability to hurry up?” I snapped, clearly impatient, and at the same time, waiting to present my discovery to him and see his amazed face. Now he will know how well at solving crimes detective Watson is!
13. “Whoa. Chill it, Watson. An unsolved case is no big deal! Perhaps someone might solve it, isn’t it? That is something positive!” Holmes commented, as he strolled in, hands behind his back.
14. “I do not see anything positive in your previous comment, Holmes. Are you trying to implement that the most senior officer standing right in front of you here, namely me, is dumb and has no ability to solve a case?” I cleared my throat and said. Holmes flicked his fringe, as he shrugged his shoulders, and shot Jimmy a look, as if to say, “Look! Your officer’s gone crazy!” Jimmy, at the side of the kitchen, was trying his best to stifle his laughter. I glared at him, and he immediately crept out of the kitchen, not especially desiring for a scolding.
15. Holmes squatted down beside the victim, and immediately spotted the piece of paper. “Oh! There’s a piece of paper here, Watson! Please do not tell me that you have not discovered it the whole time you were here.” Sherlock Holmes remarked, looking astounded, as he picked up the piece of paper that was in the pocket of the deceased.
16. “As a matter of fact, yours truly here discovered this. Thank you.” I snapped, as I crossed my arms and smiled smugly, snatching the piece of paper from him. “Come on! Let’s open it and read it. It looks like a note to me.” I told Holmes.
17. “I agree. I think so too,” Holmes said, as he unfolded the piece of paper he was holding. I crouched down to take a look at it.
"Please meet me at your house at 7 pm. I have something to tell you.
S.J."
18. “S. J.? Isn’t that the initials of the deceased, Sam Jones?” I questioned Holmes.
19. “Yeah, Watson, it is indeed.” Holmes was dumbfounded. He gaped at the piece of paper, trying to figure out the clues.
20. Equally stuck, I decided to take a break, and join everybody for lunch. I clapped my hands, and called, “Everybody listen up! Let’s go out for lunch! My treat!” I shouted across the house. Officers cheered, as they gathered at the sitting room of the house, and we walked out of the house.
21. As we were walking towards the restaurant, everybody was talking to each other. I lagged behind, however, thinking about the weird case. Suddenly, there was a tap on my shoulder.
22. “Sir, I have to go fetch my son, John.” Jimmy told me, “Can I go fetch him before returning here?”
23. “Oh sure, Jimmy. Now go ahead. We do not want your son to be waiting. See you later!” I called, as Jimmy rushed towards his car.
24. Suddenly, a thought struck me. Jimmy Decruz, John Decruz. Jimmy and his son had the same initials! Sam Jones’ initials were S.J., just like the person’s on the piece of paper! Yes, it had to be it. I had solved the case.
25. “Guys, lunch shall be postponed to dinner. Sorry. We have to head back to the house now.” I said. Groans were heard, as they reluctantly turned around and went back. On the way back, I discussed my discoveries with Holmes, and he said that it was highly possible. Thus, we decided to confirm whether or not the murderer was the deceased’s son or not before nabbing the murderer.
26. Back at the house, I asked Jimmy to check the records for the initials, S.J. Indeed, only Sam Jones, the deceased’s name and another person by the name of Stanley Jones was in the records. Stanley Jones was the deceased’s son. Seeing the news, Jimmy’s mouth hung open in shock.
27. “Yes, Jimmy. The murderer is the deceased’s son. We have to arrest him now. Contact the airport to stop anyone by this name from leaving the country. Holmes and I shall head over to his house to nab him.” I instructed Jimmy, as Holmes and I sped off towards Stanley Jones’ house immediately.
28. “Ding Dong!” I rang the doorbell of Stanley Jones’ house.
29. A neighbour walked past the house, and asked us what we were doing there. We told her that we were here to arrest Mr. Jones for murdering his father, however, to our great surprise, the neighbour actually said, “Stanley? Impossible! He loves his father dearly. Even when his father scolds him, he keeps quiet! You must have got it wrong!”
30. Holmes and I looked at each other. We decided to go back, thinking that we had made a mistake. However, just at that moment, the door creaked open. We froze, and turned around slowly. A handsome young lad peered out of the door at Holmes and me curiously. “We are looking for Stanley Jones. Is he in?” I asked.
31. “Oh yes. I am Stanley Jones. Who are you?” The young man answered, “Come on in and talk!” Stanley invited us to go inside his house.
32. Holmes and I walked into the house, as we looked at the decorations, as well as the photos hanging on the wall. Unfortunately, there were only photos with only one person, thus there was no clue.
33. “Yes?” Stanley asked us, “Who exactly are you?
34. “We are detectives. Stanley Jones, you are suspected of murdering your father. Is that true?” Holmes questioned Stanley, as he whipped out his detective card.
35. Stanley’s face turned ghostly white. “N-n-n-o….. I did nothing of that sort! No! No! No! I did not shoot anybody! I did not use a gun! I have never used a gun in my whole life!” Stanley panicked, and stammered.
36. I wanted to tell him to stop arguing, when Holmes interrupted, “Mr. Jones, as far as I am aware of, nobody ever told you that your father was shot to death. The fact that you already know means that you were the murderer!”
37. Stanley stood still, legs rooted to the ground. Suddenly, his legs gave way, and he sat on the floor, face buried in his hands. “Yes, it was me. I killed my father. No, I killed Sam Jones. He is not my father. It was he! It was he who ruined my future! He destroyed my architectural plans! My dreams of being an architect are shattered now! It was his entire fault! I knew he never liked me. I was not his real son anyway. Mother passed away when I was young, and I was left under the care of him. He favored my brother, and never loved me. He did not want me to be an architect and he disapproved of my ambition. He destroyed my work on purpose! He deserved to die! I have been under his control for so many years. I owe him nothing! He owed me his life! He deserved to die! I met up with him today, asking him to draw me another plan; however, he scolded me again! I hate him! I have to go to jail because of him! And he gets let off easily!” Stanley shouted, agitated, tears streaming down his guilt-stricken face.
38. I stepped back in alarm, as Holmes leaned in to comfort him. “I understand, Mr. Jones, however, you do understand that it’s my job to nab you. I am sorry. I will have to handcuff you.”
39. Holmes handcuffed the crying Stanley Jones. “I hate Sam Jones! I hate Sam Jones!” Stanley was mumbling under his breath.
40. As Stanley was led away, I sighed, pitying Stanley Jones… Another solved case, yes. However, it led to another unhealed wound that I would never forget in my heart. It had touched me, and it was then and there, when I heard Stanley’s speech, that I understood the true meaning and importance of family bonding. (2163)
2. I cleared my throat, unhappy about the ignorance of my arrival, and said, “So, Holmes, my friend. Share with me your discoveries.” The other workers turned their heads around, but after seeing that it was me, they continued with their work. Sherlock Holmes gestured for me to go over, not even taking a glance at me. I walked over, and knelt down beside the sofa that he was examining. Holmes handed me a glove, and as I was putting it on, he pointed to the leg of the sofa, and there was a hole pierced right through it, and the borders of the hole had dark grey marks around it. The leg of the sofa acted as a support, and it was going to crumble into pieces at anytime, giving the sofa a look as if it was going to collapse anytime.
3. “That was the work of a bullet, wasn’t it, Holmes?” I asked. Years of professionalism had taught me the strong inferential skills needed for investigations, especially murder cases, like this one.
4. “Indeed, Watson, my friend. That was the work of a gun. Now, the presence of the bullet marks the presence of a gun. The presence of a gun, from my experience, marks the presence of the murder weapon. Now, all we have to do is to find the murder weapon, which we cannot do so, for we had been searching for it the whole afternoon, and nothing was found. The victim’s in the kitchen. There’s a bullet mark on his forehead. Be careful not to touch the victim. “Holmes remarked, without even looking at me. He continued examining the sofa, as if it was the most interesting object in the world. I ignored him, and left him there, as I headed off towards the kitchen.
5. Jimmy was already at the kitchen, receiving an envelope from another officer. Upon seeing me, Jimmy nodded at the officer, and the officer walked out of the kitchen. I gave a mere glance at the officer, and asked Jimmy,” What’s inside the envelope, Jimmy?”
6. “The death report of the deceased, sir.” Jimmy answered me, as he handed me the envelope. I took the envelope from his hands, and opened it.
Deceased: Sam Jones
Death cause: Loss of blood due to wound on the deceased’s head(believed caused by bullet).
Murder weapon: Gun
Date of death: 20-03-1999
7. I glanced up at Jimmy. Jimmy was looking at me, waiting for my orders. “So is that it? That’s the whole death report?” I questioned Jimmy.
8. “Yes, Sir Watson. That’s the whole death report.” Jimmy answered me.
9. “And Mr. Jimmy, my professional assistant,” I said sarcastically, “How do you expect me to investigate the case by providing me with such a lousy death report?” I asked, folding my arms, gritting my teeth, trying not to get angry.
10. “Sir, they did not provide a better death report. Boss says that we are to investigate from the death report.” Jimmy answered, and he walked out of the kitchen. I sighed and flung the envelope at the wall in despair. The question marks were forming at the rate that I was breathing, very rapidly, increasing by the minute. The many answers, however, were unknown. This was indeed the hardest case to crack since the day I joined the police force.
11. Without given a choice, I headed over to examine the victim- Sam Jones. The victim’s forehead was stained with blood, and there was a bullet in his head. I examined the wound, and found nothing suspicious. I leaned forward, and suddenly tripped. I almost hit the body, and I pushed myself up, heaving a sigh of relief. I looked at the place where I had tripped myself. There, peering out of the pocket of the deceased’s pants was a small piece of paper. “Could it be a note?” I thought. Suddenly, I got very excited. “Holmes! I think there’s something!” I yelled at my friend that was busy examining the most interesting sofa ever.
12. Holmes sauntered in, humming a tune. “Mr. Sherlock Holmes, do you even have the ability to hurry up?” I snapped, clearly impatient, and at the same time, waiting to present my discovery to him and see his amazed face. Now he will know how well at solving crimes detective Watson is!
13. “Whoa. Chill it, Watson. An unsolved case is no big deal! Perhaps someone might solve it, isn’t it? That is something positive!” Holmes commented, as he strolled in, hands behind his back.
14. “I do not see anything positive in your previous comment, Holmes. Are you trying to implement that the most senior officer standing right in front of you here, namely me, is dumb and has no ability to solve a case?” I cleared my throat and said. Holmes flicked his fringe, as he shrugged his shoulders, and shot Jimmy a look, as if to say, “Look! Your officer’s gone crazy!” Jimmy, at the side of the kitchen, was trying his best to stifle his laughter. I glared at him, and he immediately crept out of the kitchen, not especially desiring for a scolding.
15. Holmes squatted down beside the victim, and immediately spotted the piece of paper. “Oh! There’s a piece of paper here, Watson! Please do not tell me that you have not discovered it the whole time you were here.” Sherlock Holmes remarked, looking astounded, as he picked up the piece of paper that was in the pocket of the deceased.
16. “As a matter of fact, yours truly here discovered this. Thank you.” I snapped, as I crossed my arms and smiled smugly, snatching the piece of paper from him. “Come on! Let’s open it and read it. It looks like a note to me.” I told Holmes.
17. “I agree. I think so too,” Holmes said, as he unfolded the piece of paper he was holding. I crouched down to take a look at it.
"Please meet me at your house at 7 pm. I have something to tell you.
S.J."
18. “S. J.? Isn’t that the initials of the deceased, Sam Jones?” I questioned Holmes.
19. “Yeah, Watson, it is indeed.” Holmes was dumbfounded. He gaped at the piece of paper, trying to figure out the clues.
20. Equally stuck, I decided to take a break, and join everybody for lunch. I clapped my hands, and called, “Everybody listen up! Let’s go out for lunch! My treat!” I shouted across the house. Officers cheered, as they gathered at the sitting room of the house, and we walked out of the house.
21. As we were walking towards the restaurant, everybody was talking to each other. I lagged behind, however, thinking about the weird case. Suddenly, there was a tap on my shoulder.
22. “Sir, I have to go fetch my son, John.” Jimmy told me, “Can I go fetch him before returning here?”
23. “Oh sure, Jimmy. Now go ahead. We do not want your son to be waiting. See you later!” I called, as Jimmy rushed towards his car.
24. Suddenly, a thought struck me. Jimmy Decruz, John Decruz. Jimmy and his son had the same initials! Sam Jones’ initials were S.J., just like the person’s on the piece of paper! Yes, it had to be it. I had solved the case.
25. “Guys, lunch shall be postponed to dinner. Sorry. We have to head back to the house now.” I said. Groans were heard, as they reluctantly turned around and went back. On the way back, I discussed my discoveries with Holmes, and he said that it was highly possible. Thus, we decided to confirm whether or not the murderer was the deceased’s son or not before nabbing the murderer.
26. Back at the house, I asked Jimmy to check the records for the initials, S.J. Indeed, only Sam Jones, the deceased’s name and another person by the name of Stanley Jones was in the records. Stanley Jones was the deceased’s son. Seeing the news, Jimmy’s mouth hung open in shock.
27. “Yes, Jimmy. The murderer is the deceased’s son. We have to arrest him now. Contact the airport to stop anyone by this name from leaving the country. Holmes and I shall head over to his house to nab him.” I instructed Jimmy, as Holmes and I sped off towards Stanley Jones’ house immediately.
28. “Ding Dong!” I rang the doorbell of Stanley Jones’ house.
29. A neighbour walked past the house, and asked us what we were doing there. We told her that we were here to arrest Mr. Jones for murdering his father, however, to our great surprise, the neighbour actually said, “Stanley? Impossible! He loves his father dearly. Even when his father scolds him, he keeps quiet! You must have got it wrong!”
30. Holmes and I looked at each other. We decided to go back, thinking that we had made a mistake. However, just at that moment, the door creaked open. We froze, and turned around slowly. A handsome young lad peered out of the door at Holmes and me curiously. “We are looking for Stanley Jones. Is he in?” I asked.
31. “Oh yes. I am Stanley Jones. Who are you?” The young man answered, “Come on in and talk!” Stanley invited us to go inside his house.
32. Holmes and I walked into the house, as we looked at the decorations, as well as the photos hanging on the wall. Unfortunately, there were only photos with only one person, thus there was no clue.
33. “Yes?” Stanley asked us, “Who exactly are you?
34. “We are detectives. Stanley Jones, you are suspected of murdering your father. Is that true?” Holmes questioned Stanley, as he whipped out his detective card.
35. Stanley’s face turned ghostly white. “N-n-n-o….. I did nothing of that sort! No! No! No! I did not shoot anybody! I did not use a gun! I have never used a gun in my whole life!” Stanley panicked, and stammered.
36. I wanted to tell him to stop arguing, when Holmes interrupted, “Mr. Jones, as far as I am aware of, nobody ever told you that your father was shot to death. The fact that you already know means that you were the murderer!”
37. Stanley stood still, legs rooted to the ground. Suddenly, his legs gave way, and he sat on the floor, face buried in his hands. “Yes, it was me. I killed my father. No, I killed Sam Jones. He is not my father. It was he! It was he who ruined my future! He destroyed my architectural plans! My dreams of being an architect are shattered now! It was his entire fault! I knew he never liked me. I was not his real son anyway. Mother passed away when I was young, and I was left under the care of him. He favored my brother, and never loved me. He did not want me to be an architect and he disapproved of my ambition. He destroyed my work on purpose! He deserved to die! I have been under his control for so many years. I owe him nothing! He owed me his life! He deserved to die! I met up with him today, asking him to draw me another plan; however, he scolded me again! I hate him! I have to go to jail because of him! And he gets let off easily!” Stanley shouted, agitated, tears streaming down his guilt-stricken face.
38. I stepped back in alarm, as Holmes leaned in to comfort him. “I understand, Mr. Jones, however, you do understand that it’s my job to nab you. I am sorry. I will have to handcuff you.”
39. Holmes handcuffed the crying Stanley Jones. “I hate Sam Jones! I hate Sam Jones!” Stanley was mumbling under his breath.
40. As Stanley was led away, I sighed, pitying Stanley Jones… Another solved case, yes. However, it led to another unhealed wound that I would never forget in my heart. It had touched me, and it was then and there, when I heard Stanley’s speech, that I understood the true meaning and importance of family bonding. (2163)
Sunday, April 10, 2011
MSS22-Li Kang Chen
1. “Hi sir, how much are these meat?” Mrs. Johnson inquired as she pushed aside her thoughts about the fantastic surprise she was giving her husband.
2. “Forty-six dollars, forty five cents” The butcher replied. “How’s your husband? You have not talked about him recently?”
3. Mrs. Johnson sighed. “I don’t feel like talking about his mental condition. It just got worse. He came home depressed every day, talking of suicides. I’m planning a lunch surprise for my depressed husband.”
4. “Oh I see. Hope you get better with your cold and have a nice day!” The butcher bade Mrs. Johnson farewell.
5. Mrs. Johnson was greeted by the blazing sun and the beautiful day as she got out of the butchery. Birds perched on branches of trees of blossoms, singing the song of joy. Everything seemed fine on that day but things were not what they seemed. Suddenly, Mrs. Johnson saw the butcher driving towards her house. Weird, she thought.
6. “Darling, I’m home! Mind you help me put the cattle on?” Mrs. Johnson announced cheerfully when she got home after walking for an hour home.
7. What her eyes rested upon next shocked her completely. It was fear, terror, grief, sadness and even anger all at once. She collapsed onto the ground, and crawled towards her husband, motionlessly, only with tears streaming out of her eyes.
8. After recovering from the shock, she stood up, shaking with grieve.
9. “Darling, could you hear me? Darling? Oh darling, don’t leave me, don’t! Wake up, oh… No!” Mrs. Johnson screamed and shouted in frenzy.
10. She looked long at her husband who was hanged on the rope, and wept bitterly, as Detective Jacques arrived upon being informed about the suicide through her neighbors
11. “Did you touch anything upon arriving home?” Detective Jacques took out a notebook, as he questioned Mrs. Johnson.
12. “I swear on my life, no.” Mrs. Johnson responded. “I want you to clear away this mess, and I’ll try to forget about his suicide.”
13. Detective Jacques took a look at Mrs. Johnson, and wrote down “murder” in his notebook while announcing that it was a murder, since the chair is still under Mr. Johnson’s foot, and not kicked away.
14. “No… my darling is not murdered… oh no… no… no!” Mrs. Johnson sobbed. “I can’t take it! My darling is such a nice man, how can someone even try to murder him?”
15. Meanwhile, detective Jacques ignored Mrs. Johnson, and step forth and removed Mr. Johnson’s clothes.
16. “Watch what you’re doing!” Bellow Mrs. Johnson rudely at Detective Jacques.
17. “We have to examine the body for clues, and with clues, we then can solve the mystery.” explained Detective Jacques patiently to Mrs. Johnson.
18. At this time, another policeman arrived, said to be Detective Jacques’s assistant. Detective Jacques took of the clothes of Mr. Johnson, and found an injection hole, together with a stab wound. He noted down “Stab wound and injection mark on victim” in his notebook.
19. “May I find out where have you been before you found your husband in this state?”
20. “I…I went to the butcher to buy lunch. He also drove toward my house after that.” Mrs. Johnson stammered in tears.
21. “Do you know any way that the butcher can obtain a syringe?” Detective Jacques continued to fire questions at Mrs. Johnson.
22. “His son is a doctor.” Mrs. Johnson answered truthfully.
23. Detective Jacques wrote Butcher under the column of suspects, and signaled to the policeman to go to interview the butcher.
24. The first thing he saw when he entered the butchery, was the to-do list. On it was written: Borrow syringe from son. Detective Jacques noted down the to-do list, just as the butcher returned with his clothes stained by blood completely. Detective Jacques jotted down “Butcher’s cloth is blood stained”, and asked the butcher whether why he has tried to borrow his son’s syringe.
25. “Hey who are you! Before I answer your ridiculous question which is not your business, tell me who you are and why are you here first!” hollered the butcher rudely towards Detective Jacques.
26. “I am Detective Jacques, and I’m here to investigate on the death of Mr. Johnson.” Detective Jacques self-introduced himself calmly.
27. “Mr. Johnson’s dead? Oh no! I cannot believe it! And anyway, I borrowed the syringe to inject some growth speed up chemical into my chickens.” The butcher responded back.
28. “And… the blood on your shirt?” Detective Jacques started abruptly.
29. “Oh, chicken blood!” The butcher answered mechanically with a laugh.
30. Detective Jacques took a look at the butcher’s only knife, and jotted down: “Blood on shirt is chicken blood”, “Syringe for growth chemicals on chickens” and “Knife to large to create the small stab wound”. He then asked for the direction to his chicken farm, and drove off for an interview with the gate keeper. Meanwhile, he told his assistant, the police officer to go back and inform Mrs. Johnson of the findings.
31. Upon arriving at the chicken farm, the watchmen, Mr. Higgins, stumbled over towards Detective Jacques.
32. “Howdy! Heard from the Mr. Brewster, the butcher’s son that you are the detective for the murder on Mr. Johnson right? Mr. Higgins greeted Detective Jacques pleasantly.
33. “Yes. May I ask you something?” Detective Jacques answered with a smile.
34. “Ask away!” Mr. Higgins approved.
35. “Did the butcher come here this morning to kill some chickens and inject growth chemicals into them?”
36. “Yes, yes. I still remember his bloody shirt. It was hilarious.” Mr. Higgins giggled.
37. Detective Jacques put “alibi” next to the butchers name from the column of suspects, bade goodbye to Mr. Higgins and left, confused. There’s something fishy about this crime, and now we are stuck in a deadlock. Thought Detective Jacques.
38. Back at Mrs. Johnson’s house, Detective Jacques was alarmed to see that the house was empty. But Detective Jacques surprisingly remained calm, and noted down the details of the kidnap.
39. His spirits sank, as no one was able to unravel this mind-boggling mystery. For a while it seemed as if Detective Jacques was ready to give up, but he took out his notebook again silently, and wrote “Mr. Brewster” under the column of suspects.
40. First of all, the butcher’s son had access to operation knifes and the syringe. Secondly, the butcher’s son was not supposed to know about the incidence at all before his father, the butcher. Detective Jacques thought, as he knocked on the door of the Mr. Brewster’s house.
41. “Come in!” a voice from inside the house reacted to Detective Jacques’s knocking.
42. Detective Jacques stepped in and self introduced.
43. “Do you know about Mr. Johnson’s murders?” Detective Jacques inquired.
44. “What murder? And what does it have to do with me?” bellowed the Mr. Brewster.
45. “May I take a look at your syringe and your operation knife?” requested Detective Jacques, ignoring Mr. Brewster’s lies.
46. Detective Jacques wrote down beside Mr. Brewster in his notebook “Decline to admit that about his knowledge of the murder”. Then he walked over to stare at the operation knife and the syringe. He again, wrote “Murder weapon belong to butcher’s son, correct size.”’
47. “Did you go anywhere today?” Detective Jacques asked again.
48. “Yes, in the morning to Mr. Higgins. We had a long chat there.” answered Mr. Brewster. “Anyway, there’s no chance I’m the murderer, and think of it, my father and Mr. Higgins also have access to my poisons, operation knifes and syringe does…”
49. “Before you continue, I would like to say, you are arrested for murder and kidnap.” Detective Jacques announced.
50. “What… how…did you know…?” The butcher’s son stammered in shock.
51. Mr. Brewster drew out his gun, and pointed his gun towards the cupboard. At this time, the butcher arrived at the scene and saw this. He crept up to his son and hit his gun off, where he stamped it.
52. “Son, do you know the consequences of murder? The worst thing you can do is to commit a crime. If you had done a crime, you must accept the consequences. Now free the people you’ve kidnapped.” commanded the butcher, with tears of sorrow and disappointment in his eyes.
53. The butcher’s son opened the cupboard and allowed Mrs. Johnson and the cowardly and irresponsible assistant to come out. The assistant came out in tears, so did Mrs. Johnson. After that, the butcher’s son was arrested by the Detective Jacques assistant, after the shock recovery, where Mr. Brewster was brought to the police station, and received his death sentence. The butcher stood there, shocked, tearful and motionless for a moment, as he fell unconscious to the ground. Mr. Brewster took a last look at his father, as he bit back his tears and went to jail, waiting fearfully for the day of the execution.
54. Detective Jacques smiled as he stamped “case solved” onto the page of his notebook for Mr. Johnson’s murder. (1460)
2. “Forty-six dollars, forty five cents” The butcher replied. “How’s your husband? You have not talked about him recently?”
3. Mrs. Johnson sighed. “I don’t feel like talking about his mental condition. It just got worse. He came home depressed every day, talking of suicides. I’m planning a lunch surprise for my depressed husband.”
4. “Oh I see. Hope you get better with your cold and have a nice day!” The butcher bade Mrs. Johnson farewell.
5. Mrs. Johnson was greeted by the blazing sun and the beautiful day as she got out of the butchery. Birds perched on branches of trees of blossoms, singing the song of joy. Everything seemed fine on that day but things were not what they seemed. Suddenly, Mrs. Johnson saw the butcher driving towards her house. Weird, she thought.
6. “Darling, I’m home! Mind you help me put the cattle on?” Mrs. Johnson announced cheerfully when she got home after walking for an hour home.
7. What her eyes rested upon next shocked her completely. It was fear, terror, grief, sadness and even anger all at once. She collapsed onto the ground, and crawled towards her husband, motionlessly, only with tears streaming out of her eyes.
8. After recovering from the shock, she stood up, shaking with grieve.
9. “Darling, could you hear me? Darling? Oh darling, don’t leave me, don’t! Wake up, oh… No!” Mrs. Johnson screamed and shouted in frenzy.
10. She looked long at her husband who was hanged on the rope, and wept bitterly, as Detective Jacques arrived upon being informed about the suicide through her neighbors
11. “Did you touch anything upon arriving home?” Detective Jacques took out a notebook, as he questioned Mrs. Johnson.
12. “I swear on my life, no.” Mrs. Johnson responded. “I want you to clear away this mess, and I’ll try to forget about his suicide.”
13. Detective Jacques took a look at Mrs. Johnson, and wrote down “murder” in his notebook while announcing that it was a murder, since the chair is still under Mr. Johnson’s foot, and not kicked away.
14. “No… my darling is not murdered… oh no… no… no!” Mrs. Johnson sobbed. “I can’t take it! My darling is such a nice man, how can someone even try to murder him?”
15. Meanwhile, detective Jacques ignored Mrs. Johnson, and step forth and removed Mr. Johnson’s clothes.
16. “Watch what you’re doing!” Bellow Mrs. Johnson rudely at Detective Jacques.
17. “We have to examine the body for clues, and with clues, we then can solve the mystery.” explained Detective Jacques patiently to Mrs. Johnson.
18. At this time, another policeman arrived, said to be Detective Jacques’s assistant. Detective Jacques took of the clothes of Mr. Johnson, and found an injection hole, together with a stab wound. He noted down “Stab wound and injection mark on victim” in his notebook.
19. “May I find out where have you been before you found your husband in this state?”
20. “I…I went to the butcher to buy lunch. He also drove toward my house after that.” Mrs. Johnson stammered in tears.
21. “Do you know any way that the butcher can obtain a syringe?” Detective Jacques continued to fire questions at Mrs. Johnson.
22. “His son is a doctor.” Mrs. Johnson answered truthfully.
23. Detective Jacques wrote Butcher under the column of suspects, and signaled to the policeman to go to interview the butcher.
24. The first thing he saw when he entered the butchery, was the to-do list. On it was written: Borrow syringe from son. Detective Jacques noted down the to-do list, just as the butcher returned with his clothes stained by blood completely. Detective Jacques jotted down “Butcher’s cloth is blood stained”, and asked the butcher whether why he has tried to borrow his son’s syringe.
25. “Hey who are you! Before I answer your ridiculous question which is not your business, tell me who you are and why are you here first!” hollered the butcher rudely towards Detective Jacques.
26. “I am Detective Jacques, and I’m here to investigate on the death of Mr. Johnson.” Detective Jacques self-introduced himself calmly.
27. “Mr. Johnson’s dead? Oh no! I cannot believe it! And anyway, I borrowed the syringe to inject some growth speed up chemical into my chickens.” The butcher responded back.
28. “And… the blood on your shirt?” Detective Jacques started abruptly.
29. “Oh, chicken blood!” The butcher answered mechanically with a laugh.
30. Detective Jacques took a look at the butcher’s only knife, and jotted down: “Blood on shirt is chicken blood”, “Syringe for growth chemicals on chickens” and “Knife to large to create the small stab wound”. He then asked for the direction to his chicken farm, and drove off for an interview with the gate keeper. Meanwhile, he told his assistant, the police officer to go back and inform Mrs. Johnson of the findings.
31. Upon arriving at the chicken farm, the watchmen, Mr. Higgins, stumbled over towards Detective Jacques.
32. “Howdy! Heard from the Mr. Brewster, the butcher’s son that you are the detective for the murder on Mr. Johnson right? Mr. Higgins greeted Detective Jacques pleasantly.
33. “Yes. May I ask you something?” Detective Jacques answered with a smile.
34. “Ask away!” Mr. Higgins approved.
35. “Did the butcher come here this morning to kill some chickens and inject growth chemicals into them?”
36. “Yes, yes. I still remember his bloody shirt. It was hilarious.” Mr. Higgins giggled.
37. Detective Jacques put “alibi” next to the butchers name from the column of suspects, bade goodbye to Mr. Higgins and left, confused. There’s something fishy about this crime, and now we are stuck in a deadlock. Thought Detective Jacques.
38. Back at Mrs. Johnson’s house, Detective Jacques was alarmed to see that the house was empty. But Detective Jacques surprisingly remained calm, and noted down the details of the kidnap.
39. His spirits sank, as no one was able to unravel this mind-boggling mystery. For a while it seemed as if Detective Jacques was ready to give up, but he took out his notebook again silently, and wrote “Mr. Brewster” under the column of suspects.
40. First of all, the butcher’s son had access to operation knifes and the syringe. Secondly, the butcher’s son was not supposed to know about the incidence at all before his father, the butcher. Detective Jacques thought, as he knocked on the door of the Mr. Brewster’s house.
41. “Come in!” a voice from inside the house reacted to Detective Jacques’s knocking.
42. Detective Jacques stepped in and self introduced.
43. “Do you know about Mr. Johnson’s murders?” Detective Jacques inquired.
44. “What murder? And what does it have to do with me?” bellowed the Mr. Brewster.
45. “May I take a look at your syringe and your operation knife?” requested Detective Jacques, ignoring Mr. Brewster’s lies.
46. Detective Jacques wrote down beside Mr. Brewster in his notebook “Decline to admit that about his knowledge of the murder”. Then he walked over to stare at the operation knife and the syringe. He again, wrote “Murder weapon belong to butcher’s son, correct size.”’
47. “Did you go anywhere today?” Detective Jacques asked again.
48. “Yes, in the morning to Mr. Higgins. We had a long chat there.” answered Mr. Brewster. “Anyway, there’s no chance I’m the murderer, and think of it, my father and Mr. Higgins also have access to my poisons, operation knifes and syringe does…”
49. “Before you continue, I would like to say, you are arrested for murder and kidnap.” Detective Jacques announced.
50. “What… how…did you know…?” The butcher’s son stammered in shock.
51. Mr. Brewster drew out his gun, and pointed his gun towards the cupboard. At this time, the butcher arrived at the scene and saw this. He crept up to his son and hit his gun off, where he stamped it.
52. “Son, do you know the consequences of murder? The worst thing you can do is to commit a crime. If you had done a crime, you must accept the consequences. Now free the people you’ve kidnapped.” commanded the butcher, with tears of sorrow and disappointment in his eyes.
53. The butcher’s son opened the cupboard and allowed Mrs. Johnson and the cowardly and irresponsible assistant to come out. The assistant came out in tears, so did Mrs. Johnson. After that, the butcher’s son was arrested by the Detective Jacques assistant, after the shock recovery, where Mr. Brewster was brought to the police station, and received his death sentence. The butcher stood there, shocked, tearful and motionless for a moment, as he fell unconscious to the ground. Mr. Brewster took a last look at his father, as he bit back his tears and went to jail, waiting fearfully for the day of the execution.
54. Detective Jacques smiled as he stamped “case solved” onto the page of his notebook for Mr. Johnson’s murder. (1460)
MSS21-Zhang Wanyi
1. That Christmas was one of the coldest day of the year. Usually, the people would go around the neighbourhood singing carols or decorating the Christmas trees by the side of the streets, but that year, Christmas just seemed to be a curse that enveloped the whole state in a creepy silence that seemed to have formed a thick layer of ice over the houses, making the weather extremely cold as well .
2. A warm glow came from one of the houses on St Karen Street, making the house look ever so friendly and inviting in the cold and silent street. 5 people occupied the whole 2-level house. In the kitchen was a plump lady in her 50s, singing along to the carols in the radio. In her hand was a egg beater, and her fingers were covered in gooy muck( which were actually eggs and dough). Upstairs, an old man aged about 80 was lying on the bed, waiting for the his daughter, Ms Carruthers, the plump lady, to bring his dinner up. He had broken his leg 1 or 2 months ago, and had not fully healed yet. In a connesting room, an old lady, his wife, had fallen asleep on her rocking chair, her undone knitting lying on her lap.
3. The other 2 occupants, a Mrs Pooly and Mr Pooly, were in the guest rooms, cleaning up the mess they had made during the day. Mrs Pooly was Ms Carruther’s sister, and she and her husbsnd had came for a short- term visit for the Christmas holiday. Mrs Pooly had long, thick, blue hair which was piled on the top of her head, was strong and built, while Mr Pooly was the complete opposite, with only a few strands of hair on his head and a thin and reedy figure.
4. After cleaning up, the Poolys went downstairs to taste the cake that Ms Carruthers had just finished baking – the strong scent of cake told them that the cake was ready. The Poolys and Ms Carruthers a nice time chatting and eating the cake. It was then Ms Carruthers suddenly remembered that her father was still waiting upstairs for her to deliver his dinner. Quickly apologizing that she had to go upstairs for a while, she quickly snatched up the tray of food and was about to go upstairs when she heard Mrs Pooly say,” I feel so full! Well, if anyone is looking for me, I’ll be outside taking a walk.”
5. “Sure. Go ahead,” said Ms Carruthers, and went upstairs. As Mrs Pooly stepped outside, a gust of cold wind hit her face, and she shuddered. It was uncommon that the streets would be so quiet and cold. It was almost like it was a sign that something bad was going to happen.
6. “Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” A blood-curdling scream pierced through the whole neighbourhood. In the house, Mr Pooly had such a fright that he was only a tiny bit away from fainting. Upstairs, Mr Carruthers flinched slightly. Mrs Pooly came running back. After calming down her husband, she went upstairs and stuck her nose into Mr Carruthers’ room. Mr Carruther’s room seemed fine except for the fact that Mr Carruthers was in a state of shock. “ What happened? What happened?” Mr Carruthers shook his head after he came out of his daze. “…I…I don’t… know… It’s so loud… the scream… seemed like it came… from next… door…do… go… and… check… if… something… is wrong…” Mrs Pooly comforted the old man like she was soothing a little child, and after making sure he was okay, strode into the room next door. The room Mrs Carruthers was in.
7. A weird sight greeted Mrs Pooly, but she let out a little gasp. On the floor lay a horrified Ms Carruthers, her eyes wide open, her hands grasping at her face. On her mother’s rocking chair, Mrs Carruthers was still asleep. “ What is the matter with you? I think the scream I heard was let out by you, wasn’t it? What were you thinking about? Waking the whole neighbourhood? Notheing is the matter and you’re screaming like this…” Mrs Pooly would have nagged on and on if Ms Carruthers had not stood up shakily, slapped her, and said,” Shut up. Look at mother carefully. Don’t you see?! She’s… she’s…” Unable to continue, Ms Carruthers broke down, crying wildly. Mrs Pooly walked over to her mother and shook her several times. Nothing. Again. Nothing. As if she suddenly realized what is happening, Mrs Pooly turned around to face her sister, her knees suddenly feeling weak, her head spinning. Her sister had came out of her hysterics, and seeing her expression, nodded slowly.
8. Now, Mrs Pooly was one to take action as soon as possible when something extraordinary happened. Shaking herself out of her daze, she said briskly,” Now, the police is on holiday today, being Christmas, so we can only go to the private detective in town. I should say he hsn’t gone for a holiday.” Pulling on her fur coat, Mrs Pooly took her husband and Ms Carruthers by their hands and dragged them along with her, to the house of the famous detective, Mr Tood’s house.
9. At Mr Tood’s house, Mr Tood was having his supper, curled up in his old but comfortable sofa seat. All of a sudden, ” DINGDINGDINGDINGDING!!!” the doorbell rang several times continually, and before he knew it, the door slammed open. “ Mr Tood! What were you doing? And I rang the bell so many times!” Mr Tood looked hard at the threesome before him, and recognized them as the Carruthers and the Poolys. “ Well, what is it?” he asked, surprised that they had came at such a late hour. Rapidly, Mrs Pooly, being the most collected one of the three, told Mr Tood the story. “ What?! Mrs Carruthers died!”
10. Mr Tood decided that although it was very late now, he would investigate. There were 4 suspects. Mrs Pooly, Mr Pooly, Ms Carruthers and Mr Carruthers. However, all of them seemed unlikely. Ms Carruthers could have been a suspect if she had not claimed that she had been downstairs with Mr Pooly all the time after she delivered Mr Carruthers’ food to him, and had only gone up after hearing the scream, her being the braver of the two. Mr Carruthers could also have been the suspect had not his leg been fractured for the last few months. Wait. The last few months. From what he knew, fractures heal in about 3 weeks. So, Mr Carruthers was not injured.
11. Mr Carruthers was the murderer.
12. Once this was revealed, everything made pretty much sense. He had used the knitting needle that was left on Mrs Carruthers’ lap and stabbed her somewhere on a vulnerable spot. Mr Carruthers would get all the money that Mrs Carruthers had left at her side of her family, and the insurance of her death too!
13. When the police investigated the next day( The Poolys and Carruthers had been asked to leave everything in place)they agreed with the detective’s statement. It was uncommon that such an old man would do this, but then, anything these days can happen… (1198)
2. A warm glow came from one of the houses on St Karen Street, making the house look ever so friendly and inviting in the cold and silent street. 5 people occupied the whole 2-level house. In the kitchen was a plump lady in her 50s, singing along to the carols in the radio. In her hand was a egg beater, and her fingers were covered in gooy muck( which were actually eggs and dough). Upstairs, an old man aged about 80 was lying on the bed, waiting for the his daughter, Ms Carruthers, the plump lady, to bring his dinner up. He had broken his leg 1 or 2 months ago, and had not fully healed yet. In a connesting room, an old lady, his wife, had fallen asleep on her rocking chair, her undone knitting lying on her lap.
3. The other 2 occupants, a Mrs Pooly and Mr Pooly, were in the guest rooms, cleaning up the mess they had made during the day. Mrs Pooly was Ms Carruther’s sister, and she and her husbsnd had came for a short- term visit for the Christmas holiday. Mrs Pooly had long, thick, blue hair which was piled on the top of her head, was strong and built, while Mr Pooly was the complete opposite, with only a few strands of hair on his head and a thin and reedy figure.
4. After cleaning up, the Poolys went downstairs to taste the cake that Ms Carruthers had just finished baking – the strong scent of cake told them that the cake was ready. The Poolys and Ms Carruthers a nice time chatting and eating the cake. It was then Ms Carruthers suddenly remembered that her father was still waiting upstairs for her to deliver his dinner. Quickly apologizing that she had to go upstairs for a while, she quickly snatched up the tray of food and was about to go upstairs when she heard Mrs Pooly say,” I feel so full! Well, if anyone is looking for me, I’ll be outside taking a walk.”
5. “Sure. Go ahead,” said Ms Carruthers, and went upstairs. As Mrs Pooly stepped outside, a gust of cold wind hit her face, and she shuddered. It was uncommon that the streets would be so quiet and cold. It was almost like it was a sign that something bad was going to happen.
6. “Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” A blood-curdling scream pierced through the whole neighbourhood. In the house, Mr Pooly had such a fright that he was only a tiny bit away from fainting. Upstairs, Mr Carruthers flinched slightly. Mrs Pooly came running back. After calming down her husband, she went upstairs and stuck her nose into Mr Carruthers’ room. Mr Carruther’s room seemed fine except for the fact that Mr Carruthers was in a state of shock. “ What happened? What happened?” Mr Carruthers shook his head after he came out of his daze. “…I…I don’t… know… It’s so loud… the scream… seemed like it came… from next… door…do… go… and… check… if… something… is wrong…” Mrs Pooly comforted the old man like she was soothing a little child, and after making sure he was okay, strode into the room next door. The room Mrs Carruthers was in.
7. A weird sight greeted Mrs Pooly, but she let out a little gasp. On the floor lay a horrified Ms Carruthers, her eyes wide open, her hands grasping at her face. On her mother’s rocking chair, Mrs Carruthers was still asleep. “ What is the matter with you? I think the scream I heard was let out by you, wasn’t it? What were you thinking about? Waking the whole neighbourhood? Notheing is the matter and you’re screaming like this…” Mrs Pooly would have nagged on and on if Ms Carruthers had not stood up shakily, slapped her, and said,” Shut up. Look at mother carefully. Don’t you see?! She’s… she’s…” Unable to continue, Ms Carruthers broke down, crying wildly. Mrs Pooly walked over to her mother and shook her several times. Nothing. Again. Nothing. As if she suddenly realized what is happening, Mrs Pooly turned around to face her sister, her knees suddenly feeling weak, her head spinning. Her sister had came out of her hysterics, and seeing her expression, nodded slowly.
8. Now, Mrs Pooly was one to take action as soon as possible when something extraordinary happened. Shaking herself out of her daze, she said briskly,” Now, the police is on holiday today, being Christmas, so we can only go to the private detective in town. I should say he hsn’t gone for a holiday.” Pulling on her fur coat, Mrs Pooly took her husband and Ms Carruthers by their hands and dragged them along with her, to the house of the famous detective, Mr Tood’s house.
9. At Mr Tood’s house, Mr Tood was having his supper, curled up in his old but comfortable sofa seat. All of a sudden, ” DINGDINGDINGDINGDING!!!” the doorbell rang several times continually, and before he knew it, the door slammed open. “ Mr Tood! What were you doing? And I rang the bell so many times!” Mr Tood looked hard at the threesome before him, and recognized them as the Carruthers and the Poolys. “ Well, what is it?” he asked, surprised that they had came at such a late hour. Rapidly, Mrs Pooly, being the most collected one of the three, told Mr Tood the story. “ What?! Mrs Carruthers died!”
10. Mr Tood decided that although it was very late now, he would investigate. There were 4 suspects. Mrs Pooly, Mr Pooly, Ms Carruthers and Mr Carruthers. However, all of them seemed unlikely. Ms Carruthers could have been a suspect if she had not claimed that she had been downstairs with Mr Pooly all the time after she delivered Mr Carruthers’ food to him, and had only gone up after hearing the scream, her being the braver of the two. Mr Carruthers could also have been the suspect had not his leg been fractured for the last few months. Wait. The last few months. From what he knew, fractures heal in about 3 weeks. So, Mr Carruthers was not injured.
11. Mr Carruthers was the murderer.
12. Once this was revealed, everything made pretty much sense. He had used the knitting needle that was left on Mrs Carruthers’ lap and stabbed her somewhere on a vulnerable spot. Mr Carruthers would get all the money that Mrs Carruthers had left at her side of her family, and the insurance of her death too!
13. When the police investigated the next day( The Poolys and Carruthers had been asked to leave everything in place)they agreed with the detective’s statement. It was uncommon that such an old man would do this, but then, anything these days can happen… (1198)
MSS20-Zhai Zirun
1. Miss Murple was just calmly sipping her tea while sitting in her armchair when there was an urgent knock on the door. She said mildly, “Come in.”, and the knocker opened the door and strode towards her. She recognised Inspector Slick from the nearby police station, whom she had made an acquaintance with.
2. He pulled out a nearby chair and sat down in it, sweating profusely and panting for a few seconds, while Miss Murple waited patiently for him to explain his sudden arrival. He then coughed and told Miss Murple that there was a murder at the town square, and asked her if she would like to investigate the case, since she had solved some difficult cases before.
3. She considered the prospect for a minute, and then agreed, “Alright. However, I shall like to carry out my own investigation, instead of having the police going everywhere with me and attracting a lot of unwanted attention.” Inspector Slick looked relieved, and then asked her if she wanted to take a look at the crime scene, and she agreed.
4. Upon arriving at the town square after fifteen minutes, Miss Murple saw a body lying on the ground with a barrier around it and a large crowd gathered around the barrier. Inspector Slick cleared a way and she went through the crowd to look at the body. She saw that it was the body of Anna Stowell, who lived quite far from the town square. Inspector Slick informed her that Anna Stowell had probably died around midnight and that she died from a shot straight to her head.
5. Then, he held out a torn piece of card in a transparent plastic bag and said, “This was found in the victim’s right hand.” Miss Murple took it and saw that there was the writing “oej twleslo” on it near the top of the piece. A pen was also found in Anna’s pocket. The Inspector also told Miss Murple that no one had made any sense out of it. Miss Murple told Inspector Slick that she would have to pay a visit to the victim’s house, and that she wants to go by herself. Subsequently, she set off towards the direction of the Stowell house, leaving Inspector Slick behind looking bewildered.
6. After ten minutes, Miss Murple arrived at the house. Then, she knocked at the door and waited for someone to open it. Finally, Mrs Sarah Stowell, the mother of Anna Stowell, who was another acquaintance of hers, hobbled up and opened the door. She looked stricken and her face was quite white. However, she still said, “Come in” calmly.
7. Miss Murple followed her into the living room. She sat down slowly on an armchair and motioned for Miss Murple to take a seat too. After Miss Murple did so, she asked her, “What brings you here, Mary?” “I have come here to talk to you about the murder of your daughter, because I believe I have a clue to tracking down her murderer.”
8. Mrs Stowell looked astounded, and then exclaimed, “I will do my best to help you.” Miss Murple took out the piece of card that Inspector Slick had given her earlier, and then showed it to her, “Do you think you recognise this scribble?” Mrs Stowell put on her spectacles, which were lying on the table, and peered at the writing.
9. She confirmed that it was her daughter’s handwriting. Then, Miss Murple asked her if Anna had any relative called “Joe Stowell”, and if Anna liked making up anagrams. Mrs Stowell looked surprised and replied that Anna had a distant cousin called Joe Stowell and that Anna did like making up anagrams, and was so good at it that she could make one up in a few seconds.
10. After that, Miss Murple asked her, “Was Anna left any money or valuable items by her recently deceased grandmother?” The grandmother of Anna Stowell was well known to be quite rich by the time she died. “Actually,” Mrs Stowell replied, “Anna’s grandmother left her the whole of her riches, but if anything happened to her……” Mrs Stowell suddenly broke down, and Miss Murple had to make her a cup of tea. “If anything happened to her, then the whole thing would be left to Joe’s uncle.” Then, Mrs Stowell also told her that Anna had sneaked out secretly on the night she died.
11. Miss Murple nodded and voiced her thanks, then left the house in quite a hurry. She went back to the town square, and then rummaged in the trash bins, much to the disgust and astonishment of the passer-bys. She seemed to have found something, and took it along with her to the police station in a rush.
12. At the police station, Miss Murple asked to see Inspector Slick, then told him that she had solved the mystery. She explained, “You see, the writing on the paper is actually an anagram. It, when solved, spells “Joe Stowell”. However, I thought that there might be a top half of the message, and therefore decided to visit Mrs Sarah Stowell. She told me that Anna liked making up anagrams, and could make one up within a few seconds. Also, Anna's rich grandmother left her the whole of her riches, but those were left to Joe Stowell’s uncle if anything happened to Anna. Therefore, this is a possible motive for the crime.”
13. Then, she continued to explain, “The murderer probably secretly arranged to meet Anna in the town square and killed her then by shooting her. Then, he walked away, but came back to see if she had left any clue that he was the murderer just before she died. He found a slip of paper with the anagram of “uncle of Joe Stowell”, which is referring to him. He wanted to get the slip of paper out from her fingers, but could not, as her body had already gone rigid, so he tore the top half away, left behind the anagram of “Joe Stowell”, and threw the top half into the bin.” She held up the grubby and torn piece of paper she found in the bin. “My conclusion is that this is a very careless and brainless murderer.”
14. Inspector Slick looked amazed, then thanked Miss Murple profusely and went to arrest the murderer, who was Joe Stowell’s uncle, and also Anna Stowell’s distant uncle. (1062)
2. He pulled out a nearby chair and sat down in it, sweating profusely and panting for a few seconds, while Miss Murple waited patiently for him to explain his sudden arrival. He then coughed and told Miss Murple that there was a murder at the town square, and asked her if she would like to investigate the case, since she had solved some difficult cases before.
3. She considered the prospect for a minute, and then agreed, “Alright. However, I shall like to carry out my own investigation, instead of having the police going everywhere with me and attracting a lot of unwanted attention.” Inspector Slick looked relieved, and then asked her if she wanted to take a look at the crime scene, and she agreed.
4. Upon arriving at the town square after fifteen minutes, Miss Murple saw a body lying on the ground with a barrier around it and a large crowd gathered around the barrier. Inspector Slick cleared a way and she went through the crowd to look at the body. She saw that it was the body of Anna Stowell, who lived quite far from the town square. Inspector Slick informed her that Anna Stowell had probably died around midnight and that she died from a shot straight to her head.
5. Then, he held out a torn piece of card in a transparent plastic bag and said, “This was found in the victim’s right hand.” Miss Murple took it and saw that there was the writing “oej twleslo” on it near the top of the piece. A pen was also found in Anna’s pocket. The Inspector also told Miss Murple that no one had made any sense out of it. Miss Murple told Inspector Slick that she would have to pay a visit to the victim’s house, and that she wants to go by herself. Subsequently, she set off towards the direction of the Stowell house, leaving Inspector Slick behind looking bewildered.
6. After ten minutes, Miss Murple arrived at the house. Then, she knocked at the door and waited for someone to open it. Finally, Mrs Sarah Stowell, the mother of Anna Stowell, who was another acquaintance of hers, hobbled up and opened the door. She looked stricken and her face was quite white. However, she still said, “Come in” calmly.
7. Miss Murple followed her into the living room. She sat down slowly on an armchair and motioned for Miss Murple to take a seat too. After Miss Murple did so, she asked her, “What brings you here, Mary?” “I have come here to talk to you about the murder of your daughter, because I believe I have a clue to tracking down her murderer.”
8. Mrs Stowell looked astounded, and then exclaimed, “I will do my best to help you.” Miss Murple took out the piece of card that Inspector Slick had given her earlier, and then showed it to her, “Do you think you recognise this scribble?” Mrs Stowell put on her spectacles, which were lying on the table, and peered at the writing.
9. She confirmed that it was her daughter’s handwriting. Then, Miss Murple asked her if Anna had any relative called “Joe Stowell”, and if Anna liked making up anagrams. Mrs Stowell looked surprised and replied that Anna had a distant cousin called Joe Stowell and that Anna did like making up anagrams, and was so good at it that she could make one up in a few seconds.
10. After that, Miss Murple asked her, “Was Anna left any money or valuable items by her recently deceased grandmother?” The grandmother of Anna Stowell was well known to be quite rich by the time she died. “Actually,” Mrs Stowell replied, “Anna’s grandmother left her the whole of her riches, but if anything happened to her……” Mrs Stowell suddenly broke down, and Miss Murple had to make her a cup of tea. “If anything happened to her, then the whole thing would be left to Joe’s uncle.” Then, Mrs Stowell also told her that Anna had sneaked out secretly on the night she died.
11. Miss Murple nodded and voiced her thanks, then left the house in quite a hurry. She went back to the town square, and then rummaged in the trash bins, much to the disgust and astonishment of the passer-bys. She seemed to have found something, and took it along with her to the police station in a rush.
12. At the police station, Miss Murple asked to see Inspector Slick, then told him that she had solved the mystery. She explained, “You see, the writing on the paper is actually an anagram. It, when solved, spells “Joe Stowell”. However, I thought that there might be a top half of the message, and therefore decided to visit Mrs Sarah Stowell. She told me that Anna liked making up anagrams, and could make one up within a few seconds. Also, Anna's rich grandmother left her the whole of her riches, but those were left to Joe Stowell’s uncle if anything happened to Anna. Therefore, this is a possible motive for the crime.”
13. Then, she continued to explain, “The murderer probably secretly arranged to meet Anna in the town square and killed her then by shooting her. Then, he walked away, but came back to see if she had left any clue that he was the murderer just before she died. He found a slip of paper with the anagram of “uncle of Joe Stowell”, which is referring to him. He wanted to get the slip of paper out from her fingers, but could not, as her body had already gone rigid, so he tore the top half away, left behind the anagram of “Joe Stowell”, and threw the top half into the bin.” She held up the grubby and torn piece of paper she found in the bin. “My conclusion is that this is a very careless and brainless murderer.”
14. Inspector Slick looked amazed, then thanked Miss Murple profusely and went to arrest the murderer, who was Joe Stowell’s uncle, and also Anna Stowell’s distant uncle. (1062)
MSS19-Choo Zhen Hui
1. It all happened like this. The first case happened on Monday, and the location was a camera shop. At that time the camera shop has just sold one camera. When the customer went out from the shop, the counter wanted to put another similar camera into the shelf. Suddenly, a wind blew and the camera he was holding disappeared.
2. The camera manager gave his statement to the police that one of his assistant must have stolen it. But the police searched the entire shop and to no avail. In such short time, how can the assistant hide the camera? This case baffles John, the police inspector.
3. On Wednesday, the second case happened. The location was a gold shop. A customer was shopping for gold bracelets when a wind blew over the shop and the one of the gold bracelets was instantly gone. The gold shop manager suspects the customer stole it, so he reported this case to the police. The police searched the customer’s body, but found nothing. Looks like it is another baffling case for John.
4. The third case happened on Friday; actually it is not to be surprised, because the stolen goods were one bag of fruits. That day, John thought the two cases so hard that he did not eat his breakfast. So he decided to go to the same location to look for more clues. When he walked past the fruit store, a pair of couple was fighting. John heard the wife saying, “It was the wind which blew the bag of fruits away, you just won’t believe.”
5. John was drawn by this “wind” and immediately went up and ask the couple. The husband said, “When my wife was handing a bag of fruits to a customer, a wind blew past, and then the bag of fruits vanished into nowhere. I still don’t believe wind can blow fruits away – they can only blow light objects, like paper. Other than that, there’s no more clues.”
6. “The wind” is the three cases only similarity. John and his team worked hard towards this case and named this case “Windthief”. The team held small discussions over and over again, but they did not reached any conclusions. They have never heard before wind making things disappear. This case racked the team’s brains.
7. The team was getting impatient over this case. Still, “Windthief” did not let them off. This time, the “wind” blew into a bank and blew all the money away. When John reached the bank, an assistant said, “I have never seen before this kind of things before. When the wind blew past, the counter’s money, the drawer’s money, even the customer’s money was all gone.” Another assistant said, “I heard the door opening, and the noise of opening drawers, and the noise of closing drawers. It is impossible that in two seconds, these noises could happen.” “I have never seen any people walking past me, but I was pushed down roughly on the ground. The assailant must be stronger than me. When I stood up, I heard everyone gasping.
8. This case provides new evidences and also provides a security tape that the bank recorded when the crime happened.
9. At the police station, the tape was played. The bank was very quiet, occasionally there is some whispering here and there. Customers were waiting to be served. Suddenly, the quiet bank produced a loud noise. The security guard was pushed down, then followed by gasping.
10. The tape was played again and again, no one could see in that two seconds, what had happened.
11. “Put it at slow motion”, John said
12. The tape played again, now the team could see it clearly, it is a twenty years old man, his hair is very long. The team cheered, but John was frowning. “Why is his movement so quick?”
13. The team submitted a report to the medical science institution to find out why the thief’s movement is so fast.
14. Two weeks passed by and there is no news of “Windthief”. The medical science institution could not find any answers. Then, the fifth case happened. Now, “Windthief” visited a pawnshop. The situation was the same as the other four cases. Fortunately, this shop had closed circuit television. The tape was then sent to the police station.
15. After seeing the second tape, John was surprised. “Windthief” had an accomplice. The second tape showed a forty years old man.
16. The fourth and fifth case was done by different persons. Then, was the first, second and third cases done by different cases? Then, how many “Windthiefs” there are in our society?
17. The phone rang. “Hello, I am John. Who are you?” said John. “Hello, I am Eason. I am here to talk about “Windthief”.” “How did you know about “Windthief?” John said. “An old colleague of mine told me, and I know who he is.” Eason said. “Who is he?” asked John. Eason said, “Can you come to my farm?” “Of course!” said John instantly.
18. When John reached the farm, Eason led him to a laboratory. He showed a picture to him and asked, “Is it this person you are looking for?”
19. John scrutinized the picture and said, “It looks like the criminal, but the age is not correct.” Then he finally understood something and said, “Maybe this is one of the “Windthiefs”.
20. Eason said, “Actually this is not one of the “Windthiefs”, it is only one person, he is called Bluke. He explained that Bluke was an assistant in the laboratory.
21. John questioned, “Eason, you are running a farm, why did you opened this lab?” Eason said, “Experimenting on this.” As he said that, he took a bottle of liquid from the table.
22. “What is that?” John asked. “It is a secret formula that I have invented through the years. I call this the “Life Booster”. This “Life Booster” can boost the growth of farm animals, such as chickens and ducks. “Oh, so that explains why your farm is so successful.” said John.
23. “I believe that Bluke ate the “Life Booster.” That explains his quick movements.” said Eason. John asked, “You see, we saw that the “Windthief” is more than one, and their age are different from Bluke’s age.” John said. Eason explained, “Once you eat the “Life Booster”, you will age very quickly. That is why you saw the teenager Bluke, then the adult Bluke.”
24. “How about we put his picture into the newspaper? Bluke has to live and people would see him.” Eason offered. “It’s already placed in the newspaper, explaining that if anyone saw him must contact the police immediately.” John said.
25. Meanwhile, in Sunshine Estates, Johnny was reading newspaper when he came across this ad. Johnny immediately shouted, “I have seen this person before.”
26. After John received Johnny’s mother call, he rushed to Sunshine Estates.
27. “Have you seen this person before?” asked John “Yes, I have seen him. He knows magic.” Johnny said excitedly. “He knows what type of magic?” questioned John. “When I take the lift, he will suddenly appear, then in the next moment, he will disappear.” said Johnny.
28. John decided to look for Sunshine Estate’s security officer. The security officer instantly recognized the youngest photo of Bluke. He explained that he lives on the fifteenth floor.
29. “This person is very strange. When he comes to rent the house, he footed half a year’s bill. From that moment, I have never seen him.” said the security guard.
30. John decided to investigate the fifteenth floor. The security guard opened the door quietly. By that time, Eason had received the news and had hurried over to Sunshine Estate.
31. In that flat, there was a big bed. A white haired old man was lying on the bed. Is he “Windthief?” After a period of silence, Eason called out, “Bluke.” The old man tried to adjust into a sitting position, but failed.
32. Eason walked to the old man’s bed and said, ‘Bluke, how are you feeling?” Bluke said slowly, “Ea…so...n, f…org…ive me…” “Bluke, I have never blamed you.” Eason said. “Thank you……”
33. “Windthief” slowly closed his eyes…… (1342)
2. The camera manager gave his statement to the police that one of his assistant must have stolen it. But the police searched the entire shop and to no avail. In such short time, how can the assistant hide the camera? This case baffles John, the police inspector.
3. On Wednesday, the second case happened. The location was a gold shop. A customer was shopping for gold bracelets when a wind blew over the shop and the one of the gold bracelets was instantly gone. The gold shop manager suspects the customer stole it, so he reported this case to the police. The police searched the customer’s body, but found nothing. Looks like it is another baffling case for John.
4. The third case happened on Friday; actually it is not to be surprised, because the stolen goods were one bag of fruits. That day, John thought the two cases so hard that he did not eat his breakfast. So he decided to go to the same location to look for more clues. When he walked past the fruit store, a pair of couple was fighting. John heard the wife saying, “It was the wind which blew the bag of fruits away, you just won’t believe.”
5. John was drawn by this “wind” and immediately went up and ask the couple. The husband said, “When my wife was handing a bag of fruits to a customer, a wind blew past, and then the bag of fruits vanished into nowhere. I still don’t believe wind can blow fruits away – they can only blow light objects, like paper. Other than that, there’s no more clues.”
6. “The wind” is the three cases only similarity. John and his team worked hard towards this case and named this case “Windthief”. The team held small discussions over and over again, but they did not reached any conclusions. They have never heard before wind making things disappear. This case racked the team’s brains.
7. The team was getting impatient over this case. Still, “Windthief” did not let them off. This time, the “wind” blew into a bank and blew all the money away. When John reached the bank, an assistant said, “I have never seen before this kind of things before. When the wind blew past, the counter’s money, the drawer’s money, even the customer’s money was all gone.” Another assistant said, “I heard the door opening, and the noise of opening drawers, and the noise of closing drawers. It is impossible that in two seconds, these noises could happen.” “I have never seen any people walking past me, but I was pushed down roughly on the ground. The assailant must be stronger than me. When I stood up, I heard everyone gasping.
8. This case provides new evidences and also provides a security tape that the bank recorded when the crime happened.
9. At the police station, the tape was played. The bank was very quiet, occasionally there is some whispering here and there. Customers were waiting to be served. Suddenly, the quiet bank produced a loud noise. The security guard was pushed down, then followed by gasping.
10. The tape was played again and again, no one could see in that two seconds, what had happened.
11. “Put it at slow motion”, John said
12. The tape played again, now the team could see it clearly, it is a twenty years old man, his hair is very long. The team cheered, but John was frowning. “Why is his movement so quick?”
13. The team submitted a report to the medical science institution to find out why the thief’s movement is so fast.
14. Two weeks passed by and there is no news of “Windthief”. The medical science institution could not find any answers. Then, the fifth case happened. Now, “Windthief” visited a pawnshop. The situation was the same as the other four cases. Fortunately, this shop had closed circuit television. The tape was then sent to the police station.
15. After seeing the second tape, John was surprised. “Windthief” had an accomplice. The second tape showed a forty years old man.
16. The fourth and fifth case was done by different persons. Then, was the first, second and third cases done by different cases? Then, how many “Windthiefs” there are in our society?
17. The phone rang. “Hello, I am John. Who are you?” said John. “Hello, I am Eason. I am here to talk about “Windthief”.” “How did you know about “Windthief?” John said. “An old colleague of mine told me, and I know who he is.” Eason said. “Who is he?” asked John. Eason said, “Can you come to my farm?” “Of course!” said John instantly.
18. When John reached the farm, Eason led him to a laboratory. He showed a picture to him and asked, “Is it this person you are looking for?”
19. John scrutinized the picture and said, “It looks like the criminal, but the age is not correct.” Then he finally understood something and said, “Maybe this is one of the “Windthiefs”.
20. Eason said, “Actually this is not one of the “Windthiefs”, it is only one person, he is called Bluke. He explained that Bluke was an assistant in the laboratory.
21. John questioned, “Eason, you are running a farm, why did you opened this lab?” Eason said, “Experimenting on this.” As he said that, he took a bottle of liquid from the table.
22. “What is that?” John asked. “It is a secret formula that I have invented through the years. I call this the “Life Booster”. This “Life Booster” can boost the growth of farm animals, such as chickens and ducks. “Oh, so that explains why your farm is so successful.” said John.
23. “I believe that Bluke ate the “Life Booster.” That explains his quick movements.” said Eason. John asked, “You see, we saw that the “Windthief” is more than one, and their age are different from Bluke’s age.” John said. Eason explained, “Once you eat the “Life Booster”, you will age very quickly. That is why you saw the teenager Bluke, then the adult Bluke.”
24. “How about we put his picture into the newspaper? Bluke has to live and people would see him.” Eason offered. “It’s already placed in the newspaper, explaining that if anyone saw him must contact the police immediately.” John said.
25. Meanwhile, in Sunshine Estates, Johnny was reading newspaper when he came across this ad. Johnny immediately shouted, “I have seen this person before.”
26. After John received Johnny’s mother call, he rushed to Sunshine Estates.
27. “Have you seen this person before?” asked John “Yes, I have seen him. He knows magic.” Johnny said excitedly. “He knows what type of magic?” questioned John. “When I take the lift, he will suddenly appear, then in the next moment, he will disappear.” said Johnny.
28. John decided to look for Sunshine Estate’s security officer. The security officer instantly recognized the youngest photo of Bluke. He explained that he lives on the fifteenth floor.
29. “This person is very strange. When he comes to rent the house, he footed half a year’s bill. From that moment, I have never seen him.” said the security guard.
30. John decided to investigate the fifteenth floor. The security guard opened the door quietly. By that time, Eason had received the news and had hurried over to Sunshine Estate.
31. In that flat, there was a big bed. A white haired old man was lying on the bed. Is he “Windthief?” After a period of silence, Eason called out, “Bluke.” The old man tried to adjust into a sitting position, but failed.
32. Eason walked to the old man’s bed and said, ‘Bluke, how are you feeling?” Bluke said slowly, “Ea…so...n, f…org…ive me…” “Bluke, I have never blamed you.” Eason said. “Thank you……”
33. “Windthief” slowly closed his eyes…… (1342)
MSS18-Ou Jiaxin
1. “Miss Luciana, are you going to be alright without your breakfast?” my maid, Aria, asked, concerned.
2. “Don’t make such a big deal out of it, I’ll be fine,” I assured her.
3. “Are you sure??? Miss Luciana!?!” she called after my back when I was leaving for school. I waved her off impatiently, “of course I am!”
4. I study at a prestigious school where rich people’s children study at.
5. “Oh my god! I can’t believe that our teacher asked us to finish the whole workbook by tomorrow! He’s so unreasonable!” My best friend, Sarah, grumbled to me in a grouchy manner.
6. “Oh never mind, he won’t give the assignment to us if he thought it was impossible to accomplish, will he?” I replied in a cheerful manner, although Sarah doesn’t even look half as cheerful.
7. ‘Why is everyone so down? This is nothing like when I was in primary school, in primary school, everybody is so cheerful and happy.’ I thought to myself, starting to get a little down myself.
8. Suddenly, a harsh voice broke into my thoughts, “Haha, we found our little prey of this week.”
9. After that, two masked men bound my hands, feet, and gagged me so I couldn’t cry out for help.
10. Then, they threw me onto a foul-smelling vehicle, I always had a sensitive nose and the smell had knocked me out.
11. After a while, I woke up to find myself still in the vehicle, it seems that we were still traveling, maybe overseas, or are we going in circles? I took a better look at the vehicle and found that it was a very run-down van
12. I was getting a little car-sick; I wish the van will just stop.
13. As if it heard my wish, the van halted and the door of the van opened.
14. As rays of sunlight streamed in, a coarse voice broke into my thoughts. “Hello little missy, come on, we have things to do, and since you are awake now, it would be much more convenient. Don’t you agree?” a masked man, whom should be my kidnapper, said.
15. Then, he pulled my hair and dragged me along into an old factory which I didn’t notice before. He violently brought me to a tiny room without any ways of escape like windows, it smelled musty and stale.
16. He flung me on the bed and removed my gag, when he was doing that, he said “You can shout all you want but this is a deserted factory, nobody will come to rescue you, got it?”
17. He sneered, “You will have no chance of escape until your parents bring me the amount of money I requested for.”
18. Then, he turned and went out of the room, just like how my hopes went when I heard him locking the room.
19. After about 30 minutes, I heard him speaking on the phone, saying something like “We have your daughter, you better do something about this or your precious daughter will die, prepare 1 million dollars before 5 hours is up, then await instructions,” he hung up, laughing viciously.
20. He came in right after the phone call and gave me a bowl of mushroom soup that smelled like dirty socks, and he said “we’d better keep you in good shape in case your parents give us trouble.”
21. “BANG!” a loud sound interrupted the unpleasant conversation.
22. Another “Bang!” and the wall gave way, I saw the worried faces of my father and mother.
23. “Oh, Luciana! We were so worried about you!” mother came forward to embrace me.
24. “Mother, Father, how did you find out where I am?” I inquired curiously.
25. “We’ll tell you everything after we reach home, okay”
26. “Okay,” I replied father.
27. When we reached home, I got to know everything, it was like this…
28. When my parents discovered that we were missing, they contacted the police. The police found that there were some eye-witnesses witnessing me being kidnapped. But, when the police ask the eye-witnesses for the car’s license plate number, they said that the plate was removed so they do not know the number.
29. Then one of the witnesses piped up, “I know that girl, and I can’t just sit and watch her getting kidnapped, so I attached a tiny transmitter that I just bought today onto the car.”
30. He took a tracker out and started tracking where the car went. He found out that the car stopped at a rundown factory once owned by the mafia to produce illegal weapons, so the police went there to find me.
31. When they reached the factory, they found that it was empty. The police collected evidence from the crime scene and found a strand of hair, and a set of my fingerprints.
32. After investigation, they found that the strand of hair belonged to a person who died 3 months ago.
33. When they were searching for clues other than the strand of hair and the fingerprints, they found the transmitter on the floor.
34. The inspector groaned, “Now we’ve lost our last hope.”
35. “Maybe not,” a boy said.
36. The inspector snorted, “And who may you be?”
37. “A normal boy whom transferred to Luciana’s class last week, I not only witnessed the kidnap, but also heard a bit of conversation going on between one of the kidnappers and someone on the phone,” he replied calmly.
38. “Interesting, go on,” the inspector instructed.
39. “Well, since the weather wasn’t very hot then, the idiotic kidnappers left their windows open, and I cycled parallel them. I could hear every bit of conversation they were having.” He went on, “the person on the phone seemed like he was talking to someone who trafficks children. He was saying that the sale would take place at 6 o’clock in the Liverpool harbor. Then he confirmed that the ship his “friend” was sailing in is “Horizon star”. Besides that, he told the person he was speaking to the exact location where he kept Luciana! ”
40. So, the police drove to the place where I, Luciana, was kept, and as you know, broke through the walls as the gates won’t budge.
41. They figured a rundown factory’s walls should be more fragile than the factory gates. And that’s what happened. (1030)
2. “Don’t make such a big deal out of it, I’ll be fine,” I assured her.
3. “Are you sure??? Miss Luciana!?!” she called after my back when I was leaving for school. I waved her off impatiently, “of course I am!”
4. I study at a prestigious school where rich people’s children study at.
5. “Oh my god! I can’t believe that our teacher asked us to finish the whole workbook by tomorrow! He’s so unreasonable!” My best friend, Sarah, grumbled to me in a grouchy manner.
6. “Oh never mind, he won’t give the assignment to us if he thought it was impossible to accomplish, will he?” I replied in a cheerful manner, although Sarah doesn’t even look half as cheerful.
7. ‘Why is everyone so down? This is nothing like when I was in primary school, in primary school, everybody is so cheerful and happy.’ I thought to myself, starting to get a little down myself.
8. Suddenly, a harsh voice broke into my thoughts, “Haha, we found our little prey of this week.”
9. After that, two masked men bound my hands, feet, and gagged me so I couldn’t cry out for help.
10. Then, they threw me onto a foul-smelling vehicle, I always had a sensitive nose and the smell had knocked me out.
11. After a while, I woke up to find myself still in the vehicle, it seems that we were still traveling, maybe overseas, or are we going in circles? I took a better look at the vehicle and found that it was a very run-down van
12. I was getting a little car-sick; I wish the van will just stop.
13. As if it heard my wish, the van halted and the door of the van opened.
14. As rays of sunlight streamed in, a coarse voice broke into my thoughts. “Hello little missy, come on, we have things to do, and since you are awake now, it would be much more convenient. Don’t you agree?” a masked man, whom should be my kidnapper, said.
15. Then, he pulled my hair and dragged me along into an old factory which I didn’t notice before. He violently brought me to a tiny room without any ways of escape like windows, it smelled musty and stale.
16. He flung me on the bed and removed my gag, when he was doing that, he said “You can shout all you want but this is a deserted factory, nobody will come to rescue you, got it?”
17. He sneered, “You will have no chance of escape until your parents bring me the amount of money I requested for.”
18. Then, he turned and went out of the room, just like how my hopes went when I heard him locking the room.
19. After about 30 minutes, I heard him speaking on the phone, saying something like “We have your daughter, you better do something about this or your precious daughter will die, prepare 1 million dollars before 5 hours is up, then await instructions,” he hung up, laughing viciously.
20. He came in right after the phone call and gave me a bowl of mushroom soup that smelled like dirty socks, and he said “we’d better keep you in good shape in case your parents give us trouble.”
21. “BANG!” a loud sound interrupted the unpleasant conversation.
22. Another “Bang!” and the wall gave way, I saw the worried faces of my father and mother.
23. “Oh, Luciana! We were so worried about you!” mother came forward to embrace me.
24. “Mother, Father, how did you find out where I am?” I inquired curiously.
25. “We’ll tell you everything after we reach home, okay”
26. “Okay,” I replied father.
27. When we reached home, I got to know everything, it was like this…
28. When my parents discovered that we were missing, they contacted the police. The police found that there were some eye-witnesses witnessing me being kidnapped. But, when the police ask the eye-witnesses for the car’s license plate number, they said that the plate was removed so they do not know the number.
29. Then one of the witnesses piped up, “I know that girl, and I can’t just sit and watch her getting kidnapped, so I attached a tiny transmitter that I just bought today onto the car.”
30. He took a tracker out and started tracking where the car went. He found out that the car stopped at a rundown factory once owned by the mafia to produce illegal weapons, so the police went there to find me.
31. When they reached the factory, they found that it was empty. The police collected evidence from the crime scene and found a strand of hair, and a set of my fingerprints.
32. After investigation, they found that the strand of hair belonged to a person who died 3 months ago.
33. When they were searching for clues other than the strand of hair and the fingerprints, they found the transmitter on the floor.
34. The inspector groaned, “Now we’ve lost our last hope.”
35. “Maybe not,” a boy said.
36. The inspector snorted, “And who may you be?”
37. “A normal boy whom transferred to Luciana’s class last week, I not only witnessed the kidnap, but also heard a bit of conversation going on between one of the kidnappers and someone on the phone,” he replied calmly.
38. “Interesting, go on,” the inspector instructed.
39. “Well, since the weather wasn’t very hot then, the idiotic kidnappers left their windows open, and I cycled parallel them. I could hear every bit of conversation they were having.” He went on, “the person on the phone seemed like he was talking to someone who trafficks children. He was saying that the sale would take place at 6 o’clock in the Liverpool harbor. Then he confirmed that the ship his “friend” was sailing in is “Horizon star”. Besides that, he told the person he was speaking to the exact location where he kept Luciana! ”
40. So, the police drove to the place where I, Luciana, was kept, and as you know, broke through the walls as the gates won’t budge.
41. They figured a rundown factory’s walls should be more fragile than the factory gates. And that’s what happened. (1030)
MSS17-Shi Huiling
1. “No! No, I can’t believe this! No!” a shout pierced through the still and quiet Tuesday night. Moments later, the pitter-pattering of footsteps of detectives and police, including Arthur, a famous detective, could be heard at apartment 16, Canbrill Street.
2. At the exact same moment that the detectives and police were pouring into apartment 16, Mr Carr was crying in his living room in apartment 16, very much saddened by his wife’s murder. He did not dare, and did not want to believe that his kind, loving and caring wife is dead, although her corpse is lying right in front of his eyes.
3. Arthur and the detectives started to look around on the lawn of the apartment, trying to find some footprints or any other sign of a stranger entering the house. However, other than Mrs and Mr Carr’s footprints, there were not any other footprints on the lawn. They decided to proceed into the house, where they might have better luck finding some clues.
4. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door of apartment 16, and Mr Carr dried his tears and got up to open the door. “Please come in,” Mr Carr said to the police. He led them into his living room, which was the scene of the crime, and the detectives immediately set to their task of investigating the crime scene.
5. Before bending down to examine Mrs Carr’s dead body, Arthur walked around the room, taking notes of anything that might seem important, such as a weapon or a note. He did not find any such things, however, but made a mental note that there were tobacco ashes on the ground. This could mean that either Mr Carr smoked, or that the murderer smoked.
6. After doing that, Arthur walked towards Mrs Carr, and set to examining her body for any clues and to determine what caused her death. After a while, he found a patch of congealed blood on the back of her head, and confirmed that Mrs Carr was indeed murdered.
7. While Arthur searched Mrs Carr’s pockets, hand phone and hand bag for anything that might lead him to the culprit, he found an envelope which contained a letter from Mrs Carr’s mother, which read:
Dear sweetie,
Hi, sweetie. How have you been for the past few years? It had been a long time since I last saw you! When I looked at my calendar today morning, I realized that today is your birthday. So, firstly, I wish you a happy birthday and have a wonderful day! I have bought you a present too; do you like it? It not only is a birthday present, it also shows how much I love you. I hope that you like it a lot!
Love,
Mum
8. Upon reading it, he asked Mr Carr whether he knew where and what the present was. Mr Carr replied, “Mrs Carr told me that she had received a ruby ring from her mother as a birthday present a few weeks ago. I will go get it now. I kept it in my safe as a memory of her.”
9. While Mr Carr went into his room to take the ruby ring, Arthur continued to search Mrs Carr’s body, but found nothing. Suddenly, Arthur’s helper, also a famous detective, named James, said, “Arthur, come and look! There is a strand of hair here!” Arthur immediately hurried to where James was, and picked up the strand of hair with a pair of tweezers and kept it in a bag to be examined when they returned to the laboratory.
10. Soon after, Mr Carr returned to the room, carrying a small jewelry box which contained the ruby ring, and handed it over to Arthur. Arthur asked, “Mr Carr, I am sorry to ask you this, but can we bring this ring to the laboratory for examination?” Mr Carr took a deep breath, gulped, and stammered, “I… I guess so.”
11. Then, Arthur started to interrogate Mr Carr, trying to find some suspects. As Arthur started asking Mr Carr many questions, such as what he saw, exactly, when he came home, when he came home etc, Mr Carr did not seem nervous, but instead, very confident of his answers.
12. Soon, Arthur was satisfied with what Mr Carr had told him. When Mr Carr had come home, he found his wife lying dead on the floor, and once he got over the shock, he quickly contacted the police, but he had left everything untouched.
13. Then, Arthur walked towards the back door. Mr Carr, confused, asked, “Sir Arthur, the front door is there. You are heading towards the back door.” Arthur simply replied, “I’m going to the back lawn to search for signs of a stranger entering the house.” Then, Arthur walked though the back door to the back lawn, bending down to inspect the earth, looking for a footprint, or tobacco ashes, or anything that might be a clue.
14. Although Arthur did not find any footprints, he did notice that there were tobacco ashes on the ground. He also saw that the lawn was very messy and full of dried leaves. Nodding his head, satisfied with what he found, he walked back into apartment 16 and asked Mr Carr, “Mr Carr, do you smoke?” Mr Carr told him that he did. Upon hearing that, Arthur politely bid Mr Carr farewell, and returned to his office to investigate the murder case.
15. Once Arthur, James and the other detectives returned to their offices, Arthur and James started discussing about the case. James asked, “Arthur, have you any idea on who the culprit is?” Arthur replied, “Well, James, we haven’t interrogated the other suspects, so I don’t know yet.” Arthur looked at his watch, which showed that it was 9.28 p.m., so he told James to gather at James’ office early the next morning, at 8.00 a.m.
16. The next morning, at precisely 8 o’clock, James and Arthur set off to the laboratory to determine who the strand of hair belonged to. During the few days which the hair was being processed in the DNA Processing Station, James and Arthur worked on other crimes, impatiently waiting for the results of the test.
17. On Saturday, Arthur and James went to the laboratory again to receive the results of the test. They were both extremely shocked when the hair turned out to be Mr Carr’s, but after a few seconds, James said to Arthur, “We can’t expect that Mr Carr’s hair wouldn’t be on the floor, can we?” However, Arthur replied, with a grin on his face, “Oh, no, my dear James, we have just solved the case! Did you see the messy backyard of Mr Carr’s, but there were tobacco ashes on the ground! It showed that Mr Carr had been in the backyard recently. There was the same kind of ashes in the house too, which confirms that it is Mr Carr who was in the backyard. Also, did you not see that the floor was perfectly spotless other than that strand of hair, which I think Mr Carr didn’t sweep up because it was near the dead body! Also, now that I think of it, I think I walked past a bit of newly-turned earth, which explains why we didn’t find the weapon! I’m sure that the murder weapon is buried! Let’s go now!”
18. As it turned out, the murder weapon was indeed buried, and the culprit was Mr Carr. Mr Carr was arrested, and the reason why he murdered Mrs Carr is that he wanted the ruby ring, which could make him rich! He and Mrs Carr never really loved each other; they were forced to marry. Thus, the case was solved, by Arthur and James, the famous detectives! (1290)
2. At the exact same moment that the detectives and police were pouring into apartment 16, Mr Carr was crying in his living room in apartment 16, very much saddened by his wife’s murder. He did not dare, and did not want to believe that his kind, loving and caring wife is dead, although her corpse is lying right in front of his eyes.
3. Arthur and the detectives started to look around on the lawn of the apartment, trying to find some footprints or any other sign of a stranger entering the house. However, other than Mrs and Mr Carr’s footprints, there were not any other footprints on the lawn. They decided to proceed into the house, where they might have better luck finding some clues.
4. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door of apartment 16, and Mr Carr dried his tears and got up to open the door. “Please come in,” Mr Carr said to the police. He led them into his living room, which was the scene of the crime, and the detectives immediately set to their task of investigating the crime scene.
5. Before bending down to examine Mrs Carr’s dead body, Arthur walked around the room, taking notes of anything that might seem important, such as a weapon or a note. He did not find any such things, however, but made a mental note that there were tobacco ashes on the ground. This could mean that either Mr Carr smoked, or that the murderer smoked.
6. After doing that, Arthur walked towards Mrs Carr, and set to examining her body for any clues and to determine what caused her death. After a while, he found a patch of congealed blood on the back of her head, and confirmed that Mrs Carr was indeed murdered.
7. While Arthur searched Mrs Carr’s pockets, hand phone and hand bag for anything that might lead him to the culprit, he found an envelope which contained a letter from Mrs Carr’s mother, which read:
Dear sweetie,
Hi, sweetie. How have you been for the past few years? It had been a long time since I last saw you! When I looked at my calendar today morning, I realized that today is your birthday. So, firstly, I wish you a happy birthday and have a wonderful day! I have bought you a present too; do you like it? It not only is a birthday present, it also shows how much I love you. I hope that you like it a lot!
Love,
Mum
8. Upon reading it, he asked Mr Carr whether he knew where and what the present was. Mr Carr replied, “Mrs Carr told me that she had received a ruby ring from her mother as a birthday present a few weeks ago. I will go get it now. I kept it in my safe as a memory of her.”
9. While Mr Carr went into his room to take the ruby ring, Arthur continued to search Mrs Carr’s body, but found nothing. Suddenly, Arthur’s helper, also a famous detective, named James, said, “Arthur, come and look! There is a strand of hair here!” Arthur immediately hurried to where James was, and picked up the strand of hair with a pair of tweezers and kept it in a bag to be examined when they returned to the laboratory.
10. Soon after, Mr Carr returned to the room, carrying a small jewelry box which contained the ruby ring, and handed it over to Arthur. Arthur asked, “Mr Carr, I am sorry to ask you this, but can we bring this ring to the laboratory for examination?” Mr Carr took a deep breath, gulped, and stammered, “I… I guess so.”
11. Then, Arthur started to interrogate Mr Carr, trying to find some suspects. As Arthur started asking Mr Carr many questions, such as what he saw, exactly, when he came home, when he came home etc, Mr Carr did not seem nervous, but instead, very confident of his answers.
12. Soon, Arthur was satisfied with what Mr Carr had told him. When Mr Carr had come home, he found his wife lying dead on the floor, and once he got over the shock, he quickly contacted the police, but he had left everything untouched.
13. Then, Arthur walked towards the back door. Mr Carr, confused, asked, “Sir Arthur, the front door is there. You are heading towards the back door.” Arthur simply replied, “I’m going to the back lawn to search for signs of a stranger entering the house.” Then, Arthur walked though the back door to the back lawn, bending down to inspect the earth, looking for a footprint, or tobacco ashes, or anything that might be a clue.
14. Although Arthur did not find any footprints, he did notice that there were tobacco ashes on the ground. He also saw that the lawn was very messy and full of dried leaves. Nodding his head, satisfied with what he found, he walked back into apartment 16 and asked Mr Carr, “Mr Carr, do you smoke?” Mr Carr told him that he did. Upon hearing that, Arthur politely bid Mr Carr farewell, and returned to his office to investigate the murder case.
15. Once Arthur, James and the other detectives returned to their offices, Arthur and James started discussing about the case. James asked, “Arthur, have you any idea on who the culprit is?” Arthur replied, “Well, James, we haven’t interrogated the other suspects, so I don’t know yet.” Arthur looked at his watch, which showed that it was 9.28 p.m., so he told James to gather at James’ office early the next morning, at 8.00 a.m.
16. The next morning, at precisely 8 o’clock, James and Arthur set off to the laboratory to determine who the strand of hair belonged to. During the few days which the hair was being processed in the DNA Processing Station, James and Arthur worked on other crimes, impatiently waiting for the results of the test.
17. On Saturday, Arthur and James went to the laboratory again to receive the results of the test. They were both extremely shocked when the hair turned out to be Mr Carr’s, but after a few seconds, James said to Arthur, “We can’t expect that Mr Carr’s hair wouldn’t be on the floor, can we?” However, Arthur replied, with a grin on his face, “Oh, no, my dear James, we have just solved the case! Did you see the messy backyard of Mr Carr’s, but there were tobacco ashes on the ground! It showed that Mr Carr had been in the backyard recently. There was the same kind of ashes in the house too, which confirms that it is Mr Carr who was in the backyard. Also, did you not see that the floor was perfectly spotless other than that strand of hair, which I think Mr Carr didn’t sweep up because it was near the dead body! Also, now that I think of it, I think I walked past a bit of newly-turned earth, which explains why we didn’t find the weapon! I’m sure that the murder weapon is buried! Let’s go now!”
18. As it turned out, the murder weapon was indeed buried, and the culprit was Mr Carr. Mr Carr was arrested, and the reason why he murdered Mrs Carr is that he wanted the ruby ring, which could make him rich! He and Mrs Carr never really loved each other; they were forced to marry. Thus, the case was solved, by Arthur and James, the famous detectives! (1290)
MSS16-Ng Shu Hui
The Death of Michelle Kettering
1. “Two hundred and fifty million!”
2. “Three hundred million!”
3. “Three hundred and fifty million!”
4. It was a late night, the rich lady, Michelle Kettering, was at an auction at the Marina Bay Sands exhibition hall. She had come from the United States to relax herself as well as to auction for the precious diamond, the Hope diamond. Her husband had wanted to own the precious Hope diamond before he left her for another woman. He was a treasure collector and he loved to collect famous diamonds, paintings etc. Michelle Kettering had hoped that by collecting treasures, her husband would come back to her.
5. Her husband had a woman outside and he had wanted to leave her. Their relationship had been souring. Michelle’s husband was not true to her in the first place, he just married her for the sake of money because she was a rich and successful businessman. She had traded with many different countries across the globe. Also, Michelle’s husband had left her for she was pregnant with another man’s wife. The man was her trusted secretary, John Smith. This made Michelle’s husband even angrier for John was one of his good friends since secondary school.
6. Michelle had come to Singapore to visit the diamond exhibition held at Marina Bay Sands. She had auctioned for the world’s most expensive diamond, the Hope diamond, and won the auction. She wore the diamond proudly on her neck. She knew that the news would soon spread to her husband’s ears.
7. After the auction ended, Michelle Kettering was sent back by her chauffeur, and soon she was back in her hotel room resting after the tiring day of excitement. She had come to Singapore for a holiday to relax herself after working so hard for so many years in the United States. She had left the company to be looked after by her capable secretary, John Smith. Her maid, Mary, had come with her to look after her.
8. After some time, indeed as Michelle had expected, she had heard news from her secretary in the States that her husband had heard of her auctioning at the diamond exhibition. Around five minutes later, her mobile phone rang,” Ring, Ring, Ring…”. Her husband had called her to ask about the precious diamond that is now owned by her.
9. “Hello dear, how are you? I have missed you, when are you coming back?”
10. “I am fine, what did you call me for?”
11. “Ok, I will not beat about the bush; I would just go straight to the point. I have heard that you have auctioned for a precious diamond tonight and won the auction. Is this true?”
12. “Yes, I have bought the precious diamond.”
13. “I would like to buy it from you.”
14. “No way would I sell it to you’! Michelle shouted into the phone and hung up the phone.
15. After resting for a while, Michelle went in to the bathroom to have a bath leaving her maid to look after the diamond. After she came out of the bathroom, she packed her things and got ready to leave for the United States tomorrow morning.
16. Meanwhile, in Mr Kettering’s apartment with her girlfriend, they were figuring out how to get the diamond. Suddenly, John thought of an evil idea.
17. “I will act as if I am very loyal to her and try to get the diamond from her. However, if the plan fails, I have to steal it instead.”
18. Michelle could not get to sleep all night, her mind was filled with many thoughts,” Should I give the diamond to my husband? Will he murder me if I do not give it to him?” Michelle did not sleep a wink till the morning when the sun rose up. After having breakfast, they headed for the airport.
19. Soon, they boarded the plane at Changi Airport and were heading towards the United States.
20. Surprisingly, once they reached the United States’ Airport, her husband was already waiting for her at the entrance. He fetched her home from the Airport once her plane landed.
21. That night, her husband kept asking Michelle Kettering to sell or give the diamond to him. They started arguing very soon. After arguing, they broke into a fight. Michelle was so angry and irritated while Mr Kettering was getting impatient. Michelle decided to get a drink of wine from the fridge. She took out the big piece of ice to break it into pieces.
22. Just then, Mr Kettering shouted’ “Are you selling it to me or not!” Michelle became so angry that she took the piece of ice in her hand and hit him from behind. John wobbled and fell to the ground. Michelle was so shocked at the fact that her husband had fainted. Michelle put her hand to his nose and felt no breathing, so she knew that he had died.
23. She put some make-up on her face to cover up for the fright that she got which had made her face white. She pretended that nothing happened and went out and she only came back fifty minutes later.
24. When she opened the door, she pretended that she did not know her husband was dead and kneeled down beside him and cried terribly. She made a mess of the house as if it had been robbed. Next, she hid the diamonds somewhere in the garden. Then, she called the police to make a report that her husband was murdered by someone who tried to steal the diamonds when she came back from the supermarket.
25. When the police arrived, she looked as if she was very shocked and upset about Mr Kettering’s sudden death. She sat there staring blankly at the wall and did not talk to anyone at all. After a long time, the police still could not find the weapon used for the murder because it had already melted to become water, so they just gave up.
26. Although the police had given up, the girlfriend of Mr Kettering, who was Lily, thought that the murderer was Michelle Kettering. She remembered what caused Mr Kettering’s death even after many years.
27. One day five years later, Lily decided that Mr Kettering could not just die like that, so she decided to take revenge for Mr Kettering. She has always believed that Michelle was the murderer. On the night of Christmas, Lily got ready to kill Michelle. Even if she could be jailed or even sentenced to death, she decided to risk it. Michelle had thought that everyone would forget about the incident of the murder of her husband five years before.
28. However, Lily did not. Lily was very faithful towards Mr Kettering. She had thought of a plan to destroy Michelle. She kidnapped Michelle when she was going home after the party which Michelle attended. After that, she kept her in the jungle for a few days before killing her. She bought a bomb from those illegal people and put it in the wooden house in which she locked Michelle in.
29. Unfortunately, the police whom John summoned did not manage to find the wooden house before it exploded, so Michelle was killed in the jungle.
30. Although they found Michelle’s body, no one ever knew why she was killed and who she was killed by because Lily had murdered herself after killing Michelle. Also, they did not ever know what was the weapon used to kill Mr Kettering. These two cases of murder had remained a secret forever. No detective has ever solved these cases. (1249)
1. “Two hundred and fifty million!”
2. “Three hundred million!”
3. “Three hundred and fifty million!”
4. It was a late night, the rich lady, Michelle Kettering, was at an auction at the Marina Bay Sands exhibition hall. She had come from the United States to relax herself as well as to auction for the precious diamond, the Hope diamond. Her husband had wanted to own the precious Hope diamond before he left her for another woman. He was a treasure collector and he loved to collect famous diamonds, paintings etc. Michelle Kettering had hoped that by collecting treasures, her husband would come back to her.
5. Her husband had a woman outside and he had wanted to leave her. Their relationship had been souring. Michelle’s husband was not true to her in the first place, he just married her for the sake of money because she was a rich and successful businessman. She had traded with many different countries across the globe. Also, Michelle’s husband had left her for she was pregnant with another man’s wife. The man was her trusted secretary, John Smith. This made Michelle’s husband even angrier for John was one of his good friends since secondary school.
6. Michelle had come to Singapore to visit the diamond exhibition held at Marina Bay Sands. She had auctioned for the world’s most expensive diamond, the Hope diamond, and won the auction. She wore the diamond proudly on her neck. She knew that the news would soon spread to her husband’s ears.
7. After the auction ended, Michelle Kettering was sent back by her chauffeur, and soon she was back in her hotel room resting after the tiring day of excitement. She had come to Singapore for a holiday to relax herself after working so hard for so many years in the United States. She had left the company to be looked after by her capable secretary, John Smith. Her maid, Mary, had come with her to look after her.
8. After some time, indeed as Michelle had expected, she had heard news from her secretary in the States that her husband had heard of her auctioning at the diamond exhibition. Around five minutes later, her mobile phone rang,” Ring, Ring, Ring…”. Her husband had called her to ask about the precious diamond that is now owned by her.
9. “Hello dear, how are you? I have missed you, when are you coming back?”
10. “I am fine, what did you call me for?”
11. “Ok, I will not beat about the bush; I would just go straight to the point. I have heard that you have auctioned for a precious diamond tonight and won the auction. Is this true?”
12. “Yes, I have bought the precious diamond.”
13. “I would like to buy it from you.”
14. “No way would I sell it to you’! Michelle shouted into the phone and hung up the phone.
15. After resting for a while, Michelle went in to the bathroom to have a bath leaving her maid to look after the diamond. After she came out of the bathroom, she packed her things and got ready to leave for the United States tomorrow morning.
16. Meanwhile, in Mr Kettering’s apartment with her girlfriend, they were figuring out how to get the diamond. Suddenly, John thought of an evil idea.
17. “I will act as if I am very loyal to her and try to get the diamond from her. However, if the plan fails, I have to steal it instead.”
18. Michelle could not get to sleep all night, her mind was filled with many thoughts,” Should I give the diamond to my husband? Will he murder me if I do not give it to him?” Michelle did not sleep a wink till the morning when the sun rose up. After having breakfast, they headed for the airport.
19. Soon, they boarded the plane at Changi Airport and were heading towards the United States.
20. Surprisingly, once they reached the United States’ Airport, her husband was already waiting for her at the entrance. He fetched her home from the Airport once her plane landed.
21. That night, her husband kept asking Michelle Kettering to sell or give the diamond to him. They started arguing very soon. After arguing, they broke into a fight. Michelle was so angry and irritated while Mr Kettering was getting impatient. Michelle decided to get a drink of wine from the fridge. She took out the big piece of ice to break it into pieces.
22. Just then, Mr Kettering shouted’ “Are you selling it to me or not!” Michelle became so angry that she took the piece of ice in her hand and hit him from behind. John wobbled and fell to the ground. Michelle was so shocked at the fact that her husband had fainted. Michelle put her hand to his nose and felt no breathing, so she knew that he had died.
23. She put some make-up on her face to cover up for the fright that she got which had made her face white. She pretended that nothing happened and went out and she only came back fifty minutes later.
24. When she opened the door, she pretended that she did not know her husband was dead and kneeled down beside him and cried terribly. She made a mess of the house as if it had been robbed. Next, she hid the diamonds somewhere in the garden. Then, she called the police to make a report that her husband was murdered by someone who tried to steal the diamonds when she came back from the supermarket.
25. When the police arrived, she looked as if she was very shocked and upset about Mr Kettering’s sudden death. She sat there staring blankly at the wall and did not talk to anyone at all. After a long time, the police still could not find the weapon used for the murder because it had already melted to become water, so they just gave up.
26. Although the police had given up, the girlfriend of Mr Kettering, who was Lily, thought that the murderer was Michelle Kettering. She remembered what caused Mr Kettering’s death even after many years.
27. One day five years later, Lily decided that Mr Kettering could not just die like that, so she decided to take revenge for Mr Kettering. She has always believed that Michelle was the murderer. On the night of Christmas, Lily got ready to kill Michelle. Even if she could be jailed or even sentenced to death, she decided to risk it. Michelle had thought that everyone would forget about the incident of the murder of her husband five years before.
28. However, Lily did not. Lily was very faithful towards Mr Kettering. She had thought of a plan to destroy Michelle. She kidnapped Michelle when she was going home after the party which Michelle attended. After that, she kept her in the jungle for a few days before killing her. She bought a bomb from those illegal people and put it in the wooden house in which she locked Michelle in.
29. Unfortunately, the police whom John summoned did not manage to find the wooden house before it exploded, so Michelle was killed in the jungle.
30. Although they found Michelle’s body, no one ever knew why she was killed and who she was killed by because Lily had murdered herself after killing Michelle. Also, they did not ever know what was the weapon used to kill Mr Kettering. These two cases of murder had remained a secret forever. No detective has ever solved these cases. (1249)
MSS15-Law Ee Jean
The Murder of Mr. John Kimmy
1. Chapter 1: Finding out
2. Mrs. Kimmy knocked on her front door. She was carrying a stack of books – she had just come back from night school. She was disappointed to see the lights dimmed – this wasn’t common. Normally, her husband would be welcoming her. Cautiously, she asked:
3. “Dear? Are you in there?” Mrs. Kimmy pressed her ear against the door. No reply. Trying to be as quiet as possible, Mrs. Kimmy gently unlocked and pushed open the door. She gingerly switched on the lights. She was aghast with what greeted her. Subconsciously, she loosened her grip and even the clatter of the books did not stir her.
4. Her house looked completely different. Books and magazines were flung everywhere randomly, vases were shattered into pieces and even tables were turn-turtle. It all looked like a decent burglary committed by professionals. However, things were not as simple as it seemed. From a corner of her eyes, she caught a glimpse of something.
5. She rushed over to find a man lying face down and motionlessly on the ground. Gently, she turned him over to find that it was Mr. Kimmy! Mrs. Kimmy was utterly shocked. She put her fingers to Mr. Kimmy’s nose and fell to the ground. There was no breathing at all. He couldn’t be…“Dear! Dear! Wake up! Wake up!” There was no visible injury, no blood stains, not to mention murder weapons lurking about. But, Mrs. Kimmy felt no pulse on him.
6. Reality set in. Mrs. Kimmy started to weep uncontrollably, kneeling beside her motionless husband. It couldn’t be true. Mrs. Kimmy kept asking herself.
7. Mrs. Kimmy was at a loss. She stumbled from left to right; like a toddle learning how to walk. She didn’t feel like living any longer without her husband around. She stumbled and stumbled, and crashed onto the phone which had been left on the floor. A thought went through her mind to call the police. She summoned her strength and dialed “999” She sobbed and wailed into the phone “My…husband…is…dead…”
8. On the other side, the police could not make sense of what Mrs. Kimmy was trying to say. Perhaps it was another call from the prankster, though the policeman who had answered the phone. “Yes? What…are…you talking about? Who is dead? Who are you? Where do you live?”
9. “I am… Mrs. Kimmy. My husband… Mr. John Kimmy is dead…” Mrs. Kimmy finally gathered her thoughts and informed the policeman. . She sank into the sofa and sobbed pitifully into her hands. She was hoping to see a stir of live in her husband, lying there. Mrs. Kimmy wept uncontrollably. Unknown to her, there was a screaming of police sirens outside her apartment and bright headlights flashing. The police had arrived.
10. “Ding dong… ding dong…” she heard the doorbell rang and rushed to open the door. Finally!
11. Chapter 2: Investigation at Mr. and Mrs. Kimmy’s
12. Outside the door, stood two policemen and a lady. “Good night, Mrs. Kimmy. I am Miss Lincoln Papi. I will be the detective for this case. I heard from the police that there was burglary cum murder here. We would like to see the victim before asking you a few questions. Please answer them truthfully.” the lady – Papi, with blonde hair asked with a faint smile.
13. Mrs. Kimmy showed Papi the way. Papi took out a chalk from her little case-box and drew the outline of Mr. Kimmy’s sprawling body. She examined the body thoroughly and commented that Mr. Kimmy was killed by something heavy and strong. Death reasons Kimmy be due to the strong blow down on his head. She instructed the policemen to remove him for autopsy. Now, Kimmy I invite Mrs. Kimmy to your room? I would like to ask you some questions privately.”
14. “So, Mrs. Kimmy, according to your prior knowledge, does Mr. Kimmy have any illness?”
15. “Err… I am…not sure.”
16. “Think carefully. Take your time.” Papi pressed Mrs. Kimmy for more information
17. “Um… I think, well… stroke?”
18. “Ok.” Papi made some notes in her small notebook. “Are you aware whether Mr. Kimmy has any enemy or was in argument with someone lately?”
19. “Ah, there is one. Yesterday, we went to visit his brother, Mr. Peter Kimmy. Peter called John up to his room for a short talk. After half an hour and realising that John wasn’t out yet, I went up to find out why. I called for him but there was no reply. The only thing I heard was talking and I recognised one voice as John’s.
20. “I pressed my ear against the door and listened carefully to both of their talking. I made out some words but I don’t think I can remember them now. I decided to wait downstairs.”
21. Papi scribbled some things again on her notebook. She thought for a while before opening her mouth. “Thank you. And when did you find Mr. Kimmy dead?”
22. “About 8:30 at night?”
23. “Ok. That is about 1 hour half from now. I see from the body that the murder has probably taken place from about 6-7. Kimmy I know where you were from 6-7?”
24. “I was at night school.”
25. “Where was Mr. Kimmy from 4-5 then?”
26. “Hmm… I think he was at work and only knocked off at 5:30 pm.”
27. “Thank you. That’s for all now. I will come back later if there is anything important. I will inform you of any other news.” With that, Papi stood up and left. Mrs. Kimmy sniffed and lay down in bed. She remembered Mr. Kimmy and tears started to roll down her cheek, and she started to sob herself to sleep………
28. Chapter 3: Investigation at Mr. Peter Kimmy’s
29. “Ring…Ring…” Papi pressed the doorbell at Mr. Peter Kimmy’s house the next day.
30. A man with thick eyebrows with a puzzled expression answered the door and asked curiously, “Who are you?”
31. Papi smiled fondly and answered, “I am Detective Lincoln Papi. I would like to investigate on a serious case.” Upon hearing this, the man immediately invited Papi into the house.
32. “Are you Mr. Peter Kimmy?”
33. “Yes? And may I know why you ask?”
34. “Ok. Good. I expect you are the brother of Mr. John Kimmy, aren’t you?”
35. “How did you know my brother?”
36. “I see that you haven’t heard of the murder and robbery case of Mr. John Kimmy.”
37. “He…murdered? Are you kidding?” Peter seemed to get angrier and angrier as why he did not know of this piece of news.
38. Papi did not seem to be affected and continued, “Where were you from 4-5?”
39. “At work, obviously?”
40. “Do you know how long it takes from your house to your brother’s?”
41. “This…I am not very sure.”
42. “I heard from Mrs. Merry Kimmy, Mr. John’s Kimmy wife that they came to visit you the day before?”
43. “Yes? So?”
44. Papi picked her words carefully before speaking. “Ok. So may I know the content of your speech with Mr. John Kimmy?”
45. “Err… about this… um…I told him about the thing, that marketing project.”
46. “Marketing project?”
47. “Oh. We…um…are in the same company, you see.”
48. “Did you mention any other people in your talk with Mr. John Kimmy?”
49. “Um…let me see… ah. There is one. I think her name is called Marilia Mansionsta.”
50. “So why did Marilia have anything to do with your talk?” Papi made some notes in her notebook.
51. “Marilia is John’s secretary. John remarked that she was ‘loyal and helpful’. I felt otherwise. John was bias to her – obviously. However, one day, I found John scolding her about some particular reason. I was shocked when I heard the reason – she was stealing money from the office.
52. “And this money was not any normal money. It was the money to launch the resort – and the estimated owner could earn to £345,000,000 a month! I told John to sack her immediately – but do you know what John said?
53. “He said, ‘It’s a big waste of talent. Anyway, poor Marilia is depending on this job only. She is so poor.’ I was like thinking, ‘What?’ I advised him to sack Marilia but he disagreed and even argued back. So, I could not do anything, could I? He was the CEO!”
54. “Thank you for the time. I will inform you of any information got to do with this case.” Saying this, Papi stood up, made some notes in her notebook and left the room.
55. Chapter 4: Investigation at Marilia Mansionsta’s
56. Papi stared at her notes as the taxi driver drove along the busy streets of Kulim the next day. Hmm… she thought. Who could have killed Mr. Kimmy? This case has been stretched for three days, and the murderer is still unknown. Mrs. Kimmy mentioned Mr. Peter Kimmy, Mr. Peter Kimmy points towards this mysterious lady known as Marilia Mansionsta. This all seems like pointing fingers…the blame game…
57. “Miss Papi, we’ve arrived.” Papi dropped some money and left the car. Marilia Mansionsta, here I come. she thought as she rang the doorbell and waited patiently. As she waited for someone to answer, she surveyed the building thoroughly. It was gigantic – about three stories, Papi realised. So, why does she want the office’s money? She must be quite rich.
58. “Err… yes?” the door opened and at the door stood a little maid – neat and prim and proper. Papi smiled fondly and replied, “May I see your mistress – Marilia Mansionsta?”
59. “She’s a ‘Miss’. Come in and wait.” the maid scowled upon hearing her mistress’s name being called full and scampered off. Papi found a comfy place to sit on the sofa and sat down. She polished her nails as she waited for Miss Mansionsta to return.
60. “So…she’s the one?” she heard a voice and a finger pointing towards her. Standing there, Papi could only gasp in awe. The lady had waist-length brown hair, and she wore expensive clothing.
61. Papi immediately stood up and gave a little bow. She peeked at her watch and replied, “Good afternoon, Miss Mansionsta.” Miss Mansionsta nodded. The maid whispered something to her mistress; and she nodded and dismissed her maid.
62. “You’re Papi, right?”
63. “Yes and Miss Mansionsta…”
64. “Just call me Marilia.”
65. “Ok.” Papi cleared her throat and started, “Do you know of the murderer of your boss, Mr. John Kimmy?”
66. She saw Marilia’s face getting paler and paler and quickly jotted down some notes in her notebook. Marilia, seeing Papi sitting there quietly, waiting for a reply, immediately found that she had done something wrong. “Oh…sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. May I hear the question again?” she managed to force out.
67. Papi, without a streak of impatience, repeated herself. “Do you know of the murderer of your boss, Mr. John Kimmy?”
68. This time, Marilia wasn’t taking any chances and replied almost at once, “Oh. This I am not sure. I didn’t even know that.”
69. Papi looked at Marilia’s expression and jotted down some notes again. “Where were you from 6-7 pm on Wednesday?”
70. Marilia thought for a while, thought for a while, picking her words carefully, before saying, “Oh. I was… out for dinner with my friends. If you would really like to know the wheres, my friends and I dined at Dessert Heaven at 34 Baker Street.”
71. “Thank you for your detailed answer.” Papi smiled again and made some notes in her notebook once again.
72. “So, I see that you’re quite rich, aren’t you? Why do you still want to be a secretary, seeing that you have probably enough to set up your own business?”
73. “This…oh, I don’t know how to open a business so I decided to take after people’s footsteps. That would be easier.”
74. “I see.” Papi answered. “Thank you then. May I take my leave now?”
75. Marilia nodded and Papi, carrying her notebook, left the house. Once Papi left, the little – and irritating maid popped out and whispered something to the maid. Papi’s sharp eyes caught this and she knelt by the window, looking – and hearing almost everything.
76. She made occasional notes at this before being satisfied. After listening, she picked up herself and hailed a taxi – all done silently. In her mind, the picture was clear. She knew the murderer.
77. Chapter 5: Explanations?
78. The next day, Papi decided that it was time to reveal this case to Mrs. Kimmy and the best way was – to visit her again. Papi looked through her notes for the last time before ringing Mrs. Kimmy’s doorbell and waiting patiently.
79. Mrs. Kimmy answered the door and saw Papi smiling fondly at her. Without hesitation, she invited Papi in. Papi did not want to hold her secret any longer and started, “Mrs. Kimmy, I know who killed your husband.”
80. “Who? Who?” Mrs. Kimmy was eager to know.
81. “It is – Marilia Mansionsta. I expect you know who she is.”
82. “Marilia? Oh, she is John’s secretary. Her? Oh, this is a bit outrageous! She is so loyal to John!”
83. “I’m afraid not, Mrs. Kimmy. She is practically a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
84. “Now, this is a plot of revenge. Marilia killed Mr. John Kimmy because he wanted to sack her. Now, do you know that Marilia is rich?”
85. “Oh, yes, I do. Yes, if she is rich, why does she want the office’s money?”
86. “According to my inferences and keywords from my interrogations, I found out that Marilia felt setting up a business was difficult and wanted to follow after people. But this was plain lies. She joined your husband’s company is to steal resources to help her in her career. That money was the key to open the resort – which the owner could probably earn up to £345,000,000 per month.”
87. “But I’m sure that Marilia has more than £345,000,000!”
88. “That is interesting and I had that doubt too at first. She is practically lazy and wants to spend all her money on herself – her hair, clothes and even shoes. My first impression on her was ‘Wow’.
89. “The next suspicious thing about her case was – her maid. She had one – small and irritating, and kept popping up here and there. She scowled when she heard Marilia’s name being pronounced full – now, will a normal and typical maid care about this? Not very likely, though. After my visit, she whispered something to Marilia again.
90. “Unluckily, the windows were open and I caught sound of this so I listened and I knew. I confirmed my accusation there. She was telling Marilia about something like ‘Oh no! What will happen? That Lincoln Papi knew! She did! She called you full! Oh, no! If she called you full, that means that it is suspicious! People don’t call you full right, they either call you “Miss Mansionsta”, “Mistress” or you know! I was not willing to invite her in at all! Oh, I should not have! Oh, I should not have!’
91. “Then, so, this maid is not common, is she?” Mrs. Kimmy was confused.
92. “Yes, I agree. If I am not wrong, she let her maid in on this plot. And about that burglary, that is totally ‘man-made’. Accordingly, Marilia probably messed the house to make it look like a decent burglary so that people will suspect that Mr. Kimmy was killed by toppling objects. This Marilia is quite a professional in this job.
93. “Now, I feel that you better go and sack Marilia no matter what. She is a threat to you. Now, I will leave. Hope we meet again soon.” Papi smiled, and took her leave. Her job was done. (2564)
1. Chapter 1: Finding out
2. Mrs. Kimmy knocked on her front door. She was carrying a stack of books – she had just come back from night school. She was disappointed to see the lights dimmed – this wasn’t common. Normally, her husband would be welcoming her. Cautiously, she asked:
3. “Dear? Are you in there?” Mrs. Kimmy pressed her ear against the door. No reply. Trying to be as quiet as possible, Mrs. Kimmy gently unlocked and pushed open the door. She gingerly switched on the lights. She was aghast with what greeted her. Subconsciously, she loosened her grip and even the clatter of the books did not stir her.
4. Her house looked completely different. Books and magazines were flung everywhere randomly, vases were shattered into pieces and even tables were turn-turtle. It all looked like a decent burglary committed by professionals. However, things were not as simple as it seemed. From a corner of her eyes, she caught a glimpse of something.
5. She rushed over to find a man lying face down and motionlessly on the ground. Gently, she turned him over to find that it was Mr. Kimmy! Mrs. Kimmy was utterly shocked. She put her fingers to Mr. Kimmy’s nose and fell to the ground. There was no breathing at all. He couldn’t be…“Dear! Dear! Wake up! Wake up!” There was no visible injury, no blood stains, not to mention murder weapons lurking about. But, Mrs. Kimmy felt no pulse on him.
6. Reality set in. Mrs. Kimmy started to weep uncontrollably, kneeling beside her motionless husband. It couldn’t be true. Mrs. Kimmy kept asking herself.
7. Mrs. Kimmy was at a loss. She stumbled from left to right; like a toddle learning how to walk. She didn’t feel like living any longer without her husband around. She stumbled and stumbled, and crashed onto the phone which had been left on the floor. A thought went through her mind to call the police. She summoned her strength and dialed “999” She sobbed and wailed into the phone “My…husband…is…dead…”
8. On the other side, the police could not make sense of what Mrs. Kimmy was trying to say. Perhaps it was another call from the prankster, though the policeman who had answered the phone. “Yes? What…are…you talking about? Who is dead? Who are you? Where do you live?”
9. “I am… Mrs. Kimmy. My husband… Mr. John Kimmy is dead…” Mrs. Kimmy finally gathered her thoughts and informed the policeman. . She sank into the sofa and sobbed pitifully into her hands. She was hoping to see a stir of live in her husband, lying there. Mrs. Kimmy wept uncontrollably. Unknown to her, there was a screaming of police sirens outside her apartment and bright headlights flashing. The police had arrived.
10. “Ding dong… ding dong…” she heard the doorbell rang and rushed to open the door. Finally!
11. Chapter 2: Investigation at Mr. and Mrs. Kimmy’s
12. Outside the door, stood two policemen and a lady. “Good night, Mrs. Kimmy. I am Miss Lincoln Papi. I will be the detective for this case. I heard from the police that there was burglary cum murder here. We would like to see the victim before asking you a few questions. Please answer them truthfully.” the lady – Papi, with blonde hair asked with a faint smile.
13. Mrs. Kimmy showed Papi the way. Papi took out a chalk from her little case-box and drew the outline of Mr. Kimmy’s sprawling body. She examined the body thoroughly and commented that Mr. Kimmy was killed by something heavy and strong. Death reasons Kimmy be due to the strong blow down on his head. She instructed the policemen to remove him for autopsy. Now, Kimmy I invite Mrs. Kimmy to your room? I would like to ask you some questions privately.”
14. “So, Mrs. Kimmy, according to your prior knowledge, does Mr. Kimmy have any illness?”
15. “Err… I am…not sure.”
16. “Think carefully. Take your time.” Papi pressed Mrs. Kimmy for more information
17. “Um… I think, well… stroke?”
18. “Ok.” Papi made some notes in her small notebook. “Are you aware whether Mr. Kimmy has any enemy or was in argument with someone lately?”
19. “Ah, there is one. Yesterday, we went to visit his brother, Mr. Peter Kimmy. Peter called John up to his room for a short talk. After half an hour and realising that John wasn’t out yet, I went up to find out why. I called for him but there was no reply. The only thing I heard was talking and I recognised one voice as John’s.
20. “I pressed my ear against the door and listened carefully to both of their talking. I made out some words but I don’t think I can remember them now. I decided to wait downstairs.”
21. Papi scribbled some things again on her notebook. She thought for a while before opening her mouth. “Thank you. And when did you find Mr. Kimmy dead?”
22. “About 8:30 at night?”
23. “Ok. That is about 1 hour half from now. I see from the body that the murder has probably taken place from about 6-7. Kimmy I know where you were from 6-7?”
24. “I was at night school.”
25. “Where was Mr. Kimmy from 4-5 then?”
26. “Hmm… I think he was at work and only knocked off at 5:30 pm.”
27. “Thank you. That’s for all now. I will come back later if there is anything important. I will inform you of any other news.” With that, Papi stood up and left. Mrs. Kimmy sniffed and lay down in bed. She remembered Mr. Kimmy and tears started to roll down her cheek, and she started to sob herself to sleep………
28. Chapter 3: Investigation at Mr. Peter Kimmy’s
29. “Ring…Ring…” Papi pressed the doorbell at Mr. Peter Kimmy’s house the next day.
30. A man with thick eyebrows with a puzzled expression answered the door and asked curiously, “Who are you?”
31. Papi smiled fondly and answered, “I am Detective Lincoln Papi. I would like to investigate on a serious case.” Upon hearing this, the man immediately invited Papi into the house.
32. “Are you Mr. Peter Kimmy?”
33. “Yes? And may I know why you ask?”
34. “Ok. Good. I expect you are the brother of Mr. John Kimmy, aren’t you?”
35. “How did you know my brother?”
36. “I see that you haven’t heard of the murder and robbery case of Mr. John Kimmy.”
37. “He…murdered? Are you kidding?” Peter seemed to get angrier and angrier as why he did not know of this piece of news.
38. Papi did not seem to be affected and continued, “Where were you from 4-5?”
39. “At work, obviously?”
40. “Do you know how long it takes from your house to your brother’s?”
41. “This…I am not very sure.”
42. “I heard from Mrs. Merry Kimmy, Mr. John’s Kimmy wife that they came to visit you the day before?”
43. “Yes? So?”
44. Papi picked her words carefully before speaking. “Ok. So may I know the content of your speech with Mr. John Kimmy?”
45. “Err… about this… um…I told him about the thing, that marketing project.”
46. “Marketing project?”
47. “Oh. We…um…are in the same company, you see.”
48. “Did you mention any other people in your talk with Mr. John Kimmy?”
49. “Um…let me see… ah. There is one. I think her name is called Marilia Mansionsta.”
50. “So why did Marilia have anything to do with your talk?” Papi made some notes in her notebook.
51. “Marilia is John’s secretary. John remarked that she was ‘loyal and helpful’. I felt otherwise. John was bias to her – obviously. However, one day, I found John scolding her about some particular reason. I was shocked when I heard the reason – she was stealing money from the office.
52. “And this money was not any normal money. It was the money to launch the resort – and the estimated owner could earn to £345,000,000 a month! I told John to sack her immediately – but do you know what John said?
53. “He said, ‘It’s a big waste of talent. Anyway, poor Marilia is depending on this job only. She is so poor.’ I was like thinking, ‘What?’ I advised him to sack Marilia but he disagreed and even argued back. So, I could not do anything, could I? He was the CEO!”
54. “Thank you for the time. I will inform you of any information got to do with this case.” Saying this, Papi stood up, made some notes in her notebook and left the room.
55. Chapter 4: Investigation at Marilia Mansionsta’s
56. Papi stared at her notes as the taxi driver drove along the busy streets of Kulim the next day. Hmm… she thought. Who could have killed Mr. Kimmy? This case has been stretched for three days, and the murderer is still unknown. Mrs. Kimmy mentioned Mr. Peter Kimmy, Mr. Peter Kimmy points towards this mysterious lady known as Marilia Mansionsta. This all seems like pointing fingers…the blame game…
57. “Miss Papi, we’ve arrived.” Papi dropped some money and left the car. Marilia Mansionsta, here I come. she thought as she rang the doorbell and waited patiently. As she waited for someone to answer, she surveyed the building thoroughly. It was gigantic – about three stories, Papi realised. So, why does she want the office’s money? She must be quite rich.
58. “Err… yes?” the door opened and at the door stood a little maid – neat and prim and proper. Papi smiled fondly and replied, “May I see your mistress – Marilia Mansionsta?”
59. “She’s a ‘Miss’. Come in and wait.” the maid scowled upon hearing her mistress’s name being called full and scampered off. Papi found a comfy place to sit on the sofa and sat down. She polished her nails as she waited for Miss Mansionsta to return.
60. “So…she’s the one?” she heard a voice and a finger pointing towards her. Standing there, Papi could only gasp in awe. The lady had waist-length brown hair, and she wore expensive clothing.
61. Papi immediately stood up and gave a little bow. She peeked at her watch and replied, “Good afternoon, Miss Mansionsta.” Miss Mansionsta nodded. The maid whispered something to her mistress; and she nodded and dismissed her maid.
62. “You’re Papi, right?”
63. “Yes and Miss Mansionsta…”
64. “Just call me Marilia.”
65. “Ok.” Papi cleared her throat and started, “Do you know of the murderer of your boss, Mr. John Kimmy?”
66. She saw Marilia’s face getting paler and paler and quickly jotted down some notes in her notebook. Marilia, seeing Papi sitting there quietly, waiting for a reply, immediately found that she had done something wrong. “Oh…sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. May I hear the question again?” she managed to force out.
67. Papi, without a streak of impatience, repeated herself. “Do you know of the murderer of your boss, Mr. John Kimmy?”
68. This time, Marilia wasn’t taking any chances and replied almost at once, “Oh. This I am not sure. I didn’t even know that.”
69. Papi looked at Marilia’s expression and jotted down some notes again. “Where were you from 6-7 pm on Wednesday?”
70. Marilia thought for a while, thought for a while, picking her words carefully, before saying, “Oh. I was… out for dinner with my friends. If you would really like to know the wheres, my friends and I dined at Dessert Heaven at 34 Baker Street.”
71. “Thank you for your detailed answer.” Papi smiled again and made some notes in her notebook once again.
72. “So, I see that you’re quite rich, aren’t you? Why do you still want to be a secretary, seeing that you have probably enough to set up your own business?”
73. “This…oh, I don’t know how to open a business so I decided to take after people’s footsteps. That would be easier.”
74. “I see.” Papi answered. “Thank you then. May I take my leave now?”
75. Marilia nodded and Papi, carrying her notebook, left the house. Once Papi left, the little – and irritating maid popped out and whispered something to the maid. Papi’s sharp eyes caught this and she knelt by the window, looking – and hearing almost everything.
76. She made occasional notes at this before being satisfied. After listening, she picked up herself and hailed a taxi – all done silently. In her mind, the picture was clear. She knew the murderer.
77. Chapter 5: Explanations?
78. The next day, Papi decided that it was time to reveal this case to Mrs. Kimmy and the best way was – to visit her again. Papi looked through her notes for the last time before ringing Mrs. Kimmy’s doorbell and waiting patiently.
79. Mrs. Kimmy answered the door and saw Papi smiling fondly at her. Without hesitation, she invited Papi in. Papi did not want to hold her secret any longer and started, “Mrs. Kimmy, I know who killed your husband.”
80. “Who? Who?” Mrs. Kimmy was eager to know.
81. “It is – Marilia Mansionsta. I expect you know who she is.”
82. “Marilia? Oh, she is John’s secretary. Her? Oh, this is a bit outrageous! She is so loyal to John!”
83. “I’m afraid not, Mrs. Kimmy. She is practically a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
84. “Now, this is a plot of revenge. Marilia killed Mr. John Kimmy because he wanted to sack her. Now, do you know that Marilia is rich?”
85. “Oh, yes, I do. Yes, if she is rich, why does she want the office’s money?”
86. “According to my inferences and keywords from my interrogations, I found out that Marilia felt setting up a business was difficult and wanted to follow after people. But this was plain lies. She joined your husband’s company is to steal resources to help her in her career. That money was the key to open the resort – which the owner could probably earn up to £345,000,000 per month.”
87. “But I’m sure that Marilia has more than £345,000,000!”
88. “That is interesting and I had that doubt too at first. She is practically lazy and wants to spend all her money on herself – her hair, clothes and even shoes. My first impression on her was ‘Wow’.
89. “The next suspicious thing about her case was – her maid. She had one – small and irritating, and kept popping up here and there. She scowled when she heard Marilia’s name being pronounced full – now, will a normal and typical maid care about this? Not very likely, though. After my visit, she whispered something to Marilia again.
90. “Unluckily, the windows were open and I caught sound of this so I listened and I knew. I confirmed my accusation there. She was telling Marilia about something like ‘Oh no! What will happen? That Lincoln Papi knew! She did! She called you full! Oh, no! If she called you full, that means that it is suspicious! People don’t call you full right, they either call you “Miss Mansionsta”, “Mistress” or you know! I was not willing to invite her in at all! Oh, I should not have! Oh, I should not have!’
91. “Then, so, this maid is not common, is she?” Mrs. Kimmy was confused.
92. “Yes, I agree. If I am not wrong, she let her maid in on this plot. And about that burglary, that is totally ‘man-made’. Accordingly, Marilia probably messed the house to make it look like a decent burglary so that people will suspect that Mr. Kimmy was killed by toppling objects. This Marilia is quite a professional in this job.
93. “Now, I feel that you better go and sack Marilia no matter what. She is a threat to you. Now, I will leave. Hope we meet again soon.” Papi smiled, and took her leave. Her job was done. (2564)
MSS14-Malcolm Lim
The curse of the Double Diamond
1. I looked upon the chest of drawers I have forever been forbidden to touch by my friend -f a renowed detective. I have been living with him ever since he recruited me as his fellow assistant. The warm rays of sunlight filtered through the windows as my detective friend lay on his armchair, crossing his fingers and doing his daily meditation. I was sitting right next to him, thinking about the previous case that we had such a narrow escape.
2. "Do you think that the Single Granite grain would never be found?" I started.
3. "Undoubtedly. Unless the miners have gone through much unneccessary efforts to unearth it."
4. The conversation ended by the knocking of the door at the entrance. My friend opened the door and in stepped a man, no more than forty years of age and bore a sooty black suit and hat with a dignified appearance. He walked to the coat stand to hang his hat and coat on it. Then he walked steadily up to us and shook my friend's hand warmly.
5. "You must be Mr Shackles," He addressed. "My name is Forgen Daven. I hope my presence will not interfere with your current affairs."
6. "Of course not. Carry on."
7. "Then I must say that you must have a interesting case from me to solve. As far as you can tell, I am from Iceland and I live in the Davenburg towers. You would be pleased to know that my troubles are from heredity matters. This curse have been troubling me and my family for many generations. It is a curse that concerns the small presence of a diamond, fused together from two smaller diamonds and it is really a beauty."
8. "And say, where did this diamond come from?"
9. "It was from the Acroso mine fused together by the Chifel brothers who died long ago. The diamond was bought by my Grandfather. I heard from my father that he acted very strangly after he had the diamond. He was opening all the drawers like he was searching for something. Following that, my grandfather suffered from a series of puzzling events. He had a bad feeling every now and then. Finally, one day, he had a four thousand year old dagger mysteriously stuck in his chest lying on his bed!"
10. "This is most unfortunate. Can you explain more?"
11. " It was exactly 10.00 p.m when my father found him dead. After his dinner, my father went into my granfather's room to keep him company. But he found him dead. My father and I were shocked by his death. I called in the police immediately and they are investigating. But they still could not find any trace of an intruder inside the house. There weren't any fingerprints on the dagger. Making the murderer impossible to be traced from the dagger. The diamond, due to its size and quality was stated in his will to pass it to my father. Ever since my father received the diamond, he had the same symtoms as my grandfather previously. And now, he is suffering from dyssomnia as he is worrying about my grandfather. I am now desperately seeking your advice."
12. "Alright, I will settle this matter. You can go back to Iceland and try to take care of your father for the next few days while I will make some preparations of my own."
13. "Thank you. Your help would be very much appreciated." With that, he opened the door and out he strolled.
14. "Pretty hasty guy, don't you think?" I muttered.
15. "Agreeable. Looks like this case would be a fishy one. Most likely there would be a prankster lurking among the shadows." My friend said coolly with ease.
16. The next morning, I woke up and went down to the living room. Detective Shackles was already there. This was very surprising, as Shackles was a late riser and normally sleeps late the night before.
17. "Morning, why this early?" My words tumbled out of my mouth as I groggily tried to keep myself awake.
18. "Remember, the case today is of utmost importance. We have to take action before the murder strikes." Shackles uttered a dire warning. "We will be leaving shortly for Iceland. Pack your bag with only the necessary stuff. Don't bring multiple pistols, just bring the .45 colt."
19. After we had packed a bulky and heavy suitcase for each of us, we left for the north-bound train to Iceland. During the long and tiring ride, we talked about what we should do after we alight from the train.
20. "So we talk to Forgen's father first and try to gather more information from his neighbour." I mentioned as the train came to a screeching halt at Iceland. We got off the train and looked for the nearest map we could find. A few hours later, we were walking into Davenburg Towers. We were greeted by a warm and friendly housemaid who guided us to Forgen Daven. We were led into his bedroom but he was looking at some notes, reading them with seemingly great agitation.
21. "Mr Daven. You have visitors."
22. "Tell them to wait in the living room, I have important things to attend to."
23. "I think you would be pleased to know that I would be here to solve your heredity problems you mentioned yesterday." Shackles interrupted with an affirmative tone.
24. Forgen turned around and spotted me and Shackles, he pasted a surprised look on his face and told us to come in. He informed the housemaid to get us two bottles of beer.
25. "What happened just now?" I questioned Forgen after the housemaid left.
26. "Oh, just some bill paying problems. Don't worry about me." Forgen metioned coolly.
27. "What exactly happened during the murder?"
28. "I was sitting in my study from 9.00 p.m. to 10.00 p.m. doing my daily bible reading when I simply just heard the clanking of a tray. That tray was defintely the dinner for my grandfather as he was bedridden. After that, the clanking of a tray faded away."
29. "Okay. I need to talk to your father. Where is he?"
30. "He would be in his bedroom. After you walk out of this room, turn left and go down the corridor. First left and it is the second door on your right."
31. We thanked him for the directions and headed off to Forgen's father's bedroom. Imagine our surprise when we saw that the housemaid was in the room, polishing the cupboards and dusting the tables. She told us that Forgen's father was in the room right across this room. We thanked her and followed her instructions doubtfully but sure enough, her directions led us to an old man sitting in an armchair and reading the newspapers.
32. "Excuse me, are you Forgen Daven's father?" I asked.
33. "Why yes," He looked up from the newspapers."anything I can do for you?"
34. "Your son informed us about you, he said he was worried about your health and safety. May I know what exactly happened during the death of you father?"
35. At that sentence, his face frown. "Well, I was sitting in the living room, eating my breakfast. I also remembered that my housemaid went to serve my father his food and came back. After I finished my dinner at 10.00 a.m., I immediately went to check on my father as I usually do everday. Imagine my shock when I saw him lying lifeless on his bed with one of his antique dagger stuck in his chest."
36. At this moment, Shackles interrupted. "I don't think it would be very kind to ask you to talk more about the incident, maybe we will talk about it tomorrow?" Shackles suggested. Forgen Daven's father nodded and wiped away a tear.
37. We left the house with the help of the housemaid. On the train ride back, Shackles sat on his seat, oblivious to any form of action on the train. He thought about the encounter we had previously with Forgen Daven.
38. Finally, he spoke. "We are going back tomorrow to look for more clues. Did you feel anything suspicious that Forgen led us to the wrong room?"
39. "He wanted to mislead us so as for us not to find out more information?"
40. "Precisely. I think that there was something fishy about that Forgen. He is currently our main suspect as he took the trouble to mislead us and that his study is next to the bedroom of his grandfather's. What's more, he told us the wrong time, he said it was exactly 10.00p.m. when he found the corpse but his father said that the murder happened before 10.00 a.m.. So he could have just slipped in and stabbed his grandfather with the knife, he could have cleanedhis fingerprints from the dagger, leaving no trace of evidence."
41. "That is very much possible, but we have to find more evidence to support our case."
42. "Exactly. We will turn up again at the towers tomorrow at the same time."
43. I had a very light sleep that night, Shackles was literally awake for half the night. He had been planning and preparing on how would we seal our nets onto the murderer. Still, he looked fresh as ever when I woke up the next morning.
44. "Chips, had a good sleep?" He did not wait for my answer. "We are leaving now!"
45. The train ride, as usual, took a long time.
46. "Keep your energy for later, the murderer, whoever he is, may try to strike anytime. Keep your eyes peeled."
47. When we reached the house, we were once greeted by the housemaid again. She said that there was only Forgen's father in the house and that he was sound asleep. We could wait for the return of Forgen and for his father to wake up. We sat down as the housemaid walked away, thinking of what could happen. Suddenly, we heard a muffled scream which stopped suddenly. We found it very strange. Just then, Forgen walked into the room through the front door.
48. "Hello. Welcome back. Anything I can do for you?" He greeted enthusiastically.
49. "We want to talk to your father about what happened during the death of your grandfather."
50. "Oh," He looked very depressed "just follow me."
51. He led us past a room which I assumed to be his study and entered another room filled with antique daggers.
52. "This must be your grandfather's bedroom." I commented looking around. There was no reply. I looked at Forgen, he was staring right at the bed, his face pale with fear and anxiety. I looked at the bed, Forgen's father was lying there...with one of the antique daggers stuck in his chest.
53. There was blood everywhere. We all gasped in disbelief.
54. "I don't believe it! After another 20 years, the curse has striked again! With the same dagger!" Forgen cried out with an anguished tone. We had to help him. He practically went hysterical, cursing the curse. We had to calm him down first, I told the housemaid who was also equally shocked to call the ambulance and the police while Shackles tended to Forgen.
55. "Villians! Murderers! Insane!" Forgen shouted uncontrollably.
56. "Don't panic. I am sure the police would help to solve the case."
57. "They will never solve the case! Just like they did not solve it when my grandfather died!"
58. The police and the ambulance had arrived, the police sealed off the crime scene while the paramedics carried the body away. One of the paramedics tried to console Forgen, we decided that we should slip away in case anything else happens.
59. Back in the train, we discussed about the murder.
60. "That was a pretty ghastly scene, isn't it?" I quesioned.
61. "Undoubtly. Did you notice the door in the room?"
62. "Negative."
63. "The murderer could have just escaped from the back door."
64. "True, all of these clues are bringing us closer to the main suspect."
65. "Yes. Forgen could have killed his father, escaped from the back door and walked in at the front door."
66. "If he really did kill his father, he was surely a good actor. What is his motive if he is the murderer?"
67. "For the possession of the double diamond, remember?"
68. "Yes. The housemaid could have also done it. Otherwise, why she have told us that there was nobody in the house?"
69. "Forgen could have forced her do say that. Including all the other main clues, Forgen is the most likely suspect to have committed the crime."
70. "Fair enough. Would we go to the towers the next morning at the same time?"
71. "We would defintely will. Keep your eyes open tomorrow. I have a feeling that he was going to go after us."
72. The next morning, we were very quiet throughout the whole train ride. After we got to the towers, Shackles had devised a plan.
73. "If he strikes one of us, the other would be outside the door, preparing for any impending danger."
74. We knocked the door, nobody came. We pushed the door open.
75. "Come in, I have been waiting for you." A voice rang out.
76. We turned around, it was Forgen.
77. "I want to speak to Chips for a moment. Come inside the room with me, Chips. Shackles can stay in the waiting room for the moment."
78. Forgen led me to his grandfather's room. I already had a sinking feeling about what he was going to do. Forgen asked me to walk in and he locked the door behind him. Then, he started the assault. He lunged at me, pinning me to the ground and stuffing a hankerchief into my mouth.
79. "I had enough of your meddling. I came to you to blame it on somebody else. But it failed, and I know that you suspect me. It is a very sad thing that I have to bring this knife on you," He took the dagger which he used to kill his father and looked at the blade admiringly. "It's really a beauty. Sad to say it will soon be stained. Face your doom!" He raised the knife high in the air.
80. Just then, the door slammed open and Forgen went down, dropping the knife. I quickly shoved the knife under the cupboard. In the doorway, stood Shackles with his gun. We quickly tied Forgen up and contacted the police.
81. The police came in a very short period of time, there were also reporters flashing their cameras.
82. "This is the murderer who killed his father and his grandfather." We told the police and the excited reporters. "His motive was to have possession of double diamond which costs a fortune." We told the police the rest of the reasons while the police jotted down our explanations. Following that, we left the tower waving away reporters.
83. When we reached home, we were so tired that we slept immediately on the couch. The next morning, Shackles was reading the newspaper. The headlines read: Murderer of Frogran Daven found!
84. "The murderer of Frogran Daven has finally been found. He is Forgen Daven, 39, son of the murdered. He was also the murderer of the long forgotten Bargan Daven, his grandfather. He wanted possession of the double diamond which was fused together by the Chifel brothers. The diamond, due to its size and quality was worth at a price of more than ten million U.S dollars." I read out."
85. "The case is over now. No need to be worried. So could you run down to the bakery and get some buns for me?" Shackles asked convincingly. (2570)
1. I looked upon the chest of drawers I have forever been forbidden to touch by my friend -f a renowed detective. I have been living with him ever since he recruited me as his fellow assistant. The warm rays of sunlight filtered through the windows as my detective friend lay on his armchair, crossing his fingers and doing his daily meditation. I was sitting right next to him, thinking about the previous case that we had such a narrow escape.
2. "Do you think that the Single Granite grain would never be found?" I started.
3. "Undoubtedly. Unless the miners have gone through much unneccessary efforts to unearth it."
4. The conversation ended by the knocking of the door at the entrance. My friend opened the door and in stepped a man, no more than forty years of age and bore a sooty black suit and hat with a dignified appearance. He walked to the coat stand to hang his hat and coat on it. Then he walked steadily up to us and shook my friend's hand warmly.
5. "You must be Mr Shackles," He addressed. "My name is Forgen Daven. I hope my presence will not interfere with your current affairs."
6. "Of course not. Carry on."
7. "Then I must say that you must have a interesting case from me to solve. As far as you can tell, I am from Iceland and I live in the Davenburg towers. You would be pleased to know that my troubles are from heredity matters. This curse have been troubling me and my family for many generations. It is a curse that concerns the small presence of a diamond, fused together from two smaller diamonds and it is really a beauty."
8. "And say, where did this diamond come from?"
9. "It was from the Acroso mine fused together by the Chifel brothers who died long ago. The diamond was bought by my Grandfather. I heard from my father that he acted very strangly after he had the diamond. He was opening all the drawers like he was searching for something. Following that, my grandfather suffered from a series of puzzling events. He had a bad feeling every now and then. Finally, one day, he had a four thousand year old dagger mysteriously stuck in his chest lying on his bed!"
10. "This is most unfortunate. Can you explain more?"
11. " It was exactly 10.00 p.m when my father found him dead. After his dinner, my father went into my granfather's room to keep him company. But he found him dead. My father and I were shocked by his death. I called in the police immediately and they are investigating. But they still could not find any trace of an intruder inside the house. There weren't any fingerprints on the dagger. Making the murderer impossible to be traced from the dagger. The diamond, due to its size and quality was stated in his will to pass it to my father. Ever since my father received the diamond, he had the same symtoms as my grandfather previously. And now, he is suffering from dyssomnia as he is worrying about my grandfather. I am now desperately seeking your advice."
12. "Alright, I will settle this matter. You can go back to Iceland and try to take care of your father for the next few days while I will make some preparations of my own."
13. "Thank you. Your help would be very much appreciated." With that, he opened the door and out he strolled.
14. "Pretty hasty guy, don't you think?" I muttered.
15. "Agreeable. Looks like this case would be a fishy one. Most likely there would be a prankster lurking among the shadows." My friend said coolly with ease.
16. The next morning, I woke up and went down to the living room. Detective Shackles was already there. This was very surprising, as Shackles was a late riser and normally sleeps late the night before.
17. "Morning, why this early?" My words tumbled out of my mouth as I groggily tried to keep myself awake.
18. "Remember, the case today is of utmost importance. We have to take action before the murder strikes." Shackles uttered a dire warning. "We will be leaving shortly for Iceland. Pack your bag with only the necessary stuff. Don't bring multiple pistols, just bring the .45 colt."
19. After we had packed a bulky and heavy suitcase for each of us, we left for the north-bound train to Iceland. During the long and tiring ride, we talked about what we should do after we alight from the train.
20. "So we talk to Forgen's father first and try to gather more information from his neighbour." I mentioned as the train came to a screeching halt at Iceland. We got off the train and looked for the nearest map we could find. A few hours later, we were walking into Davenburg Towers. We were greeted by a warm and friendly housemaid who guided us to Forgen Daven. We were led into his bedroom but he was looking at some notes, reading them with seemingly great agitation.
21. "Mr Daven. You have visitors."
22. "Tell them to wait in the living room, I have important things to attend to."
23. "I think you would be pleased to know that I would be here to solve your heredity problems you mentioned yesterday." Shackles interrupted with an affirmative tone.
24. Forgen turned around and spotted me and Shackles, he pasted a surprised look on his face and told us to come in. He informed the housemaid to get us two bottles of beer.
25. "What happened just now?" I questioned Forgen after the housemaid left.
26. "Oh, just some bill paying problems. Don't worry about me." Forgen metioned coolly.
27. "What exactly happened during the murder?"
28. "I was sitting in my study from 9.00 p.m. to 10.00 p.m. doing my daily bible reading when I simply just heard the clanking of a tray. That tray was defintely the dinner for my grandfather as he was bedridden. After that, the clanking of a tray faded away."
29. "Okay. I need to talk to your father. Where is he?"
30. "He would be in his bedroom. After you walk out of this room, turn left and go down the corridor. First left and it is the second door on your right."
31. We thanked him for the directions and headed off to Forgen's father's bedroom. Imagine our surprise when we saw that the housemaid was in the room, polishing the cupboards and dusting the tables. She told us that Forgen's father was in the room right across this room. We thanked her and followed her instructions doubtfully but sure enough, her directions led us to an old man sitting in an armchair and reading the newspapers.
32. "Excuse me, are you Forgen Daven's father?" I asked.
33. "Why yes," He looked up from the newspapers."anything I can do for you?"
34. "Your son informed us about you, he said he was worried about your health and safety. May I know what exactly happened during the death of you father?"
35. At that sentence, his face frown. "Well, I was sitting in the living room, eating my breakfast. I also remembered that my housemaid went to serve my father his food and came back. After I finished my dinner at 10.00 a.m., I immediately went to check on my father as I usually do everday. Imagine my shock when I saw him lying lifeless on his bed with one of his antique dagger stuck in his chest."
36. At this moment, Shackles interrupted. "I don't think it would be very kind to ask you to talk more about the incident, maybe we will talk about it tomorrow?" Shackles suggested. Forgen Daven's father nodded and wiped away a tear.
37. We left the house with the help of the housemaid. On the train ride back, Shackles sat on his seat, oblivious to any form of action on the train. He thought about the encounter we had previously with Forgen Daven.
38. Finally, he spoke. "We are going back tomorrow to look for more clues. Did you feel anything suspicious that Forgen led us to the wrong room?"
39. "He wanted to mislead us so as for us not to find out more information?"
40. "Precisely. I think that there was something fishy about that Forgen. He is currently our main suspect as he took the trouble to mislead us and that his study is next to the bedroom of his grandfather's. What's more, he told us the wrong time, he said it was exactly 10.00p.m. when he found the corpse but his father said that the murder happened before 10.00 a.m.. So he could have just slipped in and stabbed his grandfather with the knife, he could have cleanedhis fingerprints from the dagger, leaving no trace of evidence."
41. "That is very much possible, but we have to find more evidence to support our case."
42. "Exactly. We will turn up again at the towers tomorrow at the same time."
43. I had a very light sleep that night, Shackles was literally awake for half the night. He had been planning and preparing on how would we seal our nets onto the murderer. Still, he looked fresh as ever when I woke up the next morning.
44. "Chips, had a good sleep?" He did not wait for my answer. "We are leaving now!"
45. The train ride, as usual, took a long time.
46. "Keep your energy for later, the murderer, whoever he is, may try to strike anytime. Keep your eyes peeled."
47. When we reached the house, we were once greeted by the housemaid again. She said that there was only Forgen's father in the house and that he was sound asleep. We could wait for the return of Forgen and for his father to wake up. We sat down as the housemaid walked away, thinking of what could happen. Suddenly, we heard a muffled scream which stopped suddenly. We found it very strange. Just then, Forgen walked into the room through the front door.
48. "Hello. Welcome back. Anything I can do for you?" He greeted enthusiastically.
49. "We want to talk to your father about what happened during the death of your grandfather."
50. "Oh," He looked very depressed "just follow me."
51. He led us past a room which I assumed to be his study and entered another room filled with antique daggers.
52. "This must be your grandfather's bedroom." I commented looking around. There was no reply. I looked at Forgen, he was staring right at the bed, his face pale with fear and anxiety. I looked at the bed, Forgen's father was lying there...with one of the antique daggers stuck in his chest.
53. There was blood everywhere. We all gasped in disbelief.
54. "I don't believe it! After another 20 years, the curse has striked again! With the same dagger!" Forgen cried out with an anguished tone. We had to help him. He practically went hysterical, cursing the curse. We had to calm him down first, I told the housemaid who was also equally shocked to call the ambulance and the police while Shackles tended to Forgen.
55. "Villians! Murderers! Insane!" Forgen shouted uncontrollably.
56. "Don't panic. I am sure the police would help to solve the case."
57. "They will never solve the case! Just like they did not solve it when my grandfather died!"
58. The police and the ambulance had arrived, the police sealed off the crime scene while the paramedics carried the body away. One of the paramedics tried to console Forgen, we decided that we should slip away in case anything else happens.
59. Back in the train, we discussed about the murder.
60. "That was a pretty ghastly scene, isn't it?" I quesioned.
61. "Undoubtly. Did you notice the door in the room?"
62. "Negative."
63. "The murderer could have just escaped from the back door."
64. "True, all of these clues are bringing us closer to the main suspect."
65. "Yes. Forgen could have killed his father, escaped from the back door and walked in at the front door."
66. "If he really did kill his father, he was surely a good actor. What is his motive if he is the murderer?"
67. "For the possession of the double diamond, remember?"
68. "Yes. The housemaid could have also done it. Otherwise, why she have told us that there was nobody in the house?"
69. "Forgen could have forced her do say that. Including all the other main clues, Forgen is the most likely suspect to have committed the crime."
70. "Fair enough. Would we go to the towers the next morning at the same time?"
71. "We would defintely will. Keep your eyes open tomorrow. I have a feeling that he was going to go after us."
72. The next morning, we were very quiet throughout the whole train ride. After we got to the towers, Shackles had devised a plan.
73. "If he strikes one of us, the other would be outside the door, preparing for any impending danger."
74. We knocked the door, nobody came. We pushed the door open.
75. "Come in, I have been waiting for you." A voice rang out.
76. We turned around, it was Forgen.
77. "I want to speak to Chips for a moment. Come inside the room with me, Chips. Shackles can stay in the waiting room for the moment."
78. Forgen led me to his grandfather's room. I already had a sinking feeling about what he was going to do. Forgen asked me to walk in and he locked the door behind him. Then, he started the assault. He lunged at me, pinning me to the ground and stuffing a hankerchief into my mouth.
79. "I had enough of your meddling. I came to you to blame it on somebody else. But it failed, and I know that you suspect me. It is a very sad thing that I have to bring this knife on you," He took the dagger which he used to kill his father and looked at the blade admiringly. "It's really a beauty. Sad to say it will soon be stained. Face your doom!" He raised the knife high in the air.
80. Just then, the door slammed open and Forgen went down, dropping the knife. I quickly shoved the knife under the cupboard. In the doorway, stood Shackles with his gun. We quickly tied Forgen up and contacted the police.
81. The police came in a very short period of time, there were also reporters flashing their cameras.
82. "This is the murderer who killed his father and his grandfather." We told the police and the excited reporters. "His motive was to have possession of double diamond which costs a fortune." We told the police the rest of the reasons while the police jotted down our explanations. Following that, we left the tower waving away reporters.
83. When we reached home, we were so tired that we slept immediately on the couch. The next morning, Shackles was reading the newspaper. The headlines read: Murderer of Frogran Daven found!
84. "The murderer of Frogran Daven has finally been found. He is Forgen Daven, 39, son of the murdered. He was also the murderer of the long forgotten Bargan Daven, his grandfather. He wanted possession of the double diamond which was fused together by the Chifel brothers. The diamond, due to its size and quality was worth at a price of more than ten million U.S dollars." I read out."
85. "The case is over now. No need to be worried. So could you run down to the bakery and get some buns for me?" Shackles asked convincingly. (2570)
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