Murder At The Aries Estate (standard:mystery, 3827 words)
Author: Jim Keim	Added: Aug 21 2016	Views/Reads: 3044/1806	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Several murders occur at the Aries Estate during a meeting. The police come and investigate and the killer is apprehended with an extremely happy ending.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

Everyone stopped talking and just stood there in awe, staring at each 
other. Miriam called the police right away. A couple of police cars and 
an ambulance arrived in a short while. The detective, who introduced 
himself as Bill Madsen, told everyone to stay put; that he'd need to 
ask them some questions. Ann introduced herself and explained she was 
the one who discovered the body. The detective asked her a few 
questions and said he'd get back with her later. The EMT people came in 
and took Margaret's body away in a body bag. The detective asked all 
the members to please have a seat so he could talk to them. He took out 
a pen and a small notebook from his coat pocket and began taking down 
everyone's names. Ann glanced around the room and suddenly noticed 
Frank wasn't there. She mentioned to the detective that Frank was in 
the room when he and the police arrived and now Frank is missing. About 
then all the lights came back on. “Oh, thank heavens.” the detective 
remarked. Detective Madsen told his officers to take a good look around 
the place while he began his interviews. He had the knife sent back 
with one of the officers to be checked for prints and possible DNA. He 
had just finished interviewing several of the members when one of his 
officers came back into the room and announced he found Frank. “So, 
Sgt. Harrison. Where is he? Is he on his way?” “No sir, I'm afraid not. 
He's dead?” Dead? But how ...?” “I found him upstairs in the first 
floor bathroom. His neck had been broken.” Detective Madsen instructed 
his officers to stay with the members while he went upstairs to check 
it out. He found Frank lying face up on the floor; his neck as limp as 
a rag doll. He pulled out the man's ID from his back pocket and sure 
enough, it was Frank Mingo. Detective Madsen called for another 
ambulance to pick up the body. He then went downstairs to resume his 
questioning. Everyone in the group had about the same thing to say, the 
fact they were all together at the meeting and didn't see or hear 
anything out of the ordinary. They all mentioned how the meeting began 
late because Margaret hadn't showed up. The detective stood up and said 
he wanted everyone to remain seated for the moment, but he asked Miriam 
and Ann to follow him into the next room. “Ladies, would you have a 
seat, please? I wanted to talk with the two of you, away from the 
others. I recall you mentioned the two of you were drinking alone by 
the window when you noticed the Jeep Margaret drove was parked outside. 
Did either of you see or hear anything unusual when the other members 
were having their group discussions?” Miriam said she really didn't 
notice much because she was so obsessed with the Jeep being out there. 
“And Ann? How about you?” “No sir. Pretty much like Miriam, I was 
concentrating on the Jeep.” “Okay, fine. Miss Cassidy. You can go out 
and join the others for a few minutes.” Ann left the room while Det. 
Madsen pulled a chair over next to Miriam. “Ma'am. I guess I need to 
ask you the ultimate question. Can you think of any reason why anyone 
would want to murder these two people and do you think anyone out there 
had a motive for doing such a thing?” “I don't believe anyone among our 
group is a murderer, if that's what you're getting at, but two of the 
men tonight did make some cutting remarks about Margaret being late and 
not caring if she showed up or not.” “Oh, and who were they?” “Jeff 
Bender and Jack Litton. Jeff said she could drop dead for all he cared. 
They never did like Margaret, but then I believe it's just a matter of 
jealousy.” “Jealousy? Over what?” “My list.” “List. What do you mean by 
your list?” Miriam explained how she'd sent the members all a letter 
last month announcing how this would be her last meeting as leader and 
chairperson of the convention; that she'd be retiring. At the same 
time, she would relinquish all her stock and publishing rights to the 
monthly magazine Age of Light, which was grossing in the tens of 
thousands of dollars. All of this, including the prestige would then go 
to the next person on the list. “May I ask how you created this list of 
yours?” “Well, I went through the roster and ranked it by seniority so 
that the next person in rank would acquire all the rights and 
ownership. If that person, for some reason did not want the position or 
was unable to fulfill it, then it would go on to the next person, and 
so on. If you'll follow me into my office, I can give you a copy of the 
list.” Det. Madsen followed Miriam Cauldron into her office where she 
promptly pulled out a copy of the list from her top desk drawer and 
handed it to him. He studied it for a few moments and what he noticed 
was quite shocking. “Miriam. Take a look at this. It seems the first 
person on your list to take over control was to be Margaret Timms, and 
she was the first person to be found murdered. And look at this. The 
next person on the list was Frank Mingo, who was also found murdered. 
Don't you find that quite unusual?” “Oh my God, you're right!  Jesus 
... look who's next on the list. It's Ann Cassidy. I've got to warn 
her.” Miriam and the detective left the office and headed out to the 
parlor where everyone was still seated, all except for Ann and Jeff 
Bender. Miriam noticed right away Ann and Jeff were gone. She asked her 
group why Ann and Jeff weren't there and one of the members told her 
Ann asked to be excused so she could use the ladies room upstairs. 
“And? What's that got to do with Jeff?” Madsen asked. One of the 
officers said the lady had to use the bathroom, but announced she was 
afraid to go alone. Jeff Bender said his wife and she were good 
friends. They used to get together all the time. He offered to escort 
her to the door and wait. He said he was worried for her and felt it 
was his duty to be sure she stayed safe. Detective Madsen became 
furious with his men. “How long have they been gone?” he yelled. “About 
10 minutes, sir.” “Shit,” screamed Miriam. Jeff is number four on my 
roster!” “You're right, Miriam. We've got to find them.” Det. Madsen 
told Miriam to wait in the parlor with the other members. He gave her 
an extra walkie-talkie and told her if anyone in the group tried to 
leave or if she needed him for any reason, to call him. He grouped all 
of his officers together and had them fan out in different directions. 
Det. Madsen mounted the stairs, two steps at a time and pounded on the 
door of the nearest bathroom. After no response, he stormed in with his 
weapon drawn. The room was empty. Absolutely no one there, although the 
cake of soap was recently used, the hand towel was damp, and the sweet 
aroma of Wind Song permeated the air. Ann was wearing that when he met 
her. She had been there, and quite recently. He frantically began 
checking all the bedrooms and other bathrooms on his floor, while the 
other officers were checking their areas. They were communicating with 
each other over their radios, but so far, nothing was found. Miriam was 
listening to the chatter over her radio. Perspiration was running down 
her face as tension began to build. Suddenly, one of the officers 
called Det. Madsen on the radio and told him to come up to the next 
floor and down to the last bedroom at the end of the hall. When Det. 
Madsen got there, he discovered Officer Miller lying there with his 
throat slit, and his weapon was missing. He was still breathing and 
tried to tell him something, but before he could, he died. Det. Madsen 
told everyone to continue their search, while he went back down to his 
floor to continue searching the rest of the rooms. He cautiously opened 
the door to the last bedroom, holding his weapon tightly with both 
hands. With his foot, he slowly slid open the sliding closet door, but 
it was empty. He stood there for a moment, trying to put everything 
into perspective. Perhaps they could somehow have gotten outside. About 
then, he thought he heard a muffled sound, almost like a sniffle. He 
looked down towards the foot of the bed where he was standing and saw 
something that looked like the toe of an athletic shoe. Pointing his 
gun downward, he shouted “is anyone there?” No one answered, but he 
could hear what sounded like heavy, irregular breathing. “I'm a police 
officer. I suggest you come out of there, while you still can.” 
Suddenly he heard a female's voice. She was crying and screaming to 
please help her. He reached down, grabbed her by the ankles and pulled 
her out from under the bed. He helped her up to a sitting position. 
She'd been stabbed in the shoulder and the neck, but it didn't appear 
to be too bad. “Oh my God, he tried to kill me,” she cried. “He had a 
knife. I kicked him and when he lost the knife, he pulled out a gun 
from the waistband of his slacks. I slammed the door into his face and 
ran. Oh my God, it was awful.” “Hold on now. Slow down. Who was this 
individual?” “It was Jeff ... Jeff Bender. I ... I had to use the 
restroom. I was scared so Jeff said he'd escort me to make sure I 
stayed safe.” “Why didn't you ask one of my officers to go with you?” 
“I was afraid they had enough responsibility already. And besides, Jeff 
is ... was my friend, or so I thought. His wife and I work together 
back in Akron and the three of us used to play cards on most weekends.” 
“Well, the main thing is you're safe now. We'll get those wounds taken 
care of. They aren't too bad. You were lucky. I'm going to have two 
officers come up here and stay with you until we can apprehend this 
maniac. He's on the run, somewhere in this estate and now he's got a 
gun, making him even more dangerous. I'd rather keep you here under 
guard than to try to get you down the hall and downstairs with Jeff on 
the loose. He obviously wants control of the convention and he'll stop 
at nothing to take over Miriam's position.” Det. Madsen radioed his 
officers, telling one of them to stay with Miriam and the members, and 
the rest of them to come up to the second floor where he was. He asked 
one of them to bring a first aid kit along. He told Miriam he found 
Ann, safe and sound, and she would be out of harms way, until they 
could catch Jeff. As soon as the men arrived, he put one officer inside 
the room with Ann, and posted another outside the door. He had the rest 
of them fan out and concentrate on checking the upper floors, searching 
every room. He insisted they call for backup if any one of them spot 
Jeff. He didn't want them taking any chances. They spent some time 
searching everywhere and came up with nothing. Then Det. Madsen got his 
first break. He'd been searching around the top floor when he came upon 
a door at the end of a hallway. The doorknob had blood on it. He slowly 
eased it open a crack. It was very dark inside, with only a tiny bit of 
light being emitted from a small window above. He could tell there was 
a narrow, steep stairway, leading up to another floor; apparently an 
attic area. He drew his weapon and cautiously began ascending the 
staircase. It wasn't until he was a third of the way up that he 
realized in the midst of the excitement; he'd forgotten to call for 
backup. He pulled out his radio, but it was too late. A steamer trunk 
came flying down the steps, knocking him backwards. His radio flew out 
of his hand and disappeared somewhere into the darkness. His chest was 
on fire. Whatever was in that old trunk was extremely heavy and it had 
pinned him against the door. His gun was lying only a foot out of 
reach. He figured if he stretched hard enough, he might be able to grab 
it. He was only an inch from touching it when a bullet bored through 
his shoulder. The burning was almost unbearable. He screamed out in 
pain as he tried to keep his wits about him. A figure appeared at the 
top of the staircase, coming closer and closer toward him in the 
darkness. Two more shots rang out, this time tearing into the trunk. 
Finally, he could see the figure; it was Jeff Bender. Jeff stood there 
laughing at him. “Well, well, Mr. Detective. Looks like we finally 
meet, eye to eye. Only this time, I have the advantage. You see, nobody 
knows where we are and I am about to blow your brains all over that 
wall.” “Look Jeff, you lost. Give it up. Even if you do get out of 
here, you are exposed. Everyone knows about you now. You could never 
take over Miriam's position.” “Oh, I know that now, thanks to Ann. If 
only I could have killed her, things would have worked out for me. So, 
now this whole thing has turned into a game. For me to win, I only have 
to kill you. I figure I can go on the run, change my identity and get 
out of the country. I've got a friend in Jamaica who can hide me out 
indefinitely.” “If you give yourself up, I may be able to cut you a 
deal.” “Yea, some deal. You'd probably get me a deal on life in prison 
instead of death. No, sorry. It's my deal right now and you lost.” Jeff 
pointed the Glock at Det. Madsen's head and just as he was ready to 
fire, two officers hit the door, flinging the trunk and Madsen out of 
the way. The bullet hit the one officer in the chest but the other 
officer managed to get two shots off, one into Jeff's abdomen and one 
into his thigh, sending him toppling down the staircase. They 
immediately called for an EMT after cuffing their suspect. When the EMT 
crew arrived, they treated Det. Madsen for his shoulder wound, which 
turned out to be nothing more than a grazing. Lucky for the officer hit 
in the chest, he was wearing a bulletproof vest. They also treated 
Jeff's wounds and took him away on a stretcher. Det. Madsen, still a 
bit shaky in the legs, started down the hall along side a couple of his 
officers. As he neared the end of the hallway, Miriam came flying up 
the stairs and threw her arms around him. “I thought ... I, ah ... are 
you going to be okay?” “Yeah, the bullet just grazed me. It's nothing, 
really.” He wiped the tears away from her eyes and told her it was all 
over with. As soon as they all got back down to the parlor, he told the 
members they were all free to go now. Ann was led in by one of the 
officers. She and Miriam hugged each other and soon as the two of them 
calmed down, Det. Madsen met with them in Miriam's office. “Well, Miss 
Cassidy. I believe congratulations are in order here.”  He reached out 
and shook her hand. “Looks like you'll be heading up the convention 
next year.” Ann smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She thanked 
him and said how grateful she was for him saving her life. He told her 
it was only part of his job. Miriam sat there, getting all teary eyed 
again. “Hey, hey now. It's over. Lets forget about this mess. There's 
got to be better things in life, like what time am I picking you up for 
dinner tomorrow night?” “What? What are you saying?” “I'm ... I ... 
hell, I don't know. Hey. Do you want to go out to eat tomorrow night or 
don't you?” “Yes. Yes I do,” she remarked shyly. The glitter in her 
eyes and smile on her face said it all. “All right. Seven okay?” “Fine. 
Yes. I'll be waiting.” Det. Madsen and his crew had everything wrapped 
up within the hour and were soon on their way. Several of the members 
and Ann stayed over that night. The next day proved to be a bright 
sunny one and things were looking better. The members who stayed over, 
left to go back home and a cleanup crew arrived to take care of the 
mess in the estate. Oh, and the dinner date that evening with Det. 
Madsen was one in a series of many which eventually led to one of the 
grandest wedding parties ever to be held in the Aries Mansion. 

The End 


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