Case Closed

A Short Story by Anonymous

Present Day

“Well, Jackie, you did it.” the chief said, looking at me as we stood in front of the empty, echoey courtroom. I nod, “I did.” I nod with a sense of empowerment but also a sense of sadness. The events leading up to this were not only traumatic, but confusing.

2 months prior

“Alright, Detective Smith and Pattinson…” The chief says while looking over his glasses at the file in his hands. “You both will be working on a recent homicide that happened in town at 456 Parker Avenue. Two victims, as of now we are unsure of the cause of death.”

I look over at the tall detective Pattinson that stands across the room. He glares at me with his cold, dark brown eyes; almost as if he was challenging me. I look back at him, raising my eyebrow. The chief is reading the rest of the list of cases for the other detectives, but I zone out, focusing on the odd looks that detective Pattinson had been giving me.

James Pattinson and I studied together in college. We both were the top of our classes and felt the need to always ‘one-up’ each other. Always striving to get higher test scores than the other, better homework answers, pretty much anything that you could think of.

I snap back to reality when the chief says, “Alright everyone, let’s get started and solve some of these cases.” I begin to walk up to the chief to grab the file, but James steps in front of me. “Thank you so much for this opportunity, chief.” He says, with his fake smirk. Extending his right hand to shake his hand. “No problem, James. You and Jackie are the best detectives on this force. I believe in you both to solve this, quickly and efficiently.” The chief looks at both of us, I nod thanking him. James looks at me, with his very believable, fake smile. “Should we get started, Detective Smith?” I look at him, seeing right through his act. “Of course.” I plaster a fake smile across my face.

I open the door to the room, allowing him to walk in before me. He walks to the far end of the table as I walk to the chair that is right inside the room. He sits down in the chair and places the file onto the table. He looks at me, “Alright, should we get started?” I nod. “Are you going to talk?” I nod and say, “Yes, I’ll talk as long as it doesn’t turn into an argument.” He scoffs, “Jackie, those years are long behind us. If anything you should be thankful he placed the two best detectives on a case together.” I roll my eyes, “I’m glad you think that highly of yourself and of me.” He smiles, “C’mon Jackie, we were the top of our class. Get over yourself.” I raise my hands, almost as if to raise my white flag and surrender. “Let’s just- begin.” I say placing my hands gently on the table beside my notepad.

We spent the next few hours going over the information we had been provided by the station. Inside the file there were the records from the morgue, photos of evidence found on the scene, and crime scene notes. Flipping through them, I see the two weapons that were found on scene; a knife and a gun. After taking my own notes, I slide the file back across the table to James.

“So, thoughts?” He says, looking at me while organizing the file. “I don’t have any thoughts currently. It’s very vague information that we’ve been given. The photos of the wounds don’t fully capture what happened.” He looks at me, confused. “What do you mean?” I sigh under my breath. “I mean, we have photos of the wounds but it doesn’t fully capture what happened at that moment.” He shrugs, “That’s true, but isn’t that the case with any other murder?” I nod, staying quiet.

The next day, he barrels into my office with excitement. “Jackie! I found something,” He sits down opposite of my chair. “What is it?” I sit up, looking at the photo. “Look at the time of death.” He points. I looked up at him after realizing. “This could be something we could build the case off of.” The man had died before the women, which opened up many different situations. An outside source could have committed the murder or the woman killed the man then herself. He nods, “Exactly.”

1 month prior

The chief looks at us in disapproval. “Y’know, I really thought I could put you two on a case together without you both running over each other. I’ll have you know, I have two other detectives that are well aware of this case and willing to take it.” James crosses his arms, “You know that’s not needed.” I shake my head, “I’m not too sure why I should be let off this case when I wasn’t intruding!” The chief continues to lecture us about how James' fingerprints had been found all over the scene. I found this quite peculiar, it’s hard to believe he would break into the scene after we had been building the case. Not to mention, the case was rather strong.

A few nights ago, James decided to sneak into the crime scene. This ultimately should’ve resulted in him being fired, but instead, it resulted in us both getting yelled at and almost let off the case. Even if he wasn’t fired, maybe he should be considered a suspect.

As soon as the detective lets us go, I walk fast out of the room. Attempting to avoid confrontation with my co-worker. “Jackie, c’mon-” I turn around, “Just stop. That almost cost your job and me one of the biggest cases I’ve ever had.” He nods, staying quiet. Actually listening this time. “If you’re going down, don’t drag me with you.” I walk into my office, slamming the door behind me.

A few evenings later

I walk outside to my car and drive to my small apartment. Right when I sit down and begin watching TV, I get a call from the chief. “Listen, Jackie. You need to come in right now.” I look around, “Why?” “No questions. Get here now.”

I rush downstairs to my car, starting the engine and speeding to the station. In all honesty, I thought the chief got some type of break on the case James and I had been working on. Little did I know, it was the complete opposite.

When I get to the station, I see James being escorted out, in handcuffs. “What is happening?!” James looks at me, “I’m sorry, Jackie.” I shake my head as he walks by. I caught up to him. “What the hell happened?” “I can’t tell you right now. Chief will explain everything.”

I ran into the station. The chief stops me, “Calm down, Jackie. Deep breaths.” I try to calm down, “Come with me to my office.” As soon as we get to the office, I sit down, trying to grasp reality.

“Jackie, listen to me carefully.” I nod, looking at him, shocked. “You did solve the case, just not in the way that we wanted it to go.” “What do you mean?” He sighs, settling further into his chair. “James was the murderer. There’s not many details, he cleaned the scene up pretty well. The victim turned out to be his ex-wife, and her new boyfriend.” I cover my face with my sweaty palms. “This is insane.” My voice is shaky. “What does this mean for the case?” He sighs. “You solved it, Jackie. That’s all I can say for now. He gets his sentencing soon, I would hope you’d be there.” I nod, uncovering my face. “I will be, chief. What can you disclose about the case, considering I am the detective on the case.” He turns his head, “James killed Marie because of the divorce. It wasn’t apparent to us that there was any relation between them. He never mentioned her, or said her name.” I shake my head, “I guess I never put the pieces together. I have known both of them since college. I should’ve known.” The chief shakes his head, “Jackie, you couldn’t have known.”

James had been married for a few years after college. I hadn’t seen him for quite a while until I got this job. Two years into their marriage, James discovered that Marie had cheated on him with another man. James was jealous, but I never expected him to be that jealous to get to the point of killing. It had been a few years since the divorce, but obviously he never got over it.

I truly thought Marie would be the best for him. But learning what I have today, I stand corrected.

Present Day

“You did it.” I nod, wiping the tears from my face. “I did.” The chief hugs me, “Thank you so much, Jackie.” He hugs me a little tighter, “Thank you.”