The Murder of Mrs. Black

Chapter One

"Audrey, please! I need you on this case," The Chief begs.

"No, Chief, I am doing the murder case on Mrs. Black. Detective Mallet needs me on this one."

"We are here!" The annoying son of the Chief walks in, holding a girl's hand.

"Matthew, please, this is important," I say, and Detective Mallet struts importantly in. He has blonde hair and high cheekbones, along with an amazing accent.  He's only about two years older than I am. Matthew smiles wryly at him and Mallet pushes him out.

"Matthew, out!" He yells, and Matthew throws up his hands.

"Mom!" He yells. She glowers at him.

"Matthew, out." When he doesn't move, she adds, "Now. And seriously, how many times do I have to tell you not to bring Sara here?!"

"Too many," Her teenage son sticks out his tongue before dragging his girlfriend off. The Chief presses her index fingers to her temples before looking at me and Mallet.

"Okay, the murder of Mrs. Black. What can you tell me about it?"

Mallet opens his jaw and closes it again, giving me the floor. "She was murdered a few days ago, but there are no signs of foul play or any bullet wounds. There isn't any evidence of what killed her whatsoever. We have her in an autopsy but they haven't found anything at all."

"Thank you Audrey. Mallet?" The Chief says, putting Mallet out of his misery of silence.

"Mr. Black disappeared a few days ago, so as of right now, all signs point to him being the murderer."

"Audrey, I want you to do some research on Mr. Black and see if you can draw evidence or clues as to where he might be. Alright?"

"Yes, Chief."

Mallet and I walk out of the room, but before I can go to my desk, he puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Young?"

I look into his gold eyes. "Yeah?"

"This seems like a dangerous case. I don't want you to be hurt."

"Mallet, don't worry. It will be fine. I have done too many murder cases to count."

"I don't like that," He stares at me intensely.

"Mallet, I'm fine." I can see an internal war raging behind his eyes. He is battling whether to shout at me and get me off of the case or to let me do my research. He finally huffs and stalks off, muttering about something to himself.

I tug down my shirt and make my way to my desk, getting on the police database and looking up Mr. Black. My fingers hover over the keyboard momentarily.

"Mallet?" I yell across the room through the commotion of the police station.

"Yeah, Audrey?"

"What's Mr. Black's first name?"

There is momentary silence. "Chief?" Mallet finally yells.

"Yes, Detective?"

"What's Mr. Black's first name?"

"I have no clue. Audrey?" She yells back.

"Yeah, Chief?"

"Look up Diana Black and his name should be on there."

"Okay, thank you, Chief."

I punch "Diana Black" into the police database and it pops up. Her picture is there, along with big red block letters that say, "DECEASED." I scroll down and look at her husband's  name. "Spouse: Lloyd Black" it says, and I scroll back up to the top. I click the magnifying glass that says "SEARCH" next to it and enter Lloyd Black.