The Adventure of the Missing Hand, a mystery in scarlet city short story.

Written by Shyam Nathan. All names, descriptions, characters and locations are intellectual property of Shyam K Nathan and are copyright 2009 Shyam K Nathan. All rights are reserved, and cannot be duplicated, re-distributed or used in any form without the expressed consent of Shyam K Nathan. 

"Gentlemen, we have a problem" Inspector Lester of the Scarlet City police department said to his two long time friends, Nathan Shome and Slick Silver, the dashing heroes of our story.

"My dear Lester" Nathan replied "I agree in toto. Doubtless, you’re here to see us about this detestable business involving Cyrus Black, who was murdered in cold blood yesterday."

"Are you a telepath, or do you just read the papers and guess the biggest story in scarlet city whenever Inspector Lester drops by" Slick said "because, either way, you have an uncanny knack for the obvious."

"Gentlemen, Gentlemen" Inspector Lester cut in "it is indeed true that I’m here to see you two about the murder of Cyrus Black, and I would greatly appreciate a little help in clearing the matter up."

"Have no fear" Nathan said "you know us; we’ll get to the bottom of this ghastly business, and secure the happy ending. We’ve seldom failed to get our man or woman."

"You’ve not solved a case?" Lester put in "that’s news to me, because you’ve always resolved every case I’ve brought you."

"Even the best detectives fail every now and again" Slick said "about two years ago, Nathan and I didn’t manage to bring in the fairy queen when we knew she was responsible for robbing the fourth national bank of Scarlet City. However, that’s old news, what are the details of this murder you’ve got for us? Nathan may know all about it by what he reads on the internet, but this is the first I’ve heard of the murder."

"Briefly, the facts are these. Mr. Cyrus Black was a well respected gentleman about town. His large contributions to organizations researching cures for various mental and physical disorders are well known. Yesterday, he was murdered in cold blood. His throat was cut open with a knife, and his left hand was removed from his arm. We have no leads in the case, and we are at our wits end trying to figure out why someone or someone(s) unknown would want Mr. Black out of the way, so to speak."

"Where was he murdered?" Slick asked.

"Pennyshore alley" Lester replied "we’ve been able to ascertain that the time of the murder was about ten o’clock last night. The crime scene has been left unaltered since I was called in during the early hours of this morning."

Nathan rose from his seat, and doffed his deerstalker cap, Slick rose and donned his jacket, and the two great detectives followed their comrade, Inspector Lester, out the door and into their car.

A half hour later, the three gents arrived at the scene of the murder. Mr. Black’s body was still on the cold pavement of the alley, and a small group of on-lookers had gathered. Slick began his examination of the dead man’s body, starting by examining the man’s shoes, then his pants, then his jacket and tie, and finally, the left wrist, where the dismembered hand had once been. This complete, Slick then turned over the man’s right hand, and noticed a splash of red ink on it. Slick then opened the man’s mouth, examined his teeth, and minutely examined the slash on the man’s throat.

Meanwhile, Nathan examined the walls around the alley and the alley itself with his magnifying glass. "Well?" an inpatient Inspector Lester asked, after a lengthy two hour examination.

"The only thing I can find" Nathan said, pointing to a spot on the wall "is that there was once something hanging here, and that it has been removed."

"Could be one of those posters for a fortune teller" Inspector Lester said "there are four more of them in this alley."

"I observed that" Nathan replied, a little hotly "each with an open hand on it, yes, but was there a fifth poster, or was it something else, and if it was a fifth poster, why was it taken?"

"More importantly" Slick put in "was it taken by the murderer to conceal his crime. There’s no doubt in my mind that Mr. Black was done in by foul play. The knife wound was made by an ordinary kitchen steak knife."

"How can you deduce that?" Nathan asked, dumbfounded.

"By the length and size of the gash" Slick replied "certain knives make distinct cuts, and the broad and heavy blade of a steak knife is unique."

"Any other clue?" Lester asked.

"One" Slick answered "that whatever knife was used to cut this man’s throat was also used to sever his hand, therefore, supposedly, the same assailant was responsible for both. Two, this splotch of red ink on the man’s right hand; I think it’s a printer’s ink, and that was probably where Mr. Black was before he came to this alley and met his end."

"The Daily World newspaper is right around the corner" Lester put in "it might be a good place to look for another clue."

"Right, can you handle that, my friend?" Slick asked Inspector Lester.

"Me?" Lester replied "okay, but where will the two of you be?"

"At Madame Mysteriouso" Slick replied.

"The fortune teller whose posters are on this alley?" Lester answered.

"The same" Slick replied.

"What could she possibly have to do with it?" Lester asked.

"It’s probably a shot in the dark" Slick replied "but we know that one of the five posters was removed. Presumably, to conceal something related with the crime, although we have no idea when it was removed. If we could figure out what was on that poster, my instinct tells me we’ll find a vital clue to this mystery. Besides, you, my friend, are more than capable of handling a newspaper printer. Just ask if he knew Mr. Black, and was the deceased man at the newspaper’s office before he died, or did the printer have any information that might help us."

"Okay" Lester answered, a little skeptically, "but going to this fortune teller seems like a waste of time."

"In the investigation of a crime like this one" Slick answered "every lead should be followed and checked. Besides, if both threads fall through, we have one additional clue, the dead man’s left hand was clearly removed after he was dead. The cut on his throat is clearly older than the cut on his wrist. Why was his hand amputated in this grotesque manner? What did it have that the assailant didn’t want the world at large to know about?"

"Thick and murky waters" Nathan put in.

"You said that about the pancakes you had for breakfast this morning" Slick replied, "however, in this case, I would tend to agree with you."

"Could it have been a common theft?" Lester asked "after all, the dead man might have been wearing some precious jewelry, and he might have simply been mugged. Perhaps the killer couldn’t remove a ring that he thought was worth money, and simply decided to take the whole hand, and worry about removing the ring later."

"Not likely" Slick answered "for, if a man wanted just the ring, or whatever piece of jewelry Mr. Black might have had, why take the whole hand? Severing the finger that the ring was on would be sufficient."

"Maybe he didn’t have time to think it all the way through, and he just chopped off what came to him instinctually" Lester offered "sometimes, a common crime is just a common crime."

"Well, in any case" Slick answered "it couldn’t hurt to follow every lead we’ve got on this case."

"Couldn’t hurt" Lester replied "I’ll take the newspaper office then, and we’ll meet at police headquarters later this afternoon. Let me know if you find anything."

With that, Nathan and Slick bid the Inspector a good morning, got into their car, and set off for Madame Mysteriouso’s fortune telling shop.

Half an hour later, Nathan and Slick arrived, and, upon entering, the first thing they noticed was the décor of the shop. It looked exactly like a fortune teller’s shop should look, a large crystal ball on a table, with seats for customers and the proprietor, and all kinds of velvet curtains here and there. At the sound of their entrance, an old woman, dressed in a very curious costume made of red satin entered the room.

"Greetings" the old woman said "I am Madame Mysteriouso, what can I do for you two gentlemen?"

"You’re the fortune teller, you tell us" Nathan said, in his characteristic style.

"We’re here about the Cyrus Black Murder case" Slick Silver said "he was brutally killed yesterday in Pennyshore alley, and we were wondering if you knew anything about the murder?"

"I knew Mr. Black" the old woman answered "he was a customer here, every now and then, but I had no idea he was dead."

"It’s been all over the news the last day or so" Nathan answered.

"Not everyone reads the papers as consistently as you do, my friend" Slick asked.

"I am very sorry that a good man has been murdered" the old woman said "but I really cannot see how I can be of any help to you in your quest to bring his killer to justice."

Just then, Slick noticed a framed picture on the old woman’s mantelpiece, it was a photo of herself, a young woman, and what appeared to be a younger Cyrus Black. Slick walked over to the picture.

"That you?" he asked.

"Yes" the old woman replied "the picture was taken nearly three years ago, on the right, you see Mr. Black, the man whose murder you’re investigating."

"The woman on the left?" Slick asked.

"That is Ms. Holly Armitage" the old woman replied "a lawyer here in Scarlet City."

"I don’t think we know her" Slick answered "in any case, what is that ring that Mr. Black is wearing on his left hand in this photo? Police records show that he wasn’t married at the time of his death."

"Oh that?" the old woman answered, a little bit taken aback "that ring was given to him by his father, it holds a great deal of sentimental value for Mr. Black, who was fond of wearing it wherever he went, but it has little actual monetary value. It is nothing more than a trinket."

"After Mr. Black was killed" Slick went on "his left hand was cut off, any idea why that might be?"

The old woman shook her head, "no idea whatsoever, if you can catch the killer, maybe you could ask him."

Slick nodded at Nathan.

"Thank you for your time" Nathan said, acknowledging his friend’s signal, "we appreciate your meeting with us today under such trying circumstances, please be assured that we will do everything in our power to bring Mr. Black’s killer to justice."

The old woman smiled, "I know you will, and I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful."

With that, Nathan and Slick took their leave of the small fortune telling shop and drove to police headquarters.

When they arrived, they found that Inspector Lester was already there. "Hello my friends" Lester said, joviality itself.

"You found something at the newspaper?" Slick asked.

"Yes indeed" Lester said "I found that Mr. Black had visited them late last night, and that it was almost surely the last place he had been seen alive. The printer noticed a gold ring on Mr. Black’s left hand, with a small gemstone in it, and I think I can now safely say that theft was the reason for this crime. The criminal thought that the ring must be worth a lot of money. He was pressed for time, lest his crime be discovered. So, he simply lopped off the whole hand, and decided to remove the ring later."

"It would seem that you’ve solved the case" Nathan answered "I congratulate you, my friend."

"Still doesn’t tell us who the murderer is" Slick pointed out, as the three friends walked into police headquarters.

"It seems a common crime" the inspector replied "and I’m sure a perpetrator will turn up soon."

"No doubt" Slick said. Once inside police headquarters, a staff officer approached the three friends.

"Sir" the officer said "the Black murder, we have an eye-witness to the crime. A local businessman caught the crime on tape from the far side of the alley. He couldn’t get to Mr. Black in time to save his life, and, due to the camera angle, couldn’t get a view as to the fiend’s face, but I thought you’d want to watch the film all the same."

"Of course" Lester answered "if it can give us any clue as to the murder’s identity, its worth watching."

So, the three friends went to the big screen TV room at police headquarters, and the officer put the tape into the DVR. The murder was clearly caught on tape, but the trio couldn’t see the murder’s face, but they could see the crime well enough.

"You see?" Inspector Lester asked, after the tape showed Mr. Black’s throat being slashed and his hand cut off, "the criminal clearly thought the ring was valuable, and wanted to get it."

At this point, the picture started to fizzle out, and the staff officer explained that the camera man’s camcorder had run low on power.

"I think you’re right, my dear friend Lester" Nathan commented "it looks like a classic mugging, complete with theft."

"Not so fast" Slick replied "two things about this movie stand out. First, can we go back to the earliest picture of the alley?"

The staff officer rewound the tape.

"Okay, freeze the picture right here" Slick said, "now, can we enlarge the background?"

The staff officer complied with the request.

"Notice" Slick said "that in this picture, the fifth poster in the alley is still there. That means the poster was removed between the time of the murder and the time the police got to the scene of the crime."

"And what is the second thing you noticed?" Lester asked.

"Can we enlarge Mr. Black’s left hand?" Slick asked the officer.

"Sure" the officer replied, as he enlarged the hand on the right hand side of the TV screen.

"No" Slick said "I meant the man’s left hand, not his left hand as we see it. You’ll notice, in the initial frame, that Mr. Black’s back is turned to the crook. So, his left hand is on the left hand side of the picture."

"Ah, I got it" the officer replied, and he changed the enlargement.

"You’ll notice" Slick replied, "that, in addition to the ring, there is some writing on Mr. Black’s palm. You can’t make out what it says at this distance, and with the resolution of the camera, but you can see it distinctly."

"By Jove" Lester exclaimed "you’re right. I hadn’t noticed that before. What do you think it means?"

"I don’t know" Slick replied, "and I don’t know why the crook also took the poster of the fortune teller’s from the alley."

"Perhaps I might be of some assistance" with that, the door to the TV room opened, and a very beautiful, blonde haired woman entered from off-stage. Nathan and Slick recognized the woman instantly as Ms. Holly Armitage, the lawyer they had seen in the picture at the fortune teller’s place.

"Ms. Armitage, a lawyer in Scarlet City, I presume" Slick said.

"You presume correctly" Ms. Armitage replied "although its assistant district attorney now. I have heard of the exploits of you and your friend here, and I knew that it was only a matter of time before our paths crossed. The fortune Teller who you talked with today, Madame Mysteriouso was the head of a smuggling ring here in Scarlet City. Mr. Black was a local gentleman who we, at the DA’s office, recruited to infiltrate the ring and break it up. Mr. Black had written information vital to the prosecution of ring leaders on his left hand, and gave that information to the Daily World newspaper for publication in their next issue. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to give enough specific information to get a story published. His movements were being tracked by Madame Mysteriouso’s top assassin for hire, the terrifying killer named Kid Nupear. Kid Nupear was very suspicious of Mr. Black, and had been for some time. In the alley he cornered him, and murdered him, and took Mr. Black’s left hand to try to save the smuggling ring. We just arrested Kid Nupear and most of the smuggling ring in Scarlet City, so that’s taken care of."

"There’s just one other thing I don’t get" Slick Silver asked "the fifth poster, what happened to that?"

"Mr. Black was in Pennyshore alley to meet with a representative from the DA’s office," Ms. Armitage responded "and he knew that he was being followed, so, he wrote down the information about Madame Mysteriouso’s ring on one of her posters in the alley, in the hopes that, if he couldn’t deliver the information himself, we might find it. I regret to say that Kid Nupear saw Mr. Black do this, and took the poster right after he murdered Mr. Black and cut off his left hand."

"One final question" Slick Silver said "what were you doing in the photo with Madame Mysteriouso?"

"That’s easy" Ms. Armitage replied "part of trying to bust a ring of smugglers, like Mr. Black and I were actively trying to do for many years, is that you have to get cozy with them. I’m happy to say that Madame Mysteriouso didn’t know who I was, she thought I was some lawyer in the city. If she had known I worked for the DA, we probably would have some trouble. She took a liking to me, and genuinely doesn’t suspect that I turned her in. That picture is an unfortunate memento."