LM2: Assassin

[Eyes]

If anything, they should be left out, as that would render 5's 'surprise ending' nil.

[frankthetriviaman]

No, it's not going to change five. We're just going to show more of what happened, as opposed to just saying what happened.

[Eyes]

Well, personally, I'm not against remastering this one, but it's also not something I would be interested in personally either. Since we did the massive LM5, this one really feels like it's over and done with.

If you wanna go ahead, by all means, do so, but I personally do not see the need.

[frankthetriviaman]

Introduction to the Literary Mosaic II: Assassin, second edition

Hello everyone,

Well, I received numerous letters concerning how confusing and contradictory from you, the readers, concerning this novel. And after so many letters, I have come to the decision that it is time I come clean on what happened. Normally, it takes me several weeks to write these books, to go back through my memoirs to make sure everything is correct. Unfortunately, for this story my editor only gave me five days to write it and have it to him. So this meant I did not have enough time to make sure everything was ready to go.
But you did like the story I was trying to tell, so by popular demand, here is a remastered edition of Assassin, which should hopefully make things much easier to follow.

Sincerely,

James Hartley

.........

There was a small alley where a large man was leaning up against the wall. The blonde fellow had been having a rough day, and all he wanted was a moment's peace. As he stood there, smoking some cigarettes and drinking a bottle of his favorite beer, he couldn't help but notice that it was rather chilly today. Good thing he had his favorite scarf on today. As he threw his cigarette down to the ground and picked up his walking stick, he decided to go home at last. As he left, he saw another man walk down the same alley and trip. He had dropped some papers and proceeded in haste to pick them up. The man with the scarf walked over.

"Here, let me give you a hand" he said as he went to help the man; a government worker named Walter Farley.

"Ah, thank you, these are very imp... hey, you can't read those!" Farley said as the man began picking them up.

"Sorry sir; I won't look at them" he said as he tried to be careful. But just then, the large man slipped something into his shirt pocket, and Mr. Farley became suspicious.

"Hey! Don't take my papers! I knew, you're a spy, damn German!" Farley said as he lunged at the man.

"What? No! I've lived in England my whole life!" the large man said as he suddenly found himself in a fight. They began exchanging blows, and in a desperate attempt to defend himself, struck Farley with his cane... only for it to snap in two. Farley retaliated by trying to reach for the large man, only for him to grab the sides of the large man's head, scraping away some skin and leaving behind rather unique scars on his head. Then, Farley tried to reach for the large man's neck, only to grab part of the scarf and tear a piece off.

The scuffle went on for a little while longer, until at last the large man had enough; he drew his pistol and fired at Farley, who collapsed in pain.

"Damn German" Farley said as he began losing consciousness.

"No! I may have been born there, but I swear, I have lived in London since I was five! Ignore my blonde hair!" The large man said. But then, to his horror, he saw that four people had witnessed what had happened. Frightened, the large man took off running, only having time to pick up part of his walking stick... which he then disposed of in his favorite tobacco shop, before heading home.

......

Elsewhere, Mr. Adolf Gunnarson stepped out into the cool air of the London night.  "Ah," he said, "so peaceful and calm."  He walked home thinking about the dinner party he had been to. He was about to enter his apartment when he noticed something unusual.  "Why does it look like my lock has been tampered with?"  He thought

When Gunnarson looked into his living room, he said a woman standing there...

"Miss how did you get into my apartment?" he asked questionably

"There's no time, I hear you're a great detective and I need your help!" the woman shouted frantically

"Calm down miss, what's the problem?' Gunnarson asked

"An associate I work with is dead and I think it's espionage!" she said still frantic...

"Why do you think it is espionage, mademoiselle?" Gunnarson asked
"We work for the British Government." she explained
"This sounds serious. Have you notified the police?" Gunnarson asked
"Yes, sir, we have." she explained
"Right, take me to the crime scene at once, om du ville." Gunnarson replied
They stepped out into the street, when suddenly a shot rang out, and the woman slumped into Gunnarson's arms.... dead!

[frankthetriviaman]

Then a man followed by a plethora of footsteps shouted, "Nach ihm , jetzt ! Jetzt!" in a language Gunnarson couldn't tell at the time...

Before the group of men could get to the detective, sirens were raised and shouted came from all buildings, "Bombers Sighted! Germans inbound! Get to the Underground!"

Tons of people flooded the once empty streets, and the mysterious foreigners were swept away with the crowd...

Gunnarson checked the woman for a pulse... there was none. He checked to see if she was breathing... she wasn't. "No doubt; she is dead" Gunnarson sighed to himself as he had no choice but to leave her there and head for shelter.

Some time later, the police returned to the crime scene, and that was when they heard the news.

"Heavens to Betsy! Another murder, and then sightings of Germans?!" an officer asked.

"Seems so; we'll have to be very careful..." his lieutenant observed.

It would be several hours before Gunnarson regained his senses. Once everything was back to normal, Gunnarson proceeded to the first crime scene; fortunately, it was not damaged by the raid. Chief Gent was there, much to Gunnarson's relief.

"Hello Gent; what have we got here today?" He asked as he came closer.

"Homicide; victim is a 40 year old male, Walter Farley" he said, bringing him closer to the body. Gunnarson took a closer look at the victim.

"Such a shame!" said Gunnarson. "And the woman that told gets killed herself."

"WHAT?!" cried Gent. "Damn it! Why didn't you tell me?!" he shouted to the other policemen.

"Sir, this is a time of war; we are very short handed as it is" one constable said.

"Gunnarson looked in a jacket pocket, and found some sheets of paper. They had a series of numbers on them, and a partial letter to number decoding table.

"Interesting... What do we have here?" Gunnarson said as he went to have a closer look.

"And anyway," continued the constable, "she was killed due to a raid."

Gunnarson heard this. "I beg to differ!" he said. "That woman was purposely murdered!"

"Two homicides in the same night!!" Gent said in shock. "And you say this woman was connected to this man, meaning that we are looking at a double homicide" Gent surmised.

"But there could be two different, but related murderers" a constable pointed out.

"What the heck is going on here?" Gent asked, looking up at the sky.

"I got it!" Gunnarson said. "I have one possible theory" he continued.

"What is it?" Gent asked.

"If you don't mind, I'd prefer to keep it to myself for the time being. I'd like to test it first." Gunnarson explained

"Well... I suppose that's all right" said Gent.

After this exchange, Gunnarson began to carefully look over the crime scene. After a very thorough analysis, Gunnarson had found eight clues:

1) The paper with the letters and numbers
2) 3 cigarettes, still smoldering
3) 2 Shoe prints, one partial and one complete
4) A bottle of beer, that was not a local brand
5) A torn scarf with a unique pattern, clutched tightly in the victim's hand
6) Some hair, caught in the victim's fingernails
7) A broken half to a walking stick, that matched a bruise on the victim's back
8) The shell casing from the fired bullet

"This all has to do with the crime?" Gent asked.

Look, there are no trash receptacles here, so there's no reason for anything to be in this alley. Meaning, anything within a reasonable distance to the body is good evidence" he said. "Look around us, there are clear signs of a struggle. The victim has hair in his fingernails from when he tried to grab his attacker, and he actually managed to rip off part of the killer's scarf. See this? These cigarettes, I recognize the pattern anywhere- these are Royal Guard Brand, they're quite pricey and hard to find, so this is our killer's favorite brand. The walking stick, clearly an attempt to knock down the victim. And as the killer was leaving, he stepped here, onto this. Based on the tread pattern, these look like... size 14 work boots, which is not a common shoe size, mind you. That beer bottle is not a local brand, the killer must have been enjoying a drink and smoke, waiting in ambush for the victim; no doubt there are fingerprints on it. This shell casing- I will need to examine this and the document further, but these hairs. Our victim has brown hair as you can see, an these hairs are blonde. In short, we find a blonde haired man who owns the other half of this walking stick and scarf..." Gunnarson said.

"We find the killer?" Gent surmised.

"Bingo" Gunnarson followed up with.

After all this work, Gunnarson walked back to his apartment deep in thought. He almost didn't see a large man until he ran into him.

"Oof!" He said

"Watch it, you!" the large man pointed out.

"Sorry!" said Gunnarson, and he quickly entered his apartment.

As he settled into his apartment, the unofficial detective went to his chalkboard and began compiling the information he needed to figure out who it was.

"Let's see... he's got blond hair, size 14 shoes, smokes Royal Guard cigarettes, drinks (foreign brand name here) beer, and has a torn scarf and broken walking stick." He said to himself. Then he looked at the coded paper "but what of this?" he asked himself.

Gunnarson decided to sleep on it, and next morning, woke up feeling refreshed, and ready to kick into action.

He decided his first step was to get himself together, so after breakfast and getting dressed, he went on and tackled the case before him.

"So these two cases are connected no doubt. I've got an idea for who killed the man, but the woman... it all happened so fast" he thought to himself. He went to the paper and tried to see what it was all about.

"The only reason someone would code a message is that he would only want certain people to read it. No doubt, if I'm ever going to solve this case, I've got to figure out this message.

He had some of the code, which was a start, so he began looking at the message-

"Let's see if this letter corresponds to this number, and as do these... a ha! I see the pattern now. So then this number must be this letter..."

And he began to solve the code, one word at a time.

When he finished, he stared... the message said: "Your red dog's life isn't there. Is there an in joke? Watch out for danger!"

"It has got to be some sort of code" he concluded. But what did the "red dog" refer too? There had to be some sort of metaphor there.

"Wait...what was the name of that pub 3 blocks over? If I take Red Dog, and rearrange... Godred. There's that pub called Godred's. Could it be a meeting location?"

It was a stretch at best, but it was the only lead he had. He went to Godred's to look for any "suspicious characters."

[frankthetriviaman]

And now we leave Gunnarson, and take a different aspect of the case....



Elvira Revinev plunged the dagger into his back.
Elvira was a trained assassin, who was always one step above the law. Just now, she had been hired to kill Evan Evenov, who had angered her employer. She used her looks to lure unsuspecting males to their doom, and was friendly enough to do the same with women.

She left the area and went to a dark alley where she met her employer.

"Is he dead?"

"I stabbed him in the back, just as instructed." She said as she went to accept payment. "Who's my next victim?"

"No one yet; first, we're going to wait a couple days for the attention to die down."

"Then?"

"Then you are going after this fellow here" he said, handing her a picture. "Lives in Ipswitch, and we've been given a special instruction"

"And that is?"

"When you kill him, the guy who wants him dead, wants you to make sure he "drowns in his own blood"

"what does that mean?"

"How should I know? You're the assassin, use your imagination" the employer said as he left

Elvira sighed. This time it looked like it would take a bit of strategy to get him.
She walked away, thinking on what she would do.

This was going to be a tricky task; but she had few failures in her career, and she was not about to add another one.

Meanwhile, as Gunnarson was making his way to the pub on his only lead, he stumbled upon a vital clue.

"What's this... A red herring?" He asked, picking up the fish. But there was a cut into it. He reached inside and pulled out... Another codes message... With the same key.

"Another coded message- same key? So, what does this one say?"

He began decoding "when the dawn's light falls on the tower London then shall man truly perspire."

"What on earth is that supposed to mean?!"

"Tower London is clearly the Tower of London... And dawn... Something is going to happen at dawn. I must hurry!"

Gunnarson ran to the Tower of London... Something was going to happen at dawn... But what?

"Gunnarson!" called a voice.

Gunnarson turned and saw Gent.

"Why up so early this morning? It's pretty strange even for you." Gent pointed out.

"Well, min vän, I am here on business!" Gunnarson pointed out

"What? Why?"

"I found a note from the same people who were involved with the alley murder. Something is about to happen at the Tower of London at dawn, and I intend to find out" Gunnarson explained.

"I see," said Gent. "Shall I stay here with you?"

"If you wish to; hold on; I see something."

At a nearby phone booth, Gunnarson overheard "yea; I'm on the way. Of course I got it. Don't worry, he's taken care of. I'll never forgive him for tearing my favorite scarf though. See you soon." And he hung up and started walking... Towards the Tower of London.

"That can't be a coincidence," Gent observed.

"Well, it was a coincidence that you ran into me here," Gunnarson pointed out.

"True."

And indeed, much to Gunnarson's annoyance, when he confronted the man a little while later, all he had was a love letter:

"Dearest,

Father is still not ready to let you return. He does not like engagement at all! But I don't care what he says, Darling. I still love you, love, love, LOVE you!

Your beloved Annie."

Gunnarson and Gent left with utter annoyance. "How does that even happen?" Gent asked.

"I have no idea, maybe I... of course! How could I have forgotten?! The last part of the note referred to a bridge, and based on the clues... yes, we must hurry!" Gunnarson told Gent.

Wasting no time, the two set off for the bridge, where they saw another meeting.

"He has been taken care of?" One man asked

"Of course; that traitor won't be causing us anymore trouble" the man said as he took out a pack of cigarettes

"Man, this brand is so hard to find" he said as he continued talking.

Gent moved forward without thinking.

"Stop!" said Gunnarson in vain.

"Alright," said Gent, "what's going o- Oh! Mr. Prime Minister, Sir!" Gent began, then realization dawned. "With all due respect, why are you here sir? Being out in the open, and in wartime! You are an easy target sir." Gent pointed out.

"Excuse me," said the Prime Minister to the others. Then he whispered something in Gent's ear.

"Oh, I see. Sorry." And he and Gunnarson left.

"Gunnarson, this is not like you at all- how could you have had two dead leads in one day?" Gent asked.

"I don't know... and the first suspect fit the profile almost perfectly. But don't worry, I do have one more, and this one is surefire." Gunnarson assured.

"What do you mean?" Gent asked.

"Royal Guard cigarettes are only found in one tobacco shop around here, and the clerk who runs the shop is known for interacting with his customers quite a bit. It's quite certain that the store owner has seen his face." Gunnarson explained.

20 minutes later, Gunnarson was at Crossman Tobacco; a local smoke shop and the only one around that carried Royal Guard cigarettes. They went up to the shopkeeper.

"Royal Guard? Oh yes, those don't sell too much, but those who do smoke it are regular buyers. I've only got six customers that buy them, so I don't have to buy too much of them at a time.

"Would you say that one of them looks like this?" As Gunnarson gave the known physical descriptions.

"Yea; yea one of them does. Comes in here 2-3 times a week. Those Royal Guards, he can't get enough of them. Strangest thing though- the other day he threw out half a walking stick in my garbage can. There was red on it and it looked like blood, so I saved it. I was going to call the police, but when there wasn't any news of a beating, I thought it was unimportant so I held on to it" he explained.

Gunnarson took out the other half; he had it on him just in case. When he put the two parts together... they fit together perfectly.

"We got our man" Gunnarson smiled. "Do you know his name?" Gunnarson asked the shopkeeper.

"Yes," said the man, "his na- uh- uh- eurgh!!" And he slumped to the ground.

Gent and Gunnarson jumped over to help, but the man was already dead.

"By Jove, Gunnarson!" cried Gent. "He's been poisoned!"

"how is that even possible? We were standing here the whole time!" Gunnarson said; "there was no opportunity for someone to shoot a dart at him in front of two eyewitnesses!"

"No!" said Gent. "Not a dart! He was poisoned beforehand!"

"What?!"

"Look at his mouth; it must have been something he ate!" Gent said.

"But this man is just a tobacco store owner... and the one frequented by our killer, why would he want to kill an simple shopkeeper?" Gunnarson said, looking around the store for leads.

[frankthetriviaman]

"Possibly because he knew too much?" suggested Gent.

"That must be it!" said Gunnarson. "Of course! How could I be so stupid! And look!" he cried suddenly.

In the corner was a newspaper with a rather pristine shoeprint on it. He went over and looked at it.

"Size 14... the same shoe we saw in the alley... he was here!" Gunnarson said. He went over to the trash can where he found a beer bottle of the same foreign brand... with another coded note inside. But this time, the decoded message was on the paper "Gulden has double-crossed us; deal with him immediately"

"Gunnarson, look!" Gent had taken the liberty of taking a look at the handle of the cane... and found three pristine fingerprints on the handle.

"We got him now; I touched it by the broken edge, so my prints are over here" Gunnarson pointed out.

"I'll get them recorded immediately; good thing HQ is down the block" Gent said

"But we've got bigger problems; look" Gunnarson said as he showed the note.

"Good Lord; this note is ordering a kill! But who is Gulden?" Gent asked.

"Why, the store owner! His name is Eric Gulden." Gunnarson pointed out.

Some time later, the evidence was taken to HQ where it was recorded and secured.

"We got the fingerprints successfully lifted; once we have a suspect we'll be able to do a comparison" an officer assured.

Meanwhile, Gunnarson had acquired the store's ledger, and was reading through it.

"Anything?" Gent asked.

"Yes; I've managed to find the six names that buy Royal Guard. Take a look" Gunnarson said.

Gent took a look at the ledger; the six names were underlined.

今天，先生您好 ！
你好
你好嗎
我好和你
滾你媽
這是你的對手揍你

Gunnarson and Gent stared.

"Wait, that's not right" Gunnarson said. Then he saw the heading "foreign customers"

"Oops, wrong group. Here's the six I was referring to" Gunnarson said.

William Cook

Franz Gelb

Jacob Reese

Edgar Jones

Heinrich Werner

Samuel Elmore

"Any ring a bell to you?" Gent asked.

"Not at this moment" Gunnarson said, looking at the ledger, when suddenly he did a double take. "Wait a minute- each of these names corresponds to... There's something hidden in the language!" Gunnarson realized.

"You sure?"

"Positive- why else keep a multi language ledger?" He pointed out.

"I can get an interpreter- but I need to figure out if this is Chinese or Japanese first." Gent offered.

"It looks like Chinese," said Gunnarson. "Chinese looks more like Japanese buildings, whereas Japanese looks more like random lines everywhere."

"....if...you say so," said Gent.

Gent ran to the phone "Get me constable Wilkins, and fast! Thank you" he said as he hung up.

A few minutes later, Constable Wilkins appeared in the office. "Oh there you are. Gunnarson, meet Wilkins."

After the greetings Wilkins got to translating.

15 minutes later, he had:

"Today, Mr. Hello!
Hello there
How are you
I'm good and you
Roll your mother
This is your opponent beat you"

"You're fired". Gent said upon hearing the rather incoherent babble.

"Wait," Gunnarson, "I get it! Someone is trying to go against us!"

"Wait, what?" Gent asked; he wasn't sure he understood what Gunnarson was saying.

"Yes! Someone wants to beat us, show us that we don't know anything, that we - even worse, I - aren't good detectives."

"Oh, I see!" ("Damn," he thought, "Gunnarson sure is a bit vain.")

"So what do we do then? Where do we start?" Gent asked. "If there is anything I can do to help..."

"In fact there is something," said Gunnarson.

"What is it?"

"These are real names here... Of real people. Let's find a way to get them all in one room. We figure out which ones do and don't match the description; we observe those who do."

"We find the killer?"

"Bingo". Gunnarson said.

"I think I have an idea". Gent said as he went to go call in a couple favors from an old friend.

[frankthetriviaman]

Meanwhile, Gunnarson noticed something strange. He was thinking back to the store, and noticed that something did not look right from the pictures taken.

"Funny, that should have been there..." he thought

"What are you looking at?" Gent asked

"This, over here" Gunnarson said.

"What's wrong with it?" Gent asked.

"Well, I noticed that the store shelves, half of them are empty" Gunnarson observed.

"Hmm... you're right, I'm surprised we didn't notice that earlier" Gent said.

"Why would his store be half empty?" Gunnarson pointed out.

"Maybe a delivery hadn't come in yet? It is the weekend after all" Gent suggested.

"Yes, but every store owner usually buys new stuff at least a week before." Gunnarson pointed out.

"I'm going to make some arrangements. Maybe you should go back to the store and see if there is anything you missed" Gent suggested.

"But it could get attacked"

"I got three of my best guarding it; don't worry, it's secured" he assured.

Gunnarson went down the block, greeting the three officers guarding the store before going in.

"Now, what did I miss the first time?" Gunnarson said as he looked around.

"Hey Gunnarson, we're going round back to make sure the back door is secured" one called out.

"Good call; I'll be in here if you need me" Gunnarson replied.

Several minutes passed, and he failed to find a single clue. Suddenly, he turned and noticed an extremely beautiful woman standing outside. "Now who is that?" He thought. She was lovely alright, but work came first for him, and he had a job to do. "Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get to talk to her when I'm done here." He reasoned. After all, there had been three connected homicides this week; the man had to get caught before a fourth man fell as well.

Then he realized. "Wait, what is she doing outside of here to begin with?" So he went outside to see what she wanted... after all with Gent's men in the back, someone had to tell her the store wasn't open.

"Hello, mam? Are you ok? This store is closed I'm afraid" he informed her.

"Oh, dearie me, is it? No matter, I was looking for a Mr. Gunnarson."

"Why, that is me!"

"So it is! I need to speak to you in private." The woman explained.

"Well, I am currently on a case mam, there has been 3 connected murders in 2 days, and I must catch the killer before he strikes again" he said to her. "Is there an urgent case you need to report?" He asked.

"Yes, and you're the key witness..." said the woman

"What?" asked Gunnarson before he was shot

"Target eliminated..." said the woman as she began to flee, and her shadowed face was revealed to be Elvira.

The officers came running after hearing the shot...

"Gunnarson's down, a shot almost piercing his heart... You two after her, and call a damn doctor, we are not losing one of Gent's finest, I'll stay here and try to stop the bleeding, now get going you two..." said the head officer

"Right!" shouted the officers as they followed Elvira...

The two officers were in hot pursuit of Elvira. She ran around a corner and as she looked back for a moment to see if she was in the clear... She ran right into a fruit cart; slowing her down and the two were able to arrest her.

"A female murderer; now I've seen everything" one officer quipped as the cuffs went on.

Elvira merely grumbled, but noticed that the officer hadn't made the cuffs tight enough. She began twisting her wrists while the officers weren't looking.

Back with Gunnarson, the third officer was treating Gunnarson as best as he could.

The doctor soon arrived. "Hmm, not as bad as it looks, he'll be back in business in a few days."

"Really?" Gunnarson asked, relieved

Meanwhile, the officers brought Elvira to the station, but seconds before she entered the handcuffs clanged open and fell off her wrists. The men let go in surprise, and Elvira ran away. They gave chase, but this Time Elvira disappeared into a crowded train station, forcing the officers to return to the station defeated.

"It makes zero sense; I had the cuffs secured from the beginning; no one can just slip out of them. At least, I think I did." one said.

"Well; we've got her face and appearance; let's go to the sketch artist so we can get her face in the papers" his friend assured. And they did.

The doctor was looking at Gunnarson "you're extremely lucky, that item in your pocket really took the brunt of the blow; so the bullet did not penetrate much and you've mostly got bruising with some bleeding" the doctor explained.

"That's good," said Gunnarson.

"Phew!" said Gent. "But what was in your pocket?"

"This, my friend," and he held up a steel flask.

"Never drink on the job; just nice to have water on hand during long investigations" he explained.

Some time later, Gunnarson had gone home and Gent went back to HQ.

"Will the favor be ready tomorrow?" He asked on the phone.

"All good to go; the six men in question will be summoned to the location and all should be well."

"All right; as they were the only ones who bought Royal guard, it's got to be one of them. I'll give Gunnarson a call and let him know."

"Good night Gent."

He then called Gunnarson to update him.

"Excellent," said Gunnarson. "When will they be there?"

"11:00 tomorrow; you get some rest, we've got this" Gent assured.

Next day, the six men from the ledger showed up at the location. The first thing observed- Franz Gelb and William Cook matched the description known. But they were better off not jumping to conclusions. The scheme was carried out.

"As you know gentlemen, your local tobacco store has closed for the forseeable future. However, we are willing to provide you all 10 free packs of Royal Guard cigarettes each. All you have to do is participate in the government's new initiative to crack down on crime. Give us you fingerprints for the records, and that's all it is. No, you are not criminals. Rather, we have them on hand so we can distinguish yours from the criminals should bad things happen."

20 minutes later, the scheme had worked brilliantly. "Shall I call Gunnarson sir?" An officer asked.

"Yes, then see if we've got a match."

Gunnarson came as soon as he got the call.

"I don't advise you coming here in your condition, but since you insist, we've got the fingerprints. We're focusing on Gelb and Cook for the moment."

An officer came up to Gunnarson. "Check it out- the woman that shot you last night" the police sketch was in the paper. "She's got no where to hide now; her face is everywhere."

Hours later, an officer came up to Gent "Gelb's prints are on the cane sir; it's a match. We've also compared to the prints on the coded papers- we've got our man." The officer said.

"All right, get a warrant for his arrest. Gunnarson, you go home, we've got this." Gent said.

......

Elvira was reading the paper... She came across the sketch of her face in the pages with "wanted: attempted murder. 2000 pound reward."

She laughed out loud. The fools! How could they have known she was already making plans to flee the continent. But first, she had to call her employer. To do that, she had to find somewhere quiet

-----

"What the devil?!" cried an outraged Gelb.

"Franz Gelb; you are under arrest for the murders of Walter Farley and Eric Gulden". Gent said. "We found the cane you tried to dispose of, and..." Gent took out the half scarf, and matched it perfectly to Gelb's ripped scarf. "It's over."

Gelb said nothing as they went to the station. He was in the cell when Gent went to Gunnarson

"Blond hair, size 14, Royal guard, fingerprints, the cane, the scarf... It's open and shut" Gent told Gunnarson.

After talking it over with Gent and getting permission, Gunnarson decided to interview the man.

He started off simply: "Did you kill him?"

"Yes," replied Gelb, realizing he had been caught.

"Ok, I want you to tell me everything" Gunnarson began. And Gelb began confessing everything he knew about.

......

Elvira knew fleeing the British Isles would be practically impossible, since International travel practically shut down, but she had to take the risk. Before leaving, she made a phone call to her contractor that had been giving her missions.

"My cover is blown and my face is in the paper; I've to get back to the continent" she said.

"It's suicide; there's no air travel anywhere and the u-boats will sink any ship coming out of Britain" he warned.

"I don't care; I'm leaving England until this whole thing dies- my ship is the Caledonia." she said as she hung up.

Days later, her contractor was reading the paper when he came across an article. "S.S. Caledonia sunk by German U-boat; no lifeboats found"

"I warned her" the contractor merely sighed as he went to talk to some of his other agents.

[frankthetriviaman]

"Well," said Gent, "I guess that takes care of it."

"Yes," said Gunnarson, "I suppose it does... but I feel that there's something missing..."

He stood silent for a moment. Then suddenly he hit his hand against his head.

"Oh! Triple imbecile that I've been. We're wrong! All wrong!" Gunnarson declared

"Why - what do you mean?" Gent asked

"Not now, my friend. I must first make the arrangements. And then - we shall know all!" Gunnarson declared.

"Know what?" Gent asked in frustration. But Gunnarson had already left to pursue his new lead.

"This is most unusual- what has gotten into him?" Gent said to himself as Gunnarson left.

20 minutes later, Gunnarson had arrived where he needed to be. "Ah, here it is" he said as he arrived at the place were Farley had been killed, and looked over the crime scene yet again.

......

The next day, he came to see Gent.

"Commissioner, would it be possible that you come to my apartment tonight at 6:00?"

"Why, certainly!" Gent replied, prompting some confusion from a nearby detective.

"Sir, you have far greater responsibilities as Commissioner of Scotland Yard; why would you do something like that?" he asked, confused.

"Oh, I get off at 5:00 today; and given how deep this case goes, I'm anticipating that MI5 may want to speak to me soon, so I need to know everything about the case" Gent explained.

"One more thing - would you mind bringing Gelb along as well?" Gunnarson asked.

"Er... I'll see what I can do... why?"

"You'll see," winked Gunnarson.

It was pushing the law, but Gunnarson had broken some tough cases before, so Gent had no reason to doubt him in that moment. A man of his word, Gent brought Gelb to Gunnarson's apartment.

"Why are we here?" Gelb asked.

"A gentleman wanted to speak to you; said it was vital" Gent said. Gelb had nothing to lose at this point, so he went along with it.

That night, they went to the apartment and waited. After some time, Gunnarson returned, and with him, a man. "I see we are all here," said Gunnarson. "May I introduce you to Mr. Reginald Walters?"

"Pleasure to meet you" Gent said before turning to Gunnarson. "Why is Mr Walters here?" the commissioner asked curiously.

"You will see in due course," winked Gunnarson. Then he continued, "Now, I suppose you are wondering why I've gathered you together, eh?"

"Yes." Gent replied

"The reason is because something was off with this case. The evidence was too conclusive. Everything pointed to Gelb. But why? A murderer surely would not leave so much evidence pointing at him" Gunnarson explained, "Then I rethought - what if this was a set-up? What if this was a trained assassin who was always too quick for the law?" he contionued

"But-" started Gelb.

Gunnarson continued, "And so I realized that I, the police, we all were wrong!"

Then he opened the door and led a young lady inside.

"May I present to you the actual murderer-" Gunnarson declared. It was Elvira.

"What? That makes no sense! Not only did Gelb confess and explain the coded notes, but there was the cane AND the scarf, plus the size 14 feet. Even if he didn't commit all three murders, he at least killed Walter Farley" Gent said. Then he followed up "and this Elvira you speak of- are you sure you have the right person? Because the Elvira you're thinking of went down with the Caledonia; her name was on the list published in the papers of the passenger manifest" he added.

"Well, I suppose first I should mention... Elvira missed the ship" Gunnarson stated bluntly.

"I swear the ticket said 11:00!" she stated.

"As to the first point- don't you see, my friend? It was set up to LOOK LIKE IT WAS GELB!" Gunnarson declared

"WHAT?!" cried Gelb.

"You loved her didn't you?" asked Gunnarson.

"Yes... I did..." was all Gelb managed to say; but he couldn't understand why the Swede was trying to get the police off his tail.

"Do you mean to say that this girl murdered my sister?" cried Walters.

"Sister?" Gent asked

"I'll explain," said Gunnarson. "Thanks to the raid, the first murder - THE ONE I WITNESSED - has become largely forgotten. That woman was a Ms. Walters - this man's sister." he continued.

"So that's three murders?" asked Gent

"Yes... but not in the way that you think. In fact, there's four murders in this case" Gunnarson said.

"What do you mean?"

"Elvira didn't kill Mrs. Walters... but MR. WALTERS DID!" Gunnarson declared

"I never!" Mr Walters said in shock. "What motive could I possibly have for killing my sister?!" Walters declared.

"And what four murders? There was the woman, the man in the alley and the shopkeeper" Gent reminded Gunnarson.

"The fourth was an attempted murder... ON MYSELF! As for Walters, you killed your sister because she was blackmailing you" Gunnarson said, before continuing with "Let us go back to the beginning of this case. After I went back to Farley's alley I stumbled upon a piece of paper that happened to contain some information linking Elvira to Walters" Gunnarson said.

"What are you trying to suggest?" Gent asked

"I'm saying MR. WALTERS IS ELVIRA'S EMPLOYER!" Gunnarson declared. Walters and Elvira looked at Gunnarson like he was crazy for a moment, then hid their emotion and went along with it for the time being.

"What absurdity- what could my sister possibly blackmail me with?" Walters said.

"Enough. Gunnarson, please continue with the events you figured out." Gent said.

"It was simple, really. Regarding the blackmailing, you and your sister never got along in the first place, so when she found something that would create a scandal for you, though I am not entirely sure what it is, you decided she needed to die." Gunnarson continued.

"Wait a minute! None of this makes any sense! What are you saying, Gunnarson, you are jumping all over the place" Gent declared.

"Alright! Let me say this briefly before even I get all confused:

-The Farley was murdered by Elvira.
-Ms. Walters was murdered by Mr. Walters.
-The shopkeeper was murdered by Elvira.
-I was attacked.
-Now, murder #5, which did not succeed - Gelb."

"Me?!" Gelb asked, confused.

"Yes! For you see, with you out of the way, Elvira and Mr. Walters could get married." Now Elvira and Walters were really confused with what Gunnarson was getting at; but continued to go along with it to avoid suspicion.

"Well, I think I get it," said Gent. "I'll come back for the details, Gunnarson, but I better take these crooks away first." Gent said; deciding it had gone on long enough, but he still trusted Gunnarson.

"Wait!" cried Elvira. "Before I go, I'd like to tell you there's one thing missing."

"What is missing?" Gent asked.

"The sixth crime: I - I - sank the Caledonia." Elvira admitted.

"Now you're being crazy; she was sunk by a u-boat." Gent pointed out as he began taking the criminals away. Then he realized, "Wait, was Gelb meant to commit the fifth murder?" he asked.

"No, I mean," said Gunnarson, "that Gelb was framed and he would be found guilty... and hanged! That would have been the fifth murder." Gunnarson said.

"But then, why would Gelb confess to a crime he did not commit?" Gent asked; it was the one missing piece of the puzzle

"I told you already - he loved Elvira!" Gunnarson said

"Wait, wasn't Ms. Walters quoted as being shot, then a group of Germans came towards you as the raid occurred, and weren't you the star witness to that one as well?" asked Gent even more confused

"Yes, BUT THE RAID WAS STAGED!" Gunnarson declared.

Deciding that this case had gone on long enough, and that he was confused enough as it was, Gent took away Elvira ad Reginald and let Gelb go.

"Thank you," said Gelb, "but..."

"I understand. Men hålla humöret upp. Your wounds will heal in time..."

......

Gunnarson was very proud of the case he solved. Unfortunately, his victory would be very, very short lived.

Not even two weeks later, Commissioner Gent was in his office, when he was told that a man requested to see him downstairs. Gent went down to the area in question, and was surprised with who came to see him. "Prosecutor Taylor? What are you doing here?" Gent asked.

"Davis Gent; did you let a certain Swedish Detective work the Farley case?" He asked.

"Yes, I did. Gunnarson cracked it wide open" Gent declared proudly.

"Ah, yes, and in the process he COMPLETELY LIED To US!!" Taylor shouted.

"What, what?" Gent asked, confused.

"This was some of the sloppiest, shoddiest, most unorganized casework by an incompetent stooge I have ever seen! First of all, there is no such thing as "too conclusive" evidence... a scene like that is impossible to stage without showing signs of staging" Taylor pointed out.

"What are you saying?" Gent asked.

"I'm saying that Gunnarson mislead you, and the real murderer is..." And Taylor pointed to a nearby bench where Gelb was sitting.

"But, but Gunnarson..." Gent began.

"tell me, Commissioner Gent, did Mr. Gunnarson present any evidence to support this theory? Physical? Written? Eyewitness, even?"

"Well, no, but..." Gent began.

"Tell me this then... did he at least refer to his trifecta? Did he mention means, motive and opportunity at all?" Taylor asked.

"No... no he didn't" Gent said, shocked. He was so confused at the time, he didn't even stop to think about what Gunnarson was saying, now that he thought about it.

"Exactly. Sir, if I may offer some advice- don't trust that Swede ever again. He's an incompetent monkey who likes to play detective for kicks. As for the Farley case, I've come to a decision- there's nothing on Walters, so he's a free man. Elvira has been acting rather odd, so I'm going to have psychiatrists look at her and see if she is sane enough for trial. And as for the true murderer... I will be taking him to trial" Taylor said.

"Surely this is just emotion speaking? I mean yes, Gunnarson is unorthodox, but..." Gent began.

"Face it sir, Gunnarson is a fraud who didn't even bother looking for evidence. And also... don't you have greater responsibilities that prevent you from running around with that "unofficial detective" or whatever he calls himself?" Taylor said before leaving.

"Prosecutor Taylor, I... he... you're right. I do have greater responsibilities" Gent admitted. He then turned around and headed upstairs to continue working on some important paperwork.