The Silent Witness

The Silent Witness, A Detective's Race Against Time to Solve a Mysterious Murder

Detective James Carter was having a bad day. He had been assigned to a new case, a murder that seemed to have no clues, no motive, and no suspects. The victim was a young woman named Lisa Miller, who was found dead in her apartment with a single gunshot wound to the head. The only witness was her pet parrot, who was sitting on a perch near the window, repeating the same phrase over and over: "Don't do it, please don't do it."

Carter had interviewed Lisa's friends, family, and coworkers, but none of them had any idea who would want to kill her. She was a successful lawyer, a kind and generous person, and had no enemies or troubles that anyone knew of. She had been dating a man named Mark Wilson for six months, but he had an alibi for the night of the murder. He was at a business trip in another city, and had phone records and hotel receipts to prove it. He was devastated by the news of Lisa's death, and swore that he loved her and would never hurt her.

Carter was frustrated and confused. He had no leads, no evidence, and no time. The chief of police was pressuring him to solve the case quickly, or else he would be taken off it and replaced by someone else. Carter knew that he had to find the killer before they struck again, or before they disappeared forever.

He decided to visit Lisa's apartment again, hoping to find something that he had missed before. He walked up the stairs to the third floor, where Lisa lived in unit 305. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He used his key to open it and entered the crime scene.

The apartment was small but cozy, decorated with photos and paintings on the walls. There was a living room with a sofa and a TV, a kitchen with a fridge and a stove, a bedroom with a bed and a closet, and a bathroom with a shower and a toilet. Carter looked around, searching for anything that could give him a clue.

He noticed that the parrot was still there, sitting on its perch in the living room. It looked at him with its bright eyes and said: "Don't do it, please don't do it."

Carter ignored it and walked to the bedroom, where Lisa's body had been found. The bed was covered with blood stains and bullet holes. The forensic team had collected all the evidence they could find: the bullet casing, the fingerprints, the DNA samples. But none of them matched anyone in the database.

Carter wondered who had killed Lisa and why. Was it a random act of violence? A robbery gone wrong? A personal vendetta? A professional hit? He wished he could ask Lisa herself, but she was gone forever.

He walked out of the bedroom and back to the living room. He saw something that caught his eye: a laptop on the coffee table. He wondered if Lisa had used it before she died. Maybe she had left some clues on it.

He opened the laptop and turned it on. It asked for a password. Carter tried to guess it, but failed. He needed another way to access it.

He remembered that he had brought a USB drive with him, containing a hacking software that he had obtained from a friend who worked in cyber security. He plugged it into the laptop and ran the program. It bypassed the password and unlocked the laptop.

Carter smiled and opened the browser. He checked Lisa's history and bookmarks. He saw that she had visited several websites related to law cases, charities, and online shopping. Nothing unusual or suspicious.

He opened her email account and scanned through her inbox and sent items. He saw that she had received and sent messages from various people: her boss, her clients, her friends, her family, Mark Wilson. Nothing unusual or suspicious.

He opened her social media accounts and looked at her posts and messages. He saw that she had shared photos and videos of herself with Mark Wilson, her friends, her family, her parrot. She had commented on other people's posts and received comments from them. She had expressed her opinions on various topics: politics, sports, movies, music. Nothing unusual or suspicious.

Carter sighed and closed the laptop. He felt like he was wasting his time. There was nothing on Lisa's online life that could help him solve her murder.

He looked at the parrot again. It said: "Don't do it,

please don't do it."

Carter felt a sudden chill down his spine. He realized something that he had overlooked before: the parrot was not just repeating what it had heard during the murder. It was repeating what it had heard before the murder.

He remembered that parrots were very intelligent and could mimic human speech. He wondered if the parrot had learned to say those words from Lisa herself. He wondered if Lisa had said those words to someone who had visited her before she died. He wondered if that someone was the killer.

He grabbed the parrot and held it close to his face. He asked it: "Who did you hear say those words? Who did Lisa say those words to?"

The parrot looked at him and said: "Mark Wilson. Mark Wilson."

Carter felt a shock of disbelief and anger. He realized that Mark Wilson had lied to him. He realized that Mark Wilson had killed Lisa. He realized that he had found the killer.

He put the parrot back on its perch and took out his phone. He called his partner and told him to track down Mark Wilson and arrest him. He told him that he had evidence that proved his guilt.

He hung up and looked at the laptop again. He opened it and checked Mark Wilson's email account. He saw that he had received a message from Lisa on the night of the murder. It read:

"Mark, I know what you've done. I know you've been cheating on me with another woman. I know you've been stealing money from your company. I know you've been involved in illegal activities. I have proof of everything. I'm going to expose you and ruin your life. Don't bother to deny it or beg for forgiveness. It's too late for that. You'll pay for what you've done."

Carter understood what had happened. Mark Wilson had panicked and decided to kill Lisa before she could expose him. He had flown back from his business trip, sneaked into her apartment, shot her in the head, and flown back to his hotel, making it look like he had never left.

He had fooled everyone, except for one silent witness: the parrot.

Carter smiled and said: "Good job, buddy. You've just solved a mysterious murder."

The parrot looked at him and said: "Don't do it, please don't do it."