Entering the Murder Scene

Welcome back to our story Dead As A Girdle! I hope you’re keeping up. If not, you can always go back and read previous chapters. Today, let’s see what happens as Janelle enters Jed Thorne’s office.

Chapter Twenty

Janelle stood beside Ben as he unlocked the door to his father’s office. It was the only door­­­­—the famous dead-bolt door—into the office, and opened from the hallway where the elevator and stairs were.

She walked in and glanced around. Setting in the middle of the huge room was a three-sided cherry wood desk.  

A big desk for a big ego.

That same old-fashioned wooden paneling decorated the room. Three filing cabinets lined one wall, and a tiny kitchen took up space on another wall. A sofa and two comfortable-looking stuffed chairs resided in a separate corner.

Janelle walked to the large glass window that overlooked Main Street from the fourth floor. The window blinds were open, and she glanced down at the sparse morning traffic outside. Her gaze swept the four corners of the window, noting the black caulking that sealed the panes together. “Can this window be opened?”

“Nope.” Ben folded his arms as he stood beside her. “Another reason the sheriff can’t figure out how the culprit left the room.”

“I once saw an episode of Murder, She Wrote where the same thing happened. A man was killed but his room was bolted from the inside. No one could figure it out­­—except Jessica Fletcher, of course.”

“How’d the murderer escape?”

“He hid in the room while two other people broke down the door. Then, as those people were gaping at the body, he snuck out of the room undetected.” Janelle looked at Ben. “Do you think that could have happened here?”

Ben shook his head. “Dad was murdered around nine o’clock on Friday night, and Helga and Uncle Elliot didn’t find him until the next morning. I don’t think the murderer would have stayed here all night just so the door would stay bolted.”

“So he must have left another way.”

“But he could only use the door or the window. Nothing else is left.”

Janelle looked into Ben’s blue eyes. He seemed so frustrated. “There has to be another way, Ben, and we’re going to find it.”

She would solve this case, not only to prove something to Dad, but also for Ben’s sake.

* * *

To be continued…