The Grizzly Drubble Murders

The Grizzly Drubble Murders
Chapter 1
I was sitting at my desk going over some of my last case's paperwork, when she walked in. She sat down quietly and did not say a word. I returned the silence, just staring at her, wondering how she got in and why she was at my desk. “Yes, how can I help you,” I said.
“My name is Sarah Drubble and I need you to help me. My brother is missing, he never runs away. He is happy. I think something is wrong. Can you help.” The woman was beautiful and I could not help but look at her supple cleavage, since she wore a low cut white blouse. She had brown hair and beautiful blue eyes that glistened different shades in the light.
“I am sorry but you will have to call the police, I cannot help you right now.” I said without out much conviction.
She must have sensed it because she continued, seemingly not to hear me. “I will pay you two thousand dollars to do this discretely and find out what happened to my little brother.” She got up and walked around the desk and bent low to my ear. “I need to know what happened.”
“Alright I will do it. But you have to promise me one thing.”
“Like what?”
“Stay out of my way,” I said, this time with conviction. I wiped my hair out of my gray eyes. I got up and saw her out of my office. “I need as much information as you can get about him. His hospital information and anything that tells me about his personality, its important that I know as much as possible about him. Is he married or divorced, whether or not he has life insurance. Anything you know about him.
“Okay, I can do that.” She concluded and walked away. I watched as she left the office. Alright all I got to do is find out where he is, shouldn't be too hard, he thought.
The day was uneventful. The next day, the woman came in with all the information that I had requested. She told me that he hangs out at the gym and sometimes at the library.
I asked her how old her brother was. She said that he was 21.
I took it upon myself to go over to the gym to see if maybe someone knew where he could be. I showed the owner a recent picture of the brother. “Have you seen him lately?” I asked.
The big burly man looked at the picture and hissed, “He hasn't been here for three days. He usually comes here every other day, so he has been off schedule. It screws up his routine if he doesn't come in like this. The man had massive forearms and looked like one of those UFC fighters you just do not want to mess with. I cautiously asked him a few more questions.
“Do you work with him or does he have a different partner for his workouts?”
“He works with me. He's never late for a workout.”
“Okay thanks, I said defeated, “I am going to ask around if you don't mind.”
“Knock yourself out.” He shot back. I hesitated at that, and left the office. It gave me the creeps, the way he said it.
No one seemed to know where he went, so I went to the library and asked around, still no luck. I went back to the office and sat down at my desk. I jotted down most of what the guys at the gym had told
me. I wondered what could have happened to the man. I decided I would
talk to the sister about him and see if she could give me anymore information. That was when the phone rang. “I have Sarah's brother, he is safe for now.” The voice on the other side of the phone said.
“I want two million dollars or I will kill him.” The voice was muffled and hard to discern.
“Wait a second, I don't think you want to do this.”
“Don't give me that crap,” he yelled, I do want to do this, now you have two days to get it from Sarah.” He hung up on me. I played the phone call over in my head and realized that the man on the other side must know Sarah personally. So I decided to call her and see if she knew who and why this person has her brother.
“I cant think of anyone that would do this, Detective Johnson.” She was talking loudly and her voice was hurting my ears.
“Calm down Sarah, and just think. Think of someone, anyone that would do this. How bout an ex husband or an ex boyfriend?”
“Yeah, Brian.” She said exasperated. “But I cant see him doing something like this.”
“Are you sure?”
“Not really,” she returned, “The relationship kinda ended badly, but he doesn't seem the type to do something like this.” She was hysterical now. “You know what, he was kinda abusive. Thats why we broke up. I think he could do it, now that I think about it.”
“Alright Sarah, calm down.
“Okay. Now what?” She asked exasperated.
“I have to find your ex and bring him in and interrogate him.”
“Okay, he lives on the east end on Suffix Street.”
I took my unmarked car to Suffix Street and walked up to the door of the house that Sarah told me was his. I noticed the door was unlocked and slightly ajar, so I went in. I saw bloody footprints on the floor in the living room near the entrance, they were facing the doorway. I wandered over further into the living room to discover a dead body. I called in the coroner and observed.
I called Sarah.
“What does He look like?” I asked when she picked up.
She described him and I noticed that the man face down in a pool of blood is the guy that she described. That means that he is not the culprit right? I asked my self more questions. Who is the culprit then? Why was this man murdered? What does he have to do with all of this? Was he in on it but got killed in the process?
I decided I would answer these questions. But first I will work the grid and see what I can find for clues at this crime scene.

Chapter 2

“Cause of death, Jason?” Jason and I have worked on many cases together. He deals with the dead and I deal with the living. That is pretty much the extent of our relationship. We get along fairly well, considering we both are laid back people. He is a slender 6'2” and he has short brown hair that goes with his brown eyes. You know what they say about brown eyes. He is full of crap. I tease him sometimes about that.
“The knife went into his side, cutting into his third thoracic (rib) and stopping a couple of inches into his lung through the thoracic cage.”
“Hey come on now, I am a simpleton,” I joked.
“Went through the rib cage and cut his lung to crap, that my friend is the cause of death.” He was a little upset that he had to say it so that I could understand it, but I didn't care. He should know by now that I don't understand his jargon.
“I wonder why he comes up dead now, and if he is involved. Did he show any signs of a struggle?” I asked hoping that there was. I looked around and noticed that there were no sign of a break in and stuff was not strewn around, meaning that the vic new his assailant, and did not feel threatened.
“It seems that there was a struggle at the end. He has skin in his finger nails. He also has a mark on his collum, or cervix,” he looked up from his work into my eyes as he said the next part, “which suggests being strangled. Seems to have occurred after he was stabbed but before death. It is a toss up between the two, but this is definitely a murder vic.
“Thank you, Jason, I appreciate it.”
“Do you want to grab a bite to eat after this.” He asked me while my phone started to ring.
“Dunham,” I said into the phone. “Yeah. Uh huh. Yes. Okay. Bye. I said to Jason that I will have to take a rain check.
“Okay man.”
The phone call was a good one, It was another lead. My partner said that someone called in anonymously about a body. I am going to have to go downtown to the station to get more information on what is going on. Although another body is grave, it is also a good thing. The only weird thing is is that the anonymous person saw it in a dream the night before. I wondered if I could take this seriously but I doubted it.
I made it to the new crime scene. I had Sarah with me. I needed her to tell me whether she knew the new victim. She looked down at the body and said she had. I asked her who it was.
“It was my friends girlfriend. They were struggling,” she answered. She seemed distraught. I guess you would too if people around you were being murdered. It also seemed that something else was bothering her.
“What is it?” I asked. She looked up at me.
“That is my wedding ring. The one that should be on Brian's hand not his,” she hesitated to finish.
“Its alright. It will be alright.”
“Why is this happening?”
“I do not know, but I will figure it out.
I took her home and she welcomed me into her house for a cup of coffee. I took her up on her offer. I never pass up coffee or a donut. I asked her a few more questions, pushing the idea that she might know of somebody that would want to hurt her. She said no there weren't. I doubted that but did not push the matter too far. I could have told her that she was obstructing, but felt that would avail me nothing. So I avoided that question further. What I asked next she squinted at me.
“Why you, why are all your friends and family being targeted?” I asked. “You got to know something, Sarah. I will get to the bottom of this. I am now holding you as a key suspect. I think you should not leave the state and or the country. I am not charging you with anything but you should come to the station,” I stated.
“I want my lawyer.” She said nonchalantly.
I really believed she did it and I was not about to fumble with the idea of it. If I lost confidence then she surely would get away with it. We will see, when I talk to her and her lawyer. I was still wondering though, if there was a struggle, how did she strong arm the guy that I had found laying in his own blood.
My phone started to ring.
“Dunham,” I said, agitated. Uh huh, yup, uh huh. I'll be right there.” To Sarah I said, “I am not charging you because there has been another murder. Same Modus operandi but no connection to you. You are free to go.”
She looked up at me, angrily. “You are a bastard, I came to you, remember. Why would you think I did it?” The words she said stuck in my mind. I am just following the clues. She needs to understand this. But I had already screwed up. Or at least I thought I did.
The detectives at the scene said that they pretty much had it under wraps and that they would give me the details as soon as possible. That they didn't need me. I was grateful. I went home and spent some time with my wife and kids.
The ride home was peaceful for the most part, it was quiet. That is what I have needed for a few days. I got home at 8:30pm and my wife was waiting for me when I got in. “How are they,” I asked her. We got a long great for the most part, but it is not easy being a detective and having a family. It is definitely a job for a bachelor.
“They are fine, if you mean the kids.” Michelle, my wife answered. “You should go and talk with them. They are upstairs getting ready for bed.”
I walked up the stairs and went into their room. “Hey girls. How are you. How was school.”
“I had fun today,” my youngest said. “I learned a lot in History class today,” they answered at the same time. They both seemed to want my undevided attention. I figured I would oblige. I gave them both a squeeze and told them a story. I kissed them good night. They crawled into their corresponding beds and I tucked them in and shut the door. My wife and I watched a movie until eleven and we both went to bed. We do not typically have sex anymore so we fell asleep. I dreamed about the case as I always do, so that was nothing new. I woke rested for the first time in months.
I get so wrapped up in my cases. And there seemed to be a lot of murders lately. I shrugged the sleep off and went into the bathroom for my morning ritual: Shit, shower, shave, brush my teeth, and pluck my nose hairs and stray grays.
Chapter 3
The person that said she had a premonition about the first dead body called and asked to meet me first thing. “Sure, I can accommodate that. I will head right over.” I said skeptically.
“Thank you. I have more details of the murders that you need to know about,” she admonished.
I drove over to her house because she didn't want to go to the police department to talk, which I didn't blame her. She spoke quickly and hushed. Her hair streamed down to her shoulders and revealed her green eyes when she wiped it out of her face. She was wearing her favorite red blouse with blue slacks. She looked sophisticated with her nerdy glasses. She spoke hushed and I wondered why she was so secretive, as if someone was there with us.
“Is there someone else here?” I asked.
“No,” she responded. “I just feel as though someone is listening in.”
“I think that we are fine.”
“I suppose your right.”
She told me that there are two killers and that I should be very careful. Both men are armed and dangerous. She told me that the killers are very close to Sarah, and that they are in town. Maybe brothers, or lovers.
“How do you know all that,” I said suspiciously. “There is no way that you know all that information.”
“Well I do, but not all of my premonitions are exact, but usually very close to perfect tellings.”
“I,ll keep that in mind.” I said with fake encouragement.
I got back to the office at five-thirty and packed up the information that I gathered. Thats when I got another call. It was Sarah, telling me that she wants to meet me, that she was scared. I obliged.
I pulled up Sarah's driveway at 7:30pm in my BMW and parked the car in front of her Jeep Grand Cherokee. The house was a modern single story ranch. She was waiting at the door stoop with a bewildered look on her face. I really couldn't wait to close this case.
I walked up to her and she let me in. “So I got more information on this case. I was told that is two men. And that they know you, that they are close to you. So there is something you have not told me. Do you want to tell me what that is, Sarah?” I said quickly and aggressive.
“Yes, My other two brothers. But I do not think that they could do such a thing.” She scratched the back of her head and I saw a couple of scratches on her forearm. I let it go without much thought. I wondered where her brothers were. I needed to bring them in.
“Where are they?”
She gave me their addresses without hesitation. I noted that, hopefully without her noticing me doing so. I asked her a few more questions and left to find her two brothers.
I went to the place that she told me to. I found one of them in the kitchen, dead. There was a pool of blood. I kinda figured this would happen. Its becoming a pattern now. I checked the rest of the house before I called it in.
It was going to be another long night. I wondered where the other brother was. I wondered who else was in on this. I was angered that every single lead turned out to be a dead end. I looked around for clues. There seemed to be a calling card. It said right under your nose. I wonder what that means, I thought. I looked around the body but found nothing. There was nothing for me to do until Jason got there so I just waited.
Jason finally arrived after 23 minutes. “Jason, the only clue I have to go by is this note that I found on the kitchen table. It says 'right under your nose' Does it mean anything to you?”
“No, but I am going to check in his nose for chemicals or anything inside it.” I watched as he did so. He took a weird looking utensil and rammed it up the mans nose, “there is something hard in there, just one second, there,” he blurted.
“It looks like a key.” I admonished, “wonder what it goes to.” I decided to pay Sarah yet another visit. When I arrived at her house she was on her porch. She was surprised to see me of course, given that this time I did not give her warning that I was coming.
“Hey Sarah, I need a few more moments with you.” She just sneered at me. “I am sorry that I accused you, but you have to understand that I am trying to solve a murder here.”
“I forgive you, and I will answer the best I can.”
“I found your middle brother, he was dead, so he couldn't have done it, but I found this in his nose. Do you know what it is?”
“Its a key.” She looked at it quizzically. “Yes this looks like my key. It goes to my lockbox in the attic.”
“Can you show me?” I asked patiently.
“Yes, but my key is right here.” she reached under her shirt and pulled up a necklace. “What the heck, it is not here.”
“Maybe that one is mine. Why would that be up my brothers nose.” She looked in horror. “Did someone grab that while I was asleep?”
“Its possible. Lets have a look-see in your attic. Its probably nothing, but I have a feeling that we will see your other brother or a clue up there. Lets see.”
She led me up the twisting stairs to the attic. The stairs were dark. But we managed to turn on the light at the top of the stairs. We finally got to the draw string stairs. She brought it down and said after you. I had a feeling that she was going to lock me up there but I brushed it away.
What I saw next was horrible. There were two bodies in the attic. I asked Sarah if she knew they were up there and she said no. She bent down and opened up the chest on the floor. I looked in. I saw nothing. I was puzzled and baffled by this. “Whats going on,” I asked her.
“Nothing,” she said. Then she pushed me in the box. I fell and she crammed my body as tight as she could so that she could shut the door. Whats going on. Why is she doing this. I trusted her. This is so wrong. “Help! HELP! HELP!” I screamed, but it seemed that no one heard me.
The last thing I remember was Sarah laughing at me.