#15
The hit
“What do we have?” Melania went through the collected evidence with Jared who began to count off his fingers:
First we have the surveillance video, where we see that small black-clad assailant jumping on the victim, both hands executing a hard beat against the neck. After landing on the feet, the attacker grabs the briefcase and runs into a small thoroughfare that can be seen in the upper left corner of the video. About two minutes later we see a business man in suit, who comes from that thoroughfare carrying a briefcase looking like the one the victim owned. The person wore a hat and a blue facemask. That is a bit of a problem these days.
Secondly, we have the blinded surveillance camera from that thoroughfare. It is quite evident that it had been sprayed with black colour, probably to hinder us from seeing what happened there. The tape shows that the spraying happened about two hours befire the attack. Nobody was seen to enter the location.
Then we have some fibers from a cask there. Our forensic people tell us it is wool, of good quality. So it could have come from the business suit.
We have a spray can black color matching the color on the surveillance camera. We retrieved it from a trashcan; the guys from forensics didn’t find any fingerprints on it. Probably it has been wiped.
The victim was Mitch Belair, lawyer at Brook and Bruckner. Unmarried, no children. He was specialized in labor law. As far as we found out a very regular man with no vices or secrets. His colleagues tell us that he normally had only the newspaper of the day and his lunch in his briefcase. He left behind a considerable amount of money. It all goes to the stipend fond of his alma mater for needy students.
Jared concluded: It all looks like a well-planned assassination. But by whom and why is very dubious.
Melania stared at him and chewed on her lower lip. Then she picked up the pictures of the victim laying on the table. Even in death, the face of the middle-aged man looked quite handsome. The pictures showing him on graduation and on an event at his law-firm witnessed the transformation of a young attractive man to a more settled person. A fourth picture triggered something in the mind of the seasoned detective. She took a very long look at a scene, where the victim was seen in half-profile. The picture had been taken on some official occasion with a lot of robed lawyer. In the idst was a high court judge.
Jared asked his boss if anything was amiss after she stood there seemingly thunderstruck. Once more in his tenure, he got a sharp reprimand: “I was just about to get a connection. Look at that picture and tell me if you see something noteworthy.”
Jared took the photograph he had studied before several times. After all he had been the leading officer on the case until his boss had taken over, due to pressure from the higher-ups. A lot of people in black robes, and a smallish Lady in their midst. He knew here, since she was judge at the high court and it had been a small sensation when she had been called to serve there at a relative young age. Jared suddenly saw that the part of a banner which he had ignores up to now, said: “Class of 1996”, so it had been a reunion. And Belair had been an alumnus of the same school than the High Court Judge. That was interesting, but Jared failed to see what it could mean. He mentioned it anyway.
Melania took the picture again: “That was not what I meant, so it is interesting. But as far as have understood she has made a good career, while he was a second rate lawyer in second rate law firm. Has anybody yet been murdered over a labor law case?”
“What did we find out about the man who killed Belair?”
Jared was uncomfortable. “Well really nothing interesting. He was seen on the few frames in the attack when he wore black clothes, and when leaving with the suit.”
“There must have been dozens of cameras were the guy left. After all he attacked directly in the range of one and knew about the other. You can be sure that he would have done the crime unobserved if that had been possible.”
“Well we have a few more frames along Liberty Street, where we see the guy. But one can’t see much, because of the hat and the mask. And in the time of the night the lighting was also not well. We lose the guy when he enters the city park and no other camera picked him up leaving. We assume he went to the underground car park and drove out when traffic was high. The cameras in the entrance of the park side entrance was inoperable for some time.”
“Did you check number plates?”
Jared rolled his eyes. “Yes we did and nothing came out. Every car we could recognize was checked by our people. We specially checked for people below 6 feet height, but all had good alibis. Our guy could have hidden in some car, but then we need an accomplice and everything becomes even more entangled.”
Melania looked again at the picture from the alumni reunion. Something was there, she knew, but nothing came up. Time to meet the press and confess that the investigation had drawn a blank. It was one of the days, she hated to be the Police Chief.
A few blocks away Ruth went through her Kata. The police Chief would have recognized the picture on the wall showing her and a few other on an alumni reunion. Only on her copy Mitch was cut off. She couldn’t bear the sight of the guy who had raped her in the night after their graduation.
@Ponderable
Let us hope that not one of these stories turns out to be a prophetic autobiography!
@ponderable saidHow long do we have to vote?
Note: If any author sees a problem please contact me, so that we can rectify that.
another note: I will post some critique after the winning story has been declared. If anybody does not wish that to be posted, please notify me. Thank you.
Have fun everybody!
What date will votes stop being totaled?
@ponderable saidThis is the first post in the thread.
Dear all,
the next round of the contest is now life. Thanks to all the authors who ventured into the realm of Murder Mystery in 1000 words (or less).
Please note that all stories are copyrighted by the authors. Authors might identify themselves after the close of the vote, don't assume anything to be in the Public Domain.
Rules:
Everyone gets one set of votes.
A ...[text shortened]... be a short second round of voting between all contributions tied for first place.
Enjoy reading!
So 23rd of March is the date. you have ample time to consider.
A first vote (by PM) is in and will be posted after the vote closes and before the totalling.
@ponderable saidThank you. I need to read them a few more times so not to miss anything.
This is the first post in the thread.
So 23rd of March is the date. you have ample time to consider.
A first vote (by PM) is in and will be posted after the vote closes and before the totalling.
@ponderable saidOh, sorry. For some reason, I entered the thread on page two and never realized it.
This is the first post in the thread.
So 23rd of March is the date. you have ample time to consider.
A first vote (by PM) is in and will be posted after the vote closes and before the totalling.