The End of Ed

The operator hung up on him, leaving him on the floor with Margaret’s lifeless body. There was no way that he could let this go. Somehow… some way… she had passed beyond this world. He would have to find out how. No one else would help him. He set to interviewing the others. Everything was written down with the same meticulous care that he’d used with everything in his life.

Miko had been bathing… her music was on (she preferred older heavy metal bands), and so she was unable to hear anything. It had an odd feel to it. Miko was hiding something… but what?

The others had been together in pairs, each alibi hard to refute. Belle and Denise had been arguing in the kitchen, loud enough so that Pat had heard Belle scream across the apartment. Pat and Cheryl had been in Ed’s bedroom, reading a fascinating volume on human anatomy that Ed had acquired some time ago and never bothered to get rid of.

It occurred to Ed that there was nothing he could do in regards to this injustice when there was a knock at the door.

“Sir? It’s the police. Would you mind opening up? We’d like to talk.”

Ed opened the door. The voice on the other side of the door was imposing, but not half as imposing as the man who possessed it. His badge was proudly displayed with the shine of a newly recruited officer. For a moment Ed wondered if a partner would be around. His question was answered shortly by a woman, withered in years and seasoned in the way that police officers often are… by pain and duty. Her hair wanted to go gray, but she’d not let it. She spoke next.

“We understand that you have a homicide?” It was a bored question, but it gave Ed hope that this was being taken seriously by someone.

“I… I found her on the floor,” he said as he gestured to Margaret, who was now inside of a carefully marked outline. “I didn’t touch anything…” He offered her his notebook, “but I took notes. Interviewed everyone.”

She looked over the notes, raising an eyebrow with every turned page. “A bit predictable, but good work. Figured out who did it yet?”

“N-no.” He blinked.

The ancient officer pointed to the kitchen, which only had a counter separating it from the living room where the body was found. “Denise did it. Miko and Belle were making out in the bathroom, but Belle was only doing it to give Denise time.”

The larger man blinked. He’d been certain they had come to read the guy the riot act for calling up on what was perhaps the slowest day he’d worked on. He’d only worked for 2 weeks, but he still expected Trish to be more heavy handed than that. She gave him a warning look not to say a word, but spoke herself.

“Our justice can’t help you,” she said to Ed, “but you might consider writing it out and turning it over at my desk when you’re done. I’ll see what I can do.”

“He’s not hurting anyone,” she said to her partner, before shutting the door.

Ed, dutifully, wrote down everything that happened. He turned it over to Patricia Closkey’s desk at Precinct 13 very quietly. He was fired from his job at the doll factory. Patricia’s uncle proved to have some clout with a publisher and got Ed’s novel a viewing, which went over well… mysteries often sell well. Ed never did manage to move out of the basement apartment that he occupied with the dolls, but he did live alright off of his savings and the income from the books, which he kept writing. Not all of them were mysteries, of course… dolls lead such interesting lives.