Chapter I – A Hero is Born
Part 1 – A Roommate and a Dead Body
It was late in the morning. The police car, with its blue and red lights on, had just been parked outside a grey three storey high building. A lean middle aged mustached man got out of the car and rushed into the building, heading for the second floor. He was wearing black suite and trousers and a brown tie. His hair and mustache were brown and his eyes green. His name was Thomas Gorman and he was head of the Homicide Division of the White City Police Department. He headed to apartment 'B2'. The place was crowded with cops.
"Hello Captain!" a woman said. She was Lieutenant Lilian Morse. She was tall, with an athletic body, curly hair and blue eyes. Lilian was in her early thirties.
"Hey, Lieutenant. What have we got here?"
"A dead woman in her mid-twenties. Her name is Johanna Stern. She works – or rather she worked – at a shopping mall. Cause of death was trauma on the head, caused by a sharp object; most likely a knife. The window is broken. The killer may have gotten inside the apartment through there. That is all we know for now."
"I will investigate the area myself. Harry will also be coming here in about half an hour."
"Who is Harry?" Lilian was new to White City Police Department, having been transferred there from another department only a few weeks ago, but she had gotten to know most officers in the department and none of them was named Harry.
"Harry Johnson…" Thomas said and sighed. "Professor of Criminology at White City University. He is an old friend of mine. Years ago, he used to assist the department as a private consultant. He was a celebrity back then… In fact he was celebrated as the ‘real life Sherlock Holmes’. Unfortunately, this wasn’t going to last. His plane crashed ten years ago in Tibet. Everyone thought he was dead. He returned to White City only five weeks ago. When I first learned that he had come back, I thought it was some farce but it proved to be true. I met him under some… less than pleasant circumstances. He now teaches Criminology at White City University but he said that he would be happy to aid us if we need his assistance."
"Do we?"
"Do we what?"
"Do we need his assistance?" Lilian said and sighed. "It's not like it is the murder of the century. I am sure we can solve the case on our own."
"There is no harm in seeking a second opinion. It will make our work easier. Harry is the best detective I know. He will solve the crime in no time." Thomas paused for a brief moment. “Plus… it will bring back the old times,” he sighed.
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The professor stood in front of the blackboard. He had just finished writing the words 'Summary of the History of Criminology'. All the students were waiting quietly in their seats. A few were bored and were yawning, but most of them were interested in the lesson. Harry was a good narrator and his lectures were never dry. His experiences as a private investigator and his solving of tens of cases had made him a local celebrity. Although he had become a professor only recently, he was already popular with students, especially female ones. His handsome looks certainly helped in that regard. Harry was lean and tall. He had shaggy brown hair, light beard, and green eyes. He was wearing a brown tweed suit with a dark red tie. Harry was in his late thirties, thirty-seven to be exact, but he looked younger.
"To summarize today's lesson," Harry said, "we traced criminology back to the Middle Ages when superstition and fear of devil dominated thinking, then we talked about the classical criminology of the 18th century when rational thought prevailed and about positivism in the 19th century, which was the first scientific approach to crime. In the next lesson, I shall talk about the history of criminology in the 20th century. If you have any questions, email them to me. You all know my email address. If you do not, ask around. I will have to leave earlier today because I've got an important meeting. Have a nice day."
As soon as he finished talking, he quickly packed his staff into his black leather case and left the classroom. He had to go to the apartment where he would stay and meet his new roommate, a fellow named Darren Smith. 'Hope I am not late.'
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It was a sunny Monday morning. A young man, in his late twenties, walked into Horatio's Café. That tiny café huddled despondent among the huge city buildings. The interior of the café was warm and cheery, with bright lights and colorful walls. The man that had just entered was tall, with dark skin and dark eyes. He was handsome, slim, muscular, with an almost perfectly symmetrical face and shaved hair. He was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans.
"Hello, Horatio," he said with a smile on his face. "Bring me some coffee, please. The usual."
"Good morning, Darren," Horatio replied. Horatio was in his early thirties. He was slim, with blue eyes and a light beard. He was wearing a green shirt and red trousers. He had opened this Café only a month ago, thus he did not have many costumers yet. Aside from Darren Smith, a doctor and a hobbyist web novelist writing a sci-fi web series, there was only a couple and a lone guy at the Café. "As you can see, I've got a lot of work here..." Horatio said. His self-depreciating humor helped him cope with the problems of running the Café.
"I am sure that things will get better," Darren said. "Last week you had almost no costumers at all. Now you have a few."
"So, how is your search for an apartment going?"
Darren smiled. "I am going to see one right now, actually. An old friend texted me yesterday… Mike. You remember him right? That friend of mine who was flirting with Mary at that party we went a few months ago."
Horatio scratched his head. "I think I may remember him."
“An acquaintance of his is looking for a roommate to rent together an apartment. So, I will be meeting him today."
"Do you know anything about this guy?"
Darren thought for a moment. "What is his name...? Ah yes, Harry! Harry Johnson is his name. My friend told me that this Harry guy is a bit eccentric at times but that we would get along."
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Horatio handed Darren his coffee and asked, "How eccentric? Hopefully not like your last roommate..."
Darren sighed. "I don't want to be reminded of her... But fortunately this Harry will not be that bad. He is a professor of criminology and private investigator or something like that."
"Cool!" Horatio exclaimed. "It will be like living with Shawn from Psych or Patrick Jane from The Mentalist."
"You watch too many TV shows..."
“That’s true. Why though would this professor want a roommate?”
“Apparently, for some reason the rent price doubled so he decided that it would be cheaper to have a roommate live with him.”
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Darren entered the third apartment on the second floor. The apartment seemed fine to Darren, although it did lack much furniture. The floor was polished concrete and the walls white. There was a bookshelf, a brown couch and a small, wooden table. As he was inspecting the apartment, another man walked into the room.
"Hello," that man said. "I am Harry Johnson. You must be Dr. Darren Smith?"
"Indeed," Darren said as he inspected the man standing in front of him. He sized him up. His last roommate wasn't exactly the most pleasant person to be around, so he hoped that this Harry would be different. "I am glad to meet you."
"Don't worry, I surely will not be as bad as your last roommate!" Harry said, leaving Darren astounded. He hadn't told anyone aside from Horatio and a few other close friends about his last roommate.
"How did you know that?"
"I also know that you are planning to run a neighborhood medical practice, if you do not already do so. You specialize in internal medicine and are a general practitioner. You are also a fan of Star Wars and probably write sci-fi web novels."
Darren shook his head in disbelief. "Did you do a research on me?"
Harry laughed. "No. I was able to deduce all that from inspecting you and your reactions. For a start, you inspected me thoroughly. The most likely reason for that was that your last roommate wasn't a pleasant fellow and thus you are somewhat suspicious of roommates. This apartment is not near a hospital, so you must not be working in one. I thus guessed that you are already running or plan to run a neighborhood medical practice. The rest was thus easy to deduce. As for my guess regarding you being a Star Wars fan, well… you do have a shirt that writes ‘Han shot first’. If you want to know more about my methods, you can read my post titled 'The Way of Knowledge' in my personal website."
"Wow, you really are like Shawn from Psych..."
"I don't really know who that Shawn fellow is, but if he is a private detective of high intellect with excellent observation skills occasionally helping out a police department, then you are right in comparing him to me."
"You are also modest..."
Harry smiled. "I am just stating the facts. I have a high level of intellectual ability and my observation skills are second to none."
He paused for a moment before continuing. "So, Darren, I like sometimes to play zither. It helps me think. I like to stay awake late at night and study. I bring home body parts of corpses from the morgue from time to time in order to conduct experiments. I also have a habit of going out a lot, especially during the night. If none of those habits of mine are problematic to you, shall you agree to be my roommate?"
"Body parts..." Darren repeated. Although as a doctor he was used to this kind of stuff, still, bringing body parts in one's home seemed somewhat strange and disgusting to Darren. Yet, he did not want to turn down this deal. The apartment seemed fine and Harry, despite being somewhat eccentric, seemed a nice enough fellow, especially compared to his last roommate. "Well, I guess we are roommates then."
"Excellent!"
At that moment Harry's phone ringed. Someone had texted him a message. As soon as he read it, Harry laughed and was barely able to contain his excitement. "It's a murder!"
Darren gaped in astonishment at Harry's reaction to a murder. "Are you a psychopath or on drugs?"
"No! I am bored! Or rather, I was bored. You see, I need to keep my mind occupied. I need to challenge myself, to solve puzzles. It has been almost two weeks since I last had a case, so of course I am excited that my detective skills are finally needed."
Darren sighed. "The most amazing thing is that you are still saner than my last roommate..."
"So, are you coming with me?"
"What? Coming where?"
"To the crime scene!"
"You must be kidding, right?" Darren asked. "Why should I go to a crime scene?"
"Do you have anything better to do?"
"No..."
"So come on! It will be fun. Plus, you are a doctor, so you may be helpful with my investigation."
Darren sighed. "Alright, I will be coming with you. But only for this one time."
"Excellent!"
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Harry and Darren took a taxi and soon arrived to their destination. They rushed into the apartment. Thomas and Lilian were waiting for them. “He is Harry,” Thomas whispered to his lieutenant.
“Not impressed…” she replied.
“Not impressed either!” Harry said. He then turned to Thomas. "Good morning Captain. Who is this rather unpleasant lady?”
“Lieutenant Lilian. Took you long enough to come here…”
“Well I did have some business to attend to.” He turned to Lilian. “I would say ‘nice to meet you’ but that would be a lie and I do not want to lie on our first meeting.”
“You son of a b-”
“Stop it!” Thomas barked. “I can’t have you two arguing in a crime scene.”
“She started it,” Harry protested.
Thomas simply sighed. "Who is this guy?" he said, pointing at Darren.
"He is Dr. Darren Smith, a friend of mine," Harry replied. "We are roommates."
“She-“
Harry ignored Lilia and went on to inspect the corpse of the young woman lying on the floor. Darren exclaimed 'My God!’ when he saw the corpse and the pool of blood on the floor. Although as a doctor he had seen corpses before, he had not been in a crime scene before and this was totally different for him.
"Her name is Johanna Stern," Lilian said. "Cause of death was-
“Stabbing on the head… I know; I can see this. I can also see that the window is broken,” Harry said. “Care to tell me anything else, preferably something that I haven’t already seen? Although this may be too much to ask…”
“You are an as-”
“Lilian!” Thomas shouted. “Please…”
She sighed. “Fine, fine… I shall try to remain calm. So… there is no DNA of the killer in the crime scene nor are there fingertips; the killer must have been wearing gloves. Jewelry and money are missing, so this is most likely a burglary gone wrong."
"Darren, can you examine the trauma at the head and estimate time of death?" Harry asked.
"Sure,” Darren replied. He wasn't pleased with this task but he wanted to be of use to the police. The sooner this criminal could be caught, the better. Darren examined carefully the wound and said, "You are right; this trauma was certainly caused by a knife. Time of death must be around midnight."
"So, what is your take on this?" Thomas asked. "It is a burglary?"
"No," Harry replied. "I do not think the killer broke through the window. There is no broken glass inside the apartment. If the killer had entered through the window, there would have been broken glass all over the place. Instead, the broken glass seems to have fallen down on the street. The killer must have broken the window from the inside once the victim was dead in order to give us the impression that this was a burglary. This is the reason why the jewelry and money are missing too. If the killer entered through the front door, and that is the most likely scenario, it means that the victim knew the killer. She wouldn't have let anyone enter into her apartment, I presume. So the one who killed Miss Stern must have been an acquaintance of her. I want a list of all her family members, friends, boyfriends, coworkers. The killer must belong to one of those categories."
"Will text you the list as soon as possible," Thomas said. "While we do that, why don't you go check the place where she worked? She worked in a shopping mall only a few blocks away from here. Maybe her coworkers there will give you some more info. I and Lilian will be talking to her family and try to learn if she had any troubles."
Harry nodded in agreement. He then turned to Darren and said, "Shall we get going?"
"Well, I don't have anything better to do, so let's go… partner.”