Moving Again

Gary is a typical young boy, fifteen years of age, and thoughtful. He had a slight build, and his weight was average. He was very self-conscious of his body changing into an adult.  On a good day, he thought of his life as filled with little adventures because his family was always moving to a new city. On a droopy day, the thought of moving made him sad. Their latest move was to Durango, Colorado where a small startup firm needed someone with his father’s, Harry, experience, and qualifications. They have moved three times in the last ten years. This gave him little time to make friends and when he did, they would move to a new city. Right or wrong, he avoided FaceBook and Instagram and leaned toward TikTok, but that did not lead to close relationships.

Gary had just become a member of the soccer team and he was very happy to be the goalie. He thought this would be a good way for him to finally make some friends. One good thing about his current life was that he had met a girl, Mary, and had spent a lot of time with her hanging out at the local malt shop. They both were very comfortable with each and after being together for about eight, they decided to ‘go steady’. Gary thought that maybe his life would be better than it has been.

Gary has a six-year-old sister, Linda, who had just started to take violin lessons. Her mother, Sandy, used to play the viola in the local orchestra; however, she stopped playing in the orchestra when Linda was born. She knew that important for a person to start learning to play an instrument at an early age. She began taking viola lessons when she was eight years old. Sandy was currently active in the local garden club and is the current president of the club. The garden club did not require as much of Sandy’s time as playing in the orchestra, and she enjoyed cultivating plants and the companionship of the club members. Sandy missed her hometown, and every time they moved, she would comment that she wished they were moving to her hometown. To Gary, it seemed that she idolized his sister because she was always signing her up for some activity. As a result, Sandy had very little time for Gary and he resented the attention that his sister received.

Gary’s father, Harry, was an electronics engineer and worked on a contract for an electronics company. Harry’s job normally ended when the electronics company completed the contract they were working on. However, this time Harry was asked to leave the company after seven months, but the contract was expected to take approximately two years to complete. The company’s contract with the U.S. Army was to develop a guidance system for an attack drone. During the seven months, Sam had many meetings with the lead engineer of the project, Sam. These meets often ran late into the night and when Harry returned home after these meetings with Sam, he was very upset. He told his family that it was probably a good thing that he lost his job because of his unfavorable relationship with Sam.

So once again, Gary had to leave where he was living and move to another city. Gary could not believe they were going to move again, right after he made the soccer team and met a girl he liked. 

Fortunately, for Gary, the new company which was also bidding on the Drone project, was not too far away from where they currently lived. This meant that, hopefully, he would still be able to see Mary because he would be getting his driver’s license in a couple of months.

After working at the new company for several weeks, Harry was found dead in their garage at home. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning since he was found in the garage with the car running. The local authorities ruled the death a suicide; primarily because they assumed he was distraught over being fired from his last job.

Gary was distraught over his father’s death, and he told Mary he couldn’t believe his dad could or would commit suicide. He was always changing jobs; so why would he take his life this time? Secretly he suspected Sandy of his father’s death. Mary told him that her father knew a private detective, Neil Lauck, and she would her father to ask the detective if he could investigate the death.

Neil agreed to investigate the death since it was often too easy for the authorities to call such a death a suicide. They are often wrong in their assumption.

The first thing Neil did was to go to the Medical Examiner to get the details of the death. He was told that the death was the result of carbon monoxide poisoning. However, there was one other important fact that he found. The autopsy indicated there was a traumatic injury to the rear of his head. It appears that he was knocked unconscious either before he was in the car or when he was in the car. After he was unconscious the car was started, and he died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Based on those findings the Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide. Neil then left the Medical Examiner’s office and went to tell Gary and Sandy what he had learned. They were both glad that Harry had not committed suicide but they were upset that someone had killed Harry. Sandy then left the room and went to the kitchen to prepare some refreshments. When she left Gary told Neil that he suspects his mother. She was never happy where they lived and whenever they moved, she always wanted to move back to her hometown. She was never happy where they lived, and he wasn’t even sure she loved his dad. When Sandy returned, they chatted and enjoyed the refreshments. Neil then said he would continue his investigation and bid Gary and Sandy farewell. Neil went to the local Police Department and talked with them about Sam. He discovered that Sam had a police record. Five years ago, he was arrested and tried for assault and battery. However, he was acquitted, and he has been well behaved ever since. Neil also discovered that Sam loved cars and that he owned several vintage cars. One of the cars he owned was a Mercedes Benz, AMG SL, and that car was seen in Harry’s neighborhood around the time Harry died. Neil went back to the Police Department and told them what he discovered and asked them if they would get a search warrant to search Sam’s Mercedes.  They agreed to search Sam’s Mercedes and they discovered that the tire iron in the trunk had what appeared to be blood on it. They discovered that the blood found on the tire iron had Harry’s DNA. As a result, the Police issued an arrest warrant for Sam. 

Neil then went to see Gary and Sandy to tell them the Police were arresting Sam for the murder of Harry.  As Neil was leaving, after telling them the good news, Gary walked with Neil to his car. Gary told him that he was glad what he determined and that he now looks at his mother in a more favorable light.