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THE MYSTERIOUS MURDER ON 55TH AVENUE
by Nmesoma Okechukwu

CHAPTER ONE
The night was as pitch black as any night could get; the killers had chosen a night when the storm was thick and there were less cars and eyes about, which meant less spectators. The storm had gone on for at least an hour; heavy drops of unforgiving rain was blocking out the night sounds, when a grey van pulled into 53rd avenue. They had been driving around Works avenue for at least four times. Not that you would have noticed if you happened to be spying from your window, yes, they circled the 50 to 55th avenue about four times but even the most observable eye would have missed it. The first time they circled the selected avenues, it was on a red shiny sedan booming loud music into the night air in a sort of careless provocation. No one would have thought to suspect such a harmless car, probably filled with teenagers who didn’t care what time of night it was as they blasted their speakers in full volume through the chilled night air. The second time they circled, they were driving an average sized delivery truck quietly stream-rolling through the night; that of course was not a cause for alarm.
But this time they stopped at 53rd avenue, their first stop at the avenue that one night, most of the residents of the avenue, if not all, were already asleep. Two houses down was their mark, but they were in no hurry to complete their mission, they were not principled murderers, they were just really good ones. The car stood on the blindside of the brick red building they were packed beside; no one in the windows would have seen anything in the dreary wet night. For a while, they talked in hushed tones, and seemingly argued a bit before they moved on past 55th and zoomed on to the highway.
A seventh car appeared coming into the avenue, that is if you were counting, but that was not in the least bit abnormal in a night in the mostly quiet neighborhood. This seventh car was blue, long, easily looked like a Chevrolet brand, though the branding was not clear even in the blinding light of the street lights. That was it; the blinding light meant every thief and crook steered clear of the avenue. Not one robbery, pilfering or even a simple burglary had been noted in this one avenue for straight thirty years. That was all mostly thanks to the grand house of the Humphries looming large at 55th avenue. Truly no sane creature, living or dead, would think to do harm to the avenue, let alone the 55th as the Humphries were a bunch of high classed individuals. People believed that just thinking to attempt a break-in at the Humphries was in itself a suicidal one. Indeed it was, the security surrounding the building could only be rivaled by one around a nuclear bomb site, but that was what the five men cooped up in the blue car were preparing to go up against.
Finally, the car stopped at the large gate leading into 55th avenue. Four of the men had been there, one way or another, in the name of one thing or the other, in the past six months pretending to bring business, but really just examining and digging up as much information as they could about the place. A job this dangerous required patience leading to longsuffering; nothing was rushed, nothing was compromised, everything was a fact, and not one thing was theorized. The gate was electromagnetically powered and encrypted; only the head security could open it, or any of the Humphries cars, apart from the encrypted key, any other method to open the gate was nothing but Hail Mary. Motion cameras, sensors, alarms lined the entire place and each night, the wires curling the top of the walls were supercharged with electricity so that it would easily fry anyone who dared to make it that far. The doors leading into the mansion might be as easy to crack as an alien portal would be. Let’s not count the number of security men on hand at night, or their qualifications; it was indeed nuclear bomb site security.
Encrypted keys had a weakness, they send signals, and anything that could tune into their frequency can get the encryption. Of course, it took a well-experienced hacker working around the clock for more than two weeks to be able to design and code a device that could tap into the key’s frequency and receive the signal just as the gate does. After that, they might as well make millions of keys to open the gate and sell it on the black market if they so wished. The encryption code changing each week didn’t help much, because each time it changed, the little device they planted near the compound would pick up the new code and adjust their key accordingly. That meant that the gate was as good as open.
One snag that could have meant that their efforts to get the key to the door was nothing more than an effort was the 24-hour security men positioned at the gate. An unusual car would have meant the security men would raise their eyebrows about how they were able to open the gate, and that would have meant the police seizing them before they were even thoroughly driven into the compound- that is, if the security men didn’t feel like attacking themselves. But of course, all their time and patience didn’t resolve around them getting caught at the gate. The blue Chevrolet looked thoroughly like that driven by Kentucky Humphrey, so whatever misgivings the security men may have were already settled; the storm would hide any irregularities. Kentucky Humphrey mostly stayed out till 2 o’clock a.m. There was but one hour before the real Humphrey found his way back home and raised eyebrows, but they’d be gone long before that. They took their time to plan and they knew the accuracy of their plans, just as much as they believed in the accuracy of its results.
The large gold-encrusted gate opened fluidly as the car approached it. The car drove into the well-lit over 2 acres compound packing beside the over-imposing house.
“We’re ready, yeah?” One of the men, the only one in a red leather jacket, asked.
“You think the devil asked that of his renegade angels when they launched an attack on God?” the driver joked, he had a well-shaven mustache and a thick English accent.
The rest of them laughed, except the one in red. He kept observing the building as if it would suddenly start moving and smash into their car killing them all. Anyone that saw him then might think his crinkled brows meant he was scared of going into the building or maybe was having second thoughts, but his advanced mind left no space for qualms of such manners.
“What is it, Yej, not experiencing the first fear of your life tonight are you?” another one asked the one in red, Yej, tapping him playfully on his leather jacket and laughing heartily. To anyone around that saw the men, it would look like they were getting ready to order ice-cream rather than planning to murder one of the most powerful men in the world.
“I’ve taken up arms against worse and graced it thoughtlessly” Yej sniffed a short laugh, “this is like dropping a bomb in Libya compared to my other endeavors. Jeremy, Paul, let’s go. Mr. Cordon Humphrey invited the devil to his home, and the devil aint leaving without making a mess, especially if you poked him”
“We’re with you Yej, he deserves everything we’ve got coming to him” Paul said, throwing the door open carelessly. The only black one in the group was Paul, and no one could move around as stealthily as he could. He’d done spy work for some government agencies at a certain time but it felt to him that his talents were being wasted on the mundane missions he was assigned. He loved the mysterious, dangerous and peculiar missions; and it seemed those types of missions only happened at the wrong end of the law and that was where he eventually saw himself. The more difficult a mission was, the simpler it was for his brain to unravel.
“Let’s make some chaos” Jeremy said, stepping out with Paul. Jeremy was a weapon’s expert as Yej, but no one could beat him at chess either; he could make play with a dangerous mission involving a thousand outcomes as he would walking down the street with about a dozen cars zooming past him.
Yej stepped out from the front passenger seat covering his head with his hooded jacket, and the three of them marched into the building.
The last two would stay back and report on anything they see from the cameras they’ve got planted inside the building at the places they deemed as the most important corners through their communication earpieces; this would only send signals instead of actual words, in case the police managed to pick it up somehow. Staying at a base outside the building and carrying out the surveillance operation was impossible. The house was built like a black box, no frequency could penetrate or escape it, except unless they were connected to the big antenna built into the compound. Every other signal was interrupted and jumbled. Every server in the building was connected to the antenna and was heavily encrypted by the best anti-hacking companies there were. Mr. Cordon Humphrey was not an ordinary man neither was he one that should be toyed with, though he frequently toyed with people.
Yej and his accomplices approached the door, knowing not to touch the door which was DNA coded with the DNA information of the workers and of course, the Humphrey family members or other trusted frequent visitor. One touch at the door would have it read your DNA, and if your data was not recorded in its data system, it would yell intruder in a very loud and angry voice. Jeremy had witnessed the yelling on a day when he was delivering mail to the family. It happened to a former housekeeper whom Liliana Humphrey took into her pretty little head to fire the day before; claiming the housekeeper was not doing a very good job of arranging her closet. And since she had access to the building’s computer system, went ahead and deleted the woman’s data and history of work in the household. Well, let’s say the woman went into a shock when the door started crying because she touched it. For a paranoid weapons-manufacturer, Mr. Cordon Humphrey really outdid himself in designing and planning the house’s security. Robbing hell might have been an easier feat for anybody.
This would seem the hardest part of their mission but it was indeed the most simple. Mr. Humphrey had built the system to be lax since he had wayward children who didn’t care much about his strict rules and protective methods. The lax was that the system was so sensitive, it could read DNA off of gloves; that way the billionaire’s children wouldn’t need to strip their gloves just to get into their father’s house. Not everyone knew about the system’s by-function, and they wouldn’t have known if junior Humphrey, Kentucky, hadn’t told that to a girl they sent as a snitch in one of his drunken episodes at a night club.
‘Well, that was the singular failure of the entire well-structured system’ Yej thought as he pushed his newly gloved hand on the door. The three of them watched the door open majestically, revealing the stunning and breath-taking interior. Yej had always admired the place when he worked for Mr. Humphrey, right until the man fired him and took his research, claiming that their contract allowed him such authority. He wasn’t admiring the house then though, his eyes were fixed on the upper rooms.
Mr. Humphrey didn’t think that Yej was worth anything, but actually he was his arch nemesis. Whatever Mr. Humphrey’s brain raveled, Yej’s unraveled. It usually found him at cross-roads with Mr. Humphrey who never wants his brilliance challenged. Where Mr. Humphrey saw the strong points of a security system, Yej saw its weaknesses. Yej was the last person Mr. Humphrey should have messed with, but instead, he had taken Yej’s project and patented it, making millions off of it while not giving Yej, the project’s creator, even a damaged coin.
Before they came into the dimly lit living space, Paul and Jeremy had covered their heads with hoods as well. The three of them went into the room with heads turned to the floor. Yej often wondered why security cameras were always placed on top while they could be placed at a convenient place on the floor and it might have served its purpose better. Not that any camera position would have helped them though. Their heads were down because of the man at the camera room, not necessarily because of the cameras.
They reached the first landing, and with a courteous nod, they parted ways with Paul who went down the hallway while Yej and Jeremy ascended the next flight of stairs.
Yej and Jeremy stopped in front of Mr. Humphrey’s door. This was the toughest part of their mission, if they stepped close enough to the door, it would read their DNA and not finding a match with the one in its system, it would not only activate an alarm but activate lasers hot enough to melt even the most thick-skinned man to the ground in microseconds. Not even a glove would fool this particular door. Yej nodded at Jeremy without looking at him, and Jeremy departed down the right side of the corridor wordlessly.
Yej stood staring at the door as if the door represented all that he had been fighting his whole life. He glanced once at his watch unhurriedly and continued to stare at the door. He knew everything he needed to know about the security system embedded in the door, he knew he couldn’t bypass it without having to trip the alarm; that is if he didn’t trip the laser first. The world had had enough of wealthy filths who use their money to oppress others; one less wealthy jerk would make the world rejoice, so really, this was more of a community service than murder.
Yej was thinking back to the last time he saw Mr. Humphrey; his mind could remember every detail of the events that occurred that day and everything the multi-billionaire said to him, word to word. He remembered how the man had laughed off his threats of dragging him to court for stealing his project and converting it into his. Mr. Humphrey had clearly told him, in the manner a lion would use to talk to a cornered prey, that he should not bother with a law court, because none on earth could offer him justice. He said those words and more, before he fired him, had his men drag him out and made sure his ugly mug was not to be seen several meters from the company building. Well, Yej had taken his advice and hadn’t wasted his time in a court that would clearly have denied him justice, and made some ground rules for justice by himself.
Jeremy soon returned carrying a kicking figure, heavily muffled that not even the faintest sound escaped it. As soon as they were in front of the door, Jeremy threw Mary-Ann Humphrey haphazardly at the door. The Humphrey bumped into the door with a small thud, Yej stepped beside the young lady just as the door opened. He and the lady walked in and he flung her back before the door closed. Jeremy dragged her in as he entered; otherwise, the alarm would trip and kill whoever was unlucky to be standing there at that moment.
The door closed, and they all stood in the quite dark room. A little fear flickered through Yej as he realized that this was the most uncalculated part of their plan; they could either turn on the light and find Mr. Humphrey sitting on his bed with a gun pointed at them or turn it on to find him sleeping innocently, as if he were so. This was the only variable they could not impose the order of control on. Their plan could fail or succeed, they just had to turn on the switch and find out. His hand found the switch on a wall, and with a racing heart he flicked it on. He breathed out as he saw that Mr. Humphrey and his wife Melissa were sleeping soundly in their bed, as if all was well with their world. Well, it wasn’t, not as long as Yej was in it as well.
Yej didn’t rush them; he watched them patiently as they both groggily woke up, rubbing their eyes and murmuring about the disturbance. He waited for them to fully feel awake and take in the scene playing out before them, he’d waited for more than a year, three more minutes would not kill him.
Mr. Humphrey was the first to come to, jerking into alertness as he saw his muffled crying daughter. He looked from Jeremy to Yej making no connection to who they were, a second glance at Yej brought back some recognition. And Yej knew that Mr. Humphrey had recognized him because of the way his face turned grave and pallid as he stared at him. Yej gave him a friendly smile in return for his grave face.
“Who are you, how dare you!” his wife was now barking, “I’ll call security and have done with you two”. She said getting up from the bed. Yej had withdrawn a gun from his leather jacket. A single shot from it sent a pin laced with poison flying towards Mrs. Humphrey. It embedded on her neck and sent her convulsing on the floor within a space of seconds. The gun was accurate and silent, just as Yej designed it to be.
“So…” Yej said airily, shrugging his shoulders like a toddler caught with his hand on the cookie jar would, “We see each other twice in a day boss, that’s a good sign, don’t you agree?”
Mr. Humphrey now had his hand up in surrender, his lips murmuring unintelligible pleas. For someone who built weapons that would render thousands dead in minutes, he sure loved his pretty little life.
Mary-Ann shot off from the floor where Jeremy had her kneeling as she made to run towards her mother. She fell half-way to where her mother lay convulsing still, joining in the convulsion as a pin stuck itself on her back.
Yej had the gun by his side when Mr. Humphrey looked round from Jeremy to him to see who had shot his daughter, looking as innocent as ever.
“Where were we? Sorry, they kept interrupting boss” he said with a low devilish chuckle, “I recall boss does not like being interrupted, not for anything”
“Spare my wife and daughter and I will give you anything you want, ANYTHING” Mr. Humphrey pleaded.
Yej cast a quick glance from mother to daughter, and returned his calm gaze to Mr. Humphrey. His wife and daughter were already marked for death and nothing could change that, but he wasn’t going to tell Mr. Humphrey that. He still needed the man to do quite a few things for him. “Okay, I’ll take you up on your word of anything” he said calmly, “But you better hurry as you do whatever you’re told to do, with no fish business attached or tic-toc-tic-toc, they die”.
Mr. Humphrey nodded vigorously, “I swear, I swear”, he said hurriedly.
“You’re a shady human being, so I’m guessing you have lots of money stocked in the form of Bitcoin. It’s untraceable money” Yej said.
Mr. Humphrey nodded.
“How much exactly?” Yej asked.
“Around some hundreds of millions in separate account wallets”, Mr. Humphrey replied breathlessly.
“Well? Get to transferring” Yej said, handing Mr. Humphrey a paper with five different wallet ids.
Mr. Humphrey scurried around for his laptop, turning it on hurriedly. All the while that he worked on his laptop; he kept half an eye on his wife and daughter to make sure they still exhibited signs of life. Yej knew they wouldn’t be dead, not at least for another thirty minutes, and for that he wasn’t bothered. As long as Mr. Humphrey thought they were alive and there was still a way to save them, he was still in the clear. He did keep a close eye on Mr. Humphrey though, to make sure he didn’t try to over-smart himself.
After Yej watched the transactions pull through, he raised the gun and pointed it at its target.
“There, you have it. It’s done, you’re rich, now give them the antidote, please. If you want to take a life, take mine, I’m the…” a pin embedded in his forehead and he fell forward from the chair he sat on, starting to convulse on the ground like his wife and daughter.
Yej had shot him because he was trying to reveal too much. He would have rather wanted to add a few more words of his own, some parting brief or something like that but then the cops would pick a clue, the right clue. They would have a lot of clues of course; they were happy to provide them with those, with plenty of those. He turned to Jeremy and they exchanged a triumphant nod wordlessly.
Yej went around collecting the pins from the bodies of the convulsing family, taking great care not to touch the tip; the poisonous fluid smeared on it was still potent enough to take care of about a hundred people. Each one he plucked from the vibrating bodies, he deposited on a plastic bag he had with him. When he was done, he safely tucked the plastic bag into the pocket of his leather jacket.
He went over to where Mary-Ann lay convulsing and picked her up, he was sorry she had to die for the sins of her father, but there was no way around it. They had rigged the game to make sure the cops picked up all the wrong cards and mercy was not a part of the rules they laid down. Pulling the dying girl wordlessly, he gently touched her body to the door and it opened. He walked out with her and flung her back carelessly as the door made to close. Jeremy picked her up and dragged her body out again, and flung her back into the room to die with the rest of her dying family before the door finally closed.
They went down the stairs and met up with Paul who gave them a single nod before they all turned and walked out.

CHAPTER TWO
Bailey had to show her security badge three times before she could get into the compound, and now she stood on the threshold of the building waiting for one of the security men at the door to confirm that she indeed had a right to be there. It took a while before the security men nodded her in. The building she found herself in was daunting, but the situation did not call for admiration whatsoever. A powerful man had just been murdered, and what’s worse, in his very own home. Rumors had already filtered through the precinct and had spread like wildfire through the entire nation. Some theories stated that it was an attack from an enemy nation seeking front-line knowledge on the nation’s weapon systems or at least they were looking to take out the major player in the design and formulation of weapons. Conspiracy theories were abound and there must have been a hundred different theories already, if one decided to listen to the chit-chatter.
She straightened the jacket of her navy blue suit as she made her way up the spiral tessellated stairs. Every agent or officer who knew how to dig up their own bone was present, all that was missing was the Salvation Army and its Calvary. Some rooms were strictly cordoned off from most of the police force present, only the top heads could go into those restricted sections. She waved at the S.O as she made her way to the second flight of stairs.
She didn’t know what she expected, but she could not have expected what she found. The army were around, stationed at every corner, on uniform and no nonsense mood. She was wrong, the Salvation Army did come. She warily climbed the last stairs and provided her badge to no one in particular. They didn’t look at her badge before one of them pointed at a room and waved her in. She nodded and entered.
She didn’t know why the Director had requested her presence there; she was not a special agent of any sort. She was a desk-junkie, an ordinary CSI; she was rarely in the field, at least not after THAT incidence. Remembering the unfortunate trial incidence made her flinch as she stepped into the room, though she managed to change the expression to a calm smile as heads swung round to her direction. Most of the people in the room went back to their tasks not minding her. Director Dan waved her over. He was seated on a stool watching something on the flat monitor he held in his hand, a large monitor stood in front of him playing something in mono-color. Five officers stood around him, eyes concentrated on the large monitor as they scanned the video, probably for any clue as to the identity of the murderers.
She came up to them and stood next to Fred, their criminal behaviorist. She gave him a small nod, which he probably didn’t notice because his eyes never left the monitor with his face crinkled in concentration. She turned her attention to the large monitor in front of her; the video feed was probably from three different cameras in three different angles. It displayed five men heading up the stairs, their heads down, hoods covering the color of their hair or any identifiable thing that could have helped in pinpointing the criminals. They all wore long-sleeved shirts of varying colors; blue, red, green, green, white. It was not the proper criminal etiquette, Bailey noted but she dared not voice her opinion on the account of looking remarkably stupid. She knew most criminals wore a color code, mostly shaded in grey or the black spectrum, probably their attempt to decrease visibility if anyone were to see them in their dark arts. These criminals defiled rules, they didn’t only wear unconventional colors but bright bold colors; it was like they were making a statement. But what statement exactly?
She took a peek at the monitor Director Dan had clutched in his hand, and could tell that it was the same video feed on the large monitor, but probably through night vision cameras because they were brighter and layered in greenish tint. Her second observation watching the video through the monitor in the Director’s hands was that their T-shirts were all checked, must be for some uniformity, she conceded. She remembered a class she had in criminal analysis that explained the instinct in criminals to have something that proved them as a team; might be the way they choose to hang their key chains, or wore their colors, and millions of other stuffs like that. This gang’s uniformity came in checked T-shirts.
“Okay, so according to the video, they all went into the room at the same time” Director Dan finally spoke.
Fred screwed his eyes at the video as was his wont whenever his brain-wheels were turning, “yes, but the clues from the murder and that of the video feed are inconclusive”
“Are you saying the video is wrong or that the murder analyst missed something?” George asked.
“Might be both or none, my point is that there’s a huge piece of the puzzle that’s still missing” Fred pointed out.
“Can someone fill in Miss Tennyson on the facts so far?” Director Dan asked.
Fred looked at her, and conceded, unhappily, to be the one to do the explaining. “As you might have heard; Mr. Humphrey, his wife Melissa and youngest daughter Mary-Ann were murdered last night in Mr. Humphrey’s room at approximately 1:30 to 2 o’clock of the morning. Weapon of murder seems to be poison-dart but till the result from the lab is back, the fact is inconclusive”
“How did we guess it was poison?” Bailey asked. She had been trying to run an image of the incidence in her head and compare it with the images from the cameras planted around the house; something was amiss, even if her mind couldn’t tell her what.
“All three of them had a little prick that could have been made by a pin in their body leading us to conclude they were injected with a poisonous chemical; back, neck and forehead” Fred replied plaintively.
“Am guessing Mr. Humphrey had the head shot?” she asked.
“You guess correctly” Director Dan said, “what are all your theories, I want to hear them”
“This is not a day thing, and obviously the attack was carried out by trained professionals, I’m suspecting this must take years for the planning” one of the men at their circle said. Bailey didn’t recognize him but she noted he had on a blue tie.
“Obviously” Director Dan said as if what the man had done was explain how bright the sun was shining.
“Our data is largely inconclusive, nothing fits. The security men say that the only car that drove into the compound at the time of the attack was that of Kentucky Humphrey, which puts him up as a suspect. Then let’s say he truly is a suspect, the camera in the garden only showed us three men coming out of his car the first time he drove in, but inside the house the cameras reveal they were in fact five. And let’s say the other two were workers here and were already inside, it still does not explain what Mary-Ann was doing in her parents’ room at the time of attack and how she was caught in the line of fire. It’s still inconclusive if we factor in the intentions of the murderers; was it a crime on the national level or was it carried out by a highly trained operative organization. And lastly, what was it that they gained from Mr. Humphrey’s murder, that is if they were aiming at murder. If some of these questions are answered, it might help point us at least to a definable direction as to who the murderers might be” Fred stated.
Director Dan breathed in through his mouth and shook his head slowly, “Wouldn’t it be great if the answers to those questions just magically dropped down from heaven?” he murmured, “In the meantime, you’re right. We need conclusive data. Fred, take Bailey with you and head into the crime scene. Gather as much information as you can, the rest of us will try to pick up any hints left to us by the camera feed” he said waving them away and pointing at the room next to the one they were in.
She and Fred exchanged looks but did not question the order they were given as they both turned and walked out of the room. Bailey was trying to think up what they were going to say to the soldiers in front of Mr. Humphrey’s room when they approached the men. They didn’t say anything, Fred produced his ID and they were nodded in.
When Bailey entered, the sight of the three color-drained corpses were what she first saw. The sight that left her sick was that of little Miss Mary-Ann, the nineteen year old Humphrey. She remembered her smiling face on a television interview she took part in about a month ago, when she announced that she and her siblings were going to stay over at their dad’s for this Christmas holiday. Well, a red Christmas holiday has turned into a black nightmarish mourning. The world was such a cruel place, she thought as she followed Fred over to one of the four men photographing every nook and cranny of the crime scene.
“Hi, I’m Fred. I’m with NYPD; I’d love to ask some questions on any information regarding the crime scene” Fred said, producing his badge.
“Wait a while, I’m almost done and I’d have time to talk to you” the man said. He was plainly dressed in white and wore sparkling white gloves.
Fred nodded and he and Bailey retreated to a corner. From there, Bailey could hear half the words that were spoken in the room. From what she could hear, they had Kentucky Humphrey under arrest and he was being questioned at that particular time. Some people were averse to the thought that Kentucky could have been behind the murder of some of his family members, some people were all for it, stating he clearly had motives and stating the fact that it would take someone really close, who knew every security strengths and weaknesses, to try to pull off an attack on a place this heavily guarded and secured; both technically and manually.
Some rejected the notion by saying that if it the murder was carried out by Kentucky, he wouldn’t risk bringing in the murderers with his car. But for the meantime, there were no clues to go on but Kentucky so no theory could talk him out of the crime for now.
Bailey knew it could not be Kentucky since no one would steal an apple and still raise it up for the world to see; no matter how dumb Kentucky might be, he certainly couldn’t be that dumb. But she couldn’t say she despised the arrest, Kentucky was the only clue they had to go on with.
The camera man seemed to be done with his pictures and headed towards them. Fred extended a handshake but the man rejected it by putting up his white gloved hands and shaking his head.
“I’m Lucas, I’m with the army” the man quickly said, “So what do you want to know?”
“How about everything you know so far?” Bailey asked.
Lucas nodded, “They were five, wore colored clothes and a hood and came in with Kentucky’s car, or at least something that looked like it. It was raining so no one could have known for sure”
“But there’s a tough electronic security in the gate that no one could by-pass as I am led to believe, making it that the gate can either be opened with a special key or by the security men. The gate was opened by a special key, hence the fact that they must have used Kentucky’s car, the real one, and yet he said his car was not stolen that night, that it couldn’t have been” Fred stated.
“Or someone found a way to beat the security at the gate, come on, computers can be beaten” Lucas pointed out.
Fred wasn’t about to give into that theory, “That easily, wasn’t there a backup system to the gate that meant if someone tried to meddle with it let alone hack it, it would go offline and report the threat”.
“And? It’s still that same computer that has to report the threat when hacked. Anyway, I don’t understand computers that much but what I understand so far is that they can all be beaten by lines of code” Lucas said.
“Come on, it was designed by the best minds in the country” Fred insisted.
“It was probably hacked by the best of a foreign country” Lucas stated quietly.
Fred’s eyebrows pricked a bit before he resumed his demure expression. Bailey felt that Fred had played on the man to try to get information he knew the army may know and yet not want to disclose. “What do you mean by that?” Fred asked, trying to feign little interest in the subject.
Lucas shrugged but said nothing more. Bailey knew that was it, the man was after all with the army and the army knew their business; more than the CIA, it seemed.
“Do you think this might be an international attack?” Fred pressed.
“Those are simply speculations” Lucas muttered.
Bailey guessed that the army was probably on to something more than speculations, but for now, that’s for the army to know and everyone else to guess at.
“Anyway, continuing with the crime scene, there’s been a sweep and no DNA was found, so there’s that for that” Lucas said.
“What about the door, how did they get it to open, was it forced entry?” Bailey asked.
“Forced entry on a 6ft rod iron door with an electronic system, not to mention a DNA matching system” Fred hurriedly explained with the expression of someone that had to respond to an extremely stupid question.
“DNA matching system?” Bailey asked.
“Yes, the door does not open for you if your DNA or that of someone with you does not match any in the system, it’s not operated by key or any…” and then he stopped with a short gasp, “how did they get through the door?”
“I know this puts Kentucky further in the line of offense but…” Lucas started.
“It was with Kentucky’s DNA, wasn’t it?” Fred concluded.
“Yes, but Kentucky said the system had a minor flaw, that it was really sensitive it could have read his DNA off his clothing” Lucas said, “which have been tested and proven by the police more than a couple times already”
“Okay, which of his other children were at home at the time of the crime?” Bailey asked.
“Liliana was in, Benjamin was also in, Marilyn is somewhere in Germany and was the only one of his children not at home for the holidays. Kentucky and Davis were not back by that time” Lucas answered.
“Hey, hey everyone listen to this!” someone in the room called and everyone diverted their attention to the man. He had something in his hand, “you see, Mr. Humphrey didn’t have a camera in his room, but he had a recorder” he said and pressed a button and a distorted high-pitched noise spilled across the room, some people held onto their ears. “Sorry, sorry” the man called again and turned a dial on the device he held, something came bursting forth from the speakers.
Fred’s face broke into a broad smile as the first words burst out from the speakers.
“Who are you, how dare you! I’ll call security and have done with you two”, it was probably from Melissa Humphrey.
A little swish in the air, magnified by the loudness of the speakers, was heard. The next sound was a thud. Everyone imagined it was Melissa falling.
“So…” the voice was deep and inhuman and brought questioning looks from the listening people, “we see each other twice in a day boss, that’s a good sign, don’t you agree?”
A groan was heard, some thumping feet followed by a thud, and there falls Mary-Ann in everybody’s mind.
“Where were we? Sorry, they kept interrupting boss” the voice boomed out again, again it sounded awkward and wrong; like it was vibrated a couple hundred times before being recorded, “I recall boss does not like being interrupted, not for anything”
“Spare my wife and daughter and I will give you anything you want, ANYTHING” Mr. Humphrey pleaded.
“Okay, I’ll take you up on your word of anything” the distorted voice said, “But you better hurry as you do whatever you’re told to do, with no fish business attached or tic-toc-tic-toc, they die”.
“I swear, I swear”, Mr. Humphrey said hurriedly.
“You’re a shady human being, so I’m guessing you have lots of money stocked in the form of Bitcoin. It’s untraceable money”
Silence.
“How much exactly?”
“Around some hundreds of millions in separate account wallets”, Mr. Humphrey replied breathlessly.
“Well? Get to transferring”
“That’s bullshit, what’s wrong with the voice?” Fred asked, immediately the silent break in the record started.
“I’m guessing it’s Toot, a children’s toy. Children use it to distort their voices and make it sound funny just as a kaleidoscope distorts colors. I know, the world’s best technology was beaten by a kid’s toy” a plump man in a black suit, with wild mustache said.
Mr. Humphrey’s voice sounded again, “There, you have it. It’s done, you’re rich, now give them the antidote, please. If you want to take a life, take mine, I’m the…”
“He’s the what?” a lady asked, exasperated.
“I’m sorry but that’s all the noise from the time of the attack, the murderers weren’t very chatty” the man with the control remote said.
“He knows them” Fred said in an undertone that Bailey barely heard. “You’re rich, you’re rich…” he repeated continuously as he thought, “He knows them; he knows they want his money, so international attack is ruled out. This attack is either by someone who works for him in the company, in the mansion, or even someone who’s family”
“Or someone who’s got a beef with him” Bailey added.
“Probably” Fred nodded, “this narrows it down. The murderers are as good as caught, I believe this clue will lead us right to them”.
The air in the room had already changed to that of a positive mood, everyone believed that the recorder gave them enough information to start searching for the people who murdered Mr. Humphrey, one of the country’s leading men in defense technology. If those murderers escaped without punishment, it would be a terrible blow to the nation; and anyone who was in the force would try everything to the last of their strength to bring the criminals to justice, and they wouldn’t give up. But even as Bailey heard the recording, even as hope peaked for the other officers on the message of the recording, hers was a complete loss of hope. The criminals were smart; if they distorted their voice, they knew there was a recorder. They didn’t call out their wallet ID because they were sure of the recorder and if they knew about the recorder, it could only mean that everything they heard were what the criminals wanted them to hear. This was nothing but a clue planted by the murderers to lead them off the true scent of their path. But she saw no other scent they could follow, all she could do was hope that they would take the false paths and somehow use it to step on the right ones. But she knew the probability of that happening were about a million to one, there was still that chance of one. All it needed was someone who could see beyond ordinary sense, go beyond the lines of the crime scene and come out with at least a shoe or a lace; that detective was just not her.

Contributed by Nmesoma Okechukwu
Nmesoma is a musician and short story writer from Nigeria.

Adventures in collaboration
By Holly Bargo

Last fall bestselling author Russ Towne, for whom I edit, suggested partnering with me on an anthology of short stories. Flattered and pleased by the invitation, I accepted. We agreed that I, being the freelance writer, would hop over to his genre: westerns.

That meant research.

As a teenager, I read Zane Grey. Now in my fifties, I figured the genre would have changed quite a bit over the decades. So, I downloaded some western titles to read and watched a couple of old John Wayne movies. Hey, I didn’t say that it was good research. Anyway, from reading my partner’s work when editing for him and the recently published books in the genre, I discovered that, nope, the genre hadn’t really changed.

Some aspects of westerns do differ from the genres in which I usually write, though. The Old West has its own lingo. A light hand is needed to incorporate that vernacular so that dialogue remains both natural and comprehensible. I have a bit of an advantage over my writing partner: I know horses.

Russ and I have very different writing styles. Plot drives his stories, mine are character-driven. Being a romance writer under usual circumstances, I learned that readers of westerns prefer their romances “gentle,” as Russ explained. In other words, nix on the explicit sexuality found in much of the romance genre. One may allude to the bedroom (or tabletop or hay loft), but one must not describe the activity therein. I muffled my inner vixen and complied. Romance within my stories in this anthology is implied and never goes beyond a sweet kiss. Violence on the other hand … well, what do you expect in a genre rife with gunslingers and outlaws?

I find it funny that explicit violence is expected and welcomed in the genre, but not explicit romance.

We each came up with a handful of story plots to kick around. I chose some of his and some of mine. He wanted to see what I’d do with one of his characters, so I accepted that challenge, too. He kindly served as my beta reader. I edited his stories as I usually would. After revising my stories per his feedback, I sent them to my editor whose feedback resulted in further revision. Russ kindly suggested that we lead the compilation of stories with one of mine.

That’s the way it goes. Review, edit, revise. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I came up with a title and asked him for his opinion. He liked it, so we stuck with it: Six Shots Each Gun. I asked about cover design. We decided I’d take a crack at that, too. I floated several background images by him and font options; we came to a consensus and a design that pleased us both. A few weeks ago, he sent me a comment received from a fan who complimented the cover design.

We each wrote concise story descriptions to put on the back cover and tweaked them.

Continuing in my role as graphic designer—I do have just enough training in document design to be dangerous—I formatted the book and sent him the files which he then sent to his publicist who reformatted, uploaded the book, and did his part.

Russ asked me if I had plans to publish within the western genre. While I enjoyed our project, I can’t say whether I will. If I so, it will be along the lines of a western romance rather than simply a western, if only because I don’t want to compete with my partner. So, would I saddle up and ride that trail again? If Russ is my co-author, you bet I would.

About SIX SHOTS EACH GUN

This collaboration between bestselling author of westerns Russ Towne and fiction author Holly Bargo—the two “guns”— presents 12 tales of the Old West. Each author has contributed six stories or “bullets” to this anthology. We hope to satisfy readers of the genre with rousing stories that not only meet expectations, but also add some uncommon insight into the short period of American history known as the Wild West.

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About Holly Bargo

Holly Bargo is a pseudonym, but really did exist in the form of a temperamental Appaloosa mare who is fondly remembered for her outsized personality. Holly and her husband live on a hobby farm in southwest Ohio. They have two children, one graduating from college in 2019 and the other serving in the military. Holly works as a freelance writer and editor and has published over 20 titles spanning the romance and fantasy genres.

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A mystery extract from Rob Burton

One of our regular contributors, Rob Burton, sent us this mysterious extract from .... he's keeping it a secret! An intriguing teaser campaign for an upcoming novel? A mystery about a mystery? What do you think?

The day before in downtown Lisbon...

Oppenheimer Hugo Junior III sat at the table outside a restaurant in a lane just off the Rua De Prata. The sun was high overhead, and he was feeling nauseous. He sloshed at the warm olive oil in the earthenware dish with a spoon. Having asked for a vegetarian soup this is what had been placed before him. The smirking waiter told him Sopa Alentejana was a local delicacy. It was hot olive oil with an egg cracked into it, a raw egg. Hugo pushed the dish away and looked once again at the puzzle in front of him.

Never in his whole career as professor of symbolism at the University of Los Angeles had he faced such an enigmatic conundrum. In a simple box in front of him was an egg, but it was no simple egg. It was an elegant bejewelled egg, unlike the mess floating in the rancid oil in front of him. This one was breathtaking. He held it in his hands, amazed he had it and even more amazing was how he had got hold of it in the first place.

IMPORTANT ADVICE FOR SCHOOL PUPILS
from TEACHING TANIA by James Gault

Next, I come to the delicate question of homework, which of course you must always do.   But there will be, inevitably, some occasions on which, through no fault of your own, you will inadvertently not have done your homework.    You may, for example, have inexplicably forgotten about it.   Such a thing, of course, must never happen with the homework I give you.   But, for other teachers, it is a possibility, and indeed, over a long school career, practically unavoidable.   So what should you do in such a case?

First of all, on your journey to school, you must dedicate your mind to finding the most convoluted and improbable explanation for not having the homework.
“As I came out of the house with my homework in my hand, a passing bird descended, grabbed it in his beak, and flew off with it.   I took a taxi, at great personal expense, and we followed it to Wenceslas Square.    There the bird let go of my homework and it started to float slowly down to the ground.   Unfortunately, there was a delay while I paid the taxi driver a not inconsiderable sum of money, and from my own pocket too.    I then started to cross the square, watching my homework descending towards a young man sitting on a bench.   Suddenly this young man took a packet of cigarettes from his pocket, put one in his mouth, and then proceeded to illuminate a small cigarette lighter with his free hand.   I was shocked, and not only because, as you know, I abhor smoking.   My precious paper was descending towards the naked flame, and, you’ve guessed it, I arrived in front of the bench just in time to see my homework going up in smoke.   But, of course, I’ll do it over again and give it to you tomorrow.”

This story will produce one of two responses.   Your teacher may say, probably in a rather disgruntled sort of way,
“OK then.   But don’t you dare forget it tomorrow!”
This is a perfectly satisfactory outcome for you.   But some teachers are of a more suspicious or tenacious nature, and may respond by saying,
“You really don’t expect me to believe such a load of nonsense, do you?”
With such a pedagogical giant there is only one way to proceed.   You must be firm, resolute and even arrogant, and say, without allowing your voice to waver,
“Do you honestly believe, sir (or miss) that I could have made up such a story if it wasn’t true?”
(You will note that you have not actually lied in this statement).   Faced with such a demonstration of conviction, the teacher will wilt, and will reply weakly,
“Oh well then, do it again for tomorrow”.

It's a Miracle
by Keith Guernsey

If you visit my author page on Amazon, you will see that I have referred to our four-footed son Harley as the "King of this castle. It is as true today as it was when I wrote it five years ago.

For the first half century of my life I always thought the phrase a man's best friend was just a marketing slogan on the side of a can of dog food. But I have learned over the last decade that it is actually very true. To say he stole our hearts would rank as a colossal understatement. He came to us a rescue on a one week trial bass and has been by our side every day since. I distinctly remember calling his adoption advocate that very first night and telling her that there was no need for a trial. He was ours and we were his!

At 15 years young we faced the reality that he wouldn't be with us forever, but that didn't make almost losing him any easier. He was getting sick to his stomach, not eating and showing signs of extreme lethargy so we knew an unwanted trip to the vet was in order. We took him in early March and were informed that he was in kidney failure. He was in such bad shape that we prepared for the end. Susan even picked out a place in her garden where she would scatter his ashes. A lot of tears were shed as we hoped for a miracle and
sure enough one occurred!

Other than a change in diet (thank you freshpet.com!), we really didn't do anything different but all of a sudden he seemed to find the fountain of doggie youth! He started eating again like there was no tomorrow. We even had a reign him in as he still only weighed 10 pounds. He began to run wild like he was five instead of 15 and an amazing transformation had truly taken place.
Susan and I were so thrilled to have our little best friend back. There didn't seem to be any logical veterinary, medical explanation but it didn't matter to us one iota!