“Here’s your coffee sir”, said Jane as she handed him his ristretto. She received an approving nod and
humbly walked away from his office, knowing Cordero she definitely saw the agony and scepticism in his
eyes and his choosing of coffee was also quite odd. But during that time it was just best for some peace,
which had been scarcely available lately. Cordero took a sip of his fresh coffee and waited for someone to
walk through that door and give him what he needed. A motive.
It had been exactly 4 days and 17 hours since the last attack of the unfaced criminal mastermind had
occurred or as the villagers named it, ‘The mad gasser of Mattoon’. Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like, a
psychotic disguised soul that has been rummaging around town, bringing with it strange fatal odours that
leaked into the homes of our people. I ran my brittle fingertips across the large evidence board of notes my
crew and I collected from the case, pictures, suspects, and evidence, all pinned up and connecting with a red
string. That red string unfortunately ended midway when the attacker left one of the strangest gestures I
have ever encountered, blue silk ties. After hours of trying to wrap my head around this case my body
officially needed a break and as I reached out to grab my keys an unfamiliar sound rang through the room.
Looking back I stared at the vibrating office phone, which I forgot even existed. Strangely I brought it to my
ears and heard the most exciting 2 words since last week. I bolted out the door and headed for the crime
scene.
The ground was damp and spiteful rain hovered around the many terrified victims. Lowering my glasses, I
carefully examined the fresh felony and jotted down notes as I went by. It was an ordinary act of the so
called mad gasser but there had do be some kind of configuration that gave away his identity. Before I could
finish my interrogation with the crime scene Suzie took me away to talk to the victims when they were
finally ready to speak. Vague words came slurring down their trembling lips as they gave us the gruesome
sight of what they had experienced. Alice Kearney, the mother of 2 daughters, explained that she had woken
up that night to the smell of a peculiar sweet odour that had enlightened their homes and one of her
daughters confirmed that story and also added that she woke up to the discovery of her legs being paralysed.
I ended their interview quite early as they had enough pressure to deal with and I had collected enough
information anyway to add to come up with new theories. As I made my way through the aggravated crime
scene, I had a glimpse of an irregular object behind the gassed house, being the curious person I am, I peered
closer to the figure until a the tiniest smirk appeared on my face. It was another one of the mysterious
attacker’s hints, the blue silk tie. It was half devoured by the earthy rocks and had the same pattern as the
last 6 ones, an unusual symbol of a bird spreading its wings, sort of like the ones on army crests, printed on
navy blue silk. I steadily wore my gloves and placed the new precious milestone in a plastic cover.
After filling in the lengthy paperwork the police offered a ride home and as lethargic as I felt right now, I
thankfully agreed. It was one of those dismal, quiet rides, each of us had our own path to figure out and
solve this case once and for all so no one really spoke. I accidently broke the silence when a tired yawn
slipped my mouth and I awkwardly pulled over the closest newspaper I could find to cover it up. No one
seemed to notice and I chose to may as well read since there was nothing else going on. Flipping through
pages and pages of unnecessary garbage, I stumbled across an article that caught my attention, the ongoing
World War II. With all the chaos going around I almost forgot about the war and its recent updates. Reading
through it vigorously one of the images looked very familiar, it was a snapshot of hundreds of dead soldier
bodies cooped up in a plastic bag and that’s when it hit me. The four dead men in the left corner wore the
same symbols as there were on the blue silk ties. Could it be a coincidence or were the hiding something? I
madly flicked through some more pages, my heat racing as fast as lightning, and found a passage of gas
bombs with the same atomic mass as the ones tested here. By now my fellow workmates had caught up to
my understanding and we insanely speeded our way to the headquarters.
My team and I stormed through the door, creating a prominent arrival and we weren’t the only ones to crack
the case. Suzie sprinted towards us with a bundle of papers explaining one of the most twisted scenarios I
have ever heard. To her conclusion the mad gasser were different people working part time in the army to
assist in creating bombs for the war. It was an illegal organisation that stored their creations underground
and was on the brink of being exposed. All the homes targeted had one thing in common, they were all built
by a German man named Arnold Schwartzkoph who died 33 years ago and was the leader of this scandalous
bomb business. He built the houses to protect his secret warehouse and now that the villagers were getting
too close to the truth, it was ordered for the workmen to scare and flee the residents away. The blue silk ties
were nothing but a minor strategy to let the other men know what had been taken care of and it was also one
of Arnolds weird obsessions.
I stood there trembling after what I had just heard but realised this was just the beginning. Who knows how
many other lies have been kept, all because we were too scared of the truth and now it was our turn to fill in
the gaps.