by H. B. Rae
"How've you been?" asked Libby.
"How do you think?" Tammy replied, "and why do you even want to talk to me?"
"Because I have nobody else to talk to. Deep down, I really admire you for what you did. I am now starting to realize that what I did was wrong. I've had time to think about it. I was...still am crazy. I appreciate the fact that you want to do good for the community".
"Well", Tammy begun, rather lost for words, "what you have to say does not really interest me right now, because I have other priorities".
"I was a vet, you know", said Libby. "Can't you see, Tammy? We are similar!"
"But I didn't kill anyone!" Tammy protested.
"That's what they all say", said Libby. "You did, really".
"Are you wearing a wire?" asked a suspicious Tammy.
"No", replied Libby, "and I'm not trying to get you to confess. The point is, we need each other in a place. Now that the truth about you has come out, you have no way of going back. You are going to be tortured. You will suffer for the rest of our life. It's happening to me, now. I don't want to come out of my cell because a big gang of them usually bully me. I hate my life so much and I would do anything to kill myself, but they have me on suicide watch. I can't cope in here, and the same thing will happen to you. So, why don't we just talk to each other about our problems, and we might get somewhere - who knows?"
What Libby said frightened Tammy - was this the end for her? Was she going to suffer non-stop?
"You got what you deserved", Tammy argued, "and you might then truly realize that what you did was wrong!"
Tammy then got up and returned to her cell, more determined than ever to get out of the place.
Chapter 10
Coarse paid a visit to Tammy the following day. In the visiting room, a few of the women glared at her. She tried to ignore it, but it was no use. Coarse entered the room, and he told her about his news.
"It's early days, yet, Tammy", he said to her, trying to comfort her.
Tammy felt let down.
"But I want to get out of here now!" she cried helplessly, impatiently.
"I will get to the bottom of this!" he cried, determined to solve the murder before the end. "But there is one thing that you can do to help me - can you go through the entire night with me, remembering every single last detail?"
Tammy explained everything that she could remember about that night. Every detail was mentioned, including what had happened after the murder. It had gone through her mind several times before, so she did a good job of remembering everything.
After that, it was time to go. Coarse left the building, thinking through what Tammy had said. Just then, an idea came into his head - was this the moment of truth? Had he figured out the killer? It was doubtful, but perhaps one thing, one tiny thing, could solve the case.
Firstly, he needed to visit the police station. He quickly visited a few police officers downstairs to talk to them about a specific thing that they had witnessed on the night of the murder - it was minor, but important. Coarse then had a quick discussion with the rest of the team. He talked to Miranda first.
"Do you really think she did it?" asked Coarse.
"I think it's certainly possible", replied Miranda, grinning slightly. "Anyway, I did not really like Tammy that much, anyway, so I hope she gets sent down for life if she gets found guilty".
"And what about you...Pam?" he asked.
"I don't know", Pam replied, "I don't know what to think".
Coarse then went on to ask them one thing.
"Later, I would like to ask you to gather round, while I explain something to you. I just want to hear your thoughts".
"Why not now?" asked Pam.
"Later", Coarse replied, rather firmly.
He rushed out, thanking the police officers who had helped him identify something.
His final journey was to a woman's house. Coarse knew this woman from before, and he asked her if he could go into her bathroom, explaining everything. He then went into her bathroom, and found what he was looking for - he had solved the murder.
Chapter 11
He rushed back to the police station to deliver the important news, carrying the evidence with him. He now knew without a doubt who the killer was, and he had evidence of that. He was ready to explain how and why the murderer did what they did.
"Ladies and gentlemen", begun Coarse.
Miranda was quick to interrupt. "Here we go, another one of Tammy's master revelations!" she said, jokingly.
"Please, hush!" he said seriously. "I am here to announce who the real killer of Barry Scott is. I missed it, and surprisingly, so did Tammy. I bet the thought had not crossed her mind, for once. Anyway, I am not going to make things tense. The murderer is in this very room. Isn't that right, Miranda?"
Everyone looked at Miranda.
"You must be mad!" she cried.
"No, I am not mad. In fact, you are the one who is mad, isn't that right?"
"Hang on a minute!" cried the boss.
"Allow me to explain everything", said Coarse. "Let's think back to the night of the murder, shall we? On the night of the murder, Miranda had asked Angela what perfume she was wearing. Angela replied with the name of her perfume. I have Angela's signature to prove that. Anyway, now that Miranda had Angela's perfume, all that she needed to do was mix Tammy's with it. Miranda knew what perfume Tammy used because she had previously asked her. Now, Miranda had mixed Angela's perfume with Tammy's behind Angela's back, while Angela was flirting with Barry, of course, and then Miranda also mixed Angela's perfume with Tammy's. When Angela approached Barry Scott and kissed him, her scent would travel on to him, yes? But then when he was murdered, the police would identify a certain smell. This was exactly the same smell as in Tammy's perfume bottle, which had been mixed with Angela's. This gave the police the impression that Tammy had been extremely close to Barry".
"I am so confused!" said Mitchell.
"Take one moment to think over what I had said, and it will become clear to you. Next, one of the murder weapons, a metal crowbar, was found in Tammy's car. Confusion was created because she had left her keys on a table for five minutes when she went to the toilet. However, nobody had left the table, although they had all seen the keys. Actually, Miranda had stolen Tammy's keys after the murder, when everyone was distracted staring at the body. Therefore, Miranda was able to make it look impossible that nobody else could take the keys from Tammy, but Tammy".
"You're crazy!" Miranda protested.
Coarse continued. "Miranda said she saw a murder weapon in Tammy's front garden, in a bush. Miranda put gloves on. Actually, she had the sharp knife concealed in her sleeve, so when it came to picking it out of the bush, there were no fingerprints of hers on the knife. Nobody had went to Tammy's house in between the murder and the discovery of the knife, so nobody else could have possibly put the knife there, other than the murderer. It is easy to see that this murderer was Miranda".
The others looked around at Miranda, who was shaking.
"You hated Tammy, didn't you?" asked Coarse.
Miranda nodded, before breaking down. Coarse thought that it was easier than he thought, getting her to confess.
"I can't believe this!" screamed Pam.
"But you believed that Tammy could do this. When Tammy is released later today, you owe her one big apology".
Pam nodded, before taking Miranda into questioning.
An hour later, Tammy returned to the police station a free woman. She wanted to see Miranda being taken away for good.
Miranda left the station in handcuffs.
"You bitch!" she cried to Tammy, before being escorted into the police van. "You won't get away with this! You will live to regret this, Tammy Williams!"
Tammy still had one more person to thank: Coarse. As they left the station, they had a little chat.
"I still can't believe she had not crossed my mind," said Tammy. "It was screaming at me in the face the whole time."
"Well, it's all over now," said Coarse. "Are you going back to work here?"
"No," Tammy abruptly replied. "I can't work here after what happened. I can find somewhere else, somewhere."
Before they left each other, they took a second to look at each other. They then did something completely shocking: they kissed.
But Tammy stopped. "Goodbye, George," she said, "and I'll make sure the papers remember you for what you did for me."
Those were Tammy's last words to Coarse before she departed into the sunset, not knowing what her next adventure would be.
The End
***
Sample of Minot Hacker My Murder Mysteries #1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018KEDCF2
Chapter 1
Deep in the woods of Minot, North Dakota, a rabbit hopped out of a bush and over to a small puddle for a drink of water. Although it was a hot summer's day, the many trees had blocked the light from reaching the puddle, preventing it from evaporating into the hazy air, so the ground was still rather moist. The rabbit sat by the puddle for several minutes, taking occasional sips of water, watching the world go by, the flies that flew, the creepy crawlies crawling, and leaves waving in the gentle breeze. Nothing at all could be heard, nothing but distant sounds of life outside the woods, and the tiny movements of other life forms nearby.
All of a sudden, the peace and tranquility of this normal, natural day was disturbed by a group of youths rushing to get out. The rabbit, alerted by the sounds of the footsteps, leaped into the undergrowth, away from the apparent danger. Four people rushed past, and the rabbit watched in safety as they passed. They ran silently and said nothing. Slowly, the rabbit emerged from its hiding place and returned to the puddle. It then looked towards the distance and continued watching the four people running as fast as they could in between the trees.
The year is 1992. The week after that strange occurrence, a group of friends gathered in Minot’s main housing project. This housing was fairly rundown, and many of the houses were boarded up due to the violence and drug dealing in the area. However, this did not stop a group of seventeen-year olds from leaving their homes during the day or night. Five boys and two girls stood outside one of the boy’s homes, standing around, doing very little, like teenagers do. Four of the boys – Josh, Steven, Daniel and Richard – were the best of friends. They had always been together since childhood, and they were always seen together whenever they left the house. Monica and Laura, the two girls, were good friends, but not best friends. In fact, the only thing that connected them was the other boy, John. He lived down the street, and he was standing outside his house, wondering what on Earth he was doing, talking to the other boys. Monica was John's cousin, and Laura was a friend, or a potential love interest.
"So, are you going out with your girlfriend today, John?" asked Steven, mocking John and Laura for being such good friends.
"Shut up, Steven!" Laura cried, determined not to let him get to her.
"Don't start on me!" shouted Steven, not wanting to be shown up in front of his friends.
"Alright, alright," Monica said, trying to calm everyone down before yet another fight started.
"My mother would not like you saying those things," said John, who was scarcely able to control himself.
There was silence, and both Monica and Laura began staring at John. The four other boys burst into laughter.
"That's not funny," said Laura. "You're all sick for laughing at such a thing!"
"He's such a weirdo!" cried Richard.
"No, he's not, said Laura, moving closer to John.
"Are you two together forever?" laughed Daniel.
Laura was outraged by now. She did not want anyone to hurt John. She was in love with him. Monica saw this, but she cared about other things too much, so she let it slip from her mind.
"Why are you standing there doing nothing, John?" Monica cried, trying to get her cousin to fight back.
John just stood there, motionless. He did not know what to do in this situation. He had never once considered or planned what to do should this situation arise in life, so he had to be spontaneous, and he stood and thought, doing nothing else.
"For once in your life, just stand up to them! And Richard, you should be ashamed of yourself!" Monica added, looking at Richard. "I thought we were friends!"
Richard continued to laugh. "I'm sure you'll get over it by tomorrow!" he said, winking at her.
The boys then decided to leave, because they were getting bored with messing around with a social outcast. When they left, Monica knew she had to do something to calm John down, so she started a new conversation.
"Anyway," said Monica, "are you thinking of coming to my friend's mother's wedding anniversary in a few days?"
"I don't know," replied Laura. "I don't really know them that well."
"I suppose, but there is also Mr. Brown's 100th birthday on the same night, so it is going to be very busy! Almost everyone in Jackson Road will turn up!"
"I'm not sure. I might be working yet!"
"You're working now?"
"Yes!" cried a proud Laura. "I think so, anyway. I've been looking for some work experience recently, and the agent helping me has found a few jobs for me. Mainly in hotels. It's something to help get me started."
"That's brilliant!" cried Monica, trying to keep talking to distract John until he had forgotten completely about what had just occurred.
John remained silent throughout the conversation, even though he was standing in between the two women.
"Anyway," said Laura, "I'd best be off!"
When Laura left, Monica started talking to John.
"Have you taken your tablets?" she asked him.
"Yes. You know I always take my tablets," replied John. "What sort of mother do you think I have if she does not allow me to take my tablets?"
"John, we've been through this..."
"And I'm telling you, my mother is not dead!"
"She is!"
"She's in the house, right now!"
Monica shook her head. She was growing increasingly worried about her cousin. "There's no talking to you, is there?" she said to him, almost crying.
John did not seem to hear. Instead, he cried, "I'm coming, Mother!" leaving Monica on her own. Monica then turned to the house and looked in the window of the bedroom where her dead aunt used to sleep. She could not believe her eyes for a second when she thought she saw the curtain move. It was only for a fraction of a second, but she knew it could not have been John because he had only been in the house a few moments. Monica thought nothing of it and went home, worried about John's welfare.
Several days later, the body of Josh Davis was discovered in the woods. Then, two days after that, Steven Burck, and two days after that, Daniel Gibson, and five days after that, Richard Cold. All four had been knifed to death, and all had been discovered in the woods, just outside of town. The police had absolutely no leads at all. There was no DNA evidence, and a few statements could not solve the murder, so their files were packed in a box and put with the rest of the unsolved murders. Of course, people had their theories, but no evidence to support them. Everyone else in the world forgot about the murders, except the people of Minot. No-one ever dared to speak of the murders, because many people in the development knew the families of the victims rather well, so it affected them personally. Although everyone wanted to know who the murderer was, not one detail emerged about the character of the killer. No-one knew anything about this person other than their local name – the “Minot Hacker”.
Chapter 2
It was a dreary November afternoon in 2012, and the team and I had finished for the day. It was another boring day as usual: going out to investigate a murder, waiting for a post mortem, looking around the crime scene for evidence, and finding the evidence. Nothing else was involved in my job. Sometimes I would interview the killers, but that was usually done by another person. I was sick of my job already, and I was only three months in!
> I was sitting at my desk, like the others, having a conversation before packing up my things to leave for the night. However, we were not allowed to leave the building for another five minutes, so we decided to chat to pass the time. I had four other colleagues.
The first was Miranda. She was in her thirties, and looked the most professional of all of us. She had long, black hair (which she sometimes tied) and wore very little make-up, although she did not need to wear any. She wore the same business-like clothes every day, and she was determined to solve any murder that came her way. She was a bit like me, in a way, but Miranda had more experience, although I could not tell which of us was the best detective. Miranda often talked about her achievements, although she did not brag about them. One of the pictures on her desk was of her winning an award for something, but I never knew what. She was friendly, but she was not the person to be enemies with.
The other woman on the team, aside from me, was Patricia Harrison. She was deputy head of the team, and she looked in her late fifties. She was a rather plump woman with short, blonde hair. If you listened to her speak, you would never guess that she had done so well in life, because she sounded like a stereotypical northern housewife.
Then there was Graham Mitchell. He was originally from New York and had lived in North Dakota for about thirty years. He was in his late forties, even pushing fifty, and he was very tall, with fairly long, brown hair. He was obviously a fun-loving person and always tried to lighten the mood slightly. However, he seemed to remain in the background sometimes when I was partnered up with him for a few murder investigations. Perhaps he was not confident enough, or perhaps he was not cut out to be a detective. I had nothing against him, but I just thought that everyone else on the team was more intelligent than him
