Whoops another not great story
Die Stille
O'Neill Apartments, Friday, 2:19 am
"Ivan! Oh no! Ivan! Baby, please don't leave me!" the lady held the bloody knife in her hands.
"Who did this to you? Tell me!" the lady sobbed, but it was too late. Ivan was already dead.
"No, No, NO!" She screamed, pressing her face into his shirt. The door creaked open. A man wearing an old, brown business suit walked in.
"Christine?" he asked. "Are you Ok? I heard you scream and..." he stopped when he saw the knife in her hand.
"Oh no. Christine. Did you kill him? What have you done?" he whispered in horror. The man pulled out his phone and dialed a number. Christine's eyes widened.
"John, I didn't do this! You have to believe me." She pleaded. "I found him like this! I tried to save him!" John shook his head.
"I'm not sure Christine," John hesitated. "Why else would you be in his room? I came looking for you when you didn't come home an hour ago like you said you would, and then I heard you scream and I came here, and found you holding, a knife with blood on it, and you tell me you didn't do it!" John was screaming by then.
"John, you have to believe me," Christine said. " Didn't you hear me screaming?
"It could have been a trick to convince me that you didn't do it. I'm calling the police Christine," He said regretfully. "Maybe then you can prove you are innocent. I hope you are." The phone rang three times, and then someone picked up.
"Hello?" the voice on the other end said. "What is the problem?"
John bit his lip.
"Quickly send someone to the O'Neil apartment complex, room 4. I think my sister killed someone."

Harry's Point Of Veiw. Friday, 2:34 am.

I grabbed the keys to my van from the hook on my wall. The police station had gotten a call about 15 minutes ago about a man's sister who had murdered someone. The police station had then called my detective agency, telling them that a detective was needed for the job.
I, of course, had jumped to attention immediately, asking if I could go. They said it was Ok for me to do it, as long as I got the job done. I felt so excited! It had been so long since my last case... speaking of which, I can't mess this one up. Or I may be fired.
I drove down Albert St at quite a quick pace. Murder was serious, and needed to be taken care of right away. I had suspicions about O'Neill apartments before, and they are confirmed now. The agency thinks that a member of Übel Stern, (Evil Star) a group that plans on destroying the Canadian Government, is living there. They come from an unknown country, and are spreading quickly through the world.
I pulled up at the apartment complex, and knocked on the door. a young woman wearing a red dress answered it.
"Detective Harry Smith," I said showing her my detective badge. "I'm here to investigate the murder. Who are you?" I asked her.
"My name is Rain," she said. "I own the apartment complex. I'm so glad you are here! I can't believe that someone would do such a thing!" she exclaimed.
"Take me to the scene of the crime. If anyone can crack the case, I can!" I said cockily. "I have a pretty good rep-a-utation you know."
"Oh?" she raised her eyebrow. "Well then, follow me."
She lead me down a big staircase, and then down a long corridor. when we finally got to the end of it, she opened the door to the last room.
"This is it." she whispered. "I'll be in my office downstairs if you need me." She turned and walked back down the hallway. I looked around the room. It looked really normal. you would never have known that there was a murder here, unless you walked around the corner.
I took a step back when I saw the body. There was blood pooled
around him, and his eyes were still open. They looked panicked, like he was surprised by something. That ruled out suicide as a cause of death.
I put on plastic gloves and started scouring the room for evidence. I looked under the chair. Nothing. I looked under the table. Nothing. I looked under a dresser in the sitting room, and saw something shining underneath it. I pulled it out. It was a ladies necklace.
"What is that doing there?" I murmured to myself. It was a copper pendant, with sunflowers carved on one end, and a name carved on the other. Christine. The chain was very long, you could probably put it over your head without undoing it. I pressed a button on the top of the pendant, and it opened, revealing a smiling lady, and a man. I thought it might be Ivan for a minute, but then I realized that this man had brown hair, and Ivan"s hair was blond.
I searched the rest of the room, and found nothing more. It was time to question the residents about the murder, and the necklace. I walked down the stairs, and turned the corner to Rain's office.
"Hello?" I called into the room. I heard shuffling, and someone
opened the door. It was Rain.
"What can I do for you?" she asked nervously.
"Well," I started. "Could you call all of your residents down to the lobby? I'd like to question everybody, including you." I said pointing to her.
"Ok," she answered. "I'll go get everyone." She left the office, but I stopped her.
"Could I use your office for questioning, so the residents can have some privacy when I talk to them?" Rain nodded, and climbed up the stairs.

25 Minutes Later.

I pulled up some chairs in a circle, so that the residents could sit down while I questioned them. I went into Rain's office, and put files on the desk, so I could fill them out for each person. I also put a tape recorder under a pile of papers, so I had evidence for later.
I walked out of the office, and saw that the residents were beginning to sit down, talking nervously to each other. Only one man wasn't talking to the others, only staring off into space. Suspicious. I'd have to remember that one for later. Who to question first? I scanned the room, motioned for Rain to follow me. I motioned for her to sit down on the black leather chair on the other side of the desk. I pulled out my pen, and grabbed a suspect file.
I asked her her full name, where she was from, how old she was, and what she was doing at the time. (Apparently, sleeping.) Then, I asked her a question that had been burning in my mind ever since I decided to question her first.
"Rain, can you tell me, is there anyone that was not in the building at the time of the murder? " I asked her. she nodded.
"Yes," she said. "A man named Tyler. He went to the club, and he always does on Friday nights. I had to phone him to get him back to the apartments." Aha. Tyler didn't do it.
"Thank you, you may go back out now." I said to Rain. "Send in the next person." She nodded and left. I got a new suspect file out on the desk. A lady wearing a blue, short dress, and red hair walked into the room. I recognized her from the inside of the locket. Christine. That meant she was the one that everyone thought had murdered Ivan.
"Please, take a seat." I said gesturing to the chair. She did, looking nervous.
"Thank you," I started. "Could you tell me, what is your name?" Christine's eyes shifted.
"Christine Brown," she said. "but it was going to be Christine Olson soon." That got my attention.
"Christine Olson?" I asked. "Like, as in Ivan Olson? The man who was murdered?" She nodded.
"Yes." She said. "I guess you could say, Ivan always seemed to understand me, and he was so nice. We were going to get married." She said, showing me a diamond ring on her finger.
"I had been over at his house," She said. "and he told me he had to use the washroom. After about 10 minutes, he still hadn't come back into the sitting room, so I went to see if he was ok." she was tearing up by then. "I found him, and I pulled the knife out of his chest, then John, my twin brother, found me a-and accused me of murdering him!"
She burst into full out tears. I came over and put a hand on her shoulder.
"It's ok miss." I said. "I don't think you did it, but can you tell me what this is?" I held up the necklace. Christine gasped.
"Oh my!" She exclaimed. "I lost that a month ago! John gave it to me as a grad present!" she snatched it out of my hands, then looked up at me apologetically.
"Sorry." she said. "Is it ok if I take it back now?" I nodded and she put it around her neck.
"You may go back to your room now." I said and she left the room. Next, a man with brown hair and wearing an old looking brown suit. John. Christine's twin brother.
"So, where were you at the time of the murder?" I asked him.
"I was in my room, waiting for Christine to come home," He started. "She said she would be home by 2:00, and when she wasn't, I got nervous. She's the only family I have left, so I started down to Ivan's room to see what was going on, and-" He hesitated.
"Go on." I prompted him.
"Well, There was this man named Jeb Landon... He was walking away from Ivan's room, looking back and forth, like he was trying not to be seen. I asked him what he was doing. I must have surprised him, because he jumped pretty high. He just sort of stared at me for a minute, before he tried to get past me, but I stopped him, and asked my question again. He looked angrily at
me, and then he snapped "None of your business. Don't say a word." He then proceeded to quickly run back down the hall to his room. It was then that I heard Christine scream, and saw her holding the knife over Ivan's chest." He finished. I was absolutely shocked.
"Why didn't you mention Jeb before, on the phone?" I asked. "And why blame your sister?"
"I thought nothing of what had happened with Jeb at the time," He started. "But the more I think of it, the more I realize that Christine wouldn't have done such a thing, especially to Ivan. It was almost impossible to separate them. I think that it may have been Jeb now. Of course, I'm no detective..." He said looking at me. "But I don't think it was a coincidence that Jeb was walking back from Ivan's room around the same time he was murdered.
"No, neither do I." I murmured to myself. "You may go now."
I questioned the rest of the residents, a rich man named Tyler, the custodian named Lana, and an old lady and her husband, Peter and Mary. The old woman was crying so much, I couldn't get much out of her, but I didn't need to... I could just tell she didn't do it. Nothing else seemed important that they had to say. It was time to question Jeb. I motioned for him to come into the room, and told him to sit down.
"So tell me Jeb," I said. "Where were you at the time of the murder?" He was silent, and didn't say anything.
"Come on," I prompted. "Say something!" He was still silent, but shook his head. I sighed.
"I'm going to ask you one last time. Where were you at the time of the murder?" He put his hands to his head, in a 'head on my pillow' motion.
"Does that mean sleeping?" I asked. He nodded. Great. His not talking motive was going to make this questioning a lot harder.
"Are you sure?" I asked him, hoping for an actual answer this time. He nodded again.
"Speak!" I shouted at him. all he did was shake his head.
"Speak, or I will personally arrest you, and make sure you stay in prison for mouthing a detective." I shouted. His eyes widened, and he shook his head more furiously this time. I was about to get out my handcuffs, when I heard a knock at the door, and Rain came inside the office.
"Sorry to bother you," she started. "But I don't think you should arrest Mr. Landon for not speaking... He's mute. he cannot speak..." She trailed off. My face grew red, and I started stammering an apology to Jeb. He nodded, and a look of relief spread over his face. I sighed.
"Ok Mr. Landon. It's not like you'll be telling me anything more, so you can go." he nodded and left the room. I sighed in frustration. I hadn't found out anything more than John's accusation of Jeb. In all honesty, It did seem like a truthful story. Why else would Jeb be at Ivan's place? It was the last door you could go into, before you hit a dead end. I decided to take another look at Ivan's room.
Friday, 4:56 am.
I climbed the stairs, and made my way down the long corridor, until I got to his room. The body had been taken away, by police around an hour ago, so all I had to examine was the room itself. I couldn't believe how stupid I had been with Jeb, forcing him to speak even though he couldn't... My face grew red at the thought. I still hadn't found any clues, and... Suddenly the air was knocked out of me. I gasped for breath. As I looked up, a man hit me in the side of the head. I yelled in pain. The man was wearing a hooded cloak, and black gloves. He took out something shiny from his pocket, and I realized with horror that it was a knife. I kicked my foot as hard as I could, and felt my leg connect with something. I heard a Yelp of pain, and the figure hesitated just long enough for me to wiggle out of his grasp. He flung the knife at me, but I dodged it. I pulled out the gun from my belt, and pointed it at him. It wasn't loaded, but he wouldn't know that. He froze as he saw it, and his eyes widened. I raised it higher, and pointed it at his head.
"Put your hands up, and prepare to be arrested." I said. He looked like he was about to give in, when he bolted for the fire escape at the end of the hall.
"Come back! I shouted at him. He opened the door, and jumped out. No way. There's no way he could get away now. It was 4 floors up, and he couldn't get up, so he was mine. When I got to the door though, there was no one there. He was gone.
"How..." I muttered in shock. Then I saw something. It was fluttering on the ground. I picked it up. It was a note. I frowned as I read it.
23, 5, 2, 15, 20, 8, 11,12,12, 8, 9,13. GLMRTSG REZM WRVS. JIZNV QVY. It didn't make sense. Was it some type of code? What made it more mysterious, was that there was another paper taped to the bottom, that read "LP." Maybe it had something to do with the murder, or the mysterious activities of Evil Star. I pulled out a ziploc bag, and put the notes inside. "Tge attacker must have dropped them" I murmured to myself. Who could he be? As I opened the door to his room, I took out some more ziploc bags, In case I found another clue. I scoured the room looking for anything out of place, or out of the ordinary. I found nothing in the living room, or the bedroom, But I didn't think I would find anything there. The real key was the kitchen. The place where he was murdered.
I shone my flashlight under the sink. There was nothing but bottles of cleaner, and a few flower vases. Next, I looked under the fridge. (Though I doubted anything was under there.) Nope. Nothing. All there was were some dust bunnies, and a few old magnets. The only place left to look, was under the island. I shone my flashlight under, and to my surprise, I saw a little crumpled up piece of fabric, covered in blood. I put on some rubber gloves, and picked it up. It was a handkerchief, with some initials on it. J.E.B. Jeb. This was the proof I had been looking for the whole time. How did Jeb's handkerchief get here if he wasn't in the room at the time?
I shoved it into a ziploc bag and headed down to the office. I needed time to study the objects

Friday, 7:47 am

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 18 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

I had cracked the number part of the code, using the simplest number code in the book. These people obviously didn't know how to make a good code. I had unscrambled it, getting "WEBOTHKILLHIM... We Both Kill Him. That meant Jeb had an accomplice in his murderous crimes. The only part of the code I couldn't get was the alphabet part. I would have to keep working on that, but I had enough proof for now. The handkerchief, John's story,and the note. It was time to phone the detective agency. I dialed the number, and put the phone up to my ear. It rang 2 times, then someone picked up.
"Hello?" The gruff voice of my boss, William said. "Is this Harry?"
"Yes it is!" I said. "I think I have solved the case of the murder."
"Really?" He asked snorting. "Tell me about it." I told him about everything, the handkerchief, the note, and John's story. after I was finished, William sighed.
"Well, I think you might have finally solved a case." He said. "We will come and arrest Mr. Landon right away, but please try to crack the other half of the code.
"Sure thing" I said, and hung up the phone. I couldn't believe it. After 7 years of working for the agency, I had finally solved a case! Well, almost... The way my agency worked, I wouldn't get credit for the case unless I cracked the code. I walked up to my office, and started to work

2 hours later.

It was halfway through the trial, and the code still wasn't solved. I was stressing out. I needed to hurry, or I wouldn't get paid. I had tried every code in the book, except for one. It was my last hope.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Z Y X W V U T S R Q PON M L K J I H G FE D C B A

G,L,M... TON. R,T,S,G...IGHT. TONIGHT... The code was working! R,E,Z,M... IVAN. W,R,V,S... DIES. J,I,Z,N,V,Q,VY... I froze as I unscrambled the last 2 words. Oh No... The handkerchief. If it said "Jeb" then why was it positioned like J.E.B. Unless J.E.B was Jeb's initials... It couldn't be. His last name was Landon. And the fingerprints on the knife. They weren't the same ones as the ones I collected from Jeb earlier... A sudden realization dawned on me. John said that Jeb said "None of your business." Jeb SAID. Jeb wasn't the murderer and I could prove it.

Hawthorne Court, 15 minutes later.

"Jeb Peter Landon, for your murderous crimes, and lies against the police, I declare you guilty! You are sentenced to prison for life, and-"
"WAIT!" I yelled at the judge. he looked at me, and sighed.
"What is it you have to say." He snaps at me.
"Aren't you the one who solved this case?"
I took a breath.
"Yes," I said. "But I was wrong."
"No surprise there." William muttered. "Tell us then, if Jeb is innocent, who murdered Ivan?"
I sighed. "Well, I examined the other part of the code I found, and after reading the last two words, I knew Jeb couldn't have been the murderer. The last two words were "Frame Jeb." Why would Jeb say that?" I asked. The Judge looked interested.
"What did it say?" He said. I pulled the note out.
"It said, 'We both kill him. Tonight Ivan dies. Frame Jeb.' See Sir, this is how I knew it couldn't be him." I head Christine gasp.
"Then I looked over the questioning tapes, and one of the people's stories didn't make sense. One young man made his story up. He said that he was walking to Ivan's room to check on his sister, and he surprised Jeb, who told him, when asked what he was doing, 'None of your business.' At first I didn't think about what Jeb apparently said, until now. You all know Jeb is a mute, so how could Jeb have said anything? Jeb can't talk." I looked over at John. He was looking nervous.
"John Edward Brown. Please stand up." I said looking at him. I held up the handkerchief. "I found this in Ivan's room covered in blood. At first, I thought it belonged to Jeb, because it said J.E.B. But if it was his, why would it have dots in between the letters? Then, I realized that John's initials were J.E.B. John Edward Brown. The handkerchief belongs to John.
Next, someone attacked me. He started to run away, but he made the mistake of hesitating just long enough for me to kick the knife out of his hands, and the even bigger mistake of not wearing gloves. The fingerprints on the knife did not match the ones that I took from Jeb. Ever curiouser, the knife had an engraving on it. Übel Stern. The name of a terrorist group that comes from Germany. My agency had suspected that a member of the group had been living at O'Neill Apartments, but the murder pretty much confirmed it. Also, the attacker dropped the code I read you.So, John what do you have to say for yourself? Why did you murder your sister's Fiancé?"
By this point Christine looked utterly shocked at her brother.
"John, why?" She whispered.
"I won't tell you!" He said. "I can't betray my group. I would rather die than do that."
"Thanks John." I grinned. "You just admitted to the murder and being a member of Übel Stern right away! That makes things a lot easier." He cursed under his breath as he realized what he had done.
"Does it have anything to do," William piped up. "With the fact that Ivan Olson was an Agent sent by the Government to keep an eye out for Übel Stern Members?" My eyes popped open.
"You didn't tell me that!" I exclaimed. "Why?" William snorted.
"Well, he started. "Every time I've given you a valuable piece of information, you've blabbed it to someone else. Like remember that one time, on your last case, when someone tried to rob our safe at the bank, one of the robbers convinced you that they were a fellow detective, so you told him the code to the safe, and he robbed it, and-" I cut him off.
"Enough about me." I mumbled. "John, tell us why you murdered him."
John sighed. "Ok. I'll tell you, but only because this mission was compromised anyway." He said. "So we had plans to blow up this building, to show the Government that we didn't care if we were killing civilians, as long as the Government gave up. Then Ivan moved in. I didn't think anything of it at first, but then it became clear he knew of Übel Stern. My boss told me to kill him, but I knew it would be hard. He had proposed to my sister, but I had to do it. My boss and I did it together. After I told Detective Harry my story, I realized it had a flaw. Jeb can't say anything. I had made a bad mistake. I had to dispose of the overly cocky Detective before he found me out, so I attacked him, but he stopped me from murdering him."
Aha. The truth. He had finally admitted to the murder, but I still had one question.
"How did you escape? I asked him. "You wouldn't have survived the fall from 4 floors up!" He hesitated, then slouched as he realized he had spilled all his secrets, and had nothing to lose.
"I remembered that my room was right under the fire escape door," he admitted. "Then, as I jumped, I grabbed on to the windowsill, and just my luck, the window was open, so I hopped inside." I looked at the judge.
"Is this enough proof for you?" I asked him. He pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
"Take him away." He said gesturing at the police. They grabbed his arms and pulled him to the car. Christine came up to me and gave me a hug.
"Thank you so much!" She said.
"Don't sweat Honey," I said. "I'm just doing my job." I said trying to play it cool, but in my head, I was freaking out. I couldn't believe it. I had solved my first case.