Detective Vincent: To be Competent

CASE 6 Victim: Mark Tender Age: 31 Occupation: Accountant Location: Apartment, Westbridge, Massachusetts Type: Locked-room murder, single stab wound Detectives: Senior Detective Daniel Graves and Assistant Detective Vincent Mercer Current time: 4:30 PM “This is complicated, but I'm almost there,” I muttered. Graves didn't answer. Of course he didn't. He stood near the window, looking outside like he was more interested in the weather than the dead man behind him. Mark Tender was lying a few feet from the door, face down against the wooden floor. There was no overturned furniture, no damage around the lock, and no broken frame. I'd been there for half an hour and noticed everything I could, but I still wasn't confident enough to solve it. Either I was missing something or I hadn't connected the clues properly. The door was closed. If the murderer hadn't used it, they must have escaped another way. The balcony was possible, but there were no footprints. Maybe they had been cleaned, but I couldn't be sure. There was also a faint clean path leading toward the balcony, as if something had been dragged, yet nothing appeared to be missing from the room. After a long pause, I muttered, “The path seems to be cleaned, but why a line instead of blocks of cleaned parts?” “I’m kind of sure the murderer cleaned it,” I added, slightly more confidently. “And?” Graves glanced at me. “And what?” I asked. “You tell me.” I sighed. This was one of those things Graves did. He'd give me three words and somehow expect me to figure out the rest. I noticed him glance toward the wall before immediately looking away. I followed his gaze and noticed a broom leaning against the wall near the balcony. It was in a place where it naturally belonged, something anyone could easily ignore. “Huh. So the line was made by the broom.” Graves remained silent, still looking outside as if he already knew the whole story and was simply waiting for me to figure it out. I rubbed my chin in annoyance. The murderer had been careful enough to clean the entire path, but why leave such an obvious clean line? “Diversion?” I said, loud enough for Graves to hear. “Could be,” Graves replied in a strangely cheerful tone. I looked back at the body. “Mark was killed on the couch with a stab wound, and the murderer laid him on the floor, locked the room, cleaned the path leading to the balcony, and escaped.” Graves finally looked at me with a faint, reassuring smile. It was the same look he'd given me whenever I'd figured out how something was done but still missed a clue that mattered. I remembered the first time he'd given me that look. CASE 4 Victim: John Book Age: 22 Occupation: Industry worker Location: Public storage area Estimated time of death: 1:20–1:30 PM Discovery: 2:00–2:10 PM Arrival: 2:30 PM It was a bright, sunny day. Graves stood in front of one of the industrial storage buildings. Four others surrounded it, two facing each other with enough space between them for vehicles to pass. The sound of iron mixed with the voices of workers gathered around the storage. It wasn't loud enough to be distracting. Seven police officers and about ten workers remained near the building, while several material carts stood outside with their wheels and metal frames covered in dirt. John Book was lying slightly inside the entrance. There was less blood than I'd expected and no obvious sign of dragging. He was close enough to the entrance to be seen from outside, but far enough in that he wasn't immediately visible from the wider area. Inside were long iron rods arranged on shelves, with boxes stacked around them. I noticed stains around John's left shoulder. Oil, or something similar. I leaned closer, but there was no similar smell around the storage. Graves was already looking toward the back door. “I think there's less blood than expected.” “It sure is.” He kept looking at the door. I walked farther inside, and the noise outside became quieter. Something about the scene bothered me, but I couldn't tell what. A few minutes later, we questioned the people who had been around the area in Public Sector 2, where tables and chairs were already available for workers. I sat beside Graves with my notebook open, recording their names and statements. Michael Reed said he'd seen John walking near the private sector around 1:40, though he wasn't completely sure it was him. Sarah Collins placed John walking toward the public area at around 1:42 but hadn't spoken to him. Willer Jane claimed he saw John entering Sector 2 around 1:45, though he couldn't see his face. Thomas Bell said he saw John heading toward the private sector around 1:50 but admitted he only recognized him by his clothes and appearance. Daniel Moore hadn't seen John but claimed he could hear him working earlier. Emily Carter said she'd seen John near the private sector somewhere around 1:50 or 2:00 but hadn't spoken to him. Robert Hayes claimed he'd seen him from a window coming from the main road before 1:00, though he wasn't sure of the exact time. The timeline was strange. Everyone had supposedly seen John alive after he should have been dead, but none of them had actually spoken to him or clearly seen his face. I closed my notebook. “I think he might have been killed somewhere else.” Graves looked at me. “Where?” “The private sector.” He nodded. The private sector wasn't directly behind the storage, so we had to walk around the back of the public sector. The narrow path was lit by sunlight reflecting off the blue plastic roofs. The private sectors were quieter. Sector 1 was beside Sector 2, with enough space between them for people to walk. Graves opened the gate to Sector 1, and I followed. The room was cleaner than the public storage, with only a few chairs, tables, boxes, and scraps of paper scattered across the concrete floor. “This place is meant for more careful work.” “Looks like it.” I walked farther inside and noticed a stain a few feet from the entrance. It looked like someone had dropped half a mug. I crouched down. It was almost dry, with marks from people walking over it. I remembered the stains on John's shoulder and looked around, but nothing seemed capable of causing the wound. “Could the murder have happened here?” “What do you think?” “Not sure... but maybe.” After searching the room, I noticed Graves standing beside the door, looking outside. “We should check the other one.” Graves nodded. Sector 2 was right beside it, and the difference was obvious. There were more boxes, scraps of paper, dust, and tools scattered around. It looked like a place where people worked quickly rather than carefully. Most tools were where they belonged, but some had been left on tables. Among them was a crowbar. “Interesting.” I looked through the tools and noticed another stain. It was twice the size of the one in Sector 1, right beside the tools hanging on the wall. It looked as if someone had slipped or dragged something through it. “Could John have been killed here instead?” I imagined someone attacking him in the room and wondered where the blood would have gone and whether the room would still look like this afterward. I moved around, checking the scene from different angles. Graves did almost the opposite. He simply stood nearby, looking around, sometimes moving and sometimes remaining still. I couldn't tell whether he was thinking about the case or waiting for me. “I think something happened here.” Graves didn't react. “Willer said he saw John inside Sector 2.” “Yeah.” “But nobody else said that.” “Right.” “We should go back to John.” We returned to the public sector. The police were still working around the building. I crouched beside John's body again and looked at it differently. I checked the stains, wound, blood, and clothes before opening my notebook and rereading the witness statements. Then I noticed Willer's statement. He was the only one who placed John inside Sector 2. I froze. “Graves.” He looked over. “The timeline is wrong.” “What makes you think that?” “The witnesses. Everyone keeps placing John alive after the estimated time of death, but none of them actually prove that.” I thought about it. “They just thought it was John.” My thoughts started connecting. The stain in Sector 2. The tools. Willer's statement. Everything suddenly made sense. “I think John was killed in Sector 2. The stain looks like something was dragged through it.” I continued before Graves could respond. “Willer killed him with one of the tools, brought the body here with the carts, and cleaned the blood from the tools and floor.” I looked at Graves. “Willer mentioned Sector 2 because he knew nobody could confirm exactly what he was doing there.” I felt like I'd finally solved it. Graves looked at me. “You found out who did it and how.” He paused. “But you missed the important part.” “Huh? There's more?” “You told me how you think he did it, not how it actually happened.” He looked at me. “You got the place wrong. Willer killed John in Sector 1.” I stared at him. “The stain came from there. It got onto John's clothes during an argument before he tried to leave. Willer struck him from behind, and John fell near the entrance.” I listened carefully. “Willer couldn't clean the stain from John's clothes, so he copied it into Sector 2.” He paused. “The larger stain, the marks around it, and the slipped mark were all intentional. He wanted us to believe the murder happened there.” I finally understood what it meant to examine properly. CASE 5 Victim: Andy Ray Age: 38 Location: Private law office Type: Shooting Estimated time of death: 8:45–9:00 PM Discovery: 9:30 PM Killer: Laurel Bennett The fifth case took us to the private office of Andy Ray, a thirty-eight-year-old lawyer who had been shot inside his office. When Graves and I arrived, the police had already secured the room. Andy was lying beside his desk, and there were no obvious signs of forced entry. His files were scattered across the desk, and his phone was lying nearby. I started checking the room while Graves examined the body. “The estimated time of death?” I asked. “Between 8:45 and 9:00,” Graves replied. Nobody had seen anything suspicious around the office, so we started questioning the people connected to Andy. His assistant, Evan Miller, told us he had left the office earlier that evening and had been at a café around the time Andy was killed. He even showed us a photograph that he claimed he had sent to his girlfriend at 8:52 PM. At first, his alibi seemed convincing, but something about the photograph bothered me. The café looked familiar, and after checking the details, I realized the photograph wasn't taken that night. It was an old picture. “This isn't from tonight,” I said. Evan looked at me for a moment before admitting that he knew the photograph was old. He had used it because he wanted to make it look like he had been somewhere else. That made him suspicious, but I didn't think he had killed Andy. “Why would you use an old photograph?” I asked. “I don't know,” Evan said. “You knew it was old.” He didn't answer. If Evan had killed Andy, there was no reason to create such a complicated alibi using an old photograph. It looked more like he was hiding something else. I went back through Andy's files and found several documents related to financial misconduct. Laurel Bennett's name appeared repeatedly, while Evan's appeared only occasionally. Andy had also left a note saying he planned to confront Laurel about missing money. I showed the documents to Graves. “Laurel had a reason to be worried,” I said. “Maybe,” Graves replied. “She had access to Andy, she knew about the financial records, and there's no alibi.” “Keep looking.” We questioned Laurel next. She admitted she had spoken to Andy around six that evening about work. She became defensive when we asked about the financial records and said she had planned to confront Andy about them, but an emergency had come up and she intended to deal with it the next day. “What emergency?” I asked. “Something personal.” “What exactly?” “I'd rather not discuss it.” She had no alibi. Graves didn't believe her story, but he let her leave. I continued thinking about the timeline. Laurel had a motive, she knew Andy's routine, and she had no alibi for the time of the murder. If Andy had discovered that she was stealing money from the business, she had every reason to confront him before he could expose her. “I think Laurel killed Andy,” I told Graves. He looked at me. “Why?” “She went to the office to convince him to stay quiet. When he refused, she shot him.” Graves was silent for a moment before agreeing that I had identified the murderer correctly. However, he pointed out one thing I had misunderstood. I had assumed Evan used the old photograph in a panic after learning about Laurel's involvement. “Evan didn't use the photograph because he panicked,” Graves explained. “He knew it was old.” “Then why use it?” “Because if someone discovered it was fake, it would make him look suspicious. But it still wouldn't prove he killed Andy.” I thought about it for a moment. He was right. Evan had deliberately created a suspicious alibi that protected him without directly connecting him to the murder. It was a small detail, but it mattered. I had finally solved the case and identified the murderer on my own. The only thing I had missed was why one of the other suspects had lied. I remembered the first case, when I hadn't even known what to look for. Back then, every clue seemed important. I just didn't know which ones were.