The Adventure of the Mysterious Killer

Introduction
It seemed so easy for the young man, Jamison Write, to transfer schools or drop out at that second if it weren’t for the fact that he didn’t want to let down his family and friends.  He was such a hard worker and never gave up, but his grades showed otherwise; he was barely passing.  Not only was he getting beat academically, but he had been cut from both the basketball team earlier in the year and from the track team recently.  This was not expected at all by anyone given his spectacularly successful high school years prior to going to college.  Jamison used to be on all the newspaper headlines and was everyone’s hero; it was very difficult for him to get used to this drastic change.  On the other hand, his best friend since fourth grade, Matt Stephens, became one of the smartest men on campus.  He never was very athletic, so he was able to spend many hours in his dorm being consumed in his studies.  Even with their many differences, nothing could separate these two men; they were always there for eachother even if the other didn’t want help.  Jamison did not want to break this bond by dropping out or leaving.
On the Friday before spring break, Matt was studying in his dorm as usual with Jamison sitting on the bunk bed two rooms down listening to the radio.   There was a loud crash as Jamison tipped the beds over while trying to hop off the top bunk to get off.  He scrambled from under the wreck hoping nobody important heard the ruckus and ran to his best friend’s room.  He entered out of breath trying to get the words out of his mouth.  Finally he spit out what he was trying to say, and it was that on the radio he heard the speaker, Cathy Robinson, say that there was an unsolved murder case of an elderly philanthropist.  They used to solve mysteries as kids and he thought it was a great idea for them to get out; after all, it was spring break.  Matt, on the other hand, being the practical and steady man he was did not think it was such a great idea.  Somehow after some serious convincing, Matt gave in and they were on their way.

The Adventure of the Mysterious Killer
It would have been such a wonderful view looking up the hill with the sun setting behind the immaculate mansion if it weren’t for the circumstances the men were here for.  This was the scene where Mr. Ackley was murdered.  The many acres owned by the man were crawling with reporters and detectives trying to spread the news and answer the questions the country was asking.  Of course no one was able to answer the big questions at the time: who and why?
“Let’s try not to draw attention to ourselves as we try to find clues and start our mystery off,” said Jamison to Matt.
“Of course, you’re the expert, Jamie,” said Matt sarcastically.
Jamison glared back at Matt, and they entered the house as casually as possible; it was like nothing else they had seen.  On the main floor entrance there was marble flooring with a massive chandelier dangling from the ceiling.  Turning the corner to the left there was a sitting room with a television and a large window looking out in the back wooded area.  Continuing around the bottom floor there was a large kitchen where the chef cooked and a long table for eating; in this room the walls were almost completely filled with stained glass windows.  Up the stairs there was another slightly smaller sitting room with a more casual feel, and the only other thing up there was the bedroom in which Mr. Ackley slept.  In this room, his bed was under yet another stained glass window and across the room was a dresser with another television atop it.  A door in this room led to the closet where the owner kept his clothing and apparel.  All the way in the back of his closet was a slightly hidden door with a stairway descending straight down on the other side; it somehow led to a basement or cellar below the main floor.  The walls were lined with shelves of wine and champagne, and in the middle of the room the usual furnace and water heater sat humming along. 
As the two men were leaving the estate, they met a man at the entrance. He introduced himself saying, “Hi, my name is Justin Ackley.  Are you here to try to solve the mystery too?”
Both Jamison and Matt looked slightly confused as they answered saying, “Those are our intentions.  My name is Jamison and my friend here is Matt.  What brings you here?”
“Well, I am Mr. Ackley’s son if you didn’t already figure that out,” said he chuckling, “and I plan on finding who would do such a thing to my beloved father and why.”
Jamison found this quite peculiar because the radio report had said that Mr. Ackley had no living relatives and was never married.  He had to go along with it for this could be their first clue.  Luckily Matt hadn’t known this detail, or he could have caused this case to be over for them before it had started. 
“It was nice meeting you, Justin.  Maybe we’ll see you around,” said Jamison as casually as possible. 
They left the grounds and hopped in their car to try and find a hotel nearby.  In the car, the pings of the raindrops hitting the roof and windows and the fuzzy radio filled the vehicle with sound.  Jamison could no longer handle hiding his first potential clue for it felt like his first success in years.
He suddenly blurted out, “Did anything seem odd about the man we met as we were leaving?”
“Justin?  No.  He seemed like a nice kid,” replied Matt casually.
There was a pause and finally Jamison answered, “Mr. Ackley doesn't have any living descendants.”
Matt’s face suddenly began to lighten in color. “What do you think this means then?”
“I’m not quite sure yet; I hope a good night's sleep will help,” said Jamison slowly.
After this nothing was said until they found a hotel that seemed safe enough for a few nights’ stay.  The parking lot was almost full; the bright lights and cleanliness of the building was quite inviting to both the men.  They entered the hotel, checked in and rode the elevator to the top floor.  Their room had two beds, a desk, a bathroom with a shower and a television.
“I call the bed by the window!” screeched Jamison before Matt could even set his bags down.
“Lets try to act our age, Jamie,” said Matt as maturely as possible; although, he too was quite excited to stay in a hotel with his best bud.  Jamison was absolutely serious in calling the bed, so Matt had to sleep in the bed nearest the door.  He dropped his bags off at the end of the bed as did Jamison.  They did not have much to talk about on the case because they only had what seemed like half of a clue to work with; what was the true identity of Justin Ackley?
After they were fully settled and under the sheets, it was about ten o’clock P.M. To break the silence, Matt asked, “Did you notice anything other than Justin that was odd to you?”
“Unfortunately not.  Did you?”
“Me neither.  I think we should go back and investigate once more; there should be less people crowding us, so it should be easier to find solid clues,” said Matt looking up from his papers.
“I guess so,” replied Jamison in a pouting voice, “but I’m not staying any longer than midnight because that place gives me the creeps.”
“Then it’s settled, back to the mansion,” announced Matt.
They repacked their bags, left the hotel and were on the road again in a flash.  It was much darker this time, and there were definitely less people on the road.  Even with the unbelievable size of the house and the conspicuousness of the driveway, Jamison almost missed it and drove right on by.  When they exited the car, they determined it would be most beneficial if they revisited the house together and separately explored the wooded area surrounding the house, for it was a suspicious area.
Once they entered the the house, Jamison found all the light switches as soon as possible in an attempt to eliminate his fears.  They continued to search the main floor but still found nothing remarkable, so they climbed the stairs and entered the bedroom to find nothing once more.  It  appeared that solving a mystery was much harder than it used to be for the two men, so they decided to split up to speed up the process.  Matt scoped out the woods and Jamison stayed in the house looking for clues.
After about twenty minutes, Matt called Jamison from his phone and expressed that they needed to meet immediately.  They met at the front door and Matt was much jumpier than normal.
“I found a gun in the woods behind the house! It’s a 22 and it looks brand new, but it has a weird mark on it,” exclaimed Matt, “Did you find anything, Jamie?”
“I only found the safe which I assume holds all of Mr. Ackley’s fortunes.” said Jamison slightly let down because he wanted to find the next big clue.  They went back to where Matt found the gun and looked at where the gun could have shot.  The only open shot was of the top window, Mr. Ackley’s bedroom.  This was terrific for the two detectives; they ran to the house and went straight for the bedroom.  Jamison hopped on the bed and pointed right at a missing piece of the stained glass window.
“There! The shot must have shattered the glass and killed Mr. Ackley!” shouted Jamison.
“People did say he was a man of routine, so it would be easy to know the exact moment he awakes.  Now we know how, but we still need to figure out who did it and why.  Let’s go look at the safe.  Where is it, Jamie?”
“Follow me.” They turned out of the bedroom and went down the stairs.  Jamison turned the corner and stopped abruptly.  Matt caught up to him and realized what his partner was gaping at.  The television was swung aside and the safe was wide open and empty.  They needed to act fast, so they ran back to the woods to look for the gun to bring it back as evidence but only found the ground empty.  Both men feeling degraded and annoyed stomped back to the car and rode to the hotel.  When they got back to the hotel, it was 11:30 P.M., so they decided to go to bed and give up on the whole thing.
The next morning, Jamison turned on the television and saw that the mystery had been solved.  Justin Ackley was accused of murdering his father; it seemed like a pretty predictable outcome for Jamison.
“Hey, Matt.  Did you hear that?”
“What?” replied Matt in a sleepy voice.
“Some lucky fellow solved the mystery saying Justin killed his father.  They thought it was odd that he called himself the son of Mr. Ackley as well.  As it turns out, he is a collector of many guns and is known for his insane accuracy.” said Jamison
“I knew it,” said Matt slightly frustrated and began packing for home.  While he was doing this.  Jamison checked his phone because he was already packed.  Something caught his eye that made him jump which was enough to gain Matt’s attention.
“What is it now?” asked Matt sarcastically.
“Look at this; it’s the gun from the woods.  It was posted a day before Mr. Ackley was killed, and look at the caption.”  It proved Matt’s point that it was a new gun, and it had the same marking.  It was Cathy Robinson, the person on the radio, who posted it.  This was the last person anyone might expect and was the perfect cover for a murderer.  They now needed to find a way to prove it. 
“I can get her address, and we can give her a visit to prove our point,” said Jamison.
“Great idea,” said Matt as Jamison searched his phone for her information.  He finally found it and put it in the GPS.  Her house was only ten minutes away; he was astonished by his luck.  There was no time for waiting around, so they left the hotel yet again and went for another ride in the car.  When they arrived, there were huge renovations going on in the tiny, beat up house.  They knocked and met Cathy at the doorstep.
“Hi, my name is Jamie and this is my friend Matt.  We are huge fans of your work and we were wondering if we could visit your house,” said Jamison as normally as he could.
“Sure, why not?” replied Cathy in a monotone voice.  The two men looked at eachother with huge eyes in amazement.  They quickly followed behind her and noticed the gun leaning against the wall.
Gesturing towards the gun, Jamison said, “I saw your post; that’s a pretty cool looking gun.”
“Yeah, I’ve only shot it once, but it did the trick just fine,” replied their host.  This was working perfectly for the young detectives.  Now if they could just find a way to bring the evidence to the authorities then their first mission would be a success.  Jamie had an idea, but he needed his partner to follow along perfectly or their cover would be blown and it would become immensely more difficult to solve the mystery.
Jamison took a deep breath, winked at his buddy, Matt, and asked, “would you be willing to autograph that gun and sell it to me?  I’m just a huge fan, and I’d love to have this as a souvenir.”
There was a long pause while Cathy thought causing both men to become nervous.  She must have been testing them because it must have been five minutes of silence while Cathy pondered her decision.  She walked over towards the gun, picked it up and pointed it towards the two men asking, “how much?”
“I’ll pay whatever it takes” said both men simultaneously.
She tossed the gun to them, grabbed a marker and signed her name on the stock.  The two men thanked her graciously and exited before she could change her mind.  Once they were in the car and enough distance away from the Robinson household, they squealed like little girls and congratulated each other.  They headed for the police station to show the evidence and free Justin’s name.  All heads turned when they entered the room with a 22.
“We are here to prove to you the actual answer to the questions about the murder of Mr. Ackley,” said Matt as heroically as possible.
“This is the gun that was found in the woods by Mr. Ackley’s house; it belongs to Cathy Robinson, and here is her signature on the stock for proof,” continued Jamison.
“She was having renovations and additions done to her average house at the time we visited her, and do you know what her occupation is, sir?” asked Matt to any of the officers.
“No, sir.  We do not,” replied one portly officer as if it were a joke.
“She works for a talk station on the radio and the average salary for that occupation is about $25,000 a year.  That does not sound like an annual salary that could cover such renovations unless you were to kill the richest man in the state and take all of his savings.” replied Jamison in complete seriousness.
“How do you explain Mr. Ackley not having any living relatives, but he still has a son?” asked another, less seasoned officer with a smirk.
“That’s easy; Cathy was the one who claimed Mr. Ackley had no children.  She set his son up and used it as a cover; it seemed to fool you,” answered Matt with confidence.  There were no later objections to this answer and it was accepted that Cathy Robinson was the murderer.  Justin Ackley received all of the stolen possessions and was cleared.  As for Jamison and Matt, they traveled back to their dorms without objection, but it was the break both of them needed. Thanks to a few careless mistakes, two amateurs were able to solve the most important mystery of their lives.