Tara is murdered!
For shame; if only I hadn’t been so detained (and literally so) the night before. I know of only one way I may redeem myself – by using my methods as I can.
I arrived at the scene before that damned police did and I did as much as I could to learn the circumstances of her death before the police would push me off of the scene. Luckily in that short space of time I discovered a lot.
Tara was shot in the abdomen, and died within less than five minutes of blood loss – but had about a minute of consciousness before she fainted. What is strange is that despite the numerous threats Tara received the evidence points – almost too clearly – in the direction of someone quite close to her – Mrs. Loverose, Tara’s bitter and ornery landlady, for multiple reasons.
- By her own admission she had to unlock the door to find the body, which means that the door was locked. Mrs. Loverose and Tara were the only two that had keys to the apartment, and Tara’s keys were on her counter.
- Loverose had a natural hatred of Tara’s unbridled spirit; she was scorned by an adulterous husband and despised Tara’s promiscuity, which may have been strong enough to be an incentive to kill.
- And finally, as if it wasn’t enough, Tara decided in her final minutes to write the letters ‘LOVER’ in her own blood before passing out. I imagine there was little else it could spell than Loverose’s name.
I will admit there is one problem that I keep running into that cannot be explained. The bullet was a rifle round, unless it came from a particularly designed revolver. A rifle would have been difficult to carry in and out of a room, certainly, but that is a small issue. The real issue is that, despite the bullet being a rifle round, the wound is unusually shallow. Given close quarters you would expect a stopping power twice the size and an exit wound, but there is nothing of the sort with either. Moreover, a rifle would have had to be terribly loud; I have attested from the nearest neighbors that they heard nothing – absolutely no gunshot – on the night of the murder, nor the rattling of the door; nothing that would imply that Tara was murdered!
I will have to think of it further; if I only wish that I had more time to investigate the room!
Sherlock Holmes
P.S. There was one more interesting detail; her landline phone was off the receiver; she was on a call when she was killed. Perhaps the person on the other line heard something about the murder… if only we were able to figure out the last number who called her that night!
Have you not encountered this before, Holmes? As I recall, your friend Sebastian Moran once killed with an air revolver. Godspeed in your quest for Tara’s murderer.
Oh? I am certainly aware of Sebastian Moran, but he is still an active agent of Professor Moriarty – or at least he was, in his own time. And while I see the logical reasoning behind a clever device that shoots a revolver bullet, I would have remembered if I found Moran guilty of a murder – and trust me, I would have wished to see the man in jail.
Are you sure this happened to me?
Due to the way our worlds interact, i.e. through a series of books, we can see most point in your timeline from ours. Short version: that probably happens in your future.
There is a function on most phones that allow you to dial the last number received on a phone. Try *-6-9.
One of my friends wishes me to tell you that if you enter the code *69 into a phone, you will get the last number dialed. I cannot talk long. Farewell!
Wait a minute – you’re telling me that I actually *can* get the last number dialed on a phone? That this wasn’t just some sort of wishful hypothetical?!
What a clever novel modern invention this is! What a curse that I had to leave the house because of the interference of those bobbies!
If they are at all competent, they will probably do it too. Unfortunately, even if they do, they are probably not going to tell you.
A thought. Would it be possible to discover the landline provider for Tara’s apartment? If you can, they also will have the ability to give out that information. Of course, I have no idea how to go about convincing them to GIVE it to you, so that bit is up to you.
Perhaps Mrs. Loverose will provide it in order to clear her name (assuming it WASN’T) her? Maybe you should ask her, Mr. Holmes.
There is little I can do now, at least while the police are reviewing the crime scene. I will have to return when the scene is quieter. I have reason to believe, however, that even if Loverose is innocent, she will not be cooperative (we did not get along well – she is an ornery woman)…
In the meantime I have made contact with the original subject of my investigation. It seems now his interest in protecting Tara… or, sadly now, avenging Tara, is aligned with both my intention to investigate the man I now know to be Don Quixote. (The only issue… it is hard to describe. He seems to be rather… enthralled with me in a way I find most uncomfortable.) I do not fancy him the best replacement for my old friend Watson, but Don will do.
I really do miss Watson :-(
Not to worry, Holmes. Work is progressing GRANDLY on our efforts to open a door to your world. We have made some absolutely fantastic breakthroughs in the past few days!
You see, since our worlds interact, at least from this side, through a series of books, as you know, the way to send you home is through the written word, with a little help from our benefactor, who is positioned atop the barrier between our world and yours, and speaks with us through the internet. Actually it is a fascinating thing to study! It seems that our universe, if you discount time, is a four dimensional construction. The world we can observe is like a cube, built with three dimensions. However, the true universe is like a tesseract or a “hyper-cube”, a four dimensional construct that can be imagined as multiple cubes. Each separate cube is another three dimensional universe of it’s own, varying infinitely!
Well… I seem to have gotten off course. I’ll try to link you to a record we kept of our discoveries before you go. I imagine you would find if just as engaging as I do. Anyway, what was I saying?
Ah yes. We can send you home through the written word, however, there are a few conditions we must meet first. One is to collect data on your presence in this world, found through “echoes” your actions leave in the fabric of reality. Collection is going well, and we should be finished shortly. The other is that we need to speak with you of various things, so we make sure we open a gate to the right variation of your universe, and the right time within that universe. I believe it would be most convenient to send you back just shortly after you vanished, but if you intend to tell anyone your experience here, that might lead to… dubious responses. Well, in any case, it’s up to you. Just give us the information about what you were doing and what cases you had completed and we will get you home when and where you request.
For now, though, we have other matters on hand. I’ve already spoken with our benefactor, but he cannot get the phone records at this time. I’ll try brainstorming further on methods of acquiring that number, but I’ve unfortunately run out of caffeinated drinks, and my exhaustion is leaking through. I’m afraid I need sleep at the worst times… So bothersome.
I have been informed by Quixote you intend to meet with him. He has been getting suspicious messages from a suspicious person, however, named Deanna Hackins. Check his twitter, linked at the bottom of this comment, and go through the history for the info we have on her. I don’t know how she fits into this, but she is even worrying Don Quixote, and he would probably trust just about any “fair maiden” he sees.
One final message: The group that contains Moriarty is attempting to recruit members to attack us. They want every person transported here to be forced to remain. Moriarty himself has rather insistently claimed the right to try and recruit YOU, of all people, make of that what you will. We found the logs of their meeting, so we know. Be on your guard, and no matter what they tell you, please let us know. If they have accusations against us, would it not be better to relay them to us so that we may answer them? That way, you can make your own choice on who to trust.
I wish you well, Holmes.
~Sicon112
Dear Mr. Holmes,
To Sicon’s warning I have but one thing to add: while you of all people are certainly aware of how dangerous the man is, I feel I must tell you– of all the members of his group, Moriarty is the one who has clearly expressed that he considers murder to be a viable alternative to recruitment. Considering his rather odd and adamant insistence that he be the one to attempt to recruit you, I fear for your life. You know better than I how ruthless this man is; be on your guard at all times.
Godspeed,
Qara-Xuan
Dear Mr. Holmes:
I do understand that you miss Watson- indeed, he was certainly a good friend and responsible, in your world, for making you famous.
However, I’m not sure about this, but some details of the murder seem utterly similar to your first case, A Study in Scarlet- remember, Rache?
The Wild West Pyro
What if the shot came from outside the building? That could explain the door still being locked and possibly the shallow gunshot wound. If you return to the apartment look at the windows, look behind the curtains, for an entry point. If it was calm weather and a still target anyone with adequate target practice could make the shot.
You may even be able to determine the trajectory of the bullet, the location the shooter used and investigate the “perch”.
Odds are you already have this, Holmes, but we saw something wasn’t quite right with the ccalender behind Tara in the video – it was set to MAY, not October as it should have been. We also noticed several of the dates had been highlighted. We looked up what dates in Tara’s blog corresponded with the numbers on the calender and found the following two entries
June 13th http://taracoulson.ezblog.twwf.info/?p=34#respond
August 20th: http://taracoulson.ezblog.twwf.info/?p=87#respond
Lover. Like the name she wrote in blood. Or that soembody else wrote for her in a framing attempt.
Argh, my error sir I don’t know why I thought something was on thirteen there :( (This is why you are the detective and I am not)
The word Lover MIGHT still apply though…