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| Brooksie van Pelt 1950's Private Investigator Photo by Dave Haworth: Photo by Dave Haworth: http://davesphotoexploration.wordpress.com/ |
Welcome folks, it is now time to present to you part four
of:
Devil at Dusk
I take the evidence then leave JT’s office and
head over to the Sheriff’s Office. I arrive at the Sheriff’s office a few
minutes later (JT’s office is only two blocks from the Sheriff’s) I open the
door and go in. I see Sheriff Holifield at his desk in his office and I say, hey Sheriff how have you been? He replies, been doing pretty good
Brooksie, thank you so much for coming, we are so glad you are here to help us
with the case. Then I peek my head in Deputy Sheriff Miller’s office and said
hi Deputy Miller, he also says hi Brooksie thank you for coming. Deputy Miller
gets up from his desk and joins Brooksie and Sheriff Holifield. I then asked
the guys if there have been any new findings or evidence regarding the case. Sheriff
Holifield and Deputy Miller both said no, nothing new has transpired. I showed them the file I made for JT, a small
plastic bag containing the note I found on his desk and the notes I took when I
was over at the office. I also pulled the plastic bag out of my pocket with the
stocking in it and told them I found it in JT’s office over by his desk. I told
them both I believed the stocking was evidence. The Sheriff said you are absolutely right, it
is evidence and the Deputy Miller shakes his head yes in agreement. All three of the bodies that had been found
had garter belts on but there were no stockings, the stockings had all been missing.
I tell the guys that I believe the killer had been in JT’s office
on the day that he had fallen ill. I believe that the killer is Mr. B, the one whose
initial was on the note that was found in JT’s office. The note had said Mr. B 3:00 pm, February 15th.
I asked the sheriff and deputy when the ambulance was called on that day to
pick up JT? Sheriff Holifield tells me it
was called at 5:55 pm by JT from his office, the ambulance arrived 15 minutes
later. I mention that I believe Mr. B set up an appointment, he most likely
pretended he needed to hire JT for an investigation and arrived at 3:00 pm then slipped JT some poison. A few hours went by, which was just enough time for the
poison to take effect. In the process the stocking either fell out by accident
or it could be the killer’s calling card of sorts (his way of leaving his mark
and letting us all know he was there).
I told them I would now
enter the note and the stocking into the chain of custody of evidence. Deputy
Miller is the one who is in charge of the chain of custody of all the evidence.
At this point he gets the labels for the plastic bags and writes down date
found, description of what it is, where it was found plus who gave it to him in
this case my name went on it and his name goes on it too. All the evidence then
gets locked in the evidence room. In the future if the evidence needs further
inspection, viewing or tests it is then checked out, the deputy signs that it
went out along with the person taking it out. Everything is doubly documented
in a ledger which is not to ever be removed from the evidence room or the
Sheriff’s Office. I then tell the guys I have nothing more to share and to let
me know as soon as possible if anything new develops. I walk to the door of the
office and tell them both goodbye and to have a good evening. They both assured
me that if anything new was found that I would be the first to know.
I go and get into my car and head off to the cottage. When I
get there Bet meets me at the front door and lets me in, William hears my voice
and comes running from the kitchen. William says hi Brooksie!!! I say hi darling
how have you been? William says he has been doing great; he tells me he has just been helping the
guys move his and mom’s stuff into the big house. I then go straight into the
kitchen and wash my hands, Bet and William follow me. I go to the china hutch
in the corner of the dining room and proceed to set the table just like I
promised. Bet tells me all the food is ready except the pot roast has about 10
more minutes left. She also tells me all of her and William’s personal belongings
have been moved out of the cottage and that I could check out of the motor
court on the way to see JT at the hospital, that way I could start staying in
the cottage tonight. I tell Bet that is a fabulous idea. Soon it was time for
the pot roast to come out of the oven and we all sat down at the dining room
table and had a delicious home cooked meal. When we were done we did the dishes
and cleaned the kitchen after that we got ready to go.
First we stopped off at the motor court, where I grabbed my
belongings and settled my debt for my stay over at the motor court. Then it was
off to the hospital to see JT. When we arrived I checked in with the nurse on
duty to see how things were. The Nurse on duty said there had been no change in
Mr. Slater’s condition. We thanked the nurse then headed down the corridor to
JT’s room, we saw Mr. Walker the night guard stationed outside JT’s door. I
introduced him to both Bet and William. Then we all went inside except of
course Mr. Walker. I pulled up a chair and motioned for Bet to sit in it, she
pulled William onto her lap while she was in the process of sitting down. I
went over to the other side of JT’s bed and stood above him looking down. We
all spoke quietly among ourselves and talked to JT. While we were at it, each
of us shared with him how our day was and what we did. We stayed for about 20
minutes then said our goodbyes and then we left. We headed for the car and I
drove us home. I drove up and parked in the driveway to the cottage.
I asked Bet and William to come in and join me for tea and
cake (Bet had made a German Chocolate Cake at the cottage earlier that day). I also wanted to
talk to them, specifically William. I got them both cake, tea for Bet and I,
Milk for William. I asked William how he was doing in school. He proudly
exclaimed really good! Then I asked him what he knew about the bad man that had
been in our town doing bad things? He said he did not know who the bad man was
but that this guy had been hurting people and that there are people not alive now
because of him. I let him know the bad man had also hurt his uncle JT. William’s
eyes got big and round like saucers, then he asks...so the bad man hurt my uncle JT? I
said yes we are about 99% positive he did. Bet asked me what I found out and I
told her about what I found out at the Sheriff’s Office. Then I told William
not to talk to strangers, do not except rides from them in their vehicles and
not to take candy from them if offered. I hated to do this and I know the
killer was not targeting kids but I kind of felt like since we were all a part
of JT’s family (even though I was not blood related he is my godfather and I am
taking over the case) that we needed to be extra, extra careful nowadays…
So that concludes this week’s installment of Devil at Dusk.
Stay tuned next week for installment number five!
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