One Step Ahead

Connecting The Dots

November 3rd, 2014 :

      Several neighbors stood looking out their front windows as the patrol car pulled into Ashley's driveway, followed by what was clearly an unmarked police car. He watched as two uniformed officers exited their vehicle, while a petite strawberry blonde woman emerged from the other car.

      "Good afternoon, sir. I'm Detective Marlena Whitman. You made a call stating that you may have evidence of a murder, is that correct?" 

      Ashley glanced up at the woman,with a somewhat shell-shocked expression. "There's no may about it, Detective. Either whoever that thing belongs to is completely delusional, or they were keeping a record of people they killed."

      He moved aside, allowing them to enter the house, and the detective said, "If you'll tell the officers where the item is, sir, they can begin processing it while you explain to me how it came to be in your possession."

      Directing the patrolmen to his bedroom, Ashley then sank down into the couch, while Detective Whitman seated herself in a chair to his left. He gave her basic information, such as his name, birthdate, and other standard details, before recounting the story of how he'd found the journal. She interrupted him several times to clarify details before he finished, then asked him to show her the wardrobe, and the secret compartment.

      Leading the detective down the hall to the bedroom, he saw that the other officers had placed the book into a zippered bag, and were now looking over the wardrobe, with one of them using a digital camera to snap several pictures. Detective Whitman reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of latex gloves, identical to the ones already worn by the patrol officers. Pulling them on, she removed a small flashlight from another pocket and approached the hulking piece of furniture.

      "All right, Mr. Purdy, where precisely did you find the journal?" 

      "There's a knothole in one of the boards in the back corner. That's basically the handle, I guess," he replied.

      Shining the flashlight into the wardrobe, Whitman reached in and manipulated the board several times, then passed the light to one of the officers. Holding the board with one hand, she reached into the compartment with the other, emerging a few seconds later with a drawstring bag and a pistol.

      Sending one of the patrolmen back to the car for more evidence bags, Whitman suggested that they return to the living room, where she could have a closer look at the newly-discovered items. The three of them walked back down the hall, entering the living room at the same time that the second officer returned from outside.

      The patrolman, whose nametag read Cavanaugh, passed the bags to Detective Whitman, while the other officer, DeLuca, trained the camera on the detective. She unfastened the ties on the bag and emptied the contents onto Ashley's coffee table, separating the items to allow each one to be documented.

      She listed each item as she isolated it from the pile. "One silver bangle bracelet, one man's silver ring with a green stone, one pair gold cufflinks with orange stones, one man's gold ring, engraved, no stone, five pairs earrings of various styles, two silver crucifix pendants, one gold necklace with jeweled "S" pendant, and one small velvet bag containing..., six gold coins."

      Turning to Ashley, she inquired, "Mr. Purdy, would your fingerprints be on file, by any chance?"

      "Why? Are you saying that you think this is mine?" he asked incredulously.

      She was quick to reassure him. "Not at all. Your statement that you just purchased the wardrobe should be simple to corroborate, which would clear you as a potential suspect. I'm asking because you handled the book, and we need to be able to identify your prints in order to determine if anyone else may have left any."