There was a murder. A gruesome murder, one that took place in the home of a couple in the town of Ontario of the state New York. There were two victims, one, a woman and the other was the woman's brother-in-law. The two bodies were found in the main study room, both in their undergarments. The husband of the female, who was also the brother of the male victim, was also found at the scene, sobbing over the sight. The crime was reported by the local sheriff, who had arrived at the scene just minutes after the husband arrived. The sheriff was also the father of the male victim and the father-in-law of the female victim. The crime made its way all the way to the BCI, or Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The case was picked up by the best group in the entire branch, a group that contained Aaron Bell, Abigail Ross, Michael Adams, Ethan Thames, and Mary Summers.
The team arrived at the home, at approximately 2:49 P.M. on Friday, June 2nd. Everyone got out of the car, with Ethan and Michael bickering about what to get to eat after this. Abigail shot them a glance, which promptly made the duo silent. Aaron gazed at the home, a 2-story wooden house with a few windows spread around the house, until he focused on a window overlooking the front yard. It was on the second story, but he was staring deeply at the crevices and edges around it. They were big enough for a person to maneuver around. He made a mental note of this, and he went back to the others. The house was far away from the other homes, so there were no witnesses or anyone who heard the crime. Walking up to the front door, Aaron saw a hanging flower pot right on the door. He tried to grab it, but Abigail promptly elbowed him.
The team made their way into the house, passing by tape and the like until they reached the study room. Waiting outside the study room was a white man in an officer's uniform. He noticed the team and quickly walked over to shake their hands. "Truly, thank you all for coming," the man said.
"It's nothing really, Mr...?" Abigail inquired.
"Mr. Milton, but just call me John. I'm the local sheriff around these parts. I'm also the uh... the father of Trey, the male victim, and the father-in-law of Sarah, the female victim." John replied. He extended his right hand and shook Abigail's hand. The team introduced themselves, then it was Aaron's turn.
"So, you're Aaron Bell, the detective that's never failed a case?" John asked.
"Si, senor John." Aaron answered.
"You speak Spanish?" said John with a confused look as he shook Aaron's hand with his right hand.
"Sì lo faccio." Aaron replied.
"Uh...?" John looked over to Abigail. Abigail sighed. "Don't mind him. He's just showing off."
"Right, right." John murmured. He was a bit put off by how Aaron was looking at him, a look akin to an eagle finding a rabbit. Just as John was about to leave, Aaron stopped him. "Could I ask you a question real quick?"
John was slightly puzzled but he said sure. Aaron walked right in front of him and started observing him. John was in his late 50's, with light green eyes and a pale complexion. He was around 5'10, a bit taller than Aaron, with decently sized limbs and a short torso. He was wearing a brown sheriff hat with a similarly colored uniform and black shoes. He had a typical sheriff hat, but it made him look like a cowboy, which caused Aaron to quietly snicker.
Aaron then asked, "John, it's fine if I call you that right?" John nodded his head, "Do you pour milk before or after the cereal?"
...................Silence
"I'm sorry, what?" John asked incredulously. "Milk and cereal?"
Aaron let out a deep sigh while looking down. Looking back up he said, "Do you, John Milton," Aaron pointed at him, "while during the act of attempting to consume the grain product known popularly as cereal", Aaron raised his arms while looking up, "pour the liquid emulsion of butterfat globules within a water-based fluid known famously as milk before or after pouring in cereal?" Aaron quickly jolted back into a standing position. "No shit I'm talking about milk and cereal."
Abigail smacked Aaron on the back of his head, (which Aaron later promised that he would sue her for this act of aggression), and deeply apologized to John. John awkwardly smiled and assured her that it was fine. "To answer your question, Bell, I usually pour the milk in first." Both Ethan and Michael shivered in response, and Aaron made a gagging sound. "I know it's generally frowned upon, but I prefer it that way. I don't personally like it when my cereal gets soggy, so I just pour in the milk first."
"You're an interesting specimen of the human race." Aaron commented. After a sharp rebuke from Abigail, Aaron decided to stop clowning around and told John, "I think you could be the killer." The other team members went wide-eyed and looked at Aaron with confused eyes. John merely stared back. "Tell me, am I wrong for thinking that?" Aaron went a bit closer, while locking his eyes with John.
If John was affected by that, he didn't let it show. "Mr. Bell, while I understand that you are an experienced detective, you're severely wrong. I did not kill my own son and daughter-in-law, so I wish that you wouldn't accuse me of such a horrendous act. Now, if you will, I would appreciate it if we could change the subject."
Aaron studied John, looking for any signs of lying. Eyes glancing around, finger tapping, shuffling, sweating, fidgeting, just any signs, but he found nothing. "Sorry about that." Aaron suddenly said while backing up slowly. "I don't actually think you're the killer. I just wanted to see your reaction, that's all." While Aaron grinned at John and received a freezing glare from Abigail, John slowly nodded his head and started leaving. "Are you going home already?" Aaron asked.
John looked back and wearily nodded his head. "Sorry that I can't be of much help, but I can't-...I can't look at it."
Aaron nodded his head in understanding, but then he said, "Then, would it be right to think that your son is the killer?"
John's head lowered, and it looked like he was debating on what to say. He looked back up and said, "As much as I want to believe that he didn't do this, it's most probable that he was the murderer."
"Why do you say that?" Aaron said with a smile slowly forming.
John looked him in the eyes. "You all probably already know this, but I was at the store when I received a call from Trey. I answered it, but no one was talking on the other side. I was pretty worried, so I hurried over to the house. When I arrived at the scene, I found Calem there, along with the bodies. You all know this, but... there's one more detail. As soon as I entered the room, Marquis aimed a gun at me, the same one that was used to kill the two."
Aaron's eyes widened at this. "Is that so?" Aaron was deep in thought, but he was interrupted by Abigail as she pinched his ear. As the cries of Aaron filled up the house, John once again thanked the team and left. While John was leaving, Aaron barely noticed that John was limping. He was about to ask him about it, but he caught himself. His intuition was telling him to keep quiet.
The team entered the room while John went home. Abigail then said to Aaron, "You mind explaining what you were trying to do back there?"
"Whatever could you possibly mean?" Aaron responded with an innocent look.
"Don't try to shrug this off. That right there was an act of unprofessionalism, one which the entire team will have to suffer from." Abigail scolded.
"Ease up. You're making a big deal out of nothing." Aaron responded while absentmindedly walking.
"A big deal? Bell, you need to learn that your actions don't just affect you. We also suffer from what you say and do." Abigail retorted.
"If that's the case, then solving every case has sure as hell helped out the team." Aaron muttered while smirking.
"I can't argue with that, but that still doesn't excuse your behavior with Mr. Milton. What made you think you could just accuse him of being the culprit then try to act like nothing happened?" Abigail asked, but it was more like an order.
"It's not like I did it for no reason. That question I asked helped me know for a fact that he is definitely a prime suspect." Aaron declared.
"Really? With what evidence?" Abigail asked while crossing her arms.
"He pours in the milk first." Aaron pointed out while nodding his head in satisfaction. Both Michael and Ethan nodded in agreement. Abigail let out a deep sigh and rubbed her temple. "And that confirms him being a killer how?"
"Only psychopaths pour in the milk first. Any sane person would never willingly pour the milk in first, but instead pour the cereal in first like any other regular person." Aaron reasoned. Both Michael and Ethan voiced their agreements. "That proves that he's the type of person to go against the norms in society, which means that he's a narcissistic individual, who's also a pathological liar while pretending to be a regular upstanding member of society."
"I see." Abigail groaned in response while shaking her head. She was considering if she should hit him again.
"Well, maybe I'm not right about him being the killer, but it is true that he's exactly like what I said. " Aaron said while going away to observe the study room. Abigail merely raised an eyebrow and went along with him.
"Just so you know, it's unlikely that John Milton is the killer." Abigail said to Aaron.
"And why is that?" Aaron asked back.
"Mr. Milton is a respected member of the town, who also has a receipt from the convenience store as his alibi. The receipt's date of time was around the same time that the murder is thought to have happened. There's no clear motive for him to have done this, and everyone else in this town has vouched that John isn't the type of person who could have killed them." Abigail explained while walking alongside Aaron.
"A receipt alibi?" Aaron repeated. "Those are always shaky."
"There aren't any working cameras in the store, but we do have the cashier's testimony of John being there." Abigail said in turn.
"Cashier's testimony? Pretty interesting." Aaron quietly said while looking around.
The study room was a bit small, with a table to the right in the corner with a lamp on top of it, and bookshelves taking up most of the walls. There was a window above the table, overlooking the front yard. Next to the table was a grand piano, the type you would find at an orchestra, just smaller. There were many photos throughout the room, most being pictures of John, Trey (the male victim), Sarah (the female victim), and Calem (the husband of Sarah), but some were also of landscapes, most likely from trips. In between the bookshelves on the left, there sat a red couch. It had a singular pillow, which Aaron found odd. Who puts only 1 pillow on a couch?
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Abigail called one guy over and ordered for a brief summary of the crime scene. He quickly came over and led them around.
"Basically, these two bodies were found in these positions." He walked over to the bodies and pointed. "Trey Milton was found with a gun in his hand, a gun that isn't registered by anyone in the family. We're currently trying to figure out who it belongs to.
"The husband was found at the scene, correct? Where is he currently?" Abigail requested.
"He's in the local police station and being questioned as we speak." He led the team back to the bodies.
"Does he deny owning the gun, or having anything to do with it?"
"Affirmative. He swears that he's never seen it before."
"What's the time of death?"
"We believe that they were killed around 10:20 pm last night. Another thing, we had some people search around and they found no signs of a break in."
"Jesus, this is terrible," muttered Michael while covering his mouth. Aaron stooped down and observed the bodies.
The two bodies were positioned in a way where they formed a type of angle, perhaps a right angle. Trey, a very well-built man, was only in his underwear, with his head being severely crushed on the left side, most likely having been killed by a blunt object to his head. He held a .38 caliber revolver in his right hand and had 1 bullet hole in his skull. Sarah Milton was only in her brassiere with her pants still on. She had a similar head wound, including a bullet hole. Looking closer, Aaron could see 1 more bullet hole, 1 in her right hand.
"The shots were very accurate. All of them hit vital points, besides the one in the woman's hand," Aaron pointed out.
"So, what does that mean?" Michael asked. Aaron then took some disposable gloves and wore them. He went to the body of Trey and picked up the gun. "It means that we got a killer who's had some experience with a gun." Aaron proceeded to open up the chamber and checked the bullet count. He noticed there were only 4 bullets left. Looking closer, he could also see an indentation on the gun. An odd detail he found was that there was dust on it, and not just a small amount, but an abnormal amount. He kept this in mind while giving the gun over to a fingerprint analyst. He told the rest of the team his findings.
"The rounds fit. We got a good motive here, and we should be seeing fingerprints soon. We also got the father's testimony of Marquis holding the gun. Seems like this'll be an easy case." Abigail announced. Ethan breathed a sigh of relief, while Michael silently made a fist pump. Aaron didn't agree with that, but he went along with them.
Aaron walked back to Trey's body and checked the damage to his head. There was a huge emphasis on the left side of the head from the body's perspective. Taking note of his physique and the brutal wounds, Aaron formed a theory. He called over Ethan.
"You needed something?" Ethan asked.
"Do you think you could have beaten Trey in a fist-fight?"
Ethan was perplexed by that. "Huh?"
"Who's stronger, you or him?" Aaron said with a grin.
Ethan realized what Aaron was trying to do. "Well, if Trey was using his full power, he might cause me a little trouble."
"But would you lose?" Aaron asked.
"Nah, I'd win." Ethan declared.
The two laughed for a bit, but Aaron suddenly stopped. "Alright, lock in." Ethan stopped laughing and nodded his head. "Going back to the question, would you actually be able to beat him?"
"Uhh," Ethan started as he craned his neck, "I think that I would be able to win. But not easily, of course. Trey is by no means weak. His muscles are huge and toned as fuck. It would be a long and tough fight, for sure."
Aaron pointed to Trey's head wounds. "Then, what about these? How could someone be able to inflict this on him?"
Ethan looked closely at it, and he had a thought. "Maybe he was ambushed from behind."
Aaron was happy at that. "Precisely. And not only that, but we can deduce, from the way these injuries are positioned, that the killer is left-handed."
Ethan looked at the wounds and saw what Aaron was talking about. If Trey were to be ambushed from behind, then the killer would likely be left-handed. The killer would have no reason to continuously beat the left side of his head, except if he was left-handed. But, he had another thought. "What if the killer isn't left handed? I mean, couldn't the killer have just done this to make it look like he was left handed? It looks almost too obvious, considering how it's only the left side."
Aaron had a scary looking expression. "I like how you're thinking, but let's keep that thought hidden for now."
"Why?"
"Just trust me."
Ethan wasn't too keen on trusting Aaron due to how he looked, but he also knew that Aaron always had a reason for stuff like this. Aaron then got back up and looked at both of the two bodies. Focusing on the angle of the bodies' positions and seeing the clock in front of him, Aaron had an idea. He grabbed a chair and climbed on top of it. He reached up and grabbed the clock. He adjusted the time to what the bodies represented, most likely 9:00 due to the right angle they formed. He waited for a bit but nothing happened.
"Huh, I actually thought that would work." Aaron said while scratching his head. Abigail saw that and smirked, since she thought of Aaron as a show-off. Aaron then started walking around, glancing at the photos. All of them had a common theme, with them all involving the entire family. John with his arms around Sarah and Calem, and Trey with his arm wrapped around Calem's neck. What caught Aaron's eye was a photo of the study room. It seemed to be fairly recent. It was of Sarah and Marquis sitting on the red couch, smiling at the camera. The two weren't what struck Aaron as odd, but it was the fact that there were 2 pillows on the couch. Just to make sure, Aaron went back to the red couch. Lo and behold, there was still just that 1 pillow. An idea started brewing in his mind, but he decided to wait until he could verify it.
Aaron returned to the bodies once more, and started checking the bodies. He was searching for something, an item which could help solve this case. As he was searching, Michael spotted him.
"What are you looking for?" Michael asked as he squatted next to Aaron.
"You remember how John got a phone call from him, but Trey wasn't saying anything on the other side?" Michael nodded. "I'm trying to find his phone." Aaron then stopped. "But, I can't find it." Aaron looked at Michael. "That means someone took his phone, aka the killer. But, here's the issue. Why would the killer take his phone?"
Michael rubbed his chin as he thought. "Because the killer had something he wanted to hide on it."
Aaron snapped his fingers. "Bingo. But, do you know what this means?"
Michael was confident. "This narrows down the suspects, since the killer is probably someone who has Trey's contact info. So, we can look at their phones and find the evidence."
"That's all true, but it's kinda useless." Aaron said as he chuckled.
Michael was dumbstruck. "How? We could use this to easily solve this case."
Aaron flicked Michael's forehead. "If the killer was smart enough to take the phone to keep something hidden, wouldn't they also be smart enough to erase any evidence from their own phone?"
"Oh....That's right." Michael said with a sad look.
Aaron patted him on the shoulder. "Don't be down. That was a good insight you had."
Aaron then left Michael and walked around for a bit, until he saw Ethan walk back out of the bedroom. Ethan was saying that the blood trail led to nothing. Aaron then looked at where this trail was, and he found it. There was a dried up blood trail leading from the study room, through the bedroom, and into the bathroom right next to the bedroom. It was very faint, but if you paid close attention, you could see it. Aaron wanted to give it a shot, so he followed the trail. He then went to the bedroom and checked around, but he found nothing. The room consisted of a king sized bed, with a drawer right next to it. There was a closet in front of the bed, and a window right next to the bed. Aaron searched around everywhere, and I mean everywhere. He looked in the crevices of the bed, underneath, under the mattress, behind it, even the insides of the bedsheet. He also checked the closet, but there was nothing. He decided to move on to the bathroom, but he had a few thoughts. If this unknown gun belonged to the killer, why would he just leave it? If it didn't belong to Calem, the most-likely killer, then who could it belong to? He knew that the logical scenario was that Calem had killed the two with this gun, but what if this wasn't right? What if, on the small chance, that this gun belonged to someone else?
Aaron then entered the bathroom, and closed the door behind him. Before looking at the trail, he noticed something. There was a deadbolt. It was already weird enough that it was here, considering the fact that it was the 21st century, but he was also intrigued by the fact that it was broken. He tried locking the door, but obviously the deadbolt didn't work. He kept this in mind and returned to the trail. He looked down and saw that the trail stopped at a certain point, right in front of the sink cabinet. The dried up blood seemed to have increased here, then it went back to a small trail, leading back to the study room. Why was there a bigger portion of blood here? The cabinet looked pretty normal, with 2 main doors on the left, and 3 drawers on the right. There was some blood on the cabinet, so he opened it, but found nothing. Looking back at the blood, and thinking back to the injuries of the bodies, Aaron realized something, and got on his stomach. He placed his right hand on the large blood area, while he reached under the cabinet with his left arm. It was a tight area, but he managed to get through, which barely fit. It hurt a lot, with the edges scratching his arm as he reached inside. Noticing how big the toe kick seemed to be, he fumbled around, until he touched something. He brought his arm back out and took out his phone. He got as low as he could and shined his phone light. With this, he saw that the thing he touched was an vent. He turned off his phone and went back into the cabinet. This time, instead of using his eyes, he used his hands. In the area right above where the vent was, he knocked and noticed that it was more hollow. With this in mind, Aaron started fiddling with the fascia front, and it seemed to not be fully screwed in. With relative ease, he pulled it out. With it out of the way, he pulled out the bottom panel and looked at this "opening". What he found made him smile. "Abigail, I found something!"
Abigail hurried over and stopped. She had a disappointed face when she saw Aaron sitting down, grinning as he proudly presented a cabinet panel, while he ignored the horrendous state the cabinet was in. She held off on asking why it was in this state, and she instead asked him, "What did you find?"
Aaron chuckled as he turned the panel over, which revealed a caved in section, with magnets. 6 of them, in 3 stacks consisting of 2 each. "I think I figured out where the gun came from." He showed them to Abigail.
Abigail was stunned. "Are those magnets?"
"Neodymium magnets, if you want to be specific. They also appear to be 36 mm. Pretty strong." Aaron clarified while ogling at the magnets. He offered them to Abigail, to which Abigail fervently rejected. She heard stories of how dangerous magnets could be.
"Why were these in there, and what did you mean by this solving the whole gun issue?" Abigail asked while nervously glancing at the magnets.
Aaron then set the panel down and looked at Abigail. "Follow my train of thought for now. Let's start off with this." He pointed at the magnets. "Why on earth would these possibly be here?"
"To attract something?"
"Wow, what an astute observation." Aaron mockingly said. After a rude gesture from Abigail, Aaron continued. "I believe that from how these magnets were placed, right above the kickboard of the cabinet, they were used to keep something under the toe kick. Now, the question is, what was being kept here?"
Abigail got down and looked at the toe kick. She saw that it was clearly bigger than usual, and that the gap from the floor to it was small. She could put her arm in, albeit not easily. She felt the same vent Aaron did, and it dawned on her. Pulling her arm back out, she saw the blood on the cabinet, and the cumulation of blood right in front of it. Keeping in mind the size of the gap, along with how there were magnets, she realized it. "It was the gun. The gun was being kept here."
Aaron gave her a thumbs up, and he went back to the cabinet. He murmured in wonder at how unique the usage of these magnets were. However, Abigail was still confused. "How was this possible? Are these magnets even strong enough? How did the creator of this...contraption, manage to make this work?"
Aaron merely shook his head in disappointment while tsking at her. "My dear Abbey, let me explain to you." Abigail almost walked out of the room. She hated it when Aaron called her that. "Basically, the gun owner first unscrewed the fascia panel, so they could easily remove the bottom panel. Then, they cut an area big enough in the bottom panel so that they could place these magnets inside it. They then put the panel back in, and screwed in the fascia panel, but not fully. Judging from how easy it is to remove, they did this just in case they would need to get their gun quickly. Though, it doesn't look like it worked that well. Anyway, after this, they got their gun and squeezed it under the cabinet. Placing it right below the toe kick, the magnets attracted the gun, and it kept it in place. And yes, these magnets would be strong enough. If I remember correctly, a single magnet of this size has a pull force of around 60 pounds."
Abigail listened intently as she stared at Aaron. She was impressed with how much Aaron could deduce from just the magnets and panels. However, she still had one more question. "Why are you so confident that it was the gun that was being kept here? I get that it's because the gun is magnetic, and that this whole contraption would make sense to hide something like a gun, but are we sure about this?"
Aaron frowned. "It's obvious, let alone this secret hiding place. Remember what I told you about? With the gun?
"The gun itself?" Abigail quickly thought about it, of what Aaron had said. She then remembered one small detail. "The dust."
Aaron snapped his fingers. "Correct. Usually, an object collects dust due to the air. Air isn't exactly 100% clean, so things tend to get dusty as time passes. However, this process can be sped up immensely if this object is near a vent."
Abigail's mouth slowly turned into a small smile. "And there's a vent right behind where the gun would be placed."
Aaron stood up straight. "Welp. Now that we figured out where the gun came from, we can go meet the husband."