It's Sunday afternoon and still nothing has come to my attention. I cannot even fathom what has happened to this woman. Is she dead? A prisoner? Or is she simply on vacation without telling anyone? I pace the room. Each step is like a haunting reminder that this is the first case I haven't begun to solve within three days. I stop and stare into the flames dancing in the fireplace. -The fireplace!- I thought. I grab my coat. I don't know why they say "raining cats and dogs." It would be better to say, "pouring frozen needles" for that's a better description of what this cold winters day feels like. My breath fogs up the air in front of me as I hurry down to my Mustang convertible. I got this car when I solved a case for a rather wealthy and grateful man. As I hurry to the scene of the crime I find that no one is there. Slipping under the yellow tape, I pull out my key to the house and enter. It's just as I had seen it three days ago. It was a perfectly normal house with nothing conspicuous whatsoever. I examined the fireplace and looked up into the chimney. I saw that the flu was closed, so I opened it to examine it further. I wish I hadn't. But it had to be done. I don't squeal like a silly girl would. Not that I'm used to seeing bodies with all their facial features cut off and then to see them stabbed in the heart several times, but I've never been the kind who runs away from blood and mangled bodies. The only shock I got was when the body nearly fell on me, but that was over quickly. I call the medics over and they take the body away to be examined.
"But how was it done?" asked Officer Sprint, one of the F.B.I. agents assigned to the case.
"With a regular kitchen knife," I replied.
"Yes, but where is it?"
"Most likely in the kitchen drawer with the rest of the silverware."
"But why are there no signs of blood?"
I raise my eyebrows. "But there are."
"Where?"
I point at the ceiling. "On the roof."
"What?"
I turn to Mr. Ginger, the husband of the woman who died. "I noticed you had a few things up on the roof. I assume you were having something done up there?"
"Yes, that's right. Many of the shingles had fallen off in the last wind we had, so I called someone to fix it."
"And he was supposed to come last Thursday, correct?"
"Yes."
"Well then, all he had to do was ask your wife to examine something on the roof and he could kill her right then and there and then stuff her down the chimney. No evidence would be found unless you opened the flu or checked the roof, which is something the F.B.I. never does."
"But why would he kill her?"
"What do you know of your wife's past?"
"Not much, we only met a year ago and got married after six months of dating. She told me her life was pretty boring and there wasn't a whole lot to tell except she grew up on a farm."
"Well, I would imagine that she wasn't telling you all she could tell." I check my watch. I'm supposed to meet someone that evening. "I believe that is all I have to offer at the moment. Now if you will excuse me gentlemen, I will leave you to the usual cleaning and examining and such. Good day." I walk out the door just as the sun peaks through a gap in the clouds.
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