Inspector Dante Missertrick arrived on the scene. His keen eye surveyed the area, his assistant madly clicking photographs. Not that the Inspector ever needed any, he had his memory after all. He noticed the small smashed window apparently leading into what was the laundry area. The small, well-kept gardens out front looked splendid in the midday sun.
He made his way to the door where he was greeted by a plump lady claiming to be the owner’s sister.
“Hello,” he said, with his smooth Italian accent. “I have come to inspect the scene.” Seeing his badge, the plump sister let him in. The first thing he noticed was to his left, the dejected figure of a man sobbing on the couch. He went to the man and politely requested that he asked a few questions.
“Ok… sniff… I’ll do my best.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“I was in the laundry with my brother. As we were planning what gear to wash for a fishing trip, I heard something outside then a gunshot. I ducked; my brother fell; he was dead. I ran from the room, slamming the door, which must have startled the killer. I tried to get a look of who was out the front but heard running. The gate slammed and whoever there it was gone.”
“I see, and you did not see anything of the killer?—clothing maybe, hair colour, shoes?”
“No, that’s all I saw… sniff.”
“Ok, thank you, I may need to ask you more but for now that is good.”
He left him and turned to look at the laundry where the murder took place. He turned the handle to the door and pushed it inward having to exert some energy as the body was lying up against it. After pushing the door far enough open he ran his keen eye around; again, he checked the smashed window this time from the inside and quickly checked the gun shot wound and the body. At that point he decided he’d seen enough.
He returned to the man on the couch and said, quite non-chalant, “I’m afraid your crocodile tears do not bite with me. Sir, please accompany me to the station.”
What is it that Dante discovered that pointed to the brother’s lies?
Solution
The brother claimed to have heard the shots, checked the brother was dead, then ran from the room, slamming the door. The problem being that when the Inspector entered the room, the body was up against it, meaning no one had exited the room since he fell as you wouldn’t be able to get out of the room with the body up against the door.
No, the brother was shot by his own brother who stupidly remained at the scene as part of his plan to appear innocent. He didn’t count on Inspector Dante Missertrick, though.
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