2002 School Magazine

, . original works

Murder at the Mansion The old man lay still, his arms flung awkwardly over the legs of a nearby wooden chair that lay upturned. A single drop of bloodied saliva descended his whiskered chin like a mountain climber slowly and carefully climbing back down to earth The patches of hair that sprouted out of his wrinkled head, once wispy and snow coloured, were now matted and soaked in his own blood along with the rest of the scene. On his forehead a single word was scrawled in dark Ink: 'Liar it had been ten hours since the initial disturbance, and the victim's house was now f ocked with police, forensics and ambulance attendants. As I arrived at the house, which was ablaze with lights, I scanned the scene. Neighbours of the victim were huddled outside the large Spanish-style home in pyjamas and nightgowns, looking worried. I strode past them, toward the heaw oak front door of the victim's large manor. I greeted a policeman who blocked the entrance, showing him my i. d. and telling him my name. Lucy Britt. He was reluctant to let me enter, as it was unusual for a private investigator to be called upon so soon after a victim had died, but my argument was convincing and I was allowed access As I approached the crime scene, the victim's basement. I was surprised to find that the victim, wealthy businessman, Arthur ComesIy, had not scr'inped at all with the decor throughout the whole residence. The furniture looked expensive and even the tiny basement in which Arthur's mangled corpse lay, looked fit for a king, complete with modern storage compartments and expensive looking paintings, which hung neatly on the crisp white walls. The large proportion of blood that seemed to be splattered throughout the entire basement, made the scene look ironic and morbid A team of forensics were working the scene, and I chatted briefly to a short, heavily built woman. whose light brown hair was neatly tied back in a low ponytail She informed me that the man had in fact been murdered and that tiny fibres of dog hair had been found on the man, which was unusual as the victim's medical file, showed that he had in fact been allergic to dogs I left Arthur's house twenty minutes later after I finished talking to the woman and then decided to question a neighbour about Arthur's death. She shakilY told me that she had heard nothing at the time of the disturbance but had witnessed Arthur and his closest friend, Gary, arguing loudly and harshly a few weeks prior to the murder. She was then dragged away by a police officer so I gave her my card and left the scene The next day I decided to pay a visit to Gary. He was my prime suspect, as Arthur had 00 real enemies I knocked casually on his front door and heard a dog barking furiously in the backyard. A bleary-eyed woman answered; she was thin, pretty and looked as if she had been crying. I showed her my identification and told her that I wanted to speak to Gary Rodgin it he was in. She 500k her head, but let me in anyway She told me to sit down and introduced herself as Michelle Rodgin, before progressing to inform me that Gary, her husband of ten Years, had been recently killed in a car crash. I asked her about Arthur and she admitted that her husband had been feuding with him, a few weeks prior to the murder, though she said she had no idea what it was about. We talked briefly and she gave me her mobile telephone number in a messy scrawl of black ink, before I left I decided to go back to Arthur's house, as I thought that there might be something I had overlooked. I entered the house and instead of heading down to the basement, I headed upstairs, where the bedrooms were located. I entered the biggest bedroom and began to look through the drawers on a nearby desk. I nearly jumped with surprise when I found letters addressed to Arthur scrawled in Michelle Rodgin's writing. The condition that they were in showed that they were recent I picked up one that was simply a page of paper with words scrawled in black Ink "You said You loved me ... L'ar. "

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