A detective story

So this is the first time I've ever done this!

 Mikey has written a detective story in English, which was really good! He loves creative writing and one day wants his stories to be published or read by more people, so I thought what better way for that to happen then by sharing it on the blog!

I hope you like it :)

As I forwarded my notes on various odd cases figured out by my friend Detective Hubert, I find many cases where almost fatal for me; there were a lot of close calls. How my partner figures these cases out is a mystery and this case was no different. It started when we were sharing rooms in France on Rue de Theâter. I was awakened by the shadow of Detective Hubert cloaked in his smoking jacket. As he stood over me, he waited for me to rise. I blinked up at him somewhat surprised and a bit bewildered as I was a late riser.                                                           

“So sorry to have woken you up old friend” he said, “but we have been called. There is a man; Alicio is his name, apparently murdered in his study”.

“Then we must go immediately” I replied, sleepily.

Detective Hubert fully dressed with a Navy coloured suit, travelled by foot with me as his companion. We stood frozen in the study. As Detective Hubert and I examined the room, he found a clue: stabbing wounds in the victim. As he studied the wounds, I interrogated Alicio’s maid, Sofia. She told me there were two men she knew of that Alicio saw yesterday. One was Alicio’s cousin Chauncey who was his heir to his fortune, as he had no children. The other man was Maccabee, Alicio’s business partner. I asked where they lived, but she burst into tears, so I abandoned my attempt to extract more information from Sofia. I then returned to Detective Hubert’s side who was studying the floor. The carpet was damp but there were no signs of how it came to be that way.  I told Detective Hubert my findings and he knew where the suspects were, as he held up a note pad of the victims. We left suddenly to see the first suspect, a man called Chauncey.

Close to Chauncey’s house, we saw him standing there on the path. He had a pale complexion and seemed angry at our arrival.

“Get off my property” shouted Chauncey.

“EXCUSE ME,” replied Detective Hubert, “but I am investigating a murder”.

“Oh, my apologies” said Chauncey, taken aback “are you investigating my cousin, Alicio’s death?”

“Yes,” I replied.  

 “Please come in,” Chauncey said, so both Detective Hubert and I followed Chauncey through is home, Detective Hubert studied the surroundings throughout the time we were there. Chauncey answered all our questions with no real issue, so we decided to move to our next suspect on the list.

  

As we were leaving Chauncey’s house, we encountered a man called Collin walking down a street. He was a man who distributed ice from his cellar. We asked him some questions and the main thing that came from them was that Alicio was not a good man and was determined to shut Collin’s business down. Detective Hubert didn’t seem so sure, but we carried on finding Maccabee, as he might be able to shed some light on what Collin said.

We found Maccabee at the business that he ran with Alicio. He was acting as nothing happened, in a very happy manner. We asked him a few questions about the murder and asked if we could take a look in his house.

He happily replied “Yes, of course. Please go ahead. I had nothing to do with Alicio’s death.”

We investigated Maccabee’s house and found nothing wrong. That was until we got to the kitchen. As we looked through everything, we saw that there was something wrong with the wooden knife block. It was missing a knife. We returned to Maccabee who claimed he didn’t know anything about it.

“I honestly cannot tell you where that knife has gone.” He exclaimed.

“Does anyone else have access to your house? A cleaner, perhaps?” I asked.

“No, no one.” Maccabee answered, worryingly.

“Have you had any visitors lately?”

“No, not for a few days.” Answered Maccabee. “I had a few friends over for dinner and a delivery of ice from Collin two days ago.”

“Collin?” Detective Hubert’s eyebrow raised.

“Um.. yes. ” replied Maccabee. “Is there something wrong?” he asked, looking at both us repeatedly.

Detective Hubert paused for a moment. “Nothing to worry about.  Could you please meet me at Alicio’s house at 4 o clock today?”

“Yes of course, “ said Maccabee, confused.

We made our way out and Detective Hubert instructed me to go and tell the other suspects about the meeting.

At Alicio’s house, the suspects sat in front of Detective Hubert and myself. Detective Hubert said nothing for what seemed like forever. Suddenly he seemed to spring to life. “Alicio was murdered.”

“We know that.” Chauncey replied, rolling his eyes.

“That may be true, but, what you may or may not know is that he was murdered by someone in this room.”

The men suddenly started glancing at other accusingly.

“Let me tell you what we know.” Detective Hubert continued without looking at the men. “There could only be one of you that could have done it. Maccabee…”

Maccabee interrupted, “I did nothing. I swear to you.”

Detective Hubert continued again, “ Maccabee, you ran a business with the victim. You seem to be very happy that you are sole business owner now.”

“But I am not a murderer.” He spluttered.

“When we investigated your house, we found a knife missing from your kitchen.”

“But, but, I don’t know where that went.”

“Do not worry, It is not important.” Detective Hubert waved his hand, dismissing it.

“Not important” shouted Chauncey,” How is a missing knife not important? Alicio was stabbed.”

“Yes, he was, but not by Maccabee.”

“Then who? Are you accusing me?” Chauncey asked angrily.

“Chauncey, you are the sole beneficiary of Alicio’s estate.”

“ I am, but I DID NOT kill him.” Shouted Chauncey.

“You are set to inherit a large deal of money and a very large house.” Said  Detective Hubert, pacing up and down the room, not looking up.

“DO YOU HEAR ME?” shouted Chauncey, getting up from his chair. “I DID NOT KILL HIM.”

Detective Hubert stopped walking and looked up. “Please sit down Chauncey. I am aware that it wasn’t you.”

“Oh.” Chauncey sat down. “Then who was it? Collin?”

“Me? I did nothing.” Collin said gruffly.

“Oh, but you did.”

“Go on then, tell me how.” Collin crossed his arms and looked out of the window.

“I will. Collin you killed Alicio for one reason and one reason only. He was going to shut you down and you couldn’t afford that.”

“You’re wrong.” Collin replied, still looking out of the window.

“Not at all Collin and what’s more, you took Maccabee’s knife.”

“My knife?” Maccabee asked surprisingly.

“Yes, your knife,” Detective Hubert continued.”You took Maccabee’s knife from his kitchen when he delivered ice”

Maccabee interrupted.   “I’m sorry, but you’re wrong there. Collin delivered my ice to the front door.”

“ Ah yes, that is quite possible. However, when your friends came to dinner, Collin snuck to the back door and broke into your kitchen to steal the knife.”

“Why would he do that?” Maccabee asked.

“To frame you.” Detective Hubert confirmed.

“So he was killed with Maccabee’s knife?” I asked.

Detective Hubert continued.  “Oh no. He was killed with ice.”

“ICE?”

Detective Hubert didn’t look up as he began to pace the room again. “Yes, ice. Do you remember when we found that damp patch on the floor of Alicio’s study? It was where Collin here had used a dagger made of pure ice to kill Alicio. He knew that it would melt before anyone would find the body.”

Collin tried to run out of the room.

“Grab him,” Detective Hubert called to me. I ran and tackled Collin to the ground. We had our murderer.

By Mikey, aged 12