The Murderers Gift

The Body is Discovered

Detective June Anderson walked toward the door of the huge mansion owned by Maria Scotting. The rain was pouring, and her black dress and coat were soaking, even with the umbrella. The door opened to reveal Elizabeth Scotting, the daughter of Maria. Her face was puffy and wet with tears.

Detective Anderson kept a firm face and said, "I was brought over here by the butler of this mansion. What seems to be the problem?" she asked.

"Oh it's my mother!" she cried, sniffling into a handkerchief. "She's been murdered!"

"Lady Scotting has been murdered?" the detective said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes! Please come in. You must be dreadfully cold. Someone get a fire started in the living room!" Elizabeth ordered, wiping her face with a handkerchief. "The room is to your right. Make yourself at home while I get you something to drink. Is water alright?"

"Water is fine," June replied, looking around at the grand house while closing her dripping umbrella. The entrance to the house had two grand staircases leading up to the second floor. As she continued on, she inspected around for anything suspicious. Even though she hadn't seen the scene of the crime, or really knew anything about the murder , there still might be something. When she found nothing, she went into the living room and sat on the couch until Elizabeth arrived.

"Now, please tell me what happened," June said, taking a sip of her water.

"Well, you see, it started out perfectly fine. My mother was having a party with some of her friends. She then went upstairs to her room to do something, I believe she wanted to freshen up a bit. After a couple minutes or so, I decided to check up on her. When I went to the room, I found her lying on the floor, dead."

"Are you sure it wasn't a suicide?"

"I haven't checked that. When I opened the door, I just saw her, and I stood there, shocked, then ran downstairs and asked a butler to call a detective or police station.""

"It wasn't a suicide then."

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth said, giving June a puzzled look.

"If the door wasn't locked, then someone murdered her."

"Oh," Elizabeth said. She said nothing else as she sipped at her water.

"May I see the room?" the detective asked.

"Of course," Elizabeth said. She walked out of the room, and the detective followed behind her, up the stairs, and into a room.

On the floor lay Lady Scotting, her eyes wide open and staring blankly at the ceiling. There were two stab marks on her abdominal area. At the sight of this, Elizabeth burst into tears again.

"Mother was so sweet! How could anyone have done this to her?"

"Miss Scotting, I'm going to have to ask you to stay a little silent. I must analyze the crime scene."

"Yes of course! My apologies. I'll tell the guests to leave."

"No, they must stay. They are suspects."

Elizabeth looked at her with confusion. "How would the guests be suspects?"

"Lady Scotting was murdered while a party was happening in her home. Obviously someone has planned the murder and went along with it."

"I see. I'll round them up then."

When she was gone, June breathed a sigh of relief. I can finally hear my thoughts, she thought as she walked into the room. There was a canopy bed against the wall, and to the left of it was an open window. The Detective walked over to it and looked around for any fingerprints. When she turned up empty, she looked back at the room to the dresser.

There, sitting on it, was a small gift box. It was wrapped in red paper, with a little red bow attached to it. June checked for fingerprints, and when she found none, she opened up the wrapping, then the actual box. Inside was a diamond ring shimmering like a thousand crystals. But, underneath it, was a note.

A gift, from me to you. -Y.O.H

Y.O.H? What could that possibly mean? She turned over the box, looking for any other clues, but found nothing. She put the note and ring back in the box, closed it, and placed the box in her pocket. The room appeared to have nothing else that was suspicious in it, so the detective bent over to look at the body.

Nothing was too different from the first time she looked at the body. The two stab marks were still there, and the Detective could tell that they were from a knife. She estimated that Lady Scotting was murdered from nine to ten pm (judging from how fresh the stabs were), which meant it had only been an hour since she was murdered. She took out her notebook and quickly jotted down what she had found, then left the room. She needed to show the grieving Elizabeth what she had found.

*

"You see, while I was looking around the room, I saw a present of sorts," June said, holding out the present to Elizabeth. "There was a diamond ring inside with a note from, Y.O.H. Do you have any idea what that might mean?"

Elizabeth took the present and opened it, examining what was inside. There was a frown on her face as she said, "No, I'm not sure who could've written that."

June took back the box and placed it back in her pocket.

"I hope you don't mind it, but I must interrogate you. It's my job to see who might have murdered Lady Scotting, and that includes you."

"I suppose that's fine. Ask away."

"Thank you. What did you do between nine to ten pm tonight?"

"I just went around making sure everything seemed fine at the party."

"Alright. Did you see anything suspicious?"

"No. I was too busy checking everything that I didn't notice anything strange."

"That is all. Do you have a quiet room for me so I can interrogate some of the others?"

"Will the study do? My mother used to say she couldn't hear any of us when we were little while she was in there." Tears come to Elizabeth's eyes again.

"That's just fine," the Detective said quickly. A butler walked up behind June and escorted her to the study.

The study had a big window across from the door, and a desk sat right in front of it. Bookshelves lined the walls all the way up to the curved ceiling. If only I had an office like this, June thought. I might as well live in it, if I did.

June sat down on the chair, then asked the butler to go and get her first suspect. She took out her pen and paper and waited for her first interrogation.

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Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy this new story so far! I'll be updating every Saturday, so I hope you all can be patient with me. Bye!