IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT . . . April 7, 2014

 

 

 

It was a dark and stormy night.  Chief of Police Shawn Langseth sat in his office, just off the squad room.  The evidence did not make sense – or did it?  The latest crime scene at the library had been staged; he had never been more sure of anything in his twenty-four years in law enforcement.  The books scattered at the scene had seemed to mock him . . . all had the word “Mystery” in the titles.  Coincidence? No, he did not think so. The Chief took the message for what it was: taunting, a mocking of his investigation.

Beneath the glare of the overhead light, Chief Langseth studied the latest bits of evidence:  four magnifying glasses, a pencil, a notebook with a torn page that said, “Who Done It?”  Then there was the inkpad from the circulation desk, from which miniature footprints seemed to lead away.  Was it possible those were REAL footprints, or were the perps playing with him?  Had the criminals been clumsy, or were the footprints an elaborate hoax?

As the storm raged outside, there was a storm raging inside the Chief.  Sure, there was anger, but the Chief was not going to let that get the best of him.  He looked with deadly calm at the latest bit of evidence to cross his desk.  He held in his hand the report from the BCA which had arrived earlier that day.  The report showed the DNA mapping from the evidence that was swabbed from the forks he sent to the crime lab in February.  It was not the crime lab’s process that interested him as much as their conclusion:  Creatorae IWas he surprised? No.  Frustrated? Not that he would admit – even to himself.  Resolved?

You bet.

It might seem little to go on – but adding the evidence from the past weeks, to the information he had in his hand – Chief Langseth knew what his next step would be.  As lightning flashed through the window, casting ominous shadows on the precinct walls, Langseth narrowed his eyes, until all one could see was the steely glint of determination.

Those perpetrators would rue the day they decided to rumble in HIS territory!