The Man in White. Pt 2
Let me explain how this began. A few weeks ago I get a knock on the door. In walks the Governor of the state. He wants an investigator to look into the murder of his young assistant, Mark Freeman. I read about his murder in the papers. Murdered in his office just as he was about to leave.
I am immediately suspicious. First, why does the Governor of the state need a private dick to look into a murder when he has a huge police force? Secondly, I'm naturally inclined to be suspicious because a good part of the time the bastard that hires me is the one who committed the crime.
Lastly he's a politician. Enough said.
"So Mr Lavell are we clear on the matter at hand?"
"That depends Governor. Why do you really need me to investigate this murder?"
He leans in close and lowering the sound of his voice, answers:
"I need someone not involved in the Government to be sure there is no corruption. I can't trust the police to audit the affairs of Government- I strongly suspect the murder is related to some quite powerful people."
I grin slightly. Annoying people in power is something of a hobby of mine.
"Would I get full clearance to the murder scenes? No police interference in the investigation?"
"Certainly."
"Then I charge $150 a day plus expenses. I suggest you leave soon. The respectable tend to scare away my clients."
Me and John then leave to go search the office. We are confronted by the body Freeman as we enter. Apparently they hadn't come to fetch the body. They could have at least turned the air conditioning on.
"What do you think, John? How was it done?"
John walks around him a few times.
"Several stab wounds to the chest. Looks like quite a violent encounter. There is a definite sign of a struggle."
He reaches down and searches Freeman's coat.
"Hey I found a key. This tells us a few things."
"Oh, care to explain?"
"I surmise that the key opens the locked desk." He confirms his theory by opening the drawers. "Seeing as the key was in the pocket of Freeman's coat we can tell the murderer didn't come here to steal anything. Any important documents would be in this drawer for security reasons. Freeman would have put what he was working with away before getting up to leave. If you did come here to steal something, why the hell would you put the key back in the victim's pocket?"
I smile slightly. John's getting better at thinking in terms of people. I decide to test him a little bit.
"What if he put the key back to screw with our heads?"
"Pardon?"
"What if he put the key back to make us think that he hadn't taken anything from the office, but he had?"
A puzzled look crosses John's face- he still doesn't quite comprehend the depths of people.
"Never mind John. Look you're probably right about the murderer. I have to warn you though our client seemed to think it was for political reasons." As I say this some of the colour drains out of John's face.
"Oh bugger. As if I didn't find it hard enough to comprehend people."
We search the rest of the room, but find no other clues. However, recently there was another murder reported in the papers that I believe to be related. Normally I don't pay murders any mind- living in the city hardens you to the chance of violent crime. But the violent nature of the murder has got my attention, as has the victim's occupation- a Civil Servant. It's a long shot but it's worth investigating.
Fortunately I don't have to get John to examine another corpse. A friend of mine happens to be investigating.
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For the Wordmongers' Masque