Solve-it-yourself mystery

Detectives Richard Cole and Karen Valentine walked into the house and checked in with the officer guarding the crime scene.

“Where’s the body?” Cole grumbled.

The officer raised an eyebrow. “The body, so to speak, is in the library…and mad as a hatter, from what I hear.”

“Right,” Cole muttered, starting into the hallway, as Valentine, following behind, gave the man a smile.

“Second door on your left,” the officer called after them.

It was a modest house for someone of Walter Tibbett’s means, but the directions helped as they passed an immense living room on the right, blocked by a section of bannister that had fallen from an upstairs staircase.

Walter was in the library, reclined on a leather sofa with a doctor fussing over him. He glanced up as they came in. “There you are,” Walter crowed. “Now we’ll get some arrests!”

“What’s the story?” Cole asked an officer standing by.

“He fell from the second floor after the bannister gave way as he started down. He’s got a broken leg and a lot of bruises.” The officer shrugged. “At his age, he’s very lucky to even be alive.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my age,” Walter snapped. “And it wasn’t an accident! This was a deliberate attempt on my life.”

“You really think it was deliberate?”

“You bet it was! I told those boys I’d found stuff missing in the house and that I knew who did it and was planning to change my will.” “What boys?” Cole asked. Walter had two nephews: Ben and Nate. Both lived in town and would stop by to help him from time to time. One of them, according to Walter, had been quietly removing antiques from the house. “Which one?” Cole asked. Walter hesitated. “That I don’t know. I only told them I knew to scare them off, figuring that would stop the thefts. Didn’t figure on this, though.”

“The ambulance is here, Doc,” an officer said, poking his head through the door.

Suddenly, EMTS appeared with a stretcher. “Arrest both boys,” Walter yelled as he was wheeled out. “Keep the one that did it and let the other go!”

“We can’t do that,” Cole called back, listening to Walter’s grumbles as he rolled down the hallway.

Valentine asked the officer if anyone had spoken to the nephews.

“Walter asked them both over to make his announcement. They say they ignored him, he was always threatening to disinherit them. But they did decide to work on some things, cutting his grass and so on. The boys spent their day doing chores, Ben was outside and Nate was inside.” “How’d the fall happen?” “While they were working, Walter took a shower. He says someone stole his glasses. He couldn’t see well, and so held the bannister when he started downstairs. Only it gave way.”

Cole frowned. “Was it old? Why would it give way?”

“I didn’t want to say anything while Walter was here, but it looks like someone removed the screws from a section. Nothing holding it in place. Each nephew swears it had to be an accident— say they were too busy working to do anything like that.”

Cole and Valentine checked the premises. It was clear that Ben had been busy outside, raking out the shrubbery, cleaning branches from the lawn, getting everything ready for warmer weather. Nate had made pot roast for dinner. They found the pans, cutting board, and scraps in the kitchen.

Valentine paused to admire. “I love pot roast,” she sighed.

“It looks like they were both busy,” Cole noted. “I guess we should go ahead and get their sides of the story.”

Valentine shrugged. “Well if I were you, I’d start with Nate.” “Nate? Why him?” “Oh, you poor thing.” Valentine gave her partner a sympathetic smile. “Looks like you could use some cooking lessons.”