Trueman Bradley - Aspie Detective (7 page)

“How blood stains look when they’re washed out?” she asked. “They’re invisible if they’re washed out, aren’t they?”

“No,” I said, “they’re not. I see them. And they’re easy to recognize. Only washed out blood stains look like that.”

“Amazing,” she said.

“Also, when the kid opened the door to apartment 20,” I said, “I could see inside the apartment. I saw some rags on the closet floor. These rags also had blood stains on them. Also, there was a faint smell of blood and soap coming from inside the apartment. As if someone had recently cleaned away blood.”

“You saw bloody rags?” she asked.

“Well, they were washed clean,” I said. “But I saw the traces of blood that remained. Yes. And I smelled it, too.”

Nora jumped up and down in her seat and her face had an expression I had only previously seen on children. Her sudden excitement alarmed me. She giggled so loudly that I had to cover my ears.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing’s wrong, Trueman!” she said. “This is great! If we can get back in there and take one of those rags, then we can send it to a laboratory to test if the blood belongs to the murder victim. Then we’ll have the evidence to arrest!”

“Oh. You mean we can arrest Eddie the carpenter?” I asked.

“Yes!” she said. “But we have to think of a way to get back into the apartment. It might be dangerous. Are you willing to try this with me, Trueman?”

She grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes, smiling. I thought this must be another sign that she was in love with me. I didn’t mind any danger. I wanted to keep Nora happy.

“I’m willing to face any danger with you,” I said.

“Great!” she said. “Then we’ll go back and try to out-smart the violent carpenter. And we’ll try not to get killed in the process! Sal, can we go back to 545 East 13th Street?”

“Si, Signora Lucca!” he said. “We’ll just turn right onto the East 14th Street loop and we’ll be there in five minutes!”

We were getting close to 545 East 13th Street.

“Stop the car!” shouted Nora.

The car stopped suddenly. This unexpected shout caused me to panic. I bent down and hid under my arms.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“Park here, Sal!” she said.

We parked on the side of the road.

“Raise the hood!” she said.

Sal pressed a button on the dashboard of the car. This type of Lincoln car has a leather hood. An electric button can raise the hood over the car. The leather hood began to unfold at the back of the car and covered the top of it.

Nora pushed me further down, against the seat.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Please stay down, Trueman!” she said. “It’s Eddie!”

I stopped looking at the floor and noticed Nora and Sal were also bent down and hiding. Outside of the car, I could see Eddie, walking on the sidewalk.

I could not interpret the look on his face. But the way he was swinging his arms and spitting on the sidewalk told me that he was drunk and was acting aggressively. I became terrified.

“What is he doing?” I asked. “Looking for us?”

“Maybe,” said Nora. “We need to be quiet. He might hear us. Here he comes! Stay down! Don’t let him see you.”

Eddie passed our car. I looked out the plastic window in the car hood and I could see his red, drunken eyes. They moved quickly, as if he was looking for someone. He passed by without seeing us and walked towards the café down the street.

“Why are we hiding from this man?” asked Sal.

“He’s a murderer and he’s looking for us,” said Nora.

“He looks like he’s ready to smash something!” he said.

“Well,” she said, “I doubt he’s looking for us because he wants to make friends. He’s probably thinking of smashing us.”

“I know you detectives make enemies sometimes,” said Sal, “but do you have to make such big enemies? He’s a giant!”

“What do we do?” I asked.

“Well, I don’t know,” she said. “I hoped we’d have more time to think about it. Stay down! He might come back!”

I hid my head under my arms. I could hear the familiar sound of Nora biting her fingernails. That meant she was nervous. I was scared of Eddie, but I wanted to make Nora happy. I decided to try to get the rag myself, without anyone’s help. If I did that, I could impress Nora and she would be sure to remain in love with me. Also, if I got the evidence, without any help, I could make amends for exposing our investigation twice. I could also prove to myself that I could be a great detective. Detective Sam Buckley and Malcolm Vrie would be forced to agree that I’m a great detective if I succeeded at this mission. I opened the car door and stepped outside.

“What are you doing?” asked Nora. “Get back in!”

“No,” I said. “I’ll get the rag myself.”

“You can’t!” she said. “You’ll get killed! That Eddie guy might be coming back, any time! If he sees you, you’re dead!”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I used my jerk magic detector. No one will be on the street for the next three and a half minutes! That gives me time to get into the apartment.”

I closed the car door. Nora rolled down the car window and stuck her head out. I recognized fear and concern on her face.

“Trueman!” she said. “You can’t do this by yourself!”

“Yes, I can,” I said. “You said I have a great mind, so I can think of a way to get the rag. Please, Nora, if you have confidence in me then let me accomplish this myself. I want to make amends for ruining our investigation. Let me do this myself, without help. I will think of a way to get the rag.”

I could not recognize the emotions on Nora’s face, but she touched my hand and squeezed it. I guessed this was another sign of love and it made my face turn red from pleasure.

“I have confidence in you, Trueman,” she said. “I’ll let you do it alone if it will prove my confidence in you. But remember we’ll be watching you. If you get into any serious trouble, just shout my name. I’ll come and help you.”

Nora rolled up the car window and looked at me. I recognized the affection on her face and it made me smile. I looked fearfully at where Eddie had gone. I couldn’t see him. I hoped my jerk magic equation was correct and I really had about two minutes of privacy. It was wrong 25 percent of the time.

I walked as fast as I could towards 545 East 13th Street. I hoped Eddie had left the front door of the apartment building unlocked, but it was locked. I looked up at the second floor of the building. The window of Eddie’s apartment was open and I heard a woman crying inside. I thought of jumping to catch the fire escape, like Nora did. But I soon realized Nora was more athletic than me. I have always been clumsy and not very good at sports. It was not possible for me to jump as high as Nora.

“What will I do?” I asked myself.

I looked at my wristwatch.

“I only have one minute and ten seconds!” I said.

I looked to where our Lincoln car was parked and saw Nora in the window. She waved her hand at me. After a few seconds, she opened the door and looked like she was coming to help me.

“No!” I shouted. “Don’t help me! I can do this!”

Nora must have heard me, because she stayed in the car and closed the door. I tried to think of a solution to this problem, but I couldn’t think of anything. I kicked at the sidewalk, from frustration. If I can’t think of anything, Nora will be disappointed. I’ll never prove I’m a good detective and I might even be killed by Eddie. I felt like crying.

“Trueman!” shouted Nora.

I saw Nora waving at me and pointing her finger towards the end of the street. Far away, I could see Eddie approaching. I backed against the front wall of the apartment building and looked at my wristwatch.

“Ah! My equation was right!” I said to myself. “A disturbance came, exactly when I predicted.”

I saw that Eddie was getting closer. He was moving towards me very quickly, as if he had seen me and was chasing me.

“I didn’t know the disturbance would be Eddie!” I said.

I stood with my back against the wall and felt a strong desire to think of my triangular number sequence and forget all about this dangerous job of being a detective.

“Oh, I wish I didn’t try to do this without help!” I said to myself. “Nora! Help me!”

The front door of the apartment building opened and Eddie Junior walked out onto the sidewalk. He saw me immediately and ran back into the apartment. I grabbed the door before it could close and followed him into the apartment building.

I closed the door and made sure it was locked.

“Oh, he probably has the key!” I said, to myself.

Eddie would be here any second, so I knew I had to hide myself from him. There was no place to hide in the first floor hall of this building. I saw nothing but a stairwell to the second floor and two doors that were locked. I thought of disguising myself, but I hadn’t brought any disguises with me.

There was a baseball cap on the floor. I took off my fedora and trench coat and sunglasses and hid them under some old newspapers. I put on the baseball cap and hid my face under the cap’s visor. I leaned against the wall and tried to look like an innocent bystander. Maybe he wouldn’t recognize me?

I saw the horrible face of Eddie through the glass of the front door. My heart started beating fast and sweat dripped down my face. I could recognize the anger on his face and I was terrified. I closed my eyes and hoped he wouldn’t notice me.

I heard Eddie unlocking the door and felt the draft caused by the door opening. Soon I felt breath on my face. It stank horribly like alcohol and Winston brand cigarettes. I was too afraid to open my eyes, even when he started talking to me.

“Who are you?” he asked.

His words sounded harsh and aggressive and the stink of his breath was making me dizzy.

“Leave me alone!” I said.

I tried to run past him, but my dizziness caused me to trip over my own feet. I stumbled across the hall and when I turned around, I saw Eddie running towards me and trying to send his fist into my face. His punch missed, because I tripped again.

I fell down on the floor, near the front door, and protected my head with my arms. I expected Eddie to start hitting me soon and I was too scared to even think of numbers.

“Stop right there!” shouted Nora. “Don’t move, Eddie! You’re under arrest for assault and battery!”

I looked up and saw Nora through the glass of the front door. She held a gun in her two hands and was pointing it at Eddie. Eddie had a look on his face that I couldn’t interpret. He stood still and slowly raised his hands over his head.

“Trueman!” said Nora. “Open the door for me, will you?”

I got up and unlocked the front door. Nora opened it and stepped inside. She pointed her gun at Eddie’s face.

“Stay perfectly still, Eddie,” she said.

Eddie’s facial expression hadn’t altered.

“What do you want?” he asked. “I didn’t do nothing.”

“You didn’t do nothing?” I asked. “So, you mean you did do something?”

“He means he did nothing,” said Nora.

“But he said he didn’t do nothing!” I said.

“Yeah, I know,” she said. “That’s just how he talks.”

“Oh,” I said. “I thought he was confessing his crime.”

“What do you mean?” he asked. “I did nothing wrong.”

“Yes, you did!” I said. “You killed Eric Lendalainen last night at 11:15 pm outside the apartment building at 620 East 13th Street.”

“Who says I did?” he asked. “Where’s the evidence?”

I looked at Nora. I had failed to get the rag, so we had no evidence. I expected to recognize disappointment on her face. But she was looking at my head and smiling wide.

“Trueman has the evidence,” she said.

“What?” I asked. “But I wasn’t able to get the rag.”

“Look at that hat on your head,” she said.

I took off my cap and looked at it. It was the cap Eddie Junior had been wearing. Eddie Junior’s cap must have fallen off his head when he ran away from me. I was so panicked, when I was trying to hide from Eddie, that I didn’t notice whose hat this was. I recognized the faint blood stains on the hat.

“Of course!” I said. “This is evidence! There is blood on this hat. Were you wearing this hat last night?”

“Yeah, so?” he asked. “There’s no blood on that hat.”

“Yes, there is,” I said. “You tried to wash it, but there are still faint blood stains on it. Someone like me who can see minute details can see the faint blood stains, even after you wash it. I can smell the blood too.”

“Good job, Trueman,” said Nora. “I had confidence that you could get the evidence.”

She smiled at me and I smiled back. I had only gotten the evidence because of good luck, not because of my intelligent planning, but I didn’t mention this to Nora. I was happy to be a success, and to have succeeded at impressing her. I didn’t want to ruin it by admitting I succeeded only because of luck.

Eddie’s facial expression changed and I recognized that he was feeling hatred for us. Nora’s face became more serious and she seemed ready to shoot him if he did anything threatening.

“Even if there was blood on that hat,” he said, “so what? Maybe it’s my blood. I cut myself sometimes when I’m working. You’ve got no proof it’s the blood of a murder victim.”

“We’ll send it to the crime lab,” said Nora. “They’ll discover whose blood it is. We know it’s the victim’s blood.”

“Oh, you know it, huh?” he asked. “Well, that doesn’t mean anything. You can’t arrest me just because you suspect it’s the victim’s blood. I know the law! Until you know for sure whose blood it is, I’m free to go. You’ve got no right to point a gun in my face! You’re the one that’s in trouble, lady. Not me! You’ll get in a lot of trouble for making this illegal arrest!”

“I don’t think so,” she said. “I witnessed you assaulting Trueman and I have a perfect right to arrest you for it. I’m a private detective and so is Trueman.”

“So, you’re not cops,” he said. “In that case, you got no right to arrest me. Only real cops have that right!”

“Wrong,” she said. “You said you know the law? If you knew the law, you’d know any citizen can make an arrest. We don’t have to be cops. But if you want cops so bad, we’ll get you some. Will that make you happy, Eddie? I’m sure they’ll be happy to know we found the murderer of Eric Lendalainen.”

She took a mobile phone from her pocket and gave it to me.

“Trueman,” she said, “would you please call the police and tell them how we solved the case that Malcolm Vrie could not solve? I’ll let you call them, since I know how much you’re going to enjoy making Malcolm look stupid.”

I was overjoyed at the thought of calling Detective Sam Buckley and telling him about my success. He would probably admit that I’m a great detective and maybe he’d let me help with some of his cases. I also loved the thought of proving to Malcolm Vrie that I wasn’t stupid. I had not only proven that my crime-fighting equation works, I had also proven that I was a better detective than Malcolm Vrie. I felt intensely happy.

I collected my trench coat, hat and sunglasses from under the newspapers and found the business card that Buckley had given me. I dialed his phone number and it rang three times.

“Hello,” said the voice on the phone. “This is Detective Buckley. Who’s this?”

“Detective!” I said. “This is Trueman Bradley!”

“Oh, Trueman,” he said. “Yeah, I remember you. Look, if you’re calling to talk about the details of that robbery, then please call me in about an hour, okay? I’m kinda busy now.”

“No, Detective!” I said. “I solved a murder! I found the man who murdered Eric Lendalainen! We are keeping the criminal here for you and we have some evidence. We’re at the apartment building at 545 East 13th Street. Can you come arrest him?”

“What?” he said. “You’ve got the murderer of Eric Lendalainen? But Malcolm Vrie is working on that case!”

“I know,” I said. “And we’re better detectives, because we solved the case, and he didn’t! I’ve proven my crime-fighting equation works. Do you think I’m a good detective now?”

“You say you have the murderer there with you?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “My friend Nora is pointing a gun at him.”