MuSR / Who is the most likely murderer?

question

Who is the most likely murderer?

narrative

In the unsettling calm of the zoo, the peculiar death of Walter by a nail gun sets Detective Winston on a challenging trail of clues, with Glenn and Dennis as prime suspects.

Winston exhaled a stream of smoke as he looked over his notes once more. There were five previous sightings of a man at the local zoo, groceries in hand, and each and every one of them connected to one individual - Glenn. He also found a receipt from the grocery store where Glenn works, it was a purchase for nails specifically for a nail gun.

Remembering a recent eyewitness report of a man on the day of the murder, Winston recalled the description of a man being similar to Glenn, who was spotted carrying a bulky tool bag. 

Winston found Glenn at his place of work. Here, he observed Glenn greeting customers by different names, which sent his antenna up. This detail was also mentioned by Glenn's co-workers who noticed the different names on the rota and found it strange.

Glenn, slightly bulky and distractedly stacking shelves, worked in the same grocery store. Curiously, he made a habit of filling out the work schedule with different names each week, a point his coworkers found as peculiar as Winston did.

The notes also mentioned that Glenn was a troubleshooter. Last winter, instead of hiring a professional, he fixed his leaky roof himself. The nails he bought earlier from the store were for this job, but no nail gun. He had to buy them from elsewhere because the store didn't sell those.

"Glenn?" Winston called out, getting the clerk's attention. Glenn turned, his round face projecting innocence.

"Can I help you?" He replied, offering Winston a smile.

"Winston Phillips, homicide," he introduced himself, flashing his badge briefly.

"Has there, uh, been a murder or something?" Glenn asked, feigning obliviousness.

"You could say that," Winston confirmed, "Could I ask where you were yesterday, Glenn?"

Glenn paused, scratching the back of his head before answering, "Took my little girl to the zoo. We've got a membership there. We always watch the monkeys get fed, it's always at the same time."

Winston's eyebrow lifted slightly. This matches the eyewitness reports placing Glenn at the zoo that day, and another reporting a bulky blue bag on his person.

"A tool bag to the zoo, Glenn?" Winston raised the question.

Glenn’s smile started to fade, "I usually carry it around with me for work, it's got all my tools." He said, a flicker of unease in his eyes, "In case I need them, you know."

Winston found these elements forming a clear image, but he knew better than to impress suspicion where it wasn't explicitly warranted. He would need more. More conversations, more observations, and more unearthing of Glenn’s peculiar behaviours.

Detective Winston brushed crumbs of his sandwich onto his pile of case files. His latest, involving a man named Walter, was proving rather intriguing. Walter had been involved in some questionable business deals... to put it mildly. An interesting detail in all this was that Walter's murder had occurred during an excursion to the local zoo.

Winston squinted his eyes at the witness statement in front of him, given by the key character in this tragedy, a man named Dennis. Dennis had been living with Walter as a foster son and had been a reluctant observer to Walter's illegal doings. He'd had a fear of Walter that was believable in its intensity. His words stuttered and shook on the page as he described how Walter threatened him with dire consequences.

Winston grabbed his keys and headed out to meet with Dennis at his worksite, the lad worked construction, a fact confirmed by Winston's preliminary check.

Approaching the site, Winston saw Dennis working with a nail gun, a tool that looked like a second skin on the young man's hand. Winston could see the professional ease of Dennis wielding the heavy tool and hit his targets with precision.

"Good afternoon, Dennis," Winston greeted him. The young man paused and turned towards him, his face a flicker of honest surprise. "Oh, hi, detective", he replied.

"Dennis", Winston started, "Can you confirm that Walter had invited you to the zoo that day?"

A chill ran over Dennis's face as he replied, "Yes, that's correct."

"Do you often go to the zoo?"

The young man got a far-off look in his eyes, "Yeah, we used to go often. Bonding.. they call it.."

"I see," Winston responded," and about your purchase at the hardware store the day before the visit..."

Dennis looked confused, "Yes, I frequently buy supplies for work. That day, it was a box of nails for my nail gun."

Looking around the site party in admiration and part nostalgia, Winston asked, "Work keeps you busy?"

Grinning at that, Dennis said, "It does, detective, but I had a free day... the day Walter died." His voice caught on the last sentence.

"Alright Dennis, thank you for your time", Winston said, turning on his heel to leave.

The zoo itself was Winston's next stop. He noted it was unusually quiet and several areas were deserted. Perfect chance for a murder, he mused, not that Dennis did it. There's plenty yet to uncover.

As he was exiting, Winston's phone buzzed. His latest query results for Dennis had arrived. The lad did visit a hardware store the day before Walter's murder. And the purchase details matched Dennis's account of buying nails for his nail gun.

Winston buckled up in his car and sighed heavily. There was a sense of fear creeping up his spine, not his own but one that belonged to a young construction worker. A troubled foster son. A possible suspect. A probable witness.

choices

• Glenn
• Dennis