Death by Nostalgia

by Andrew Stanek

  “Oscar is dead?” gasped Vicky.

  “Oscar is in love with Adriana?” Davey roared.

  But Peter’s voice overpowered them both as he stood and shouted. “I’ve already told you, I don’t blame Adriana for Oscar’s death!”

  “Of course you don’t,” Felix said calmly. “None of these motives are particularly convincing. Jack did not kill Adriana for independence, nor Davey out of love and hate, nor Vicky to monopolize Peter, nor Reva over her job as a teacher. With obsession and psychosis perhaps one of these becomes enough motive for murder, but barring that, none of you have a satisfying motive for killing Adriana Kettering. But we have omitted one individual - one who cannot be with us today. The suggestion has been made that Adriana was blackmailing William Hamilton over a matter of a private nature. This would give him ample motive to be the killer.”

  “Blackmail?” said Reva Hamilton, aghast.

  “You mean you don’t know?” began Vicky with glee, but Peter silenced her with a gesture.

  “For god sake’s Vicky, the woman’s just lost her husband,” he said firmly.

  Felix bowed his head in deference to Peter before continuing.

  “William Hamilton surely had the greatest power to shed light on this mystery. Indeed, much of the mystery lies with his movements and actions. But I believe I now know all. Though my reasoning is heavily speculative, I think you will agree with me, by the end, that my version of events is the true and correct one. It fits all the facts and what evidence we have. My explanation requires us to go back in a time a little... A hundred years to be precise...”

  A tense atmosphere had descended over the little lobby, and Felix quickened the speed of his pacing as he began to tell his story.

  “A hundred years ago, in 1918, the US dollar was backed by precious metals - called specie - meaning that paper currency could be redeemed for gold. This required the treasury to occasionally shuttle gold between depositories, to ensure that there was enough gold on hand in all bank reserves at all times. These shipments of gold were sometimes kept under military guard as they were transported from vault to vault. One such shipment was temporarily deposited overnight at a military depot on 20th Street, coincidentally on the night of the Great 1918 Earthquake. The earthquake destroyed the military depot, and over a hundred pounds of gold - with a value of over a million dollars today - was lost. With much of the city devastated, it seems the depot was not rapidly excavated, and following the end of World War I, also in 1918, there was no need for the facility to be reconstructed. City Hall was also destroyed in the earthquake, and with it any blueprints that might have once indicated the depot ever existed. The military facility and the lost gold were gradually forgotten.”

  Again, Felix paused and surveyed his audience. He smiled to see they were rapt with attention, then continued.

  “I do not know exactly when Mr. Hamilton discovered that there was gold underneath the housing projects on 20th Street, but I know that he did learn of buried treasure. He discovered an old newspaper clipping that promised a reward for the return of the shipment, which he deposited in his file on the housing project. William Hamilton, you see, was a life-long treasure hunter of sorts. He collected old coins and poured over beaches with a metal detector, and the promise of a bounty in the neighborhood was more than he could resist. It was the start of his interest in the projects. Even though he loathed the low income housing - which dragged down property prices in a neighborhood that he was trying to develop - he moved into the projects with the hope of finding the lost gold. He also realized that he stood to make significant profit redeveloping the land, gold aside, but for the moment the government refused to sell and these plans had to be postponed. I imagine he spent more than one afternoon or evening pouring over the grounds with the metal detector, finding nothing more than odd bits of metal or loose coins. It frustrated him, and he grew to hate the projects. Despite his determination to find the gold, he never realized that the gold was stored in the tunnels underneath the apartments - because, in all likelihood - he never knew that the bunker was underground at all. After all, there was no mention in the article of an underground section of the depot, and no schematics for the facility survive.”

  “Are you saying William was looking for gold when he went around the projects with the metal detector?” Reva asked suddenly, visibly startled. “I always thought he was doing what he normally did, checking for coins and such.”

  Felix bowed his head.

  “It probably would have infuriated him had he known that children were playing in the room that the gold was hidden while he stomped around at night. He became very bitter, as I said, and twenty years slipped by... he eventually gave up and moved out of the subsidized housing, though his plans to redevelop the area at significant profit remained. Finally, his opportunity approaches. Thanks to significant lobbying from the police force and other quarters, the city has come to view the housing projects as a general blight on the cityscape - a source of crime and squalor. They vacate the buildings and prepare to knock them down. Hamilton gathers investors for a venture to purchase the land and redevelop it, but Hamilton has two problems. First, his investors expect him to demonstrate his own faith in the project by investing his own money - but he does not have enough. Second, Adriana Kettering has started to oppose the effort to demolish the projects. She is collecting signatures and petitioning the city to grant the tenements - which she and her advocates call city landmarks - a stay of execution.”

  “Are you saying that Mr. Hamilton killed Addy because she wanted to save the projects?” Jack asked, brow furrowed.

  Felix shook his head. “No. Adriana was killed as the projects fell. Killing her at that point would have been a very petty act of revenge, but Adriana’s attempt to save the projects should tell you what kind of person she was, and what she thought of the old apartments. I have already told you - nostalgia, nostalgia is the key to understanding these events. Adriana looked back on her memories of living in the projects happily, fondly! Why? Would you call your lives in the projects happy? When they were full of abuse and absent parents and who-knows-what else?”

  With just a glance around the room, it was clear Felix would get no answers.

  “Here is where my version of events becomes most speculative, as I try to guess the mind of Ms. Kettering. I think Adriana preferred to live in the past because she was unhappy. Though she had become successful, graduated college and medical school, gotten her MD, through extensive toil, it had not brought her happiness. She had drifted apart from her friends and was left alone. I also think she either suspected or knew that Oscar - her first and only love - had died. She looked back and realized that she was happiest in the past, and so she tried to preserve it. When her initiative to save the projects failed, she invited everyone back to the old home for one a reunion - one last attempt to remember the good times.”

  “Will Hamilton, like all the rest of you, is invited to this reunion. He, however, has a more urgent problem. He needs to raise capital, personally, to satisfy his investors, and he is running out of time. After the projects are demolished, he expects the government to sell the land on 20th street shortly thereafter. If he does not buy it, someone else may. I do not know if he exhausted all avenues of financing or if the promise of gold simply gripped his imagination tightly, but he will shortly turn back to the search for the gold. Yesterday, Hamilton arrives at the reunion as normal, with everyone else. Peter mentions a bunker beneath the apartments. No one has ever described this room that the children used to play in as a bunker before, or at least not to Hamilton. Immediately, Hamilton realizes where the gold he has been searching for all these years must be. Adriana is talking about taking the whole group to the bunker; Hamilton wishes to go but realizes if everyone is there, he will not be able to smuggle the bullion out without them noticing. He deliberately overreacts to an insult, staging a physical confrontation and breaking up the reunion, then returns to his car with his wife. After this, Hamilt
on believes he will be alone in his visit to the bunker.”

  “Mr. Hamilton’s car is broken down - a hitch in his plan - but he does not call a towtruck, because he will need his car to transport the gold bullion. It is much too heavy to carry. He plans to place the bullion in his car and then call a towtruck. To avert suspicion, he tells his wife he will go to look for Jack to ask him to fix the car. Mrs. Hamilton goes to fetch lunch, leaving Mr. Hamilton alone.”

  Felix paused again and looked around the room. No one seemed to have moved since he started talking.

  “Here is where something happens that I do not understand. I have mentioned that, in considering this crime, it is important to keep in mind what each person knew and did not know, and what each person expected of the others. Mr. Hamilton does not know the many entrances to the tunnels that you all do, and he must use the staircase. For that, he must gain access to the construction site, and so Hamilton somehow contrives to disguise himself as a construction worker. I do not know how he obtained his disguise.”

  “He brought it with him,” Mrs. Hamilton croaked hoarsely.

  “I beg your pardon?” Felix asked politely.

  “Will - I saw him putting something that looked like a hardhat into the trunk of the car when with left. I didn’t ask him about it at the time. It didn’t seem important.”

  Felix appeared pensive for a moment as he digested this new information. “That suggests that Mr. Hamilton was always intending to search within the construction site, even before he heard about the bunker. But it does not fundamentally change the narrative... he disguises himself as a construction worker and sneaks into the site. On the way, he passes Jack Kettering, who takes a picture of him on his cell phone. Jack Kettering then loops around to the back of the construction site where he passes Davey Kempt sneaking a smoke. Meanwhile, Mr. Hamilton had descended the staircase into the tunnels and found the bunker. However, it takes him some time to search it. He quickly satisfies himself, possibly with the aid of equipment, that the bullion is not in the front room. With effort, he forces the door into the back of the armory, where the children have never been before. More time passes. He locates the alcove and goes inside, where he finds a box containing the gold. After all these years, Mr. Hamilton achieves his victory.”

  “Elsewhere, Adriana passes Davey Kempt on her way to the tunnel entrance at the rear of the construction site. I previously said that I believe the killer carefully planned Adriana’s murder as a premeditated killing. I said that in order to orchestrate her death, the killer carefully hid in the back room of the armory, lured her to the room at the precise moment of the demolition, and fired as the demolition charges were exploded to mask the sound of the shot. I have also said that I do not believe in good luck, but perhaps I ought to believe in bad luck. Well, the timing was very bad luck for Adriana, and good luck for no one in particular. I think Adriana entered the tunnels at this time of her own volition. No one lured here there. She went because, perhaps, she wished to have one last minute alone in her old play-area, or perhaps because she wanted to remember Oscar in a place that reminded her of him. After all, in that bunker you used to play soldiers in old army shoes and helmets, quite oblivious to the dangers faced by real soldiers on distant battlefields... but I digress. One moment, please.”

  Begging their momentary pardon, Felix disappeared down the hall and returned carrying a large rifle. Alders nearly fainted.

  “How in the world did you get that?” he demanded.

  “Ballistics just returned it. You have a very good department here; they have very quick turn around time.”

  “No - but - that should be in Evidence! It’s a murder weapon!”

  “Don’t worry. It’s already been checked for fingerprints and forensic traces and the like. None were found. But ballistic tests have recently confirmed that this is the rifle that killed Adriana. So, to return to my story. It has been suggested that Will Hamilton murdered Adriana, but I do not believe that he did. I still cannot fathom why he would want to do such a thing. The allegations of blackmail are thus far utterly unfounded. So I say that Will Hamilton is inside the alcove when the clock strikes one, the demolition begins, and suddenly Hamilton hears a very loud, very nearby gunshot. He opens the door to the alcove and races out to find Adriana Kettering dead on the floor. Seconds later, Davey Kempt races into the room and sees Hamilton. The only light in the room is Hamilton’s flashlight. Kempt cannot see Hamilton’s face - only his luminous vest - but Hamilton decides he has to hide. He backs into the alcove and turns off his flashlight. When the door shuts, it looks to Kempt like Hamilton has disappeared. Hamilton waits until Kempt has left, then reopens the alcove and flees. He leaves the bullion. Gold might allow him to purchase anything he wishes, but not the luxury of time. It weighs hundreds of pounds, much too heavy to transport quickly or in one trip, and he knows he cannot be discovered near the body. He discards the hard hat and vest in a nearby dumpster, then returns to his car, where his wife finds him. Later he complains loudly about how late Adriana is to avoid suspicion. Thus far, it seems likely, if not obvious, that Hamilton was killed because he caught sight of the fleeing killer. The killer returned and killed him to silence him.”

  Reva Hamilton moaned loudly. Vicky walked over to her and wrapped a comforting hand around her shoulders.

  “Why didn’t the murderer just kill Hamilton on the spot?” Peter asked sharply.

  “Good question. Allow me to demonstrate.” Felix thrust forward the rifle he was holding. “This rifle does not have a magazine. It can be outfitted with one, but this model does not have such a modification. The only way to load the rifle is to pull back the bolt, like so...” He pulled back the bolt. “And slotted a new cartridge into the firing chamber.” As he explained this, Felix reached into his pocket, pulled out a bullet, and placed it into the chamber, locking the bolt to close the chamber.

  Alders let out an exclamation. “What in heaven’s name do you think you’re doing, Felix?”

  “Merely a demonstration. There is no need for alarm.” Felix placed the weapon daintily next to himself, leaning it against the wall.

  Alders stared at it with bulging eyes, then stared at Felix, but Felix did not appear to take any notice.

  “As I was saying,” Felix continued, as if nothing had happened. “The killer could not have killed Hamilton because to reload the weapon in the dark is a rather tricky and involved process, even if he could aim efficiently in close quarters. Fleeing would be the more rational option.”

  “So,” Jack began, looking as pale as he ever had. “You’re saying that this - this someone killed Addy, and Hamilton saw who it was, so he was killed so he could never reveal the killer?”

  “That is one theory of the crime,” Felix answered politely.

  Alders suddenly leapt to his feet, apparently able to endure no more waiting. “Enough, Felix! You seem to think you have it all worked out! Just tell me who it was that shot Adriana and I’ll arrest them and we’ll go over the details later.”

  Felix shook his head. “I can’t. Adriana’s killer is not in this room.”

  Chapter 11

  It took several moments for this pronouncement to take effect. Several of the circle gaped at Felix in surprise, Alder included.

  “Thank goodness,” Mrs. Hamilton said momentarily. “I’d hate to think anyone here was a murderer.”

  “Wait,” Jack Kettering interrupted urgently. “Do you mean Mr. Hamilton was the murderer?”

  Reva’s eyes suddenly widened in fear, but Felix shook his head.

  “No. I have already said I do not think he was the murderer. Certainly the opportunity presented itself to him. He was in the chamber where the weapons were stored for a prolonged period of time. Mr. Hamilton could have easily snatched up a weapon and killed Adriana at the precise moment of the demolition, but why? Did he think he could shoot his way out with the gold? Not unless the sight of it really did drive him insane. There was no reason he should kill Adriana.”


  “But what about the blackmail?” Vicky chimed in eagerly.

  “There was no blackmail,” Felix answered cooly. “You doubtless formulated this idea from the memories of a sorry chapter in your own past that involved an affair and a visit to the hospital.”

  At this, a strange expression surged across Vicky’s features, half-vacant, half-distant. Felix regarded her with something very much like sadness, then continued in his narrative.

  “None of you in this room killed Adriana, nor did Mr. Hamilton.”

  “Then someone outside our group shot her?” Davey asked severely. “Some kind of random murder?”

  “No. First, you must rid your minds of the idea that Mr. Hamilton saw a murderer.”

  “But you just said he did,” Jack protested. “You said that’s why he was killed.”

  “No, I said that was one theory of the crime. It is not the correct theory. There are numerous problems with this idea - if the murder was premeditated, why did the murderer pick a badly damaged rifle? How did he disappear so quickly, whoever this murderer was? When Davey rounded the corner, just seconds after the shot, why didn’t he see the murderer fleeing down the long, straight corridor on the other side? Why wouldn’t Hamilton have told us the identity of the murderer? Or if he was the murderer himself, why kill Adriana? No, this theory is wrong. It seems obvious only until you consider the most critical piece of evidence in the whole case.”

  Felix dipped into his pocket of his baggy jacket and drew out clear plastic bag containing a small, metal spring.

  “You will observe this is a spring,” he said plainly. “I found it on the floor near the rifle when were inspecting the scene of the murder. This spring is part of the rifle. Its role is to cushion the firing pin. In their analysis of damages to the rifle, the ballistics team wrote in their report that the firing pin was loose, rattling around unsecured. I just consulted with them and they confirmed that this spring is indeed a missing component from the rifle. Judging from its condition, it has been outside the rifle for some time. It must have at some point, over the hundred years that the rifle has been stored in the armory, popped out of place. Do you see? This is the solution.”