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thatbluewoman

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At precisely 10:16am, a young boy discovered the chopped-up remains of a murdered woman stuffed into an overly large red teddy bear. The backstitches of the bear had been sewn on messily. Curious, the boy had tugged at a loose thread hanging off the neck of the bear and the wobbly head came off with a resounding rip!, uncovering the bloody stump of a leg protruding from the inside of the teddy bear. The boy had screamed like the world had come to an end. The police arrived at the scene ten minutes later.

Kyd, the boy who had discovered the piece of the women hidden in the teddy bear, sits frozen stiff in his chair, his eyes wide, full of fear and shock. His skin is a chalky, pale white that is nearly turning blue. The body has been identified as Samantha “Sam” May, mother of Kyd. Her time of death is estimated at around 10:30pm in the previous night. The video cameras have been collected for screening. So far, nothing has come up on the camera screen. Gilbert, the detective who has been assigned on this case, has yet to receive the autopsy from the forensics experts.

Meanwhile, Gilbert interviews Frank.

“Where were you at the time of her death?” Gilbert questions.

“I was at home, reading Kyd a bedtime story.” Frank replies, filled with grief. “The story was ‘Clifford, The Big Red Dog’. It’s his favorite story.”

“Did you realize Sam was gone?”

“No, I didn’t worry too much, at first. Sam usually works late, cleaning up the place,” Frank said, “and I thought she would come home later. I fell asleep in front of the TV at around eleven pm.”
Gilbert scribbles this down. “Would you kill her? Ever think about it?”

“No! I would never do that! I loved her!”

“I understand Kyd is not your real son. Did you know his biological father?”

“His dad is Al, the workshop manager. He and I, well, we aren’t on the best terms ever since he stole my girlfriend in high school. But we get along okay now.”

“Did Sam ever cheat on you?”

“I suspect she does, sometimes.” Frank answers curtly. It was clear he doesn’t want to discuss the topic any further. Gilbert takes more notes and pats Frank on the shoulder.

“Thanks for your time, and I’m sorry about your wife. I’ll leave you to your grief, then.”

The detective walks away briskly. His next suspect is Rob. Rob is the only other clerk who had been working late that night. Gilbert finds him in the storeroom, unpacking boxes.

“I’m Detective Gilbert and I’d like to ask some questions, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure, why not? I’ve got nothing to hide.” Rob answers pleasantly.

“Where were you at the time of Sam’s death?” Gilbert inquires.

“I was right there,” Rob points to the farthest back corner of the storeroom, “unpacking teddy bear stuffing.”

“And around what time did you hear Sam and Al arguing?”

“Around 10:00pm.”

Gilbert writes this down.

“Do you know why? Could you hear them clearly?”

“No, I couldn’t hear them clearly, so I don’t really know why.” Rob’s face is completely cheerful, and Gilbert is getting suspicious. He makes a little mark in his notes.

“Do you think Al killed Sam?” Gilbert watches Rob’s face closely.

“Maybe. I don’t know. I’m kind of used to all their yelling, so I hardly ever pay attention.” “Uh-huh. ” Gilbert pauses. "Do you even care that Sam died?" Rob stares blankly at him for a moment. A strange grieving look comes over his face and Gilbert can tell it is forced.

"Yes. Yes, of course. I feel terribly sad that Sam's gone," Rob says, dabbing at his dry eyes with the corner of his palms, "oh, she was such a lovely lady. In fact, I feel too depressed to even talk about it." Rob sniffs. "I think you should leave me alone now. I want to grieve alone."

Gilbert nods as though he understands and leaves the storeroom. The third and last suspect is Al, the workshop manager. Gilbert locates him in his office.

“I’m Detective Gilbert. May I ask you a few questions concerning Sam’s murder?”

Al stares up at him, shock etched on his face. “Uh,” he replies numbly. “Yeah, whatever.”

“Where were you at the time of Samantha’s death?”

“I was in the office, signing paperwork.”

“Did you see Sam anytime last night?”

“No. I had been in the bathroom at around 10:30pm”

“What is your past with Frank?”

“My past with him is rocky. We used to be close friends, but when I went out with his girlfriend in high school, he held a grudge against me, but we’re fine about it now. The past is the past.”

Gilbert jots down the information. “Do you know if Sam was cheating on Frank?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Are you sad that she died?”

Al hesitated, “Yes, very much so. I loved her very much. And now her kid is motherless.”

“Okay. Thank you for your time.” Gilbert walks away quickly, the new information processing through his mind. The Detective looked over his notes about each suspect’s alibi and motives to kill the victim:

- FRANK
+ Sam’s new husband
+ jealous that Sam and Al had been married before
+ thinks Sam is cheating on him with Al
+ just found out Kyd is Al’s son + Al and Frank had been close friends in high school until Al stole Frank’s girlfriend

- ROB
+ the only workshop clerk who was working late that night
+ claims to have had been in the back of the storeroom when he heard Al and Sam arguing
+ said he heard the arguing cease at around 10:30 pm, but didn’t go out to investigate because they had been married before and them fighting in Al’s office was a weekly occurrence
+ Is gay
+ hates Sam for having been married to Al, whom he is in love with

- AL
+ the build-a-bear workshop manager
+ biological father of Kyd
+ claims that he was in his office the whole time
+ he said at 10:30pm he had been in the bathroom
+ said he never saw Sam come into the workshop
+ Said everything had been completely fine between him and Sam
+ Claims he was okay with the fact that Sam was married to his nemesis, Frank, as long as he got to see his son every week

All the alibis were okay except for the fact about Rob hearing Al and Sam argue at around 10:30 and how Al said he went to the bathroom and had never seen Sam come into the workshop. One of them was lying, but who was the culprit?

The next step Detective Gilbert took was going to search for clues in the employee locker room. He asked Al for all the employee lock combinations. Detective Gilbert looks high and low for anything out of place. Nothing is found; he already searched in Al’s locker and in seven other employees’.

Rob’s locker is the last one left to check. He glances in and is about to close the door, when a glint of something shiny catches his eye and he does a double take. Underneath a nondescript gray sweater, Gilbert reveals two knives. The first knife is a small dagger and the second is a huge butcher knife. On the sides of the sharp blades, he can clearly see dried smeared blood, which the murderer did not completely wipe off. Rob is questioned more about the blood stained knives in his locker but he claims he has never seen those knives before.

Gilbert decides to give up questioning Rob for the time being. Instead, he has a hunch to who committed the crime. He thinks long and hard about everything he heard and observed. He is close to solving the crime, but he is missing something.

Looking up, he notices a clock on the ceiling. Detective Gilbert finally figures it out who had killed Samantha May. The murderer had been working during the night shift at the Build-a-Bear Workshop and had held a grudge against her. What clues gave him away? The culprit must have had access to the surveillance cameras and the locker room.

He must have had access to the surveillance cameras because Detective Gilbert remembers that the cameras are supposed to keep track of the time, but when he looks back at the footage he notices a clock in the background. The beginning of the footage was normal, but close to the time when the crime was committed, the clock was about 10:15 pm and the next time shown was about 11:30pm.

This proves how the camera was temporarily shut off. The time in between was approximately an hour, giving the murderer time to kill Sam and remove evidence and he must have had access to the locker room so he could hide the murder weapons.

Who did it?