Law School Murders: There Once was a Man

“For those who can’t….” St. Kitts said. Inside Kim's office, the agent had pointed out an old saw about professions.

“Well, you know I can’t but not by my own design,” she retorted. “How’s Darby?”

“He’s having another kid. At sixty. Imagine that.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with it.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I think it’s beautiful. But the problem is how he’s going to be retired with his grandkids and his own kid. It’s just a little weird.”

Kim Scoffed. St. Kitts looked at his watch.

“You’re preoccupied with something,” he noticed.

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s gotta be something they way your tapping that pencil. She took note and then laid the writing utensil on her desk.

“It’s something with my classroom.”

“Oh?”

“Someone wrote a wonderful essay.”

“So, send it into the Daily Delaware editorial section.” He smirked.

“It was a veiled death threat.”

“Jesus, did you go to—”

She shook her head.

“Just Maryallene. She analyzed it. First it was white male then they came back as a black female.”

“Sort of a reversal, wouldn’t you say?”

“For this particular instance, sure but I think whoever wrote it is just trying to scare me, or admire me, or just be a ‘Stan.’”

“Oh, yeah like the song,” St. Kitts pointed out.

“I don’t know about the specifics but I can deduce some of the other particulars. I can say that the best way around—”

“Aren’t you full of chestnuts today?” Kim mentioned.

“Anyway, I’ve got a guy at the Agency who can do a deeper analysis of that paper. No offense to Maryallene but we have even more sophisticated technology that should help you catch whoever submitted it.”

“Thanks for that. I appreciate it.”

“No sw—-it’s not a problem.”

“I can go over to Maryallene and retrieve the paper.”

“Good stuff.”

The pair stopped by the forensics lab and saw Maryallene.

“St. Kitts. Jergensen. Where’s your third partner in crime?”

“He’s on indefinite leave.”

“I see. Is this about the paper?”

“Yes,” Kim chimed.

“The machine ate the paper.”

“The untitled paper, unnamed person will serve you more than you think,” St. Kitts asserted. “When you pass the assignment back to the kids, they’ll be that one who won’t get it.”

The wings to Kim’s mind began to flap.

She suddenly had a brief moment of sheer clarity where she would nab the person who threatened her. She put together her faculties and searched for a way to speed the process of catching her woman.

“All you’ve got is a window for you to open and shine the truth down from it,” Maryallene replied.

St. Kitts and Kim exchanged glances and laughed lightly.

“What? It’s from a poem,” Maryallene defended herself. She switched gears and added, “Again, I apologize but this could be a blessing in disguise! Hey, I’m a poet and I even know it!”

“What are the formaldehyde levels like around this place?” St. Kitts quipped. Kim nudged him.

“You’re probably right, Maryallene. This could be the ironic break in the case. Destroyed evidence that reveals the culprit. They don’t teach that at the Department.”

“Or the Academy. Wasn't in any of my textbooks.”

“Thanks, though, Maryallene but I’m going to take this case and follow through on it.”

“Okay, you two shouldn’t work so hard there’s a whole world of poetry—”

“I happen to love poetry,” St. Kitts proclaimed. “There once was a man—-”

“Take care,” Kim called.

Back at DIT, the professor and the Agent sat outside.

“You think you can lift this weight all by yourself?”

“I know I can,” she said.