Short Stories - A Series of Tales Frozen in Time

The Silenced Truth- A Crime scene to unravel

Authors note: Are you familiar with a game I've seen very commonly across college fests? It's called crime scene and involves, well, a crime scene and the participants playing sherlock. I was recently involved in organising one and it was quite fun to see everyone going all out on unravelling the plot. Now I take no credits for the plot, it is the product of me and two friends brainstorming together. I then penned it down into a short story alongside a video (which is now sadly corrupted).

Now that the event is over and I doubt the plot is going to be used again I thought I'd share it here with you guys. Have a go and take your pick on who committed the crime. It's a little rushed to accommodate the time limit but a fun (and morbid) case nonetheless.

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It was a day as dull and bleak as any other at the police station, the hours faded into the sounds of the pen scratching paper and the clattering of the keyboards. But as the sun began the last stretch of its westward journey, a homeless man burst into the police station.

He greeted no one. With the air of one familiar with the motions, he walked straight to the inspectors desk and plopped down on a seat, "I have information on a murder" he said, letting that statement hang in the air. 

The inspector sighed, knowing he would not be getting another word out of the man until some form of compensation was offered.

The inspector, Mark O'Neil signalled for some food to be brought. Digging into the meal with wild abandon, the satiated man finally began narrating his tale. 

"I was walking around, same as everyday, gathering bottles to sell when I saw this man smoking near a garbage dump. Now this man was battered I tell you, and he was right next to one of the good dumps. There is always something precious to be found there. Me thought he was trying to take over my area, so I ran at him. But I tell you, he was a cowards, as soon as he saw me coming, he ran into a camper van parked to the side and drove off. Turns out he wasn't homeless after all then. But that dastard was in unnatural hurry, and I didn't want him back, so I kept running behind him. When ehe made a sharp turn out of the alley one bag fell out of the open window. Here, look for yourself."

Dusting off his greasy hands, he hoisted one of his bags on the table. Mark noted that the bag was much cleaner than the others the vagrant carried. He donned sterile gloves before opening the bag, the first thing that hit him was the stench within. Holding his breath, he opened the bag wider. Inside, he saw human fingers, possibly the whole arm was in there too.

Having finished his meal,  the homeless man gathered his bags and walked out. "You will have to pay me with more next time officer. Giving the police information is risky business around here."

Mark ignored him, his mind occupied with the crime mystery before him. The air in the police station tingled with the excitement such cases brought with them. And like a well oiled machine, it burst into action. One constable brought out the kits and began packing the evidence to be shipped off to the forensics department. Meanwhile Mark filled the forms and wrote the letter of information. With his seal on the packages, the parcel was quickly delivered to the closest facility, a mere 10km from them.

While the wait for the results of the analysis dragged on, the phone rang, "Hello, Dunstan police station here"

"Hello, this is the city hospital. We're calling to report a missing patient. We could not call before due to a hospital rush. James, 28 years old was admitted around five hours ago. He had both his arms violently chopped off and  refused to report the cause of the injury. His claim was an workplace accident. However we found his name on the cities unemployment benefit scheme. Our doctors think the ampitation was executed with planning and with the patients approval. He was brought in by two young men who left before we could get more information. Another visitor, an old man named Hudson Wormwood is still here, we've asked him to stay in the waiting room till we get further updates."