Loss of A Love

George Henderson, a prosecutor and an old friend of mine, was called in to investigate a murder out in the Midwest and asked for my help. Although ecstatic about seeing an old friend, even though I should be used to it, death always makes my heart sad.

Our victim is a Mr. John Wright. As I asked around town, he was known to be an upright but “hard” man. I was glad to know they had someone in custody to make it a little easier on us, but I was surprised to hear it was Mr. Wright’s wife, Ms. Minnie Foster Wright. 

When I arrived it was really dreary, on top of someone passing, it seemed the whole town was there to mourn or be skeptical. There were things in the house like a birdcage, but no bird.

                There was a young guy at the Wright home named Harry. He seemed very withdrawn. He seemed to be waiting on the man that George was questioning, a Mr. Hale.

Me: Hey there. Are you waiting on Mr. Hale there?

Harry: Yes sir I am.

Me: Ha! My father’s a sir. Just call me Orion.

*shakes hands*

Harry: Nice to meet you Orion sir. I mean Mr. Orion. Sorry. I’m kind of nervous. I’ve never seen a dead body before.

Me: What do you think happened here?

Harry: I’m not too sure sir. Me and Mr. Hale came over to see if Mr. John wanted to go to a party telephone line with us. We walked in the house after Mr. Hale said he heard someone say to enter and that’s when we saw Ms. Hale in her rocking chair.

Me: Just sitting there huh? Was John dead at the time?

Harry: Yes sir. *shakes head* Women. I swear they’re the root of all evil.

Me: So you do think his wife did this?

Harry: Well isn’t it obvious?

Me: But you just said you didn’t know.

Harry: I didn’t know you were a cop *Points to the badge on my hip*

Me: Oh Yes. I’m a private investigator. I guess I should’ve mentioned that. Is there a reason why she 

would?

Harry: I’m just surprised it took her so long.

*This statement shocked me very much and before I could ask what he meant, George called me over*

George: Okay. I just talked to Mr. Hale and he said he thinks the wife did it. He said Mrs. Wright is always giving him a hard time.

Me: *scratches head* I got a different vibe from the boy.

George: He doesn’t think she did it?

Me: Oh yeah. But it seemed that he was the one giving her a hard time.

George: Hmm.. Well this Hale character did seem a little bias with the victim being his best friend and all. He also said some statements about women that if I ever said to my wife, that’d be me with the rope around my neck.

Me: *chuckles* Well did they find any fingerprints on the rope?

George: Yeah. It was Mrs. Wright’s. So they basically have the right person but she’s pleading self defense. 

Seems kind of solid.

Me: You think so?

George: Yeah. They found bruises all over her. She can only say she fell down the steps so many times. Nobody’s that clumsy.

*I looked back over to Harry and he was standing alone looking like he was the one who lost a loved one. But it wasn’t a sadness for Mr. Wright, it was for his wife. I walked up to him*

Me: You loved her?

Harry: More than anything in the world.

Long Live No One

The people of Denmark have requested my presence on a murder investigation. Well multiple murders. The King and prince of Denmark are dead and they say they think is foul play on the death of the previous King. They also tell me the Queen along with another lad is dead. It kind of made me wonder who all was still living. They've asked me to come so they can rule out that everyone's murderer has been murdered. I am told by a man name Osric that this Prince Hamlet died in the arms of a fellow named Horatio and he was the last one who spoke to the young prince before he died. So that’s who I wanted to start with.

As I walk into what use to could be a ballroom, I see 4 chalk outlines and a hysterical crowd being interviewed by reporters. I go up to one of the members of the crowd and ask for Horatio. They point to a young lad who is in the corner by himself. You can tell he had been crying some time earlier.

Me: Horatio?

Horatio: That is I.

Me: Hello Horatio. My name is Orion Simmons and I am here to investigate the murder of what seems to be the entire royal family.

Horatio: *starts crying* Young Hamlet was a good man.

Me: Did you kill him?

Horatio: *In angered shock* I would never do such a thing!! Hamlet was my friend! *solemnly* He took his own life.

Me: How did he do that?

Horatio: He took of the goblet of poison that killed his uncle, King Claudius. Good ridden!

Me: Yes. King Claudius. Do you know anything about the death of King Hamlet, his brother?

Horatio: King Claudius killed him!!

Me: That’s a serious accusation young man; even if he is dead. How do you know this?

Horatio: You wouldn't believe me if I told you.

Me: Try me. Why wouldn't I believe that?

Horatio: Young Hamlet told me.

Me: How long did he know that?

Horatio: About two weeks.

Me: Wait! So who told him?

Horatio: His ghost. The King's ghost told Young Hamlet and he told us

Me: King Hamlet's ghost?

Horatio: Long Live King Hamlet.

**I didn’t know if Horatio was hurting so much over the loss of his friend that he was hallucinating or if this what he truly believed that happened. But I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget it.

I asked what had been going on during the time of Young Hamlet’s death and they told me that there was a fencing match between him and a young man by the name of Laertes. I questioned a lady by the name of Bella who was in the crowd at the time what happened

Me: Hello ma’am. My name is Orion Simmons and I am a private detective and I am here to do some investigation. Do you mind telling me what happened here?

Bella: *obviously still shaken up* No one was supposed to die! This crooked, cruel world!

Me: Ma’am. What happened?

Bella: Young Hamlet and Laertes were having a fencing match when suddenly they were called to break it up after they both start bleeding.

Me: What happens next?

Bella: The queen falls to the floor. She was poisoned by King Claudius on accident. Laertes then tells Hamlet that he will die also because his sword is dipped in poison.

Me: Is that all?

Bella: No. Hamlet makes him drink of the goblet that the queen drinks out of so he dies also. Hamlet then calls to Horatio but I could not hear the conversation, but I did see him drink of the same goblet of the King and Queen.

**It seems that there can be no arrests made just because everyone’s killer is dead. There is no way to prove that King Claudius killed his brother, King Hamlet, without evidence; and I can not go off the word of a “ghost.” Before leaving, I see a man by the name of Fortinbras conversing with an obviously still hurt Horatio, about the funeral arrangements of Young Hamlet. Prince Hamlet.

Where's Brown Eyes?

Case #1610

Missing Person Case

(OPEN)

                Day 1: I, Detective Orion Simmons, was hired by the family of a 15 year old named Connie who they ran away from home. They said they came home after a barbeque and she was gone. They hesitated to call the police because they thought she was out with a friend. After about four hours, they called the police and were told she had to be missing 24 hours before they sent out a search.

                Day 2: The police and I arrive at the house to question the family and neighbors. The family said they noticed that the phone was on the ground and that the door was unlocked. Some neighbors said something about a gold car pulling up to the driveway. They said Connie looked frazzled when leaving the house, but it looked like she got in the car willingly.

                Day 3: I went down the way to ask Connie’s friend some questions. She told me that her dad usually drives them into town and that her and Connie use to sneak across the highway and meet some guys. I asked her did she ever recognize a gold car when meeting guys and at first she didn't remember, but then she said she remembered when a boy named Eddie had took Connie to get something to eat and while they were walking, there was a gold car parked outside the restraint.

                Day 4: We looked at the surveillance camera from the place where Connie’s friend referred us to and ran the license plate number from the cold car in the parking lot. It was registered to David Wilson.

[{Arnold Friend, whose real name is Bernard Wilson, escaped a year ago from a mental asylum. David Wilson is his father who died 6 months before.}] Bernard is highly intelligent but is mentally unstable. He was put in a more safe and secure location under a 24 hour watch.}]

                Day 5: We found Connie in a farmhouse. The house was property owned by David Wilson before he died and was passed down to his son to have. She didn’t look relieved to know she was going home or that we found her. She told me the whole story of her first seeing Bernard, to her being raped in her own house. She claimed that she was scared at first but that she had fallen in love with him.

[{Bernard is highly intelligent but is mentally unstable. He was put in a more safe and secure location under a 24 hour watch. Connie was also sent away to an institution for six months that will help her recover from her traumatic experience.}]

Homer's Rose

Case #:613

Missing Man

Victim: Homer Barron

Main Suspect: Emily Grierson

I was hired by the family of Homer Barron to investigate his disappearance. His family said the last time they had seen him was 2 years ago at Christmas; he was headed to Yoknapatawpha, a small city in Mississippi County to live with a women he had met, Emily Grierson.

 After arriving to Yoknapatawpha, before going to Miss Emily’s, I went to a local bar just to see if they had heard about Ms. Emily and Mr. Homer. What I got from the townspeople was that the last time they had seen Homer Barron was entering the Grierson home so I knew that’s where my next stop needed to be.

Upon arriving to the house, there was an almost unbearable stench coming from the house. After knocking on the door, I was greeted by a tall, older Negro who told me Ms. Emily wasn’t available. When I asked about Mr. Homer, he told me he wasn’t available also and closed the door. Before telling the family Homer was okay, I at least wanted to see him.

I checked in a motel right down the street from the Grierson house so I could keep an eye on it. I watched the house for a week and only saw the Negro, who I later found out to be Tobe, her caretaker, come and leave the house. One night, I saw a short, plump woman in the window who I believed to be Emily Grierson. I saw that as my opportunity to go speak to her about Homer. Instead of going to the front door, I knocked on the window where I had seen her standing.  I immediately noticed a crayon portrait of a man in the background. By the time I looked back over at Ms. Emily, Tobe was standing in front of the window, closing the curtains.

My next assignment was to try and get the scoop on Tobe, but the people of the town told me that they had given up asking him questions because he would never tell them anything about Emily Grierson. Before leaving town to try another lead elsewhere, I stopped by a place where the motel manager said he had seen Emily last, a drug store. When I arrived, I asked the druggist when the last time he had seen Ms. Emily and asked if she had purchased anything. He told me she purchased arsenic some months ago. I asked if she had rats. He said that she didn’t say but only thought that she was going to kill herself. I knew she hadn’t done that because I had just seen her in the window.

Two weeks later before I was set to go to meet with Homer’s family, Ms. Emily died. I stayed an extra two days for the funeral. I thought it was an invasion of privacy how the townspeople were just snooping throughout her home, but I found myself right behind them, doing the same thing. They said there was a region right above the stairs no one had seen in 40 years, so that was the main interest of the townspeople. When the door opened, you could hear a pen drop the way everyone held their breath. My view went right to the bed where I saw a figure of a human body. The people followed me over to the bed where I lifted the blanket and saw a long strand of gray hair on the pillow.

After running an autopsy, we learned that the body in the home of Emily Grierson belonged to Homer Barron. He had been poisoned. Arsenic.