This
story is the result of an exercise set at writing group. The exercise was to
write a short story using the following words -
Inspector
James frowned as he observed the head. “Some bastard has a sick sense of humour
or they’re just plain sick,’ he said to his assistant Curtis.
“I
thoroughly agree Sir,” said Curtis, who suppressed an urge to vomit.
Elizabeth,
a maid at the Compton house, discovered the head as she came into the dining
room to set the table for breakfast. She was in a terrible state. The cook took
her to the kitchen for a cup of tea and was trying to calm her down.
Brown
the butler, phoned the police immediately.
The
head in question belonged to Mrs Compton the lady of the house and young second
wife of Neville Compton who was at present on business overseas.
“Come,
Curtis, we’ll go outside and see what’s out there.”
It
was damp outside from recent rain. If there had been any footprints they were
washed away. James and Curtis thoroughly searched the grounds for a body but
found nothing. Curtis was by the back door that led to the kitchen and dining
room. He was bent over examining something. It was a gold necklace with a gold
pendant in which was set a tiny ruby.
“Who
would have dropped it in such an obvious place where it would be seen by many
of the staff?
“Only
a dimwit I’d say,” said James or else someone trying to put us off the scent.
“Unless of course the murderer didn’t realize it had fallen off the body.
Presuming it belongs to Mrs Compton that is.”
Suddenly
high pitched screams omitted from the house in the direction of the kitchen.
James and Curtis high tailed it inside to find cook standing at the open
freezer white-faced and gibbering like a fool.
“Calm
down please Madam and tell us what you have seen.” said James.
“L-l-look
i-i-in the f-f-freezer I-I-Inspector J-J-James.”
There
in the freezer was the headless body of Mrs Compton lying on its side with the
arms and legs hacked off and layed neatly beside it.
Inspector
James called in the forensic team and informed the staff they were not to leave
the house until he had interviewed them all.
There
was a knock on the kitchen door and Nellie, Mrs Compton’s personal assistant
answered it. “Oh, it’s you,” she said looking with disdain at the man standing
there.
“What’s
happening? I heard screams?”
“Mrs
Compton is dead Jack, someone has decapitated her. That’ll take the wind out of
your sails.”
Curtis
came to the door and asked, “Who are you?”
“I’m
the gardener.”
“More
than the gardener!” sniffed Nellie.
Well
don’t leave the property until you’ve been interviewed,” Curtis said.
Interviews
were held all morning. Cook had stayed in all night in her room. She read until
late and never heard a thing.
Both
Elizabeth and Nellie went to the local dance with their boyfriends and did not
arrive home until the early hours of the morning.
Brown
the butler went to the hotel in the village to meet a friend and came home
about midnight.
Jack
the gardener said he was in all night and watched television and then went to
bed.
Inspector
James had a feeling that something was not right with the gardener’s alibi. He
seemed evasive and nervous. “I think
I’ll have a word with him again,” he said to himself.
***
Now
Jack, “How long have you worked here?”
“About
a year Inspector.”
“Have
you always worked as a gardener?”
“No.”
“What
did you do before you worked here then?”
“I
worked at a butcher shop.”
“You
mean you were a butcher?”
“Well,
yes.”
“What
did you think of Mrs Compton, Jack?”
“She
was okay.”
“Some
of the others say you thought she was more than okay.”
“We
used to talk a lot about the plants and things. She liked gardening.”
“Hum,
thank you Jack. That will be all for now.”
Inspector
James took himself outside and went to the garden shed. It was dark and gloomy
and smelled of fertiliser.
“Aha!” there wrapped in towels behind the
fertislier were implements as such used by butchers. The longest sharp knife
was smeared with blood. “Another job for
forensics,” he thought as he carefully wrapped the implements in the towel
again. “This seems too easy.”
“All
their stories checked out Sir,” said Curtis.
“Good,
but I’ve found something of interest while you were away. Forensics will give
us the answer by the morning. I want everyone in the house assembled in the
sitting room by eleven o’clock in the morning, Curtis.”
“Yes,
Sir!”
Cook,
Brown, Elizabeth, Nellie and Jack were already seated at the dining room table when
Inspector James and Curtis arrived next morning.
“Inspector,
shall I bring in tea for everyone before we start?” asked Cook.
“No!
This is a murder investigation not a tea party Madam.” Red-faced, Cook sat down
on her chair dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.
“I’ll
start with you Elizabeth and you Nellie. Your stories checked out.
Cook,
I think that even though you disliked Mrs Compton you are no murderer.
Now,
Jack; you say that you and Mrs Compton talked about gardening and that was all.
Well I don’t believe you. I put it to you that Mrs Compton and you were having
an affair and that on the night she was murdered she had visited you at your
house. I’m right aren’t I Jack?” Jack nodded and hung his head. “However, I
don’t believe you murdered Mrs Compton even though I found that blood-stained
knife amongst your butcher’s tools. You loved her didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And
I come to you Brown. Your story checked out at the pub and you did arrive home
at midnight. However, there was still plenty of time to decapitate a body and
dispose of it in the freezer and enough time to place the severed head on the
window sill before daybreak.”
Brown
turned pale. “Oh, no Sir, not me.”
“Oh,
yes Sir. Your fingerprints were on the knife.
“All
right, all right Inspector. I did kill her and she deserved it. Miss High and
Mighty! We all; I mean Cook, Nellie, Elizabeth and myself; hate her for the way
she treats Mr Compton. He doesn’t deserve what she dishes out. Mr Compton is a
good man and treats her like a queen. Ungrateful trollop! As for Jack, we despise him for carrying on
with her while Mr Compton is away working hard to pay for bills she runs up.”
“Tell
me what happened Brown.”
“Well,
I was coming home from the pub when I saw the light still on at Jack’s house
and I knew she was there. I waited until she came out and grabbed her on her
way home. I dragged her across the highway that runs beside Mr Compton’s
property into the scrub and did it there. I’d taken Jack’s butchering
implements a while back and had them with me.”
“Do
you mean to say, you had planned all this sometime ago?” asked the Inspector.
“Yes,
Sir.”
“Tell
me Brown, why did you put her body in the freezer and her head on the window
sill?”
“I
put her head on the window sill because I wanted the others to know she was
dead not just missing. I thought they’d be pleased. As for her body, it was
getting near daylight and there was no time to bury her. I panicked and shoved
her in the freezer after I chopped off her legs and arms so the body would fit.
I had to hurry to clean up the mess in the bathroom before anyone got out of
bed. I must say I was rather pleased with the way I managed it. Later on I hid
Jack’s tools back in the garden shed.”
Inspector
James and Curtis were seated at the bar of the local hotel.
“Well
Sir, another case solved.” Curtis took a gulp of the frothy beer. “I must say I
think Brown is completely sick. The way he said he was rather pleased with how he
managed it.”
“I
agree completely Curtis.”
