Wind Chime Bandit
A Fitzpatrick/Rosario Police Thriller
The door to Police Captain Jake Trapper’s office opened up. Detective Dan Fitzpatrick entered the office followed by Detective Maria Rosario, who closed the door behind her.
“Have a seat,” Captain Trapper said as he leaned back in his ergonomic desk chair while folding his arms, “You two have now been on the wind chime case for three weeks. Got any leads yet?”
Detective Fitzgerald looked away as he spoke to the Captain, “No, afraid not. It is truly baffling. All we know for certain is that it must be a neighborhood job.”
“A neighborhood job? What the hell does that mean? Did you see the headline of the Steubenville Gazette this morning? It read, Wind Chime Bandit Baffles Local Police. I put two of my best detectives on it and all you’ve got to tell me is that you’re baffled? Seriously? You’re making the Gazette editor look like a genius and me look like an idiot. Please tell me you have something more. Forty-three wind chimes have been stolen from people’s yards in the last two months and you still don’t have a solid lead?”
Detective Maria Rosario stood as she pulled a map out of the back pocket of her trousers. Unfolding the map she spread it over the Captain’s desk facing toward him.
Captain Jake Trapper leaned forward.
Maria placed the first digit of her left hand on the map, “This is the location of the first theft. It’s the home of Thelma Goosenheimer. She bought her wind chimes almost three months ago and immediately hung them from a tree at the side of her home. A few weeks later it was stolen. A couple weeks later she bought another wind chime and hung it in the same place. Just ten days later it was stolen.”
Maria continued, “See these red dots around this neighborhood? These are all the locations where wind chimes have been reported stolen. The red dots with a yellow circle around them are locations of multiple thefts. The thefts began near Mrs. Goosenheimer’s house then spread out throughout the neighborhood. And please notice that all the locations of thefts occurred in the South Side neighborhood. No thefts have occurred elsewhere in town.”
“And see all the red dots surrounded by a pink circle? Those are the thefts that occurred in the first month. The red dots surrounded by green circles are the thefts that have occurred in the last month. I think you’ll notice that the thefts are spreading outward.”
Captain Trapper opened a drawer in his desk and withdrew a donut which he promptly took a large bite of. While chewing the bite of donut he remarked, “Detective Rosario I am so impressed that you own a nice set of felt-tip colored markers. Would you now please tell me how this is going to lead you to the perpetrator?”
Maria wiped away a crumb of donut that had spewed out of the Captain’s mouth and landed on the map, “We have a list of all the people whose homes wind chimes were stolen from and we have a list of all the people who do not own wind chimes…”
Detective Fitzpatrick spoke up, “And we also have the name and address of the woman — a Winnie Waltersdorf — who sold all the wind chimes to everyone in the neighborhood.”
“Yes, she lives right here,” Maria dropped her slender finger on a point on the map. “Mrs. Waltersdorf has been selling Tupperware in the neighborhood for a few years and she has only recently begun selling wind chimes. It is the wind chimes that she’s been selling to her neighbors that are being stolen.”
Captain Trapper took another bite of donut and chewed as he looked back and forth between the two detectives, waiting for one of them to continue.
Detective Rosario swallowed then spoke, “Sir, the theft of forty-three wind chimes in around two months is the closest Steubenville has ever come to having an actual crime wave. To nail the perpetrator we need your help.”
The Captain took another bite of donut, “What?”
“We would like for you to call an emergency town meeting.”
The Captain suddenly began choking on bits of donut that must have gone down the wrong pipe. After coughing for a couple of minutes he regained his composure, “You want me to do what?”
Detective Fitzpatrick quickly answered, “Call an emergency town meeting.”
Maria elaborated, “You see, if you call an emergency meeting about this ongoing crime wave we figure that the perpetrator will most assuredly show up to the meeting. You know, to get a sense of what they are up against and to see how the town is reacting to their crimes. We can then make a list of everyone who showed up to the meeting and everyone who had their wind chimes stolen and everyone who didn’t. And we’ll be able to judge how everyone reacts. I think we’ll be able to narrow down the list of suspects.”
“You have a list of suspects?”
Detective Fitzpatrick answered, “Well, right now our only suspect is Mrs. Waltersdorf. She’s selling the wind chimes so if they are stolen then the people have to buy new wind chimes. It’s basic capitalism.”
Maria rolled her eyes, “Seriously, sir, if you hold an emergency town meeting I am convinced that the thief will attend the meeting and we’ll be able to narrow our list of suspects. Personally, I don’t think it is Mrs. Waltersdorf. My feeling is that it is someone who really, really, really hates wind chimes.”
Captain Jake Trapper put the last of his donut in his mouth. He chewed and chewed as he looked back and forth between Detective Dan Fitzpatrick and Detective Maria Rosario. After swallowing the last of the donut he picked up a napkin off his desk and wiped the sticky, gooey sugar off his fingers and spoke, “Golly… gee… I don’t know. In the thirteen years I’ve been the head of the Steubenville Police Force I have never held an emergency town meeting…”
“We’ll help you with it. I really think this will break the case wide open.” Maria batted her eyelashes.
Detective Fitzpatrick stuck his thumb up in the air.
“Okay. Okay. I’ll call an emergency town meeting.”
Continue reading here in Part 2
Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. This is a work of fiction.