Not many people know that as opposed to my namesake who hired out as a consulting detective, I hire out as a consulting nexialist.
I had been cruising in my boat the Leaping Spaniel when I decided to dock for a couple of days to re provision. The local police chief Inspector Blouseau hearing that I was in town had called to see if I would consider lending my expertise on a couple of difficult cases.
It was 10.00 a.m. and he was just telling me about the first problem, a UFO which flew across the town the last night in every month and after its passage cattle & sheep had disappeared, when his radio called him.
After a 10 minute conversation which I could only hear his side of the conversation because he was wearing an earpiece he turned to me and said “There has been a murder, someone has killed Papa Schimmelhorn the eccentric cuckoo clock maker and inventor, there are only 2 possible suspects who are now under guard in their houses. Would you like to come along?”
I readily agreed for I knew Papa Schimmelhorn by reputation,
We first went to Papa Schimmelhorn’s shop. The body was there covered by a sheet. Inspector Blouseau took me to a monitor in the back room and played pre selected clips from the CCTV.
The first showed a man coming into the shop at 11.00 a.m. the previous day inspecting 2 cuckoo clocks, paying for them, and leaving the shop after they had been boxed and wrapped.
The second half an hour later showed a man, and here I did a double take for it was either the same man or his double down to the same clothes, come into the shop inspect 2 cuckoo clocks, pay for them and whilst waiting for them to be boxed & wrapped start looking at the wall of photos of Papa Schimmelhorn’s creations, then he picked up a length of weight chain. When Papa Schimmelhorn returned he swung it round his neck and garrotted Papa Schimmelhorn.
Then there must have been some security setting triggered by Papa Schimmelhorn for the recording showed steel shutters coming down across the windows, door and back room and this second man trying to get out. The recording then jumped forward to 8.00 a.m. this morning, the security blinds lifted and the man got up, took the wrapped cuckoo clocks and then left the shop.
The next bit of film showed the mailman coming into the shop and finding the body.
“Now you see the problem” said Inspector Blouseau “the two men are identical twins and both say that they were the first customer here yesterday and it must have been their brother that killed him”. “Would you like to come and interview them?”
“Yes” I replied “But I just want to spend a couple of minutes looking at the wall of pictures first.”
20 minutes later we pulled up in front of a couple of houses both of which had police cars parked in front.
“We will go and see Adam first” said the inspector.
We went inside the house and there was Adam sitting down being closely watched by the inspector’s sidekick Kato.
I introduced myself to Adam and asked him to how he came to buy the clocks and describe what happened from when he went into the shop.
“Well” said Adam “Papa Schimmelhorn rang me and said he had 2 unique cuckoo clocks for me which I would find interesting, I went to the shop bought them and then returned straight home . When I got home I immediately hung them according to his instructions, wound them up by pulling the weight chains up so that the weights were right at the top and then I have not left the house since. He said I was his first customer that day”
“What is unique about the clocks?” I asked. “I don’t know “said Adam He said I would find out in 48 hours.
I went and inspected the clocks which were hung on a wooden beam about 30cm from each other. The weights had dropped a bit from the fully wound position as one would expect if they had been wound 24 hours previously.
After studying the clocks for a few moments I said to the Inspector “Let’s go and see Bert now.”
We walked into Bert’s house and he also was seated being guarded by Jato, Kato’s cousin.
I introduced myself to Bert and asked him to how he came to buy the clocks and describe what happened from when he went into the shop.
“Well” said Bert “Papa Schimmelhorn rang me and said he had 2 unique cuckoo clocks for me which I would find interesting, I went to the shop bought them and then returned straight home . When I got home I immediately hung them according to his instructions, wound them up by pulling the weight chains up so that the weights were right at the top and then I have not left the house since. He said I was his first customer that day”
“What is unique about the clocks?” I asked. “I don’t know “said Bert He said I would find out in 48 hours.
I went and inspected the clocks which were hung on a wooden beam about 30cm from each other. The weights had dropped a bit from the fully wound position as one would expect if they had been wound 24 hours previously.
After studying the clocks, which appeared identical to Adam’s for a few moments I said to the Inspector “Arrest Bert he is the murderer, he did not return to this house until this morning”
Bert was handcuffed and dragged out shouting and screaming that Papa Schimmelhorn was a cheat and deserved to die.
I then explained to the inspector how I knew.
How did I know?
You may ask questions
Oh my fee was the 2 cuckoo clocks built for Bert and they were unique they projected a time stop field for an hour a day. Adam’s projected a time speed up field for an hour a day
Oh and Papa Schimmelhorn was not dead after all , Bert had killed an android, but Bert still went to prison for attempted murder.
I had been cruising in my boat the Leaping Spaniel when I decided to dock for a couple of days to re provision. The local police chief Inspector Blouseau hearing that I was in town had called to see if I would consider lending my expertise on a couple of difficult cases.
It was 10.00 a.m. and he was just telling me about the first problem, a UFO which flew across the town the last night in every month and after its passage cattle & sheep had disappeared, when his radio called him.
After a 10 minute conversation which I could only hear his side of the conversation because he was wearing an earpiece he turned to me and said “There has been a murder, someone has killed Papa Schimmelhorn the eccentric cuckoo clock maker and inventor, there are only 2 possible suspects who are now under guard in their houses. Would you like to come along?”
I readily agreed for I knew Papa Schimmelhorn by reputation,
We first went to Papa Schimmelhorn’s shop. The body was there covered by a sheet. Inspector Blouseau took me to a monitor in the back room and played pre selected clips from the CCTV.
The first showed a man coming into the shop at 11.00 a.m. the previous day inspecting 2 cuckoo clocks, paying for them, and leaving the shop after they had been boxed and wrapped.
The second half an hour later showed a man, and here I did a double take for it was either the same man or his double down to the same clothes, come into the shop inspect 2 cuckoo clocks, pay for them and whilst waiting for them to be boxed & wrapped start looking at the wall of photos of Papa Schimmelhorn’s creations, then he picked up a length of weight chain. When Papa Schimmelhorn returned he swung it round his neck and garrotted Papa Schimmelhorn.
Then there must have been some security setting triggered by Papa Schimmelhorn for the recording showed steel shutters coming down across the windows, door and back room and this second man trying to get out. The recording then jumped forward to 8.00 a.m. this morning, the security blinds lifted and the man got up, took the wrapped cuckoo clocks and then left the shop.
The next bit of film showed the mailman coming into the shop and finding the body.
“Now you see the problem” said Inspector Blouseau “the two men are identical twins and both say that they were the first customer here yesterday and it must have been their brother that killed him”. “Would you like to come and interview them?”
“Yes” I replied “But I just want to spend a couple of minutes looking at the wall of pictures first.”
20 minutes later we pulled up in front of a couple of houses both of which had police cars parked in front.
“We will go and see Adam first” said the inspector.
We went inside the house and there was Adam sitting down being closely watched by the inspector’s sidekick Kato.
I introduced myself to Adam and asked him to how he came to buy the clocks and describe what happened from when he went into the shop.
“Well” said Adam “Papa Schimmelhorn rang me and said he had 2 unique cuckoo clocks for me which I would find interesting, I went to the shop bought them and then returned straight home . When I got home I immediately hung them according to his instructions, wound them up by pulling the weight chains up so that the weights were right at the top and then I have not left the house since. He said I was his first customer that day”
“What is unique about the clocks?” I asked. “I don’t know “said Adam He said I would find out in 48 hours.
I went and inspected the clocks which were hung on a wooden beam about 30cm from each other. The weights had dropped a bit from the fully wound position as one would expect if they had been wound 24 hours previously.
After studying the clocks for a few moments I said to the Inspector “Let’s go and see Bert now.”
We walked into Bert’s house and he also was seated being guarded by Jato, Kato’s cousin.
I introduced myself to Bert and asked him to how he came to buy the clocks and describe what happened from when he went into the shop.
“Well” said Bert “Papa Schimmelhorn rang me and said he had 2 unique cuckoo clocks for me which I would find interesting, I went to the shop bought them and then returned straight home . When I got home I immediately hung them according to his instructions, wound them up by pulling the weight chains up so that the weights were right at the top and then I have not left the house since. He said I was his first customer that day”
“What is unique about the clocks?” I asked. “I don’t know “said Bert He said I would find out in 48 hours.
I went and inspected the clocks which were hung on a wooden beam about 30cm from each other. The weights had dropped a bit from the fully wound position as one would expect if they had been wound 24 hours previously.
After studying the clocks, which appeared identical to Adam’s for a few moments I said to the Inspector “Arrest Bert he is the murderer, he did not return to this house until this morning”
Bert was handcuffed and dragged out shouting and screaming that Papa Schimmelhorn was a cheat and deserved to die.
I then explained to the inspector how I knew.
How did I know?
You may ask questions
Oh my fee was the 2 cuckoo clocks built for Bert and they were unique they projected a time stop field for an hour a day. Adam’s projected a time speed up field for an hour a day
Oh and Papa Schimmelhorn was not dead after all , Bert had killed an android, but Bert still went to prison for attempted murder.
