Chapter 1: Detective Roberts Calls
Detective Roberts invited me over to his favorite haunch the Rusty Nail Pub. Now this pub does not have much going for it unless you want to have a place where your depression has a mutually beneficial environment. The darkness helps. The quiet helps. The lack of conversation helps. The bartender Christian has been there forever and knows all of the regular patrons, their drinks, and their dedicated places. His only intervention skills are brought to bear when a new participant tries to sit in a regular’s seat. Then Christian will kindly ask them to take their drink and move to an unassigned seat. Of course, there are those that come into the Rusty Nail and expect to be psychoanalyzed by the bar keep and they will be quietly ignored. Then there is that occasional party group that comes in all hyped up with the joy of the group and expecting to rub off some of their joy on the drab surroundings. They are quickly told to go into the back “party room” where they can elude all of the joy they wish in the anechoic chamber where properly sealed up their shared joy will be quietly contained. There is no argument with Christian because of his size and his similar appearance to many bouncers.
So, Harriet Marshall accepted the invitation from the Detective to meet at 8:15pm. She had already had a successful partnership with him as together they brought down the Mayor of Wharton, Texas and solved the mysterious disappearance of the Mayor’s wife some fourteen years before. Harriet was intrigued by the invitation out of the blue and asked:
“Detective Roberts, err Joe, why the precise time to meet at 8:15pm?”
“I can only surmise that your partner, Elvira, was able to give you my complete dossier and that is where you obtained my first name. I would be pleased if you called me Joe as I have only known you as Harriet. Oh, and the reason for the precise 8:15pm meeting time... I get off at 8:00pm and the stretch of my legs over here takes an honest 15 minutes.”
“Ok, so that explains the logistics now what is happening?”
Christian followed them over to the corner table and brought the Scotch and Chablis wine and set them down appropriately.
“I have a case which I feel will perk your interest and stimulate you to find some useful information to help move the case solution along.”
“You have my interest.”
“What would you think about three corpses recently unearthed who were buried together 17 years ago and we already know their names?”
Joe shoved across the table a green folder. Harriet opened it.
Green Folder Contents...
Four bodies have been discovered in the Forest Glen adjacent to Hector Flores farm. Hector no longer owns the farm since he died about two years ago. The family sold the farm to the larger Farming Cooperative, Done Industries. The Forest Glen has been left fallow and untouched much as the farm itself. The four bodies were discovered by Jonas Weeks and his trusty bloodhound, Sounder, on December 20th 2016. As you can see from the diagram the bodies were specifically laid out in a defined pattern. Body A was a female teenager. Body B was a male teenager. Body C was a female teenager. Body D was a male adult.
We expect that these bodies are those of the three murdered teenagers, Jennifer Stiles, John Bowden, and Marsha Bradshaw, back in 1999 and the body of Sheriff Happenstance who disappeared at the same time. Further forensic investigations will help to verify the names of the bodies. This is part of the Millennium Murders which were very horrific and elevated the township to National recognition for everything they did not desire.
“Joe, you mean we already know the identities of the corpses?”
“Yes. We knew when they were murdered but now, we have their bodies which had been spirited away, err stolen, from the morgue. I think it is time to bring their killers to justice. What do you think?”
“I think this is a case that Elvira and me can wrap our arms about and assist in bringing the culprits to justice”
“Wait a moment! Are you telling me that Elvira now has arms?”
“No, but she can give out a wallop when necessary.”
“This is very good that you will be helping and is exactly what I expected you to say.”
They finished their drinks, said goodnight and left.