Deadly Tomato Love: Detective Story
This was one of my English homework, which was to write a detective story. It took me three days to finish it in time for the deadline.
It was a bright cold night in February 1949. Police officers were stationed outside a bar in New York City. A man had died that night. The police entered the bar and saw the corpse on the ground, with three people beside it.
There were two men and a woman: Ms Roxane Miller with her cousin, Mr Alexander Miller, and the bartender, Mr Smith. After the police had asked for their names, an officer asked them about the identity of the dead man. Alexander responded that he was their friend, Mr William Anderson. Then Detective Johnson arrived.
Mr Johnson greeted them and began to look around. He examined the body and asked them what had happened. Roxane said that Mr Anderson had been with them. He had been talking to her, and suddenly, he collapsed.
Upon hearing this, Mr Johnson went to inspect the beer mug. Seeing a lip print on it, he called his assistant, Mr Roberts.
- 'Hey, Mr Roberts. Please examine this beer mug; it might be poisoned. Thanks'.
When Alexander heard that, he started to react.
- 'Sorry, did you just say that the beer was poisoned?' He looked at the bartender, Mr Smith.
- 'My God... It's you... It must be you who killed him!'
Mr Smith became afraid, whilst Alexander kept shouting. Roxane approached her cousin, and told him to calm down. But he still couldn't.
- 'How am I supposed to calm down! My old friend... he died in an instant!'
- 'Sorry, Mr Miller. Please take a seat. We need to know more about the case'.
Alexander sat down beside, and Mr Johnson went to ask Mr Smith about the sequence of the events. He responded him.
- 'Not many clients came tonight. They were the only clients who came in, around an hour ago. They ordered French fries and drinks, then started talking. It was mostly Mr Anderson and Ms Miller'.
- 'Have you ever interacted with any of the people here?' Mr Johnson asked.
- 'Mr Anderson had been here many times before. He was often very drunk, spoke very loudly, and frequently left without paying his bill, always saying he would settle up next time. This time, however, he was notably polite'.
- 'Thank you very much'.
Mr Johnson looked away, noticed Roxane crying, then handed her a tissue and began to ask her questions.
- 'Excuse me, Ms Miller. Could you tell me what Mr Anderson was talking about with you just before he died?'
Roxane fell silent for a moment, then spoke to him in a tearful voice.
- 'William... he said... he said he loves me. He confessed his love to me. And... before I could answer, he suddenly collapsed. Why did it happen? I love him too!'
Roxane continued to cry after speaking, whilst Alexander went over to comfort her.
- 'I know, Roxane... This is terrible, as an old friend. But you don't need to think of him too much. You deserve better than him'.
When she heard this, she stood up, pushed Alexander aside, and started to scold him.
- 'Alex! Why do you always have to say that! You're such an idiot! I've known him for such a long time, and he's such a lovely person. But you always have to tell me he's a right scumbag!' Roxane glared at him, and he retorted.
- 'I'm only doing this for you, Roxane! If you end up with him, you'll only get hurt. Don't be fooled by his gentlemanly appearance; he...' Mr Miller was about to continue, but Ms Miller burst into tears, so he stopped to comfort her.
- 'I'm sorry, Roxane. I shouldn't have said that. But everything will be all right now, trust me'.
Alexander and Roxane embraced tightly. Then, Mr Roberts returned and informed Mr Johnson that poison had been found in the alcohol, which could result in death within a short period of time.
Hearing this, Roxane couldn't believe her ears, whilst Alexander couldn't contain himself and began pointing at Mr Smith.
- 'I knew it was poisoning in the drink! And the only person who could have tampered with that was you, the barman. You must have wanted to kill William because he didn't pay back his debts!'
Mr Smith was taken aback and hastily began to explain himself. Mr Johnson stepped in to calm them both down. Alexander sat down again. Mr Johnson glanced around the room and, upon seeing the table, noticed something amiss and asked Mr Smith.
- 'Strange, didn't you say they'd ordered French fries? So, where have the fries on the table gone?' Mr Smith didn't know, whilst Roxane came over to explain.
- 'Everyone was shocked because William had fallen over. Alex seemed to jump up in a panic and accidentally knocked the fries into the trash can'.
Mr Johnson glanced at Alexander, then turned to look at the bin. After rummaging, he found the packet of French fries that had been knocked over, still covered in a fair amount of ketchup. However, after looking around, he didn't find any ketchup bottles. Then he asked Mr Smith if anyone asked for ketchup, then Mr Smith denied and said that the bar doesn't serve ketchup. Seeing this, Mr Johnson went to ask Roxane.
- 'Excuse me, Ms Miller. Have you eaten some French fries?'
- 'Oh, yes. I ate some'.
- 'You like ketchup too?'
- 'Oh, no. I don't like its taste. What's the matter?'
- 'Well... then, I would like to know who put the ketchup on it'.
- 'I remember it was William who asked for ketchup, and Alex gave him a packet'. Alexander heard their discussion and came over to them.
- 'Yeah, my old friend really loved ketchup. He always liked to dip his fries in a lot of it before eating them, and then take a sip of beer. It's such a shame... we'll never see him again'.
After listening to them, Mr Johnson first thanked them, then asked the police to secure the area. He then left with Mr Roberts, carrying the packet of French fries, saying he was going to have it examined.
- 'Why are you so concerned about the ketchup? The poison is in the glass, it's obvious, isn't it?' Mr Roberts asked from the side, whilst Mr Johnson explained it to him.
- 'No, I don't think so. Don't you think that's a bit too obvious? It's as if the killer didn't make any effort to hide it at all. Moreover, the victim may have also eaten French fries with ketchup, so it's still necessary to examine'.
Soon after, they went to test the samples. The results showed that the ketchup was poisoned, and the poison was the same as the one in the drink. Upon seeing this, they hurried back to the bar.
- 'Mr Miller, could you explain to me why you brought that packet of ketchup?'
- 'Well, William told me before we left that this bar doesn't serve ketchup, so he asked me to bring some, and I did'.
- 'Just to be clear, we found the same poison in the ketchup that we found in the beer. Please explain this to us'.
- 'Wait, why are you starting to doubt me?' Alexander began to panic, and Roxane watched in surprise from the sidelines, whilst Mr Johnson continued.
- 'Please don't panic. We just want to check on the situation'.
- 'I... I don't know'. Alexander spoke hesitantly.
- 'Excuse me, Mr. Miller. You may need to come with us'.
Alexander stepped back, unable to believe what he was seeing.
- 'You're suspecting me of killing William?! What the hell are you thinking?!'
- 'The test result shows that the ketchup you gave was poisoned'.
- 'You can't just jump to such a conclusion! There must be something wrong here! Then why didn't you mention Mr Smith?! That beer was poisoned too!'
- 'In fact, no one had poisoned the beer'.
- 'What...?' Alexander kept stepping back, his voice growing weaker.
- 'Based on the ketchup stains on the cup and what you said, Mr Anderson had a drink after eating the fries, and the fries had a lot of ketchup on them, right?'
Alexander began to shake as Mr Johnson continued.
- 'In fact, the poison in the beer was mixed in because of the ketchup in Mr Anderson's mouth, not because it was already there. Finally, it all comes back to you, doesn't it, Mr Miller?'
The room fell silent. After a moment, Roxane was the first to speak.
- 'No... That's not possible... Mr Detective! You can't suspect my cousin like that!' Roxane said breathlessly. Then Alexander began to speak.
- 'You.. You're talking nonsense, Mr Detective! What motive would I have to kill my old friend?!'
Alexander was still trying to justify, but Mr Johnson calmly walked slowly in front of Roxane and looked at him.
- 'Your motivation... is her'.
Alexander gasped and froze, unable to move, whilst Mr Johnson carried on.
- 'You kept warning your cousin that Mr Anderson was a terrible person and telling her to stay away from him. But she refused to listen and fell in love with him anyway, so you decided to do this, to prevent him from harming her. Am I right, Mr Miller?'
- 'Impossible...' He couldn't say a word, whilst Roxane kept asking him.
- 'Alex!'
- 'Roxane...'
- 'Please tell me you didn't do that!'
- 'I'm... Sorry...'
Roxane stepped back, heartbroken, unable to believe it. Then, Alexander began to explain to her.
- 'I can't let him harm you'
- 'How many times are you going to say that?! Why?! Tell me why you always keep saying William is a scumbag?! He's not!'
- 'He is!'
Roxane fell silent, whilst Alexander continued.
- 'You have no idea what a terrible person he is, you've been completely fooled by his appearance! You don't know he used to have a wife. When I visited him back then, he'd beat her at the slightest provocation, treating her like a slave! I spent all those years with him, and he was nothing but a worthless, neurotic, violent asshole!'
Roxane was completely stunned. She remained silent for a long time, tears streaming down her face, before finally looking down and asking Alexander.
- 'No matter what... Being with him is my own choice, so why are you doing so much for me?!'
- 'Because I love you'.
- 'What?'
Roxane wondered if she had misheard, but she was certain she had heard it. Her cousin had said he loved her.
- 'It's been over ten years now. Having spent so much time with you since childhood, I've always loved you this much. I love you more than anything. But I can't confess to you. I'm afraid you'll leave me, afraid I'll lose you. The only thing I can do is make you happy'.
- 'Alex...' Roxane said slowly, looking at Alexander.
- 'And when that scumbag wanted to own you and treat you like his prey, I had to protect you from him!'
- 'Alex'.
- 'Roxane'.
- 'Alex!'
- 'Forgive me'.
Alexander said goodbye to Roxane, then left with the police. Roxane watched the police car drive away, then said the last words to him:
- 'You're such an idiot'.
THE END.