Detective Wanless’s Mistake

Detective Wanless. His name matched his character perfectly. A boring, average, middle aged man with a twitchy moustache that every police officer his age possessed, although they were generally a much higher rank than he was. He lived in a town called Seawood and worked in the tiny local police station. Strangely enough, the only largeish body of water was a small brown coloured lake at the edge of the little town. The woman in charge was a much more interesting person, Chief Szabranski. She was a diminutive woman who had migrated from Poland when she was fifteen. Her general disposition was fierce and left many convinced she would have been a good teacher but she paid all comments like that little attention. If you stood by her for as long as possible and treated her with respect, you might just be lucky enough to get her to open her heart to you. This, alas, was very rare and the only person at the station to do so was Detective Wanless.That was the only thing in his favour, his loyalty and willingness to admit his own shortcomings. He was so good at this that Chief Szabranski agreed to take his hand in marriage. Together they had a 15 year old daughter called Ilsa

It was a wintery Sunday morning when the note appeared on Detective Wanless’ desk. The note itself had been typed then printed to limit the possibility of the writer being discovered. Detective Wanless also decided that the nature of the note meant it would have been written on a library computer or something similar.

The note said:

It was me! I killed her. Now I know you’re confused,

let me explain. You want to put me behind bars. So read between the lines and discover my identity. I will come quietly but if you fail I will kill you. I simply cannot wait!

Regards,

The Murderer.

At this moment, Detective Wanless’s lack of understanding shone through. Notes of this nature were common for him to receive and he had been desensitised to the threat of a murderer, but since crime was rare in their town he should have at least spoken to his wife.

The town of Seawood was tucked away behind great bustling cities and was an afterthought to most. Beyond the town were only hinterlands as far as the eye could see. Except for the police station, a makeshift hospital, some dilapidated buildings and houses, Seawood was empty. It was this that had drawn Chief Szabranski to move into the town.

On the same day that Detective Wanless had received the letter his wife was alerted to the murder of a young girl called Tina. She instantly started to go through the motions of a murder investigation. She alerted her husband and got him to get all the patrol officers briefed on how they would go about solving the crime. When I say all I mean 10. She then got in a police car with another detective and together they drove to the crime scene. When she saw the frail, dead body of Tina her mask of fierceness came down for a moment. Just a moment, though. She recomposed herself so quickly that even the Detective that had come with her, Detective Smith, a young man who had been appointed detective only weeks before, failed to notice. Tina was pale as a ghost, which she was, in a sense. Bright yellow police tape surrounded her and the two of them ducked under it to investigate the body.

Wanless watched this from afar. His eyes fixated on his wife in a puppy love manner. If only he had watched his daughter who at that moment was scampering away from the crime scene. Fear was glinting in her eyes and if he had noticed her he might still be alive…

As the sun began to set behind the sad old town Detective Wanless and his wife arrived home to greet their sad alone daughter.

“How’s work?” Ilsa asked cheerfully but sank when she realised they hadn’t noticed the question. Her mum kissed the top of her forehead. Her dad tapped her head awkwardly like she was merely a pet dog. That was her cue to leave, so she disappeared upstairs to listen to her parents talk. Ilsa wanted to scream at them and ask; “Don’t you remember me?” But that would ruin the plan.

“Poison? Then why on earth was she on the road?" Wanless asked his wife sitting on the kitchen counter. Chief Szabranski looked at him sternly reminding him of his place. She went to answer his question but she never did because a slip of paper fell from the counter. Ilsa smiled from upstairs. Her plan was in motion.

It was another note!

Time is running out, can you hear the clock?

It’s ticking.

Not sure you can crack this puzzle? What

a catastrophic problem.Did you hear about the girl I hid her name for you to find?

Regards the murderer PS: Do you know my name?

This time fear did strike. He darted out the door and left his wife bewildered in the empty house. If only he had seen her daughter slip out behind him.

He was alone in the dark dank station when he got there. Or at least he was convinced he was alone. He placed the note down on his desk. He didn’t keep pens at his desk so he had to go around the station to find one. When he finally got one he settled down in his chair to figure out what was wrong with the note. But even though it continued to nudge at him the dark void outside his window distracted him. Was that all Tina saw now? He wondered. At that moment Ilsa made her appearance. It took the detective until she spoke in a sinister tone to notice her.

“Struggling to read between the lines?”

“Ilsa! What are you doing here?” He asked but he knew the answer. He understood but he still failed to do anything about it.

“You Haven’t changed a bit. So, it’s time you died,Bye dad,” she said pushing tears back before revealing a knife from behind back. Screams filled the night air and that was the end of Wanless.