The Ferris Wheel Fatality, Part 2

Writing Practice #7 Theme: rocket-ship Focus: mystery

Nicole stopped struggling, but her body remained tense. She could feel his body heat on her back as he held her tightly.

“Can you promise not to�"” He was cut off mid-sentence by a thumb swinging back to dig into his eye. He fell back with a yelp, and Nicole turned her body as his arms loosened. She landed a strong downward strike to his groin and he dropped to the asphalt, doubled over in pain. Nicole took a step away from him and drew her gun.

“Nope.”

“Wait, wait,” the man cried out weakly, one arm outstretched as a guard against further harm. “Please, just hear me out. I know things about that murder, important things.”

“Perfect, you can tell me everything you know at the station,” she responded coldly, her gun still pointed at his head. “Get on your knees and face away from me with your hands behind your head. You’re under arrest for assaulting a police officer.”

 

The detective pulled her long brown back into a perfect bun as she watched her assailant through the one-way mirror. The man sat slouched over with his head in his hands, elbows resting on the cold metal table. He shivered slightly as the air conditioner kicked in, his short-sleeved shirt exposing his forearms to the cool air. He was alone with his thoughts, for now.

The door behind Nicole opened, and she turned to face Sergeant Garcia as he entered the dimly lit room.

“Nice catch, detective. Hopefully this punk can give us a good lead,” his deep voice cheerful.

“I hope so. It would be nice if we could wrap this up before the weekend. It would be nice to really have a day or two off,” she grinned. “I didn’t catch what you were saying about the victim at the crime scene; sorry about that. Mind going over his profile?”

“Sure. Like I said, name seems to be Russell Parker. We found his driver’s license and ID badge on him. And get this: the ID badge says he’s a computer engineer for NASA. I’ll have someone confirm that with the agency in the morning. Besides that, there were only a couple bucks and a Visa credit card in his wallet. Nothing in his pockets or on the ride with him.”

“NASA?” Nicole’s eyebrow raised. “We’re not anywhere close to any NASA centers…wonder what he was doing here. How was he killed?”

“We’ll get more details from the autopsy tomorrow, but it looks like he was stabbed in the chest while on the ride. Couldn’t have been killed more than two minutes before he was found, since that’s when he would’ve gotten on the Ferris wheel. Apparently no witnesses saw anyone suspicious, and we’ve yet to find the murder weapon. We’d really have nothing to go on without your suspect.” He nodded toward the mirror.

Nicole pulled on her jacket and buttoned it up. “He’d better have something useful to say, then.”