The Detective

“Breaking news, the lead candidate running for mayor has been shot. He is dead,” The news anchor announced on TV. Many watched in horror, anger, and some even cried. After all, he was a very popular Candidate, and polls showed he had a 20-point lead over his opponent. At police headquarters, the chief decided to assign three detectives to the case, the lead being James Greener.

As James Greener walked into the office, he told the two other detectives, “Just do whatever I say and we will find the criminal in no time.” The other detectives nodded with respect at Greener, who had solved many criminal cases when others failed to. “First, I need all the evidence we’ve got so far.”

Then one of the detectives handed Greener the evidence, which included DNA evidence along with other items. Greener placed the evidence in a safe under his desk and locked it. Puzzled, the detective asked, “Why did you do that?”

“To keep it safe,” Greener replied. Then, Greener went to his computer and, while checking his email, told the others, “Leave my office, please.” When he was sure everyone had left, Greener took the DNA evidence home but registered all the other evidence. Once he finished registering the evidence, he packed up and drove home.

The next day, Greener told the other detectives in a meeting, “Do not register any evidence without my permission, please do not copy or surveillance footage because I will handle that, and most importantly, I will interview witnesses.”

When the first witness, the candidate’s wife, arrived for her interview, Greener started discussing loop-around questions and tried various methods to kill time. However, he knew he couldn’t go too off topic since the meeting was recorded and would be released to the public once the investigation concluded. After the interview, the investigation went nowhere, and Greener used the same methods with all the witnesses.

After the witness interview was completed, Greener went to the other deactivated desks and checked their emails for any results on DNA testing that may have been requested by them. Whenever the other detectives were close, he closed everything out and ran away from their desk. However, when one of the detectives spotted Greener, who did not know he was being watched, checking his emails, his suspicions rose.

From then on, the detective told his partner to close their computer whenever they left their desk. After that, Greener failed to check their emails, which angered him. One day he told the detectives, “If you want to move these investigations, please give me access to your emails.”

However, one of the detectives replied, “According to privacy laws, we don’t have to give it to you, so sorry.” When the DNA tests arrived by email, they listed only one person under the DNA on the Mayoral candidate. That one person was James Greener.

Immediately, they walked over to Greener’s office with handcuffs and told him, “You are under arrest for the murder of a Mayoral candidate.”

Greener, shocked, tried to find any way to escape, but found his office only had one way in and one way out. He decided to tell them, “You found me,” and surrendered.

At trial, James Greener pleaded guilty to murdering the mayoral candidate and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.