Groups 3's Story

“That’s all of them boss.”

Detective Ingnatius Alberto looked up from the files on his desk. It was late at night, and he was tired.

“It’s about time,” he grumbled. “Are they in the holding cell?”.
The officer, standing at the door of Alberto’s office, nodded. He threw a ring of keys to the detective. Detective Alberto stood up from his desk and made his way out into the main hallway of the Police Station, down two flights of stairs and he found himself in the holding area, where five miserable looking men stared at him through the bars of the cell. He cleared his throat.

“Gentlemen,” he said. “I’d like to thank you for your patience. We are just about ready to begin.”

“We’ve been here for hours!” cried one of the men. “You can’t keep us here like this! It’s not right.”

Detective Alberto zoned in on the speaker, a tanned young man by the name of Jake. “Now now,” he said. “A man has lost his life, what’s a few hours of your time in comparison?” Jake was silent. He seemed like a nice kid. The detective turned his attention to the newest addition to the holding cell, a rugged looking man, of whom Alberto was already familiar. An ex-colleague.

“Well, Christopher, it’s a pleasure to have you back,” he said. “We’ll start with you, stick your hands through the bar.”

Christopher stood up wordlessly and put his two hands through a gap in the bars, Alberto handcuffed his wrists together and opened the cell door. He brought Christopher into the interrogation room, where he handcuffed him to the table. He sat down in front of him.

“You hang around Moor street much?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Yeah. Sometimes.” replied Christopher.

“How have things been since you left the force?”

“You mean before I was fired?” spat Christopher.

Detective Alberto paused, looked at his suspect, and smirked.

“Sure,” he said.

“They’ve been all right.”

“Where were you last Saturday night?” the detective inquired.

“Here and there.”

“I’m going to need your full co-operation.” said Alberto harshly.

“No comment,” said Christopher, nonchalantly. Being an ex-policer officer, he knew how to handle himself in an interrogation.

Detective Alberto sighed. He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and fore-finger.

“We found your badge this morning, not too far from where that guy was murdered last night. Things are not looking well for you right now, Christopher, so I suggest you thread carefully.”

All of a sudden, Christopher seemed less confident.

“It must have fallen out of my pocket.” He said nervously.

Detective Alberto eyed his suspect suspiciously. Then said: “What do you know about the victim?”

“His name was Jeff,” Christopher said. “He was an African guy, aged between 18-22…he used to dance on the street. That’s all I know.”

“Anything else?” The detective pushed for more information.

“He smoked.” Said Christopher. “We didn’t get along.”

This last detail piqued Alberto’s interests. “You didn’t get along? How so?”

“I used to steal his cigarettes.” Admitted Christopher.

“Interesting,” said Alberto. So, Christopher and Jeff hadn’t been getting along…could it be that an argument arose between the two, one that led to Jeff’s death. As of now, Christopher was a prime suspect. He had been fired from the police force for developing a drug habit, and was no stranger to crime. But it didn’t add up. Alberto opened the file on his desk. When Christopher was arrested, he was carrying multiple objects that were cause for suspicion, such as a sword and a knife. While the sword was an alarming sight, it was not uncommon for young men in this city to carry small knives for protection. All of the men they had brought in for questioning were found with swiss army knives…but according to forensics, the cause of Jeff’s death was not from a stabbing… The autopsy results clearly stated asphyxiation. Jeff had choked. Alberto looked at Christopher.

“What do you know about these other men?” he asked him.

Christopher shrugged. “I know this Anthony guy was a street dancer too, maybe they were in competition with each other,” he said.

And so Detective Alberto dismissed Christopher, and had him brought back to his cell. He interrogated Anthony next, who was less reluctant to speak.

“He told people lies about me and stole all my audiences, but I didn’t do it.” Said Anthony.

“We found a key, with your fingerprints on that street,” said Alberto.

“I dance there, I left it behind.” Said Anthony. “I’m not your guy, I’m on moor street every day. But I know someone who is never usually there, but was there the night Jeff was murdered.”

Detective Alberto seemed interested. “I’m listening.” He said.

“His name is Charles Williams, he’s the shady looking character with the big lips and the gold tooth. He was snooping around where we dance wearing a hat and sunglasses. I didn’t like the look of him one bit.”

Alberto opened Charles’s file. Among the object’s he had on him when they brought him in were a magnifying glass, a pen and paper, mint sweets, a knife, a phone, a wallet, a casino card and sunglasses.

“Mint sweets…” he said under his breath. And then suddenly he shouted to an officer. “Get Charles Williams in here now!” Excitement gripped him. He had solved it! When Charles Williams sat down in front of him and was handcuffed to the table he shot him a wicked look.

“So, this Jeff guy…was dating your cousin, correct?” asked the Detective.

Charles shook his head. “He was dating my wife’s cousin.”

“And they broke up, and that upset your wife’s cousin, in turn upsetting your wife, and angering you. Correct?” Alberto pried further.

“Correct,” admitted Charles.

“So you gave Jeff a mint sweet, that you coated in poison!” Alberto was so excited he almost shouted it. He stood up and towered over Charles. The Great Ignatious Alberto had done it again.

“My wife’s cousin left Jeff for another man,” said Charles calmly. “It was not him I was angry with. If you don’t believe me, let me try one of the sweets, and see that it will do me no harm.”

Alberto sat back down slowly. He felt a little embarrassed, perhaps he had reached his conclusion too quickly…

“Well then what where you doing on Moor Street that night?” he asked.

“Coincidence,” said Charles. “I was to meet my mother at a restaurant nearby.”

“Will she be able to vouch for you?” asked Alberto.

“I certainly hope so,” continued Charles. “There is something you ought to know, however. The man whom my cousin left Jeff for, he has been brought into custody today. A young man with the ends of his hair dyed, always wears two rings, I think one has a half-moon engraved on it, it’s custom made. My wife’s cousin was bragging about it…”

Alberto flicked through the files. The description matched that of Cameron. “Thank you, Charles,” said Alberto, unlocking the handcuffs. “You’re free to go.”

He saw Jake next, he sat down nervously in front of him.

“You were good friends with Jeff, correct?” asked Alberto.

“Yes, well…I used to be,” said Jake softly.

“Go on.”

“Well, you see…when Jeff got popular, we stopped hanging around, he started to care more about his dancing than me…so I guess we just drifted apart-”

Suddenly Detective Alberto’s phone rang. “Just one second,” he said to Jake. He answered the phone. It was someone from forensics. He could not believe what they were telling him. A tiny detail had gone unnoticed when examining Jeff’s body…a tiny imprint on the side of his neck…that of a half-moon.

“You’re free to go,” he said to Jake, unlocking the handcuffs. Alberto ran out of the room and into the holding area, where Cameron sat in the cell alone. He burst into the cell.

“Cameron, I am placing you under arrest. You have the right to remain silent.” And Cameron did remain silent, he stood up and let Alberto handcuff him, but he looked terrified. As Alberto was handcuffing him, he noticed Cameron was only wearing one ring. It had a clear engraving of an arrow on it.

“Where’s your other ring?” he demanded.

“It was stolen from me,” said Cameron “I have not seen it in days.”

Meanwhile, Jake was leaving the police station. The further he got from it, the more confident he became. A red convertible pulled up beside him and he jumped in. He pulled something out his pocket, a ring with a half-moon engraving, and threw it out of the car as it drove away. He laughed.