Every piece of information I had was finally fitting into its place ! The calls, the calendar , the poisoning, the wife's birthday ! I finally had it all into a sequence of logically related events and I couldn't wait to present my solution. I could see my name in the newspapers to come - ' Agent Murphy strikes again ', in bold letters, splashing across the front page of every leading English daily in the news stands.........
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I entered my office at 8 a.m. and soon, my friend and ex-Agent, Dermott walked in my room. I told him all about my case and told him my solution....
"You see, this is how it all fits in ......", I began.
" Mr. Mennington, a cake manufacturer in these parts of the town, definitely not the best, but good enough, forecasts a sudden increase in his rival's status over the weeks, since Lincoln Bakeries is both new and a good amount more stylish ... and he predicts a resulting decline in consumption of his own cakes , thus leading to a downfall of his bakery... " said I , standing up and walking around the room, as Dermott keenly rubbed his chin in assent.
" So what does he do ? " , I said looking inquiringly at my friend.
" Well - " , he began, but I had no intention of hearing him, so I cut him off in mid sentence, saying ,
" He decides to take another route , a route which most criminals like himself will regret soon....... This is his plan : He fakes these mysterious calls from a mysterious person, claiming to poison his cakes. His first attempt to bring attention to his rival's ' unfair means ' is the so-called 'warning message' to him and his wife. Why did he have himself poisoned too ? "
" Why? I have no idea "
" You fool " , I said , " it's because he knew very well, the amounts were too trace to cause any serious damage, and what is more, clever little Mr. Mennington would easily get the suspicious eyes of the law out his way. He gets a good amount of negative publicity placed on his arch rival's name , and what is more, to be the last one to be suspected in foul play, he himself approaches the P.S.S.T. to register a case ! HA ! Little did he estimate the true worth of Agent Murphy " . My friend nodded in approval.
" So what does he do next , my friend ? " , I asked .
This time he offered no statement as I continued...
" He plans to actually poison his wife with the cyanide , ( after all, there are reports in the tabloids of him being seen with another lady ) , this time with amounts enough to do away with her for good, collect the insurance money out of her life insurance policy which he so conveniently made last month, ( i went through the records just this morning ) , invest that to improve the standard of his bakery with the money , while at the same time, give a death blow to his rival by accusing them out right, of masterminding the whole cake poisoning. And who wouldn't believe in an 'innocent man who lost his wife ' , right, my friend ? " .
" That is truly amazing, Agent "
" And what's more , " I said, modestly ignoring his compliment, " is the fact of his wife's birthday. Who, I say , will know they are going to have cake on his wife's birthday , unless that person very well knows when his wife's birthday is , in the first place, and who better to know that piece of information than the husband, Mr. Mennington himself ! I recollect seeing the encircled date on his calendar marked "Macy's b'day" . Thats when I started thinking... "
" Mind blowing , my friend. Absolutely - "
" I haven't finished , my intellectually less priviliged old friend " , I continued , " Why else would he be so much against the idea, of meeting up with this mystery man to pay his ransom ?? The answer is simple ! Because the mystery man doesn't exist ! "
" You have got this case in your hands, Agent . I recommend that you tell him to give himself up immediately or you will have him arrested, and his sentence will be heavy for attempted murder and attempted defamation. "
" Precisely " , I said , moving over to the black telephone which rested on my desk , next to my lamp. Now where did i write his number , I thought, as I searched through the papers..... Got it !
I dialed the number for Mr Mennington and said " This is Agent Murphy speaking. It took me sometime but I've finally got you. I recommend for your own good that you give yourself up , or I will have you arrested in 10 minutes, you no-good scoundrel. " , I said in the tone we detectives have which make shivers run through the guilty. I heard the expected gasp on the other end and he hung up immediately.
"How you thought of it I will never really know " said my friend. I pitied such people, who weren't as blessed as I , with my logical reasoning and profound knowledge of the criminal mind. I told him that sometimes, people are just meant to be the best and there's nothing anyone can really do about it.
In about 5 minutes, the phone rang.
Trrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiingg.....
" Hello . Agent Murphy speaking. "
"
This is Inspector Fred. You are truly a genius, Agent. The case is over. We have a confession. Splendid work there ! You might want to come here and see the results of your great work"
" Yeah, I'll be there in some time" , I said in an uninterested tone . We world famous detectives know how to handle admiration from the average mind. They should know that great thoughts come naturally to the great ones.
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When I arrived at the police station , reporters snapped pictures of me getting out of my car and I , like the proffessional that I was , ignored them and went straight ahead. I saw Mr. Mennington outside, crying . Ha, the man, must be trying to put up an act to reduce his sentence by a heart breaking confession, and putting on an image of regret.
He saw me and suddenly he smiled and came over to me. " I can't thank you enough, Agent Murphy " .
" Wha - "
" I never knew Ted would do a thing like that . I guess I trusted him too much to think of him as a suspect. How could he do a thing like that - "
Inspector Fred entered and took me to his room . " Of course , everything must've been obvious to you long before Ted's confession, isn't it , Agent? "
I was truly shocked and the expression on my face must've prompted his next statement which was " No , I definitely don't doubt it in the least , Agent. I do apologise " .
" Uhmmm... " I said, trying to sound normal , " just in case both of us haven't missed anything , please do summarise the events that have taken place here " , I probed.
" Definitely. To begin with, Ted's confessed to the cake poisoning, and his constant threats to Mr. Mennington. We have recovered his jar of cyanide from his room, along with some tapes of his threats, which were then run on an old worn out player to give the distortion effect , which made it impossible for even his very own uncle to identify his voice. We confiscated books on chemistry and food poisoning from his shelf too, with book marks on the pages related to cyanide. He had planned to take away the ransom money, of seventy thousand pounds, and then flee immediately to Scotland under a different name ( we have also found airline tickets for Saturday ) . But since his uncle did not seem to oblige with his demands, he planned the perfect warning . On his aunt's birthday, on which he was sure his uncle would take back cake from the bakery, he sprinkled a little powdered cyanide , very less concentrated, and waited till he was sure they would have fallen sick. He called again , telling them their choice was between death and seventy thousand pounds. I'm sure all this was obvious to you a long time back , isn't that so , Agent Murphy ?"
I said nothing, but nodded my head in approval , and made a gesture for him to go on.
" In the end , under your advice, as I was recently informed by Mr. Mennington, he told his nephew that indeed he was ready to pay the ransom by Friday. Everything was going like clock work for Ted..... until you stepped in at perfectly the right time " , he said looking at me in awe.
I smiled back, knowing not what else to do. .
" After you called him up and told him the game's up , and that he'll be arrested soon, it was sheer panic that caused him to give himself up. You are simply amazing , ..... amazing, Agent ! " he said as he grinned .
I suddenly remembered that the phone number I'd written down was Ted's , taken from the employee records, when I thought I would need him for under cover service in the bakery ! Mr. Mennington's phone number was written in another folder !
After an hour of praise, I left the police station with great difficulty , trying to squeeze through scores of reporters and finally got into my car.
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The next day, I saw the headlines , " Agent Murphy strikes again ", splashed across the front page of every leading English daily on the news stands.
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