Good morning!  It’s a Wednesday and we are halfway through the week.  Are we ready for more Winchester?  Are we ready to see what happens after this case?  Are you ready for me to stop asking rhetorical questions?  Let’s move on to this Adventure story and enjoy!

Interrogation Skills

Anthony and Winchester stood next to each other in the small viewing room, watching Mark sitting at the table.  Mark had been sitting there for a while which had given him plenty of time to think. Winchester shook his head.  “Do you think he will give us the information that we want?”

His father shrugged.  “I don’t know. It depends on your interrogation skills.”  He put his hand on Winchester’s shoulder and smiled. “I think you should try your hand at interrogating a suspect.  What do you think?”

West felt like he was going to explode.  “Really? You want me to talk to him? I have no formal training…what am I supposed to do?”

“Just take the information we know and ask him about it.  Double check the facts and if anything seems off, call him out on it.  If I see you struggling I’ll come in and save you.” He looked his son in the eyes.  “I believe in you Bug. I know you can do it. But you have to believe in yourself. Can you do that?”

Winchester nodded.  “Yeah…I can do it.  Thanks dad.” He gave him a quick hug before grabbing the file and making his way into the interrogation room.  Mark looked up from the table and seemed a little confused that a teenager walked into the room. West gave him a slight nod.  “Good afternoon. My name is Winchester West and I am a consultant with the Northridge Police Department.”

Mark let out a very loud sigh.  “I thought I was here to talk to an officer, not a consultant.”

Think Winchester think…  “I am an officer, just consulting with this department to help them out on this case.  So you would be correct in saying that you are talking to an officer.”

Mark leaned back in his chair, seeming satisfied with West’s answers.  “Fine…what can I do for you. Did you find out who killed Brad?”

West sat down in the chair opposite from Mark.  “Not yet. I just wanted to ask you a couple more questions.”  He cleared his throat. “So, is it true that you, Brad, and Stephen all had a small business together?”

Mark nodded.  “Yes. It wasn’t a big thing yet, we were still trying to get everything in order.”

“And…what was this business involving?  Like…what were you planning on doing?”

“Beer.  We wanted to start a brewery and sell our own beers.  Brad had made a couple of beers himself and we all decided to go into business together.  That was actually one of the reasons we had the party was to get some ideas for our business.  It was all going good until Brad was killed.”

Winchester leaned back in his chair.  “Beers huh. Interesting. Did you have any good flavors of beer that you were planning on making?”

Mark shrugged.  “Not really. Not yet at least.  But we were working on a coffee and caramel flavored beer.”

Ew…  “That sounds interesting.  Now, we did get some records showing the contract that all three of you had signed regarding this business.”  West opened the folder in front of him and pulled out the contract, sliding it in front of Mark. “It says here that Brad was getting more money out of the profits than you or Stephen.  That seems kinda strange don’t you think?”

Mark wrung his hands together.  “Uh…not really. Brad put more money into the business to get it started so he would obviously get more out.  I wasn’t upset by that or anything.”

West raised an eyebrow.  “Are you sure? It seems like a substantial amount more that he would be making.  He was making 40% and you and Stephen were each making 30%? That doesn’t seem fair.”

West could see Mark starting to become more nervous.  “But he put more money in, so he should get more out. Seems fair to me.”

“You know what I think?”  West leaned on the table, trying to get a little closer to Mark.  “I think that you all decided to have this party to celebrate your new company.  But you didn’t think it was fair that Brad was going to be making so much more than you.  So, you decided to kill him so that way you would be able to take over the company and run it how you want.  So you picked up one of the weapons and decided to bash in Brad’s head and leave him in the middle of the floor to bleed out.”

“No!”  Mark slammed his hands on the table and stood up.  “That’s not what happened!” He suddenly sat down and buried his head in his hands, knowing full well what he had just said.

Winchester looked over toward the one way glass knowing that his father was giving him the go ahead.  He looked back at Mark who was trying very hard to not lose it. “Why don’t you tell me what happened.”

“I never actually planned on murdering my friend.  I just planned on talking to him about making our percentages more even.  I was thinking something more of 35% for Brad and 32.5% for Stephen and I.  It was going to be more even since we were all putting a lot of work into it.  So I was planning on just talking to him after the murder mystery portion of the party.  But I then I walked out of the library to see him and my wife kissing in the ballroom. They were having an affair right in front of my own eyes and I hadn’t seen it before.  So I picked up the first weapon that I found and confronted Brad. Amy was gone but Brad was still in the ballroom. So when he wasn’t paying attention I rushed up behind him and bludgeoned him in the back of the head with the candlestick.”  Mark shook his head. “I was just…I was so angry. I didn’t know how long this affair had been going on but I was just so flabbergasted that I had missed this and I hadn’t paid attention to it.”

Winchester sat there in shock for a moment before regaining his composure.  “But this was your best friend. You didn’t think that just a confrontation would suffice?”

Mark looked at the table and glumly shrugged.  “I think my rage just took over and I couldn’t think clearly.  I wish that it hadn’t…I wish he was still alive.”

Wincester stood up getting ready to leave the room.  “I think you knew what you were doing during the act.  And now you are remorseful because you know you are going to jail.  But I’m sure you wish that your best friend was still alive.” He left the room to the sound of Mark crying in the interrogation room.

Good morning!  It’s Hump Day!  It’s Wednesday and I am already ready for Friday.  I cannot wait until the weekend where I will have 2 days off to get some writing done.  Hooray!

And we continue on with Winchester Wednesdays.  It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, and it’s a new part of the story.  So hold onto your hats as we continue on this Adventure story.  Enjoy!

Business Partners

36 hours had passed since Brad Everhart was murdered and they were finally getting some of their evidence back.  The candlestick didn’t bring any leads except for the blood belonging to Brad.  There wasn’t a single fingerprint on it meaning the murderer was careful. Same with the knife, not a single fingerprint.  Every person from the party had been interviewed and nothing crazy had come up in their testimonies.

Winchester sat on the table in the conference room with his feet on one of the chairs.  His father paced up and down the room, spouting off random questions to think about. Anthony was getting angrier and angrier with every dead end.  “What about the wife? Is there anything suspicious between her and any of the men?”

“No dad.  Unless either Mark or Stephen is lying then there is nothing.  Both have expressed wonderful relationships with their wife which their wives have reciprocated.”

“What about the other wives?  Either of them lying?”

“No dad…we’ve already explored all of these options.”  Winchester rubbed his forehead with his fingers. “We’re at a dead end.  I don’t know what else to explore.”

Anthony threw his hands in the air.  “There has to be something! Brad Everhart wouldn’t be murdered for no reason.  There has to be a reason. Was there anything with their businesses?”

Winchester sighed as he picked up the information on the men’s businesses.  “Dad…I’ve looked through everything.”  

There was a knock on their door.  “Officer West and uh…” She paused trying to find the right name to call him.  “Winchester. I have the documents from Mr. Everhart’s business office that you wanted.”

Winchester stood up and grabbed the papers from her.  “Thanks. This is awesome.” He started flipping through the pages to see if there was anything out of place.  Suddenly he stopped and his eyebrow cocked. “Wait…I might have found something.”

Anthony stopped in his tracks and looked over at his son.  “What is it?”

“I feel like I have seen this before but I don’t 100% remember.  Did you know that the men had small company together? It doesn’t look like it’s too big yet, like still in the planning phase.  But it says here that Brad was supposed to be making a higher percentage than the other men. Not much, but enough. He was getting 40% while the others were getting 30% each.  It could’ve been because Brad was putting more money into the company so he could be getting more out of the sales.” He looked at his dad. “Do you remember them saying anything about this?  Could it have been one of the men trying to get more money out of the company?”

Anthony sat down in a chair to think.  “I don’t remember them saying anything about this other business.  We also didn’t ask about it because it isn’t public knowledge. How did you see it anyway?”

“This uh…contract?”  He held up a handwritten paper with the signatures of all three of the men at the bottom.  It laid out the details for the small beer business that wasn’t too far off the ground. “Do you remember anything about beer at the murder mystery party?”

Anthony shook his head.  “Not that I remember. Why?”

“Well apparently they were starting a beer business.  Or a brewery I guess. But I’m wondering if they had their beer at the party to taste.  Maybe something happened between the men over the beer?”

“I’m not sure.  This is definitely an avenue to look down.”

Winchester sat back far enough that he was laying on the table.  He looked up at the ceiling, trying to make sense of this new information.  “Literally the only thing I can think of is that either Mark or Stephen was upset about not having a higher percentage.  I don’t think that it would’ve or could’ve been any of the wives.” Suddenly he sat up. “What if Brad was having an affair with either Amy or Pamela?  What if their husband found them making out or something and then bashed his head in with the candlestick? That’s very possible, don’t you think?”

Anthony reached for the evidence box and started looking through the files.  He found the testimonies and read it. “So according to Mark, he and Amelia both walked into the ballroom at the same time.  But his pattern doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. He said he walked from the library, to the ballroom, to the conservatory, and then to the kitchen.  But wouldn’t he have had to pass through the ballroom to get to the kitchen? How would he have not seen the body?”

“Or maybe he went up to the conservatory, like he said, but he grabbed the candlestick and came back downstairs to kill Brad.  Do we have a map or something that shows where all of the items were hidden?”

Anthony dug through the evidence box again to find a map.  He gently pulled it out of the box and looked at it. “Okay…so the candlestick wasn’t in the ballroom or the conservatory.  It was in the library…what?”

Winchester leaned back so he was laying on the table.  “So the candlestick was in library…do you think it was possible for Mark to have gone into the library and as he was leaving he saw whatever happened, grabbed the candlestick, and walked into the ballroom and killed Brad.  Then he walked into the kitchen and came back when Amelia walked in. What if he never went to the conservatory? But how would have Amelia have gone into the library without seeing her husband’s dead body?”

“There was an entrance from study to the library.  So it was very possible for Amelia to enter the library without seeing the body.”

“That would give Mark plenty of time to kill his friend and leave the body.  And the worst part, or best part depending on which side you are looking at, is that no one else from the party can confirm his story.  Granted it was a murder mystery party so they were all investigating, but no one saw him go into any of the rooms? That seems very unlikely.”

Anthony stood up.  “I think we need to get Mark here to get more answers.”

Good morning everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend and I hope you were able to spend some extra time with your loved ones.  I was able to spend some time out in nature with a friend and then spend some time with family.  So all in all, it was a great Labor Day!

We are continuing our series with Winchester as we see if he can help solve another murder.  What happened to Colonel Mustard?  Was he actually stabbed in the ballroom?  Keep reading this Adventure story to find all the answers.  Enjoy!

Clue

“Wait?  Is his name actually Colonel Mustard like from the game Clue?”  Winchester was very confused. What were the odds of his name actually being Colonel Mustard?

“His name is Brian Everhart and he was playing Colonel Mustard tonight at the murder mystery dinner party.”  Anthony pointed to 5 other people who were dressed up like the other title characters from Clue. He shook his head.  “It was 3 couples who were all dressed up as separate characters. Brad’s wife Amelia is Mrs. Peacock over there.”

West nodded.  “Okay…who’s everyone else?”

Anthony pointed.  “Uh Miss Scarlett and Professor Plum are Pamela and Stephen Jones.  And Mrs. White and Mr. Green are Amy and Mark Busch. This house belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Jones and all three of the husbands are business buddies.  The Jones’ set up this party as a fun get together where there was a fake murder, played by the Jones’ daughter Ella. But after they started doing their investigating, they started to notice that Mr. Everhart was not present and they found him here in the ballroom with the knife in his back.”

“But there’s so much blood by his head.  He wouldn’t have bled out of his head if he was killed by stabbing.  What did Lacey say?”

“Lacey says that it was actually blunt force trauma to his head.”  West and Anthony turned around to see Lacey walking up to them. “He was hit in the back of the head with something and it was covered up with his hat.  The murderer then stabbed him with a knife after he died to make it look like a stabbing. Unfortunately the large puddle of blood from the victims head says different from a stab wound.”

Anthony wrote that down in his notebook.  “Can you tell what did the damage?”

Lacey shook her head.  “Not yet. I would need to see if I could pull any fibers out of the wound.”

“Well…if it’s like Clue, they would’ve used a candlestick, a leadpipe, or a wrench.  Those are all weapons in the game.” Winchester looked over at the body. “They also used the knife but I’m surprised that they didn’t use the rope or the gun.  I guess the blunt force could’ve come from the butt of the gun as well.”

“Objection!”  Anthony and West looked at Lacey as if she was crazy.  “Sorry. I just feel like we are in the game. It wasn’t from a gun.  The wound is long so it’s most likely from the candlestick or the lead pipe.  But we will need to examine all of the items.”

Anthony led West over to the people the officer who had taken statements from the people who were in attendance.  Anthony smiled. “Anything unusual?”

The officer nodded.  “Yeah…the wife, Mrs. Peacock over there, seemed a little, uh…overdramatic?  Like, I understand that you husband died but she seemed so hysterical. I kind of got a feeling that she was putting on an act.  Everyone else seemed pretty shocked about the whole situation.”

West looked over at Mrs. Peacock, who was sitting on the floor in a pile of tears.  She was very hysterical, just as the officer had described. West walked over to her and squatted down next to her.  “Excuse me ma’am. Are you okay?”

She lowered her hands from her face, revealing her tearstained face.  She sniffled. “No I’m not okay. My husband was murdered during a dinner party where we were supposed to have fun.  And now I have to go home and tell our kids that their dad is never coming home.” She covered her face again as the tears started flowing again.

West put his hand on her shoulder.  “It’s okay. We will figure out who killed your husband.”  He sat down on the floor next to her so they were on the same level.  “Do you have any idea who would’ve wanted to hurt your husband?”

She shook her head fervently.  “No…everyone loved Brad. He was the CEO of his own company with Stephen and Mark were buddies of his.  We have all spent so much time together that their kids were like our kids. We were basically one big happy family.”

Winchester nodded.  “So who found your husband?”

“Me and Mark.  We both walked into the ballroom at the same time and saw Brad laying in the middle of the floor with a knife in his back.  We both screamed and everyone came running. That’s when we called the police.”

“So where did you come from?  Like which entrance did you enter through to get to the ballroom?”

Amelia pointed to the door behind her.  “I came from the library.”

He mentally took a note of that.  “Was anyone else in the library with you at that time?”

She shook her head.  “No. I was there by myself trying to find a clue for our murder mystery party.  But I didn’t find anything.”

“Thank you, that’s all I need for now.  I’m so sorry for your loss again.” He stood up and walked over back over to his dad and Lacey.  “She is obviously distraught and I don’t think she has something to do with it.”

Another officer walked over to the group.  “I think I found the murder weapon, you may want to come see it.”  They all walked into the kitchen to see a candlestick sitting in the kitchen sink.  It looked like it had been washed off but there was still some blood on the top of it.  The officer pointed at it. “I’m not sure if that’s the victim’s blood or fake blood. But it’s very conspicuous that it’s in the sink.”

Anthony nodded.  “Bag it. We will need to look at it closer at the office.  Especially to decide if it has something to do with the murder.”