Criminal Case: Grimsborough

Chapter 4: The Dockyard Killer-Part 2

Soon the chief called Jones and Marie to his office and he asked them how the case was going and if they caught Dan's killer yet. Marie sighed sadly and said King, "Not yet, sir. It's been a slow start. We managed to meet with Dan's girlfriend and we found out his killer is left-handed. That's pretty much it."

"But on the good side we can rule out Gloria Roach. She's right-handed," Jones added.

Chief King gave Marie a small smile and told her, "Well, no matter what happens. Every killer always leaves some sort of clue that leads us to their trail. Remember that, Detective Marie." And Marie thanked him for that piece of advice.

King then told the two officers to head back to the crime scene. The chief has a feeling since Dan died in front of an open container, there might be something that can turn the case around. Jones then told the chief, "With all due respect sir, on our way back here, some moron was chasing my car and now the bumper's bent and the passenger window is broken cause he was trying to break the glass."

The chief the got a surprised look and stood up quickly from his seat and said to asked them, "Is that what you meant when I called you to hurry back?!" And Jones nodded telling him it was true.

King then went in front of Marie and asked her if she and Jones went to see Grace after they got back and she told him they did. The chief then sighed in relief and looked towards Jones and said to him, "I'll call a repair shop to have your car looked at. In the meantime, you can borrow one of the station's cars until yours is fixed."

Jones thanked King and soon the two of them left his office to head back to the crime scene. Once they got back to the crime scene, Jones and Marie looked around until Marie found a burnt out cigarette butt on the ground by the open container. Both of them looked at it curiously and Jones asked, "I thought that barge driver said nobody comes here?"

"Well, we might as well get a good look at it," Marie said as she placed it in an evidence bag and the two officers left the crime scene to get the cigarette butt examined.

Once back at the station, Marie lifted a fingerprint off of the cigarette and sent it to Alex hoping that they would get a suspect from it. A couple minutes later, Alex told them that the fingerprint from the cigarette matched James Smith. Jones looked down in disappointment hoping for something different. Marie then looked at Jones and told him, "When we first met Mr. Smith, he seemed really fidgety for someone who just discovered a dead body."

"You're right, Marie. If we put a little pressure on him, maybe he can talk to us," Jones said and after they thanked Alex, Marie and Jones headed down to the docks to talk to James Smith.

Once they were back at the crime scene and asked James about the cigarette, he replied to them that he was smoking it while waiting for the police. Jones patted his shoulder and told him they'll forget about James contaminating the crime scene if he answered a couple questions and James agreed.

Marie looked at James and asked him, "Mr. Smith, are left or right-handed?"

James broke out in a sweat and said he was right handed. Jones then asked James if there's anything else. James then sighed and took a piece of paper with a rubbed out code that's been unfolded out of his pocket and handed it to him. Shocked Jones said, " Either that's a drug package or I'm the Queen of England."

"We better get this back to the station for examination," Marie said as she bagged the paper and they tanked James for his help and they left the docks.

Back at the station, Marie placed the paper underneath the scanner and the code began to appear on her computer. Once she solved it, Jones looked over the code and said, "Well, I don't know much about what this code's telling us, but I think it's about time we head to Caribou Corner and talk with our informant."