I took a class this semster in college, where I had to study different mystery writers, and the craft and art of mystery/detective writing. My final exam was to write a mystery/detective style short story. Here is my short story. There might be a few typos left over. I'd love to hear people's thoughts on it. I had a blast writing it. I had the setting be on my favorite holiday of all time, Halloween. I tried to reference a lot of my favorite people in pop culture, music and movies, and as an English major, a few of my favorite books and characters from literature. It is my pleasure to introduce my short story.

I now present.....

The Halloween Murder:
The Murder of Marshall Crusoe
A Halloween Murder Mystery

Heather Crusoe was on her way to visit her dad, Marshall Crusoe. Another Halloween. She wanted her dad to come to her place for the evening. Heather worried about her father. He lived alone, by choice. Heather was his only child and she never knew her mother. To say that she adored and loved her dad would be an understatement. A few weeks ago, Heather even asked her dad to move in with her and Lenny. Lenny was Heather’s boyfriend. It would be a great opportunity for Heather and her dad to reconnect. Lenny was always busy with work. His job of being a private investigator always kept him a slave to his work. It would give them the perfect moments to get to know each other again.

Heather’s dad liked Lenny and was glad his daughter was dating a stable man, but he didn't approve of them living together. Even though, the couple had talked about getting married someday, they weren’t even engaged and living together. To Marshall, them living together was just wrong. Heather knew but made out like she didn't. She would rather not fight that battle with her dad. It would be a battle she would never win. She figured he was an old fashioned man that was a victim of his own outdated moral beliefs. It wasn’t like she hadn’t brought up marriage to Lenny. It was just, he wasn’t ready for a marriage with his busy schedule. This just made more logical sense.

Marshall Crusoe’s house was really something. It was an old seven room, two stories, much too big for one 67-year-old man to handle, place. However, he would not budge. Another battle Heather couldn’t win.

"Heather, I'm staying home as I always do. This is a good neighborhood. I know a lot of the kids and I have a lot of the same people come every Halloween. The kids all know I stop answering the door early anyways.” Heather was frustrated. "Dad, I know that, but times are different now. There was rumor of a break in, right around the corner,” she said. Marshall Crusoe wasn’t hearing any of his daughters concerns. He just looked at her and patted her shoulder. He paused and then responded, “Please Heather, enough of that. No one knows for sure what happened.”

"Dad, I have to go. I can't stay and argue. I can never get you to do anything anyway,” Heather said. He looked at his daughter and said, "Give me a hug, and don't worry about me. Worrying just wastes your time. Time is precious. You never know how much time you have. I’ve learned that at my age. Besides, I'll be fine." Heather smiled and nodded. She then said, “Please, just be sure you keep your cell phone handy. You can never be too careful.”

After Heather left, Marshall started getting the candy ready for the kids. He figured kids could never get enough candy on Halloween. It wasn’t long before he finished. He grabbed his favorite book, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and sat down on the sofa.

It was just a few moments, when he heard a noise upstairs. It sounded like something was dropped, followed by quick moving footsteps. At the same time, the bell rang. He didn’t have any time to give it a second thought. He was probably just hearing things.

He went to the door. There was a Batman, Superman and a ghost waiting for him. He didn’t ask what they were and they didn’t even say the magic line about trick or treat. He just smiled and gave them each candy. He gave Batman an extra treat because Batman was his own childhood hero growing up. The kid had good taste. The kids all laughed and said, “Thank you Mr. Crusoe,” in sing song voices. He shut the door behind them.

They were only little ones, if they had been older he would have asked them to go upstairs with him and look around. That noise was still on his mind. He stayed there with the door open hoping someone older would come along. Marshall heard more noise and got a feeling that someone was upstairs. He became a bit frightened, having never had this experience before. The sounds were distinct and couldn't be mistaken. It seemed no one else was coming, so he went back to his sofa. Marshall didn’t notice it at the time but he left the front door partly opened.

He had his cell phone in his pocket, and almost called Heather when he heard what sounded like something being dragged across the floor upstairs.
Then it stopped and another banging at the door began. This time it was two older boys. He had never seen them before but they were both dressed up in costumes. No harm. One dressed as Frank Sinatra and one like Elvis. Marshall joked, “Boys, before I give you your treat, I need a certain duo of pop icons to help me with something. Since Michael Jackson and Sammy Davis Jr. are busy, I think you both will do.” He paused for them to laugh. They both cracked smiles but were confused at what he wanted from them. He continued, “I heard noises up there and want to make sure it is nothing.” They laughed and Elvis looked at Marshall like he was crazy. Elvis finally spoke his mind, “Are you kidding? Is this some Halloween prank sir?”

Marshall quickly said, “No I’m serious. Please boys, help me look. I have my cell phone and will call the police right away if we find anyone.” Frank Sinatra looked scared. Old Blue Eyes didn’t like the sound of this one bit. He said, “I think you should call them now, just incase.” Mr. Crusoe just shook his head. The last thing he wanted was to be viewed by his daughter and everyone else as someone who couldn’t take care of himself. He tried to explain it to them and finally defended his idea. He said, “I don’t want to be called some old fool. I’m not sure anyone is even there. Please just have a look with me!”

Frank and Elvis stepped away for a minute. They needed to have a quick meeting about this situation. Marshall watched them both back away and speak to each other in whispers. Elvis said, “Look, the guy is old. We might be able to steal some money or some jewelry while we are in there.” Frank smiled and nodded. He replied, “I guess we can do this. It will be like an all access pass to get some free Halloween gifts. Nice gifts. I’ll call Lisa and tell her we will be late to her party.” Frank pulled out his cell phone. He called Lisa. That was the girl he was seeing. As Frank was on the phone, Elvis informed Marshall, they would help him.

After Frank hung up the phone, the three of them trudged up the stairs. There were three bedrooms and a bath to search. The three of them split up and searched the rooms. They went through the rooms and closets. There was nothing. Marshall was searching his master bedroom when he heard a noise. This time it was coming from downstairs. The noise had moved! He was puzzled trying to figure out what the sound could be. He heard what sounded like his front door slamming shut. He began to shiver. “This is getting ridiculous,” he shouted! Finally, his pride be damned, he pulled out his cell phone. It was time to call his daughter. Something weird was going on. Just as he was calling his daughter, he felt an arm around his waist. He was too late. One hand quickly moved over his face and he was dragged into the living room. Marshall was murdered in his own living room.

The next days were a haze for Heather. She had to deal with her father’s murder, the police, a funeral, and much more. It was a nightmare. Marshall’s death didn’t only impact Heather; it impacted Lenny. Even though Marshall didn’t approve of them living together, Lenny really admired and respected Mr. Crusoe. Lenny was out of town, on business when all this happened. He ended up paying a lot of money to take a special flight home to be with Heather. Truth be told, it wasn’t only for Heather. He was also upset about Mr. Crusoe’s murder. Marshall was a good man who loved his daughter. While the police had promised Heather, they would do what they could, she didn’t expect much. There were no witnesses. Without witnesses, there wasn’t much the police could do.

Weeks went by and all Heather could do was hope and pray for time to reveal the truth about her dad’s tragic murder. Night after night, Lenny would come home and find his girlfriend crying. Depressed. Destroyed. They weren’t really even talking much anymore. Heather was always a wreck and Lenny was keeping himself buried in his work. They both had different ways of coping. Finally one night, Lenny decided to do something about it. He came home and found Heather sitting at the kitchen table, looking at a photo of her dad. He waited for her to look at him and said, “So Heather, I want to help.” She looked at him and seemed confused. He continued, “Tomorrow morning, I’m going to look into who did this to your dad. Myself. The police can’t find anything but maybe I can.” Heather smiled. She knew Lenny was a good man. This just reaffirmed that to her.

The next morning as he said he would, Lenny woke up and headed out. The first place he went was Marshall’s house. Heather provided a spare key. He looked inside and didn’t find anything helpful. The next place he went was interviewing the neighbors. The first neighbor was a single mother who wasn’t home the night of the murder. She was out of town with her son. Florida.

The next neighbor was a bit more helpful. As it turned out, that neighbor did see something. They saw a lot. The neighbor was named, Mr. Doubtfire. At first he was nervous to talk to Lenny, because he thought he was with the police. He explained, “Listen, it isn’t you. It is me. I don’t trust the neighborhood cops.” Lenny just listened and watched Mr. Doubtfire’s eye movements closely. He went from seeming confident in his belief to nervous. He finally continued, “I have heard a lot in the news about dirty cops. At my age, it wouldn’t shock me if the cops were just as bad as some of the thugs out there.” Once Lenny swore he wasn’t with the police, Mr. Doubtfire opened up.

“I was on my porch, waiting for the kids to come get candy. I looked over and saw some boys walk up to Marshall’s house.” Lenny replied, “It is Halloween. I’m sure a lot of boys came and went from his house.” Mr. Doubtfire nodded and said, “Right. However, these kids were different. They didn’t come and go. They were whispering outside his house for a few minutes and laughed. I thought they were up to something.” Lenny just continued looking Mr. Doubtfire right in the eyes. Mr. Doubtifre continued, “I will never forget those faces. One of them was dressed like Elvis Presley and the other, Frank Sinatra. I’m pretty sure I recognized both of them. They are brothers. The Benatar brothers,” Mr. Doubtfire said. Lenny gave him his card and said, “Here is my card. Call me or stop by anytime, if you have any other information that might help.” Mr. Doubtfire nodded. Sometimes nosey neighbors are good for something after all.

A few hours later, Lenny arrived where he needed to be. The Benatar household. When he arrived, he saw a woman watering some flowers on the front yard. As he approached her and got closer, he thought she looked familiar. She did. It turned out, she was Heather’s English professor in college. He had met her at Heather’s graduation. He came to find out she was also the boys’ mom. He explained the situation and she quickly invited him inside.

The boys came downstairs. Mrs. Benatar was scared. She knew nothing of any of this business and didn’t want to think her boys could be involved. After all, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley were good kids. They were both seniors in high school and on the way to college next semester. Both of the boys came downstairs. After he spoke to them, he didn’t get much information that was helpful. According to them, they went inside, helped Mr. Crusoe look around after hearing a noise, stole some small items and ran out after hearing a noise. The boys’ mom was satisfied. Ashamed that her children were thieves, but satisfied with the story they gave. Lenny wasn’t. If they were innocent, why hadn’t they come forward to the police? If they were guilty enough to steal, they could very well be guilty enough to murder.

Lenny had other possible people to consider. Lots of kids came and went from Mr. Crusoe’s house that night, so it could have been some random crime. Lenny also had to consider the fact that Mr. Doubtfire could be somehow involved. After all, he didn’t trust cops. That could be a sign of something bad.

As Lenny was leaving in his car, he was excited. He felt the feeling of closure was upon this matter. Lenny had a ballpark idea of who was responsible. He had that detective instinct that he was about to solve the case. Lenny decided he would go have a late lunch by himself and go visit with Heather at home. He wanted to share the good news, but first he was hungry.

After lunch, he drove home. When he got there, he saw another car parked in his driveway. He looked at it for a minute and then went inside. When he got inside, he saw Mrs. Benatar, her husband, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and a teenage girl. They were all sitting around in the living room. Heather was talking to all of them.

Once he set foot in the living room, they all looked at him. Mrs. Benatar’s husband stood up and got right to the point. He wasn’t happy with Lenny at all. Once he stood up, he crossed his arms and spoke with anger, “Listen you little jerk, my boys didn’t kill Heather’s dad. I’ve got proof. Tell them Lisa.” Before Lenny could process what he was talking about, the teenage girl started talking. “My boyfriend didn’t kill anyone and neither did his brother. I know they didn’t. I was listening to the entire thing on the phone.” She looked upset, but there was something honest about it.

Next thing Lenny knew, Frank Sinatra started speaking. “Lisa is my girlfriend. I kept my cell phone on in my pocket, the whole time my brother and me were in the house. I figured the old man might try to kill us.” Lenny nodded and once again, Mr. Benatar raised his voice. He shouted, “What do you think about that? You know what I think about it? I think you owe my wife and family an apology. You come in our home and worry everyone. You have my wife thinking our kids are killers! How dare you!”

Lenny just looked at the floor. His Sherlock Holmes style discovery had blown up in his face. His feeling of excitement from earlier had now faded. “Enough is enough. They know our boys didn’t do this. We are leaving,” Mr. Benatar shouted. He took his wife’s hand and they both started walking to the door.

All Lenny could do now was look at Heather. At this point, she was sitting down. She had her head hidden inside her hands. She asked out loud in a soft voice, “Did I grow up just to have my life destroyed? I loved my dad so much. I still can’t believe this is happening. Why is this happening to me?”

Usually, this would have been a moment when Lenny would have asked everyone to leave, so he could collect his thoughts and comfort his girlfriend. However, Lenny didn’t have time to do either. He said, “Listen, everyone sit down. I think I have this mess figured out.” As an afterthought he added, “Heather, it is going to be okay. I think I have this figured out.”

Everyone once again took a seat in the living room. Mr. and Mrs. Benatar were sitting on the sofa. Heather was sitting in a chair. Elvis Presley was sitting next to his brother, Frank Sinatra and Lisa on the floor.

Instead, this is when things started to get weird.

Lenny, who at this point was the only one standing, made his way to the center of the living room. He nodded his head and started to speak, “Heather. I know ever since this has all happened, you never understood why. However, I’ll tell you what I think is going on here.”

Mr. Benatar wasn’t going to sit and listen to this little jerk’s theory. “You blamed my boys once, like an idiot. I’m sure you have it all figured out. You were right on the money before, Poirot.”

That was the last remark from Mr. Benatar Lenny could take. He looked Mr. Benatar right in the eyes and said coldly, “That is about enough out of you.” Before Mr. Benatar could respond, Lenny pulled out a small gun from his coat pocket. He shot him in the stomach. Mr. Benatar fell to the floor and moaned in pain.

Everyone was screaming and Lenny made his way to the front door. He stood in front of it. Blocking it. He wasn’t going to let anyone get out without his approval. Heather just continued crying. At this point, Mrs. Benatar was crying and holding Heather. She was trying her best to keep it together but her husband might be dead. Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and Lisa were all in shock. None of them had moved.

Heather finally found some courage, and spoke softly but with anger, “Why are you doing this?” Lenny replied, “I’m sorry. This isn’t how I planned things to go. I did this out of respect to your father. I knew he would never be okay with us living together while he was alive. I made him be okay with it now. I killed him. I figured with him out of the way, you would quit bringing up marriage and engagement. I’m not ready for that. Even though you said you were fine with us just living together, I know deep down that wasn’t enough for you. Just like it wasn’t enough for him.”

Heather couldn’t believe what was happening. She just kept crying a river of tears. Her whole world was falling apart. Lenny paused for a moment and then continued, “I didn’t plan things to happen this way. I figured, I’d blame that old neighbor of your dad’s or one of these kids. That is why I really took on this case. I wanted to find the perfect person to blame. Besides, it isn’t like these kids are angels. They stole some of your dad’s things.” Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley both looked down at the floor. They clearly felt bad about stealing things from Mr. Crusoe.

Heather couldn’t believe what was going on. She said, “But you were away on business. How was this even possible?” Lenny replied in a matter of fact tone, “There was no out of town business going on. I was just monitoring your dad’s house. I was figuring out the best way to get in and out.”

Lenny looked at Mr. Benatar, who was laying on the floor. “I didn’t plan for it to happen like this. This old man just wouldn’t shut his mouth. I couldn’t take it anymore.” Lenny kicked Mr. Benatar in his side with force. Mr. Benatar moaned and layed there. All he could do was take it. He didn’t have much life left.
Elvis stood up and shouted, “You leave my dad alone!” Lenny just shook his head and reached into his pocket. He flashed a quick evil smile and said, “I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Lenny pulled out his gun again and pointed it right at Elvis Presley.

Just at that moment, the police kicked in the door. Lenny was startled and fell to the ground. Mrs. Benatar, without thinking grabbed the gun from the floor. She shouted for everyone to get out of the house. Heather was screaming and ran outside with Elvis, Frank and Lisa. The police quickly arrested Lenny and had Mr. Benatar sent to a hospital.

As everyone made it outside, Heather saw Mr. Doubtfire standing by the police. What was he doing here? She walked up to him and wiped her eyes. She said, “Mr. Doubtfire, what are you doing here?” He replied, “Lenny gave me his card and told me to call or stop by, if I had any extra information for him. I wanted to tell him I remembered I heard a noise earlier in the day coming from your dad’s house. I didn’t think anything of it. When I got here, I heard screams coming from the house. The last time I ignored a strange noise, I regretted it. I didn’t want to make the same mistake twice. I’m sorry.” Heather just looked at him and there was a long moment of silence. It was followed by the slight trace of a smile. “Thank you,” Heather said. She hugged Mr. Doubtfire. He saved her life.

The next Halloween, Heather started a new tradition. She went to the Benatar household. She brought a special guest with her, Mr. Doubtfire. At first she didn’t want to come, but Mr. Benatar shouted until he got his way. It didn’t matter. This Halloween would be a lot better than the last. It had to be.

Didn't see the twist coming! I thought it was maybe the daughter, but then she loved her Dad too much to do that. Decent effort. I'm a big fan of the Whodunnit genre, but still the benchmarks are the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Well done.