Who Killed Paps...a short murder investigation...

Lieutenant Sims was getting sick of this run-around. "Book them all," she snarled. "All three of them. Murder One."

"Really?" Officer Caldoza whispered. This was the first corpse that Caldoza had ever encountered and somehow it made him want to whisper. He looked at the craggy-faced man lying in bed and could almost imagine he was asleep. "Can we really arrest all three?"

"Of course. One of them put a pillow over their father's face and suffocated him. The other two are covering for him - or her. That makes them co-conspirators or accessories after the fact. Criminals any way you cut it."
Carol Sims glanced at the three children of the Luther Fieldstone, the 25-year-old triplets who all still lived with their father in the impressive family home on Elm Street. Liddy Fieldstone stood by the open window, chain-smoking her fourth or fifth cigarette. Larry Fieldstone sat on a bedside ottoman sipping the last of a beer. The third sibling, Zeke, stood in the corner, his arms folded. Black grease from his hands had tracked its way onto the arms of his shirt.

"Do all three of them have to be lying?"
"Yes," Sims replied. "Unless you're ready to suspect the visiting nurse?" On the other side of the bedroom stood Mrs. Miller, a 60-year-old nurse with an impeccable record of caring for the housebound sick. The lieutenant turned to face the fraternal triplets. They must be close, she thought, sharing so much in life, including a nice little motive for murder.
"All right," she said. "Once more from the top. Liddy, tell me what happened."

"Dad had called us all at work this morning, acting very mysterious. He told us to be here at two o'clock sharp for a little family meeting."
"You knew what it was going to be about?"
"About his will."

"Liddy!" Larry and Zeke growled almost simultaneously.
"They're going to find out soon enough." Liddy turned back to Carol Sims.
"Dad was talking to his lawyer about reducing our inheritances. Everyone's leaving their money to charity these days. It's like a plague."

"You walked here from your office?" Sims asked, checking her notes.
"That's right," Liddy replied. "I work a few blocks away. I stopped to chat with the postman who was just finishing his rounds. He'll be able to verify that. When I got to the house, Larry and Zeke were just pulling up. Larry pulled around to the kitchen and Zeke drove into the garage on the other side. I came in the front."

Brother Zeke took over the narrative. "About two minutes later, we heard Mrs. Miller call from upstairs. I was still in the garage, looking under the hood." He displayed his greasy hands. "My Mercedes was acting up."
"And I was still in the kitchen," Larry inserted. "I went up the back stairs. Zeke went up the stairs from the garage. Liddy went up the main stairs. On the second floor, we ran into each other - and Mrs. Miller. She was just coming out of Daddy's room."

Lieutenant Sims turned to Mrs. Miller. "I didn't hear anyone come in," the nurse admitted. "I'd been in the upstairs den watching TV while Mr. Fieldstone had his nap. It was my first break all afternoon, no more than five minutes. When I went back to check on him, I heard someone going down a flight of stairs."

"Just one person?"
"Yes. I couldn't tell which stairs. But I know what I heard. Then I went in and found him dead. Are you sure it wasn't a heart attack?"

The lieutenant fixed her gaze on the saliva-stained pillow and the new, unsigned will on the nightstand. "The autopsy will tell us for sure," she said, but the facts were already clear in her mind. The triplets did not arrive at the same time. One had walked into the house a few minutes early and gone upstairs. The sight of the sleeping invalid, the thick pillow and new provided too much of a temptation. Two of the triplets were covering for the third.

"We thought it was a heart attack, too," said Liddy. "But we knew we had to call the police."
"You used the telephone in this room?"
Mrs. Miller nodded. "The only time anyone left this room was when I came downstairs to let you in."

Sims thanked them for their cooperation and asked for their patience while she and Officer Caldoza made a quick tour of downstairs. In the entry hall, they found Liddy Fieldstone's jacket on a coat rack. Several letters were piled on an end table, a water ring blurring the top postmark.

"Luther Fieldstone might already be a winner," Caldoza said, then checked the second piece of mail. "Letter from a law firm." He held it up to the light. "Could be a bill."

Very little had been disturbed in the kitchen. Larry's suit jacket had been tossed across a chair. A utensil drawer was open and so was the drawer to the wastebasket. Through the kitchen window they could see a red convertible, its running lights still on. Zeke's Mercedes was in the garage, as advertised.

The door was open and the hood was up. Nearby, a portable radio was tuned to a soft rock station, playing at low volume. Zeke's jacket was inside the car on the passenger seat.

"I don't think we have to make three arrests after all," Carol Sims muttered as she re-entered the house proper. "One arrest will do."


Whom does Lieutenant Sims suspect?

What piece of evidence points to the killer?

Good Luck....I will tell you all who the colprate is..


[edit on 9-12-2004 by Horus_Re]

Larry did it! he has a beer, he found the mail, the water rings from the cold beer. he finds the lawyers letter, figures the fathers gonna change the will and offs him. ????/

Yes,you're on the right track.;with the water rings on the mail....but no He's not the murderer....
A clue..thers was a widow of opportunity...while Larrry was taking off....

Ok..scince no one else seems to have given this a good investigative reasoning I might as well close it up atleast with the cuffs on the colprate's sleeves..hehe..

Officer Caldoza was confused. "Why Liddy?" "Well, let's reconstruct what we know." Lieutenant Sims counted off the points. "Liddy arrived around the same time as today's mail. That can be confirmed by the postal carrier. She put the mail on the end table. That's logical. The question then becomes, 'How did the water ring get on the postmark?'"

"Larry's bottle of beer."

"Exactly."

"So that means Larry lied about taking the kitchen stairs." "Of course Larry lied. But that doesn't make him the killer. That makes his arrival several minutes after Liddy's arrival. Larry had enough time to take off his jacket, open a bottle of beer, wander into the front hall and set his bottle on top of the mail. Meanwhile, Liddy was upstairs killing their father."
"That's not proof of murder."

Sims sighed. "No, it's not. It's just proof that the triplets are lying about coming home at the same time. According to Mrs. Miller, we're dealing with a five minute window of opportunity. In my book, the first one in the house wins the game. And that's Liddy."

Liddy you have the right to try and proof us otherwise...hehe..:bash: