In the dark, gloomy hallway of the large cruise ship, a cloaked figure walked slowly down the hallway to his destination. Suddenly, he stopped at a large, metal door of 390. He grunted and knocked on the door with a heavy, CLANK, CLANK, CLANK! Soon after, he heard a groan and heavy footsteps coming to the door. The metal door swung open and standing there was the businessman, Casper. Casper stood with pouches under his eyes, still clad in his blue-striped pajamas.
“What are you doing here this late at night? Don’t say you’ve come to have a little chat?” he snarled.
“I have not come for a small chit-chat,” the cloaked figure calmly replied, “I’ve come to talk about much more important matters. How about we discuss more inside?”
“Come along then,” Casper snapped, “Just get it over with. I have a business meeting tomorrow at 6:00 am so you better be done soon.”
“Oh, I will. You don’t have to worry at all.”
The cloaked figure grinned as a gleam of sliver hinted at a knife tucked away in his back pocket. Casper slowly opened the door and the cloaked figure, who was now smiling from end to end, entered the room.
“Revenge shall be mine,” he muttered.
BOOM! CRACKLE!
Lightning shook the sky as rain poured down. It almost seemed as if the gods were crying.
BUZZ! BUZZ!
The walky-talky sounded as the tall, black-haired Detective Morsfer was happily enjoying his time relaxing next to a swimming pool.
“Morsfer, we’re gonna need you on this case,” spoke the caller as soon as Mr. Morsfer picked up his walky-talky.
“Wait, wait. You said I could have a month’s vacation leave. Now you’re telling me that I have a case to do while I’m on the cruise?” said Morsfer as he let out a large sigh. “What’s the case?”
“Now, now. No need to be so upset. The case is right on the same cruise that you’re taking.”
“Really now? That’s quite a coincidence.”
“Indeed, it is. Looks like luck was on our side when the case occurred on the same cruise that you’re on!”
“More like your side, not mine,” Morsfer muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
After being informed of the details of the murder, Morsfer prepared to look at the scene. He brought a magnifying glass, a notebook, a pencil, and a couple of sample tubes and made sure his beard hair didn’t ruin anything. As the detective slowly trudged towards the room of the crime scene, 390, he started to get a bad vibe about the room. Most of his cases dealt with stolen items or kidnapped people, but this vibe was telling him that this was not the case. As soon are he entered the large room of 390, he stopped and stared. His jaws dropped and froze like a statue. He couldn’t believe his eyes.
A corpse rested on the floor, the corpse of Casper. His was face frozen in shock and terror. Quickly, the detective rushed to get some blood and hair samples. As soon as he was done, he went to search for fingerprints and footprints which he found. Luckily, he found a small trail of footprints that led towards the door and out. However, the footprints, after a couple of feet out the door, soon disappeared down the hallway. In addition, they were smeared, so he couldn’t use them to find match footprints. Darn! Morsfer thought. This case was going not as he planned. Still, he quickly took a picture of the footprints and took notes on the look of the corpse and the way everything was arranged. Curiously, he prodded the blood.
“Interesting,” the detective whispered to the policeman next to him, “the blood is dry. Since the temperature of this room was 20 degrees Fahrenheit, I would roughly estimate that he died more than 60 minutes ago. In addition, he was last seen last night at 8:00 pm and now it is 7:00 am. The murder could have happened anywhere from 8:01 pm to 6:00 am. Check the security footage!”
“Sir,” a security guard called from behind, “we already checked, they all seem to be down from 12:00 am to 4:00 am.”
“Well, that will narrow down the time of the murder.”
“Sir, there also seems to be a note left behind.” As soon as that security guard said that every other officer shuddered.
“Let me see,” Morsfer snapped.
He snatched the note and read it.
“I’m still here,” the note read.
A shiver went down Morsfer’s spine.
“There might be another attack, we best be prepared for it,” Morsfer spoke as he quickly jotted down the mysterious note.
“Yes Sir, we’ll be on active duty 24/7 Sir!” replied the security.
“Good, now I must go study the samples.” yelled the detective as he rushed to his room.
At the detective’s lab, he slowly started to test to see if there is anyone else’s DNA that wasn’t Casper’s, Morsfer’s, or the security guards themselves. He carefully placed the samples of Casper’s hair into the delicate container. While he waited for each different DNA strand to separate, he sat and looked at his notebook.
Quite peculiar, thought the great detective. Why did the security footage go out around 12:00 am to 4:00 am? Never in my life did this happen before. This murder was obviously planned out.
The detective shuddered. Soon, the humming noise of the engines and the dim lighting brought him to sleep in his comfy rocking chair.
DING, DING, DING! The alarm clock rang. The detective shot right out of his chair and bolted straight for the DNA samples.
They should be done by now, he thought, with this evidence, I will surely find the culprit of the murder.
As soon as he reached his testing room his thoughts stopped at the shock. There were not one, or two, or three, but four different DNA samples from 12:00 am to 4:00 am. They were Todd, the janitor, Jimfer, Casper’s wife, Timm, one of Casper’s many employers, and Erbert, another employee of Casper.
At least this will narrow down the suspects, Morsfer thought gloomily as he quickly dialed the security and police to inform them about his discoveries.
“Sir, we shall bring them right away.” answered the police.
“Good, but I am still wondering, how did our security cameras fail at that certain time from 12:00 to 4:00? It was almost as if someone purposely did it so they wouldn’t be caught,” Morsfer scratched his beard, “I got it! Check who was on duty last night. Then we can see who was on duty during the blackout and question them on why it happened.”
“Sir yes Sir!” the cops replied as they quickly hung up the phone to rush to work.
After about an hour, the police arrived at the detective’s cabin. Each officer was exhausted from running around the cruise ship looking for each suspect and the security records. The first suspect in line was Erbert, a short, black-haired man. He sat trembling and muttering, Did I do something wrong? Next to him was a tall, handsome man named Timm. He was looking at his nails and didn’t look angry or even frightened by the security. Nearby was tall, skinny Jimfer who was busy screaming at one of the security members to bring her to the crime scene. Finally, was Todd, a tall, blond-haired man who was quietly sitting down in a chair.
“Sir, we have the culprits, but unfortunately, all the records were somehow erased,” the security guard nervously told the detective.
“It’s fine. I’m sure we’ll find the killer today,” Morsfer calmly replied, “Now Erbert, can you please tell me what you did and where you were from 12:00 am to 4:00 am?”
“A… At 12:00 am, I was still preparing for Casper’s business meeting at 6:00 am,” squeaked Erbert, “This was a very important meeting, so it…it took a lot of time to prepare for the speech and his documents. I had to go to his cabin with Timm around 2:00 am to review the documents and revise our speeches. It was raining pretty hard though.”
“Okay, and you, Timm, do you agree with this story, is it true?”
“Yes sir, I was obviously with Erbert on our way to Casper to practice our speeches,” spoke Timm who was still looking at his nails.
“And you, Jimfer, where were you at from 12:00 am to 4:00 pm?” Morsfer ordered.
“I was at my husband’s cabin at 12:00 am and 4:00 am.”
Detective Morsfer jotted it down in his notebook. He thought: why didn’t she hear the murder if it took place in the very cabin she was in unless she wasn’t completely telling the truth? Before Morsfer could answer, Erbert and Timm replied.
“I don’t believe you,” Erbert and Timm both said at the same time which cause everyone to drop their jaws.
“I mean; you weren’t home when I came.” Timm continued.
“S… Same, ” stuttered Erbert.
“WHY YOU—” Jimfer screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Calm down, calm down, everyone, there is no need for yelling. Jimfer, it’s obvious that you were telling lies. You would have screamed or protected your husband if you saw or heard your husband being attacked. Also, even if you were deep asleep, would you have at least heard your husband screaming for help considering there are no doors in your cabin aside from the bathroom and your husband was attacked near the bedroom,” Morsfer calmly spoke, “Now can you tell us where you were during the murder?”
Jimfer, who was trembling on her knees, muttered, “I was outside around 1:00 am to 5:00 am to enjoy the nighttime breeze.”
“Nighttime breeze?”
Morsfer still didn’t look convinced. He jotted on how her knees were trembling and how she muttered but, her facial expressions looked like she was being truthful.
“Last but not least, Mr. Todd, where were you from 12:00 am to 4:00 am?”
“Well, I was cleaning the ship and the dining room.” Todd calmly replied, “I am the janitor, what else would I be doing?”
Morsfer nodded. Everyone so far had a truthful facial expression. The only one that was suspicious was Jimfer, but Todd, Erbert, and Timm could be just as guilty.
As Morsfer walked back to his cabin, he continued to look around him. Whoosh. The breeze blew across the wooden deck. SPLASH. Kids were happily jumping into the swimming pool. He smiled and thought: why did a murder have to happen on this happy cruise ship?
At his cabin, he continued to look at the evidence he’d collected for that day. As he looked at what each person told him, he thought, If Todd was only cleaning the dining room and deck, how did he get his DNA on Casper’s hair and shirt from 12:00 am to 4:00 am?
Then the puzzle clicked: unless Todd was in Casper’s room at the time.
Morsfer quickly ran to his phone and called security.
“Find Todd! Find Todd! His testimony was false for why his DNA was on Casper from 12:00 am to 4:00 am.”
“Sir yes sir.” replied the security, “Also, we found the record. Albert was supposed to be on duty, but he never arrived.”
“WHAT? Find Albert as well!” yelled Morsfer.
“Sir, yes sir!”
As hours passed, neither the security nor the passengers heard of Todd or Albert. Morsfer angrily stomped around his cabin. It seemed that Todd and Albert had both disappeared into thin air. Slowly, hours turned into days, and still, the search continued.
RING RING RING! went the detective’s yellow phone.
“Hello, Detective Morsfer speaking.”
“Sir, we may have found something in the corner of the engine room.”
“That’s great! I’m going right away!” Morsfer shouted as he quickly grabbed all his necessities for the case.
He shot out of his room like a steaming bullet and raced down the well-designed, wooden stairs into the dark, gloomy basement.
Chunga chunga chunga chunga went the engine room. There he could see all the suspects and security.
“Where is it?!” Morsfer asked.
“Here sir.” replied a security guard as he shifted the heavy barrel full of coal.
With a large grunt, the barrel toppled over and revealed a tiny, dark hole, just large enough for one person to go through at a time.
“Well, I guess we must go through, you may go first,” Morsfer spoke in a polite tone.
“No, no, I insist, you can go first,” one of the security members, Turtle, spoke back in an even more polite tone.
“STOP THIS FOR I SHALL GO FIRST!” yelled another tall, blond-haired security member named Zoe, who procced to crawl right into the pitch-black hole.
Morsfer and Turtle sighed in relief. After Zoe crawled into the dark abyss, Morsfer crawled next. He shivered even though the room was heated from the engines.
Through the darkness, Morsfer could hear muffled yelling. He quickly finished the crawl through the tunnel and ran to the end of the room. There with the Morsfer’s flashlight, he saw skinny, small Albert tied in the corner of the dark room.
After his rescue, Albert sat on a wooden chair in Morsfer’s cabin, still trembling from his experience of being in a tiny, dark room.
“So, who put you in such a horrible area and why?” asked Morsfer.
“I… I don’t know, one moment I was preparing for my duty, and the next, I was in the dark, creepy area. I barely ate! All I saw was someone with a mustache. I definitely know that there were two people involved.”
“Okay then. Todd does have a mustache so; it was most likely him who did it. Anything else?”
“Oh yes, I heard them say something about a lifeboat.”
Darn, though Morsfer, We know they are going to try to escape by we don’t know when.
“Also, I know that it is going to be at night.”
“Obviously it’s going to be at night! It’s the only time these people could do something like that without any attention.” Morsfer then ran to call security.
“Patrol the decks at night from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am, okay?”
“Sir yes sir, but why?”
“Albert told me some interesting news including that these people are going to escape.”
“Oh, I see then, we shall patrol the decks at night then, with more security.”
“Good, can you also look for Jimfer? I have a feeling she might be involved.”
“Yes sir!” shouted the head security before he hung up.
Now, we must wait, Morsfer thought as he went to check on Albert again.
As night fell, so did the number of people. They slowly went back to their rooms to escape the now rapidly cooling air. Morsfer could see the security members rushing up and down as they guarded the lifeboats against any unwanted guests. As he put his head on his pillow, he could hear the thumping sounds from the boots of the security. Flashlights showed every inch of the deck. There were so many guards that it seemed as if an ant wouldn’t escape their frightening gaze.
Thud, thud, thud, thud. The rhythmic pattern of the boots on the deck slowly brought sleep to Morsfer’s exhausted eyes.
RING, RING, RING! went Morsfer’s phone.
“It’s 3:00 am, what do you want?” he barked.
“We saw someone trying to use the lifeboat 76!” Come right away!”
“I’M COMING RIGHT NOW!” yelled Morsfer as he rushed to pack his bag. He dashed to lifeboat 76 in his pajamas despite the cold rain. Once on the site, he quickly checked for fingerprints. Alas, there was none. He scanned around the drenched, wooden deck.
“Hah, there are some footprints, we must follow them!” cried the detective, “After them!”
“Yes Sir!”
The security guards and Morsfer gave chase on the soaked floor, careful not to slip. BOOM! Thunder shook the sky! Rain poured from overhead. The security guards and Morsfer turned left, then right, and left again. They passed the dining room, then the gym, and at last the ballroom. Unfortunately, he was gone.
“WHERE COULD HE BE, BACK TO THE LIFEBOATS, HE MUST’NT ESCAPE AT ANY COST,” screamed Morsfer.
They quickly sprinted back to the lifeboat. When they got to the dining room though, the doors were locked.
“The only people who could make such realistic footsteps and have the keys to the door are Todd and Jimfer. We must get them. It will take them some time to cut the ropes. Once they are in the water though…”
There was a pause. Both the detective and security knew what would happen.
WHAM! went a chair. POW, SLAM, WHACK! Went the furniture as it all went flying against the door to break it down.
“Stop this, the furniture is doing nothing to the door. We must find something sharp. Wait, don’t we have an emergency fire ax? We must…. oh, there’s one. GET IT!” Morsfer snapped.
They all ran across the now messy dining room to grab the ax. In the distance, they could hear a rope snap in two.
“HURRY HURRY, DON’T LET THEM ESCAPE!”
One of the security guards grabbed hold of the red fire ax and lifted it above his head. CRACK, WHAM! The doors broke as the security and the detective fell onto the deck. Ahead of them, they saw Todd and Jimfer trying with all their might to saw off the last rope. Before the detective and the security members with him could get to the boat, the other security member jumped aboard and grabbed them.
“GET OFF OF ME YOU—”
“SILENCE!” shouted the detective, “You are under arrest for murder and kidnapping. Take them away!”
As the police drove Todd and Jimfer to the prison, Morsfer asked Todd as many questions as possible.
“Now tell me, how did you close the cameras?
“That was easy, I just knocked Albert out and took keys,” he shrugged.
“Okay, now why did you want to kill Casper?”
“He removed my family went he bought all the land that my family farm was on. Then he fired me from my job when he bought the company I worked for!”
“Okay, and you Jimfer, why did you want to kill Casper.”
“Same reasons as Todd except he fired my dad, and this caused my family to starve.”
Wow, thought Morsfer, I didn’t think that Casper had such an evil personality.
“This doesn’t give you the right to kill. You’ll still be sentenced to jail.” said the police.
“Good job Morsfer. I knew you could do it!” exclaimed the chief of security.
“Why thank you. Now, that this case is out of the way, I shall be in my cabin resting. Goodbye.” Detective Morsfer remarked.
He sprinted back to his cabin to enjoy the rest of his vacation and left everyone in shock.
“What are you doing here this late at night? Don’t say you’ve come to have a little chat?” he snarled.
“I have not come for a small chit-chat,” the cloaked figure calmly replied, “I’ve come to talk about much more important matters. How about we discuss more inside?”
“Come along then,” Casper snapped, “Just get it over with. I have a business meeting tomorrow at 6:00 am so you better be done soon.”
“Oh, I will. You don’t have to worry at all.”
The cloaked figure grinned as a gleam of sliver hinted at a knife tucked away in his back pocket. Casper slowly opened the door and the cloaked figure, who was now smiling from end to end, entered the room.
“Revenge shall be mine,” he muttered.
BOOM! CRACKLE!
Lightning shook the sky as rain poured down. It almost seemed as if the gods were crying.
BUZZ! BUZZ!
The walky-talky sounded as the tall, black-haired Detective Morsfer was happily enjoying his time relaxing next to a swimming pool.
“Morsfer, we’re gonna need you on this case,” spoke the caller as soon as Mr. Morsfer picked up his walky-talky.
“Wait, wait. You said I could have a month’s vacation leave. Now you’re telling me that I have a case to do while I’m on the cruise?” said Morsfer as he let out a large sigh. “What’s the case?”
“Now, now. No need to be so upset. The case is right on the same cruise that you’re taking.”
“Really now? That’s quite a coincidence.”
“Indeed, it is. Looks like luck was on our side when the case occurred on the same cruise that you’re on!”
“More like your side, not mine,” Morsfer muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
After being informed of the details of the murder, Morsfer prepared to look at the scene. He brought a magnifying glass, a notebook, a pencil, and a couple of sample tubes and made sure his beard hair didn’t ruin anything. As the detective slowly trudged towards the room of the crime scene, 390, he started to get a bad vibe about the room. Most of his cases dealt with stolen items or kidnapped people, but this vibe was telling him that this was not the case. As soon are he entered the large room of 390, he stopped and stared. His jaws dropped and froze like a statue. He couldn’t believe his eyes.
A corpse rested on the floor, the corpse of Casper. His was face frozen in shock and terror. Quickly, the detective rushed to get some blood and hair samples. As soon as he was done, he went to search for fingerprints and footprints which he found. Luckily, he found a small trail of footprints that led towards the door and out. However, the footprints, after a couple of feet out the door, soon disappeared down the hallway. In addition, they were smeared, so he couldn’t use them to find match footprints. Darn! Morsfer thought. This case was going not as he planned. Still, he quickly took a picture of the footprints and took notes on the look of the corpse and the way everything was arranged. Curiously, he prodded the blood.
“Interesting,” the detective whispered to the policeman next to him, “the blood is dry. Since the temperature of this room was 20 degrees Fahrenheit, I would roughly estimate that he died more than 60 minutes ago. In addition, he was last seen last night at 8:00 pm and now it is 7:00 am. The murder could have happened anywhere from 8:01 pm to 6:00 am. Check the security footage!”
“Sir,” a security guard called from behind, “we already checked, they all seem to be down from 12:00 am to 4:00 am.”
“Well, that will narrow down the time of the murder.”
“Sir, there also seems to be a note left behind.” As soon as that security guard said that every other officer shuddered.
“Let me see,” Morsfer snapped.
He snatched the note and read it.
“I’m still here,” the note read.
A shiver went down Morsfer’s spine.
“There might be another attack, we best be prepared for it,” Morsfer spoke as he quickly jotted down the mysterious note.
“Yes Sir, we’ll be on active duty 24/7 Sir!” replied the security.
“Good, now I must go study the samples.” yelled the detective as he rushed to his room.
At the detective’s lab, he slowly started to test to see if there is anyone else’s DNA that wasn’t Casper’s, Morsfer’s, or the security guards themselves. He carefully placed the samples of Casper’s hair into the delicate container. While he waited for each different DNA strand to separate, he sat and looked at his notebook.
Quite peculiar, thought the great detective. Why did the security footage go out around 12:00 am to 4:00 am? Never in my life did this happen before. This murder was obviously planned out.
The detective shuddered. Soon, the humming noise of the engines and the dim lighting brought him to sleep in his comfy rocking chair.
DING, DING, DING! The alarm clock rang. The detective shot right out of his chair and bolted straight for the DNA samples.
They should be done by now, he thought, with this evidence, I will surely find the culprit of the murder.
As soon as he reached his testing room his thoughts stopped at the shock. There were not one, or two, or three, but four different DNA samples from 12:00 am to 4:00 am. They were Todd, the janitor, Jimfer, Casper’s wife, Timm, one of Casper’s many employers, and Erbert, another employee of Casper.
At least this will narrow down the suspects, Morsfer thought gloomily as he quickly dialed the security and police to inform them about his discoveries.
“Sir, we shall bring them right away.” answered the police.
“Good, but I am still wondering, how did our security cameras fail at that certain time from 12:00 to 4:00? It was almost as if someone purposely did it so they wouldn’t be caught,” Morsfer scratched his beard, “I got it! Check who was on duty last night. Then we can see who was on duty during the blackout and question them on why it happened.”
“Sir yes Sir!” the cops replied as they quickly hung up the phone to rush to work.
After about an hour, the police arrived at the detective’s cabin. Each officer was exhausted from running around the cruise ship looking for each suspect and the security records. The first suspect in line was Erbert, a short, black-haired man. He sat trembling and muttering, Did I do something wrong? Next to him was a tall, handsome man named Timm. He was looking at his nails and didn’t look angry or even frightened by the security. Nearby was tall, skinny Jimfer who was busy screaming at one of the security members to bring her to the crime scene. Finally, was Todd, a tall, blond-haired man who was quietly sitting down in a chair.
“Sir, we have the culprits, but unfortunately, all the records were somehow erased,” the security guard nervously told the detective.
“It’s fine. I’m sure we’ll find the killer today,” Morsfer calmly replied, “Now Erbert, can you please tell me what you did and where you were from 12:00 am to 4:00 am?”
“A… At 12:00 am, I was still preparing for Casper’s business meeting at 6:00 am,” squeaked Erbert, “This was a very important meeting, so it…it took a lot of time to prepare for the speech and his documents. I had to go to his cabin with Timm around 2:00 am to review the documents and revise our speeches. It was raining pretty hard though.”
“Okay, and you, Timm, do you agree with this story, is it true?”
“Yes sir, I was obviously with Erbert on our way to Casper to practice our speeches,” spoke Timm who was still looking at his nails.
“And you, Jimfer, where were you at from 12:00 am to 4:00 pm?” Morsfer ordered.
“I was at my husband’s cabin at 12:00 am and 4:00 am.”
Detective Morsfer jotted it down in his notebook. He thought: why didn’t she hear the murder if it took place in the very cabin she was in unless she wasn’t completely telling the truth? Before Morsfer could answer, Erbert and Timm replied.
“I don’t believe you,” Erbert and Timm both said at the same time which cause everyone to drop their jaws.
“I mean; you weren’t home when I came.” Timm continued.
“S… Same, ” stuttered Erbert.
“WHY YOU—” Jimfer screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Calm down, calm down, everyone, there is no need for yelling. Jimfer, it’s obvious that you were telling lies. You would have screamed or protected your husband if you saw or heard your husband being attacked. Also, even if you were deep asleep, would you have at least heard your husband screaming for help considering there are no doors in your cabin aside from the bathroom and your husband was attacked near the bedroom,” Morsfer calmly spoke, “Now can you tell us where you were during the murder?”
Jimfer, who was trembling on her knees, muttered, “I was outside around 1:00 am to 5:00 am to enjoy the nighttime breeze.”
“Nighttime breeze?”
Morsfer still didn’t look convinced. He jotted on how her knees were trembling and how she muttered but, her facial expressions looked like she was being truthful.
“Last but not least, Mr. Todd, where were you from 12:00 am to 4:00 am?”
“Well, I was cleaning the ship and the dining room.” Todd calmly replied, “I am the janitor, what else would I be doing?”
Morsfer nodded. Everyone so far had a truthful facial expression. The only one that was suspicious was Jimfer, but Todd, Erbert, and Timm could be just as guilty.
As Morsfer walked back to his cabin, he continued to look around him. Whoosh. The breeze blew across the wooden deck. SPLASH. Kids were happily jumping into the swimming pool. He smiled and thought: why did a murder have to happen on this happy cruise ship?
At his cabin, he continued to look at the evidence he’d collected for that day. As he looked at what each person told him, he thought, If Todd was only cleaning the dining room and deck, how did he get his DNA on Casper’s hair and shirt from 12:00 am to 4:00 am?
Then the puzzle clicked: unless Todd was in Casper’s room at the time.
Morsfer quickly ran to his phone and called security.
“Find Todd! Find Todd! His testimony was false for why his DNA was on Casper from 12:00 am to 4:00 am.”
“Sir yes sir.” replied the security, “Also, we found the record. Albert was supposed to be on duty, but he never arrived.”
“WHAT? Find Albert as well!” yelled Morsfer.
“Sir, yes sir!”
As hours passed, neither the security nor the passengers heard of Todd or Albert. Morsfer angrily stomped around his cabin. It seemed that Todd and Albert had both disappeared into thin air. Slowly, hours turned into days, and still, the search continued.
RING RING RING! went the detective’s yellow phone.
“Hello, Detective Morsfer speaking.”
“Sir, we may have found something in the corner of the engine room.”
“That’s great! I’m going right away!” Morsfer shouted as he quickly grabbed all his necessities for the case.
He shot out of his room like a steaming bullet and raced down the well-designed, wooden stairs into the dark, gloomy basement.
Chunga chunga chunga chunga went the engine room. There he could see all the suspects and security.
“Where is it?!” Morsfer asked.
“Here sir.” replied a security guard as he shifted the heavy barrel full of coal.
With a large grunt, the barrel toppled over and revealed a tiny, dark hole, just large enough for one person to go through at a time.
“Well, I guess we must go through, you may go first,” Morsfer spoke in a polite tone.
“No, no, I insist, you can go first,” one of the security members, Turtle, spoke back in an even more polite tone.
“STOP THIS FOR I SHALL GO FIRST!” yelled another tall, blond-haired security member named Zoe, who procced to crawl right into the pitch-black hole.
Morsfer and Turtle sighed in relief. After Zoe crawled into the dark abyss, Morsfer crawled next. He shivered even though the room was heated from the engines.
Through the darkness, Morsfer could hear muffled yelling. He quickly finished the crawl through the tunnel and ran to the end of the room. There with the Morsfer’s flashlight, he saw skinny, small Albert tied in the corner of the dark room.
After his rescue, Albert sat on a wooden chair in Morsfer’s cabin, still trembling from his experience of being in a tiny, dark room.
“So, who put you in such a horrible area and why?” asked Morsfer.
“I… I don’t know, one moment I was preparing for my duty, and the next, I was in the dark, creepy area. I barely ate! All I saw was someone with a mustache. I definitely know that there were two people involved.”
“Okay then. Todd does have a mustache so; it was most likely him who did it. Anything else?”
“Oh yes, I heard them say something about a lifeboat.”
Darn, though Morsfer, We know they are going to try to escape by we don’t know when.
“Also, I know that it is going to be at night.”
“Obviously it’s going to be at night! It’s the only time these people could do something like that without any attention.” Morsfer then ran to call security.
“Patrol the decks at night from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am, okay?”
“Sir yes sir, but why?”
“Albert told me some interesting news including that these people are going to escape.”
“Oh, I see then, we shall patrol the decks at night then, with more security.”
“Good, can you also look for Jimfer? I have a feeling she might be involved.”
“Yes sir!” shouted the head security before he hung up.
Now, we must wait, Morsfer thought as he went to check on Albert again.
As night fell, so did the number of people. They slowly went back to their rooms to escape the now rapidly cooling air. Morsfer could see the security members rushing up and down as they guarded the lifeboats against any unwanted guests. As he put his head on his pillow, he could hear the thumping sounds from the boots of the security. Flashlights showed every inch of the deck. There were so many guards that it seemed as if an ant wouldn’t escape their frightening gaze.
Thud, thud, thud, thud. The rhythmic pattern of the boots on the deck slowly brought sleep to Morsfer’s exhausted eyes.
RING, RING, RING! went Morsfer’s phone.
“It’s 3:00 am, what do you want?” he barked.
“We saw someone trying to use the lifeboat 76!” Come right away!”
“I’M COMING RIGHT NOW!” yelled Morsfer as he rushed to pack his bag. He dashed to lifeboat 76 in his pajamas despite the cold rain. Once on the site, he quickly checked for fingerprints. Alas, there was none. He scanned around the drenched, wooden deck.
“Hah, there are some footprints, we must follow them!” cried the detective, “After them!”
“Yes Sir!”
The security guards and Morsfer gave chase on the soaked floor, careful not to slip. BOOM! Thunder shook the sky! Rain poured from overhead. The security guards and Morsfer turned left, then right, and left again. They passed the dining room, then the gym, and at last the ballroom. Unfortunately, he was gone.
“WHERE COULD HE BE, BACK TO THE LIFEBOATS, HE MUST’NT ESCAPE AT ANY COST,” screamed Morsfer.
They quickly sprinted back to the lifeboat. When they got to the dining room though, the doors were locked.
“The only people who could make such realistic footsteps and have the keys to the door are Todd and Jimfer. We must get them. It will take them some time to cut the ropes. Once they are in the water though…”
There was a pause. Both the detective and security knew what would happen.
WHAM! went a chair. POW, SLAM, WHACK! Went the furniture as it all went flying against the door to break it down.
“Stop this, the furniture is doing nothing to the door. We must find something sharp. Wait, don’t we have an emergency fire ax? We must…. oh, there’s one. GET IT!” Morsfer snapped.
They all ran across the now messy dining room to grab the ax. In the distance, they could hear a rope snap in two.
“HURRY HURRY, DON’T LET THEM ESCAPE!”
One of the security guards grabbed hold of the red fire ax and lifted it above his head. CRACK, WHAM! The doors broke as the security and the detective fell onto the deck. Ahead of them, they saw Todd and Jimfer trying with all their might to saw off the last rope. Before the detective and the security members with him could get to the boat, the other security member jumped aboard and grabbed them.
“GET OFF OF ME YOU—”
“SILENCE!” shouted the detective, “You are under arrest for murder and kidnapping. Take them away!”
As the police drove Todd and Jimfer to the prison, Morsfer asked Todd as many questions as possible.
“Now tell me, how did you close the cameras?
“That was easy, I just knocked Albert out and took keys,” he shrugged.
“Okay, now why did you want to kill Casper?”
“He removed my family went he bought all the land that my family farm was on. Then he fired me from my job when he bought the company I worked for!”
“Okay, and you Jimfer, why did you want to kill Casper.”
“Same reasons as Todd except he fired my dad, and this caused my family to starve.”
Wow, thought Morsfer, I didn’t think that Casper had such an evil personality.
“This doesn’t give you the right to kill. You’ll still be sentenced to jail.” said the police.
“Good job Morsfer. I knew you could do it!” exclaimed the chief of security.
“Why thank you. Now, that this case is out of the way, I shall be in my cabin resting. Goodbye.” Detective Morsfer remarked.
He sprinted back to his cabin to enjoy the rest of his vacation and left everyone in shock.
