"What do you mean this is not a suicide? It's clear as day that this man hanged himself.", inquired Gary. Oh, how naïve of him to assume that something appears as is, even after all those years working for the police. Who could blame him though? He was one of those people who would always see the good side of things, so insinuating that Mr. Haartie hanged himself would ease the fact that we might have a murderer on the loose. He preferred suicide over homicide and all other 'cides'.
I hated to be the one to break the bad news down for him, but it had to be done! "It's way to cold in here for the fan to be on, right?", I said to Gary, pointing to the fan from which our victim was hanging. And that wasn't the only odd item out of place in this particular scene - I also pointed out that the stove was still on and the kitchen setting looked like someone was , as though someone was about to prepare breakfast. It seemed rather odd that one would leave the stove on like that, but all this was inconclusive, so I investigated further. I later found out that Mr. Haartie had scheduled a reality show for some time in the afternoon on his TV, and this made me think dying wasn't in his plans today. Sure, all this sounded like speculation from a paranoid rookie, but then I saw something that proved me right.
"Come have a look at this!", I called out to Gary. Beneath the carpet over which the body was hovering, I came across a startling piece of evidence that would go on and change the whole course of the investigation. It was a piece of hair, stashed tightly under the carpet. The strange thing was, our dearly departed friend here was bald...and well, neatly shaven down there. Seeing as how no one else lives here, that strand of hair came from someone.
Gary started to believe my suspicions that this was, in fact, a murder. "I think you should go get the statement again from the first person on the scene", I said to him. We brought him in for questioning down at the station, and bombarded him with a plethora of questions, mostly repeating the same ones over and over. This was done deliberately to catch him off-guard. We had also questioned some of the neighbours, and most said they heard vigorous banging on Mr. Haarties' door prior to his demise.
When his final testimony did not coincide with his earlier statements, he was arrested for murder.
The young man who worked as a newspaper delivery boy for The Narrow Times, said he was doing his daily rounds when he knocked on Mr. Haarties' door. He claimed that he only resorted to banging on the door because no one answered. He seemed suspiciously nervous, and that all added to his incarceration.
I knocked off from work at 17:30 and headed to the bar as usual. I don't even consume alcohol, but I find that particular place refreshing, kind of ironic really, but that was just the kind of person I was. There no aesthetics whatsoever in that place, just a rugged-edged environment that would cut deep in the subconscious of a more conservative mind.
I think it was the people there who calmed me, and of course, a break from Charlie's wild antics for a while felt good. I would watch the occasional bar fights and random heated arguments from a distance, keeping myself out of harm's way at all costs. Alas, I would get up from my seat of solitude after an hour and a half, and be on my way home. The barman would remind me that it's time to go. Yes, I've been there enough times for him to know my in and out schedule.
Going home, I would take the same route I did when I went to work. It was an obsession of sorts, I would stick to the same routine day in and day out.
The street was always so calm at night, no man, dog or cat in sight. I would often times be aware of my own thoughts, racing thoughts that would always be more frightening than appealing. I would try to remember a more wholesome memory to try overshadow my dark shower thoughts. The rest of the day home, I would struggle to make sense of why I was like this. A daily struggle in my head; A vie for power and complete dominance over my entire mind. There were some identities I would love to keep locked up forever at the back of my head, never again seeing the light of day.
At last! I made it home. I would always rejoice at this moment, for it meant I would do something to keep me busy, thus keeping me from ruminating.
I reheated Mrs. Maseko's meat pie from yesterday and had myself a nice warm dinner. After that, I went straight to bed and checked my socials. I was pretty famous in the digital world. It was more of an escape and less about 'socializing'. I kept jumping from one application to the other, and when I finally had enough, or when it seemed like I was forcing things, I would tuck myself to sleep.
The following morning, I woke up way passed the usual 04:45! I could not believe it. I decided to skip my morning run, and went straight to bath. On the brighter side, though, I made it to work in time... phew!
This went on for a few days. I immediately realized something wasn't right. Like always when I seem to be dealing with a lot I tend to run away from my problems rather than deal with them head-on.
I decided to use the previous case as a means to an end. Since some previous nights, I have been thinking about whether I missed something in the investigation. I have always felt a sense of superiority after closing my cases, but this time it was different; something was amiss. All these thoughts and doubts led me to go back to the drawing board, which led be back to the scene of the murder. I went there all on my own because I knew that no one would want to bother themselves with a closed case.
I went there with the mobile crime lab and did the investigations myself. I had also gotten the autopsy report back from the mortuary and looked it over again, albeit more thoroughly this time.
Sure , all the evidence pointed to the newspaper delivery guy, but all that seemed way too convenient.
I guess it's worth noting that I had one more pending murder case that came after this one, but it was still wearing down on me. The aforementioned cases felt intertwined somehow, I just had no way of proving it. It was still a budding hypothesis at this point. I relayed my suspicions a the station, but was immediately dismissed by the station commander.
During my intense search in Mr. Haarties' house, I found a piece of evidence that would change my life and everyone else in Great Narrow! Hidden deep within the metaphor surrounding Mr. Haartie's death, was a message that was to lead to something far worse than a single homicide. The killer had left clues which I followed and found myself at GN canyon. Great Narrow's landmark, and the reason for its name. There, literally hanging under a cliff, was what would be know today as the killer's signature. In a sack that resembled a sports bag, I found a number of items, including one particular item that had my attention. It was an artefact carved to resemble the full moon, with near accurate craters deeply carved on its surface, and the twelve zodiac signs inscribed in it. What was more interesting about this item was not its appearance, but the resemblance it had to another one we found in the other case, the one I mentioned earlier.
I finally had evidence to prove the correlation of these two cases. This was a huge step in the right direction. I went back to the station, carrying the whole bag. As soon as I got to the station, I sowed the bag to Lieutenant Davis. He was as surprised as I was when I first saw what I saw. This meant he had no chance but to speak to the DA about the release of one falsely accused young man. I strongly hoped that he wouldn't sue the station, but this was hypocritical of me, for I would do exactly if I was ever accused of a murder. Worse, being wrongfully incarcerated. We had bigger problems to worry about, as it seemed.
Two murders linked by one strange artefact. It all seemed eerily familiar, but I guess this was just the beginning of a whole other story.