Blair Renfrow

Uncle_James.pkg

So yeah, here we are. To say I saw this coming would be to lie to you, and I’ve lied to enough people in my life that I’ve probably hit a quota somewhere along the way. My uncle James was always an eccentric man wrapped up in whatever daydreams he's playing on repeat in his head at the time, but this takes the cake. He's sent me a package that looks as if he's trying to create the type of scenario that he reads about in his favorite murder mystery books. It was literally marked in big red, stamped letters “URGENT: FOR YOUR EYES ONLY”. Sitting on the table in front of me are the contents of the package: a little black notebook, an envelope, and a letter. James was the last person to see my father and is currently the prime suspect in his disappearance, as there were signs of foul play at my father's house. The notebook is a supposed detailed written account of the night my father disappeared. It has call logs, receipts, and the names/numbers of people they interacted with that night. Since my father was a wealthy member of the social elite, his disappearance has since become somewhat of a high-profile case in our city. My uncle reached out to me because... well... I make side money by helping a local private investigator by obtaining evidence in a not-so-legal way. What else is a bored hacker to do? I have the skills needed to obtain anything on a suspect that they’ve ever put on a computer, and the work adds a little flavor to what would otherwise be a rather vanilla life for a junior security analyst such as myself. The P.I. I work with sometimes takes non-local cases where there is a suspected murder, and my efforts have resulted in more than one conviction for the clients. The letter says I’m to read the journal, investigate my father’s death, and use the money as I see fit to help me get the answers. The letter ends by saying that when there’s a conviction, I’ll receive my uncle’s entire estate. Looks like there’s $20,000 cash in the envelope. Never could convince him that hacking isn’t exactly an expensive endeavor for me. I either made my scripts or got them from other hackers in exchange for help. Maybe I could use it for bribes? Damn, $20k is a huge amount. He must be petrified that the police have something on him that makes a conviction a guaranteed thing. Now that I think about it, this is the first time my uncle has had any form of correspondence with me in over 7 years. We haven't talked at all since he made a huge scene at my father and stepmother's wedding. He was upset that my father got an Asian woman the same age as me pregnant and then took her as his wife. Honestly, who cares as long as both parties are happy. And happy they were. I hadn't seen my dad smile as he did around my stepmom since my mom passed away when I was in high school. You may find this exciting, but let's face it... when you killed your dad after discovering he raped your half-sister... you don’t exactly need your proficiency in hacking and a notebook to solve the murder. Those things could help me pin it on James though. I always did like his cabin and his jeep is a far better car than my old beater. Plus, my stepmom convinced my dad changed his will, and he wound up leaving everything to my stepmother and uncle. So, in a way, doing so would get me back the inheritance my father decided I no longer needed as I already make good money. Yeah... I think this will work out perfectly.