Title: Snow emergency
By
Author: Laird Long
Tag line: The
freshly fallen snow, dazzling white, didn’t blind the sheriff to the killer’s
identity!
Police characters: Sheriff James Prescott
and Deputy Sheriff March.
The gist: Sheriff Prescott was investigating
the murder of Red and the theft of his Liberty gold coins he hoarded in his
cellar. The grisly discovery of Red’s
body had been made by the mailman. The battered body
was found near the entrance to his storm cellar. The police found snowshoe
tracks running from the road onto Red’s property and snowmobile tracks
alongside the road. The tracks were
still visible and the frozen body of Red was covered in only a trace of snow
telling the police that the murder and theft had happened after the snow storm
had ended Sunday night and before the roads were cleared Monday night. The snowshoe tracks were unique only in their
actual depth in the snow which was rather shallow. The snowmobile tracks were even less
revealing. Red’s place had been
ransacked.
The police
narrowed the suspects down to three men due to the fact that some random
stranger wouldn’t have been out snowmobiling after a major storm and happen to
have a pair of snowshoes handy and also know about the rumored gold stash. Suspect #1 was Collier, a local old-timer who
was slight and sprightly. The two men
had been friends until the day Red chased Collier’s grandchildren away with a
loaded shotgun. Collier admitted that
Red had once told him about his gold horde in the cellar when they had been
pals. Suspect #2 was Bryan, a phsy-ed teacher and all around outdoorsman. Trim and athletic, he’d only been in town
about six months and a background check revealed he had some serious financial
troubles. He had no grudge with Red, admitted
to hearing the gold rumors, but didn’t know where the gold was supposedly
hidden. Suspect #3 was Jack, a burly
300-pound lumberjack who had had a recent run-in with Red about cutting trees
too close to Red’s property.
Sheriff
Prescott dismissed two of the men but wanted to question the third one
again. Who did he suspect?
Crime scene: Red’s shack.
Clues: The weight of the men and the whereabouts of
the gold.
Suspects: Collier, Bryan, or Jack.
Red herrings: None.
Solution: Jack was too heavy to have left the slight
snowshoe prints. Collier knew the gold
was in the cellar and wouldn’t have ransacked the house looking for it. Bryan heard the rumor about the gold but didn’t
know where it was. He went out to
investigate, and was caught by Red, so he killed him to keep him quiet.
My two cents: It was only rumored
that crazy old Red had a stash of gold coins, why were the police calling this a murder and theft? Without proof that there was ever any gold at all, never mind
any missing coins, this should have just been a murder investigation.
The clue
about the suspect’s weight has been done before, but the clue about the house
being ransacked was a good one. Collier
knew the gold was supposed to be in the cellar, he wouldn’t have wasted time
looking through the house. The author
slipped this clue in seamlessly.
The story
read well, and the pacing was good. The characters
were believable and the situation was believable.
5 comments:
I missed that clue and actually thought it was Collier!
Good story.
I got the clue about the depth of the footprints, but missed the one about the place having been ransacked, meaning the thief didn't know where the coins were... although a clever thief might do that anyway, to throw the cops off the scent. Neatly done story.
Would all the neighbours have had snowmobiles? If so, are their tracks like car tyres, individual to the make of vehicle?
@ Chris. The story had a light dusting of snow on the body and the shoe prints, fuzzing up the tracks. Perhaps a tire impression would have helped, but in that kind of weather condition they wouldn't have been able to get a clear one. This author even covered that base. But in talking about tire tracks, tires pick up stones and get cuts and dings. Each tire leaves its own unique track behind, unless it's a very new tire. (The same goes with the bottom of our shoes.) It is very possible to match a tire to an imprint.
@ Bettye. I thought it might be the new guy in town only because he was new. I also missed the ransacked clue.
Missed the "ransacking" also; thought this one was very good, though I would have liked it to have more back-and-forth conversation. But that's just a personal preference of mine and I can see where it would have been difficult to get the same density of information out there just by having dialogue. I've seen that author's name before, but not for a long time.
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