The Journal of Tony "Tiny" Chopper, Private Investigator

Day 1

The first day of a case is always the best. Employers who are willing to buy coffee and donuts and people are in high spirits, but even so as the case drags on, there are less morning treats and more restless nights and insults from the boss! Maybe the first day is the only good day. The boss came to my cubicle and threw down a case on my desk today. I read the file and it looked like an interesting case already. A college senior reports that her younger sister, attending the same college, has been missing for the past 3 days. It seems that the report was just filed this morning. It was always like the boss to give me a fresh-off-the-news case. According to the report, no one has claimed to see the girl except for one classmate, saying that three nights ago he saw her leaving "JoeSchmoe" the popular college student hangout off campus. I set off to begin investigating the case. Missing person cases can turn out to be anything. I remember I had this one case where a mother reported her son missing and it turned out that he moved to New Jersey and forgot to tell her! I hope this case is worth solving, this time. I have now arrived at the suspected crime scene. As soon as I pulled up I noticed several suspicious things that would probably turn into valuable evidence. Dark black skid marks were almost practically painted on the road. I got out of the car, and checked if anyone else was around. After assuring myself that there wasn't, I began to do Investigator's Work 101: take measurements. The tire tracks I found were leading away from JoeSchmoe stretching to about 15 feet. Whoever was swerving really tried to break. After observing the tracks for a little while more, my heart leaped. I kept on following the path of the tracks on foot and I found a darkened splash of blood near the slight curve of the tracks. My curiosity was urging me to swipe my finger into the blood to see if it was a little dry, but I knew that I should never interfere with valid evidence.

I stood in front of JoeShmoe to see what it must've been like for an onlooker and spotted something else, lying helplessly on the concrete sidewalk. A sneaker! If I get any more evidence, I think I'll be the happiest guy alive. Slipping on my gloves, which should have been on already, I picked up the sole shoe and slipped it in a baggie. I observed it for a few moments. It looks like a woman's shoe. I checked the back of it; the sole was partially torn off from the sneaker frame. Weird.

After combing the area, I photographed the tire tracks on the road, the shoe, and the blood. I also scraped a sample of rubber from the skid mark and put that into a special glass case. Carrying everything in a cart, I loaded up the backseat. Before I drove away, I made sure to stop inside the hangout. Man, that makes me think. I'm glad the police completely sectioned off this part of the street with police tape, because any tampering with the things found at the crime scene would've been fatal. Plus, it was easier for me to spot things within the yellow tape, compared to spotting them without the tape. I brought the evidence back to the lab for further analysis by out specialists.

Day 2

It was a dark and stormy night. I've always wanted to say that… But, no kidding, it really was dark and stormy. This afternoon when I had gone back to the office, I re-read the files and got a hold of the sister's phone number. Shortly after that, I decided to call and tell her that I'd need to interview her. I had expected to hear a voice that was depressed and broken down, but her voice was incredibly steady and well kept. Hmm…

I had suggested that I should come over to her residence, and she complied. But, this was only because I wanted to secretly check around her house for clues as well. They don't call me "Tiny" for nothing; I search through every crevice for anything that might be a clue. Every tiny detail is seen by me before it gets analyzed. However, the irony lies in the fact that I'm actually very short, but with my powers, can grow really tall! I arrived at the tall building, parking the car in the indoor garage. I was openly welcomed as she opened the door for me to come inside. Samantha, I found out was her name, had bookshelves reaching all the way to the wall. Everything was organized. Her furniture was all dark brown, and her desk and computer were in order. I whistled. Not many college students could keep up with cleanliness. She told me to have a seat, and she took one as well. I asked her some questions about her sister, her personality, especially the last time before she saw her again. I made sure to ask if she knew her sister had the types of shoes I had seen in front of JoeShmoe. I studied her face for any hesitation, and there was none. She answered yes. After asking a few more questions, I bid her farewell and went back to the lab to see if there were any testing results. I did notice she giggled... maybe at my appearance...

The specialists told me of the results, which had not been that many, but there was a big find. Bloody fingerprints were found on the back of the shoe, as if someone gripped the shoe from the back. In the business, we call such evidence of fingerprints patent fingerprints. There was no match between the fingerprints they found and fingerprints of any criminal in our database. That could only mean one thing; the person who allegedly did something to Samantha's sister has never gone to jail before. An amateur in doing crime. Probably a first timer, but I couldn't jump to conclusions. At least not yet. They also found a strand of hair inside the shoe. After going through our databases, they said the DNA matched up with the suspected victim. They also said that the blood from the splatter I saw matched up with the blood from the fingerprints, but they weren't the victim's fingerprints.

It's time to search for more witnesses! After all, the report may say there was only one, but that may not always be the case. I went looking around JoeSchmoe again to find any regular visitors who might have seen more of what happened three nights ago. I asked the manager if there were any people in the place right now that happen to be a regular customer. I was hoping that maybe they would tell me something about what they saw here that night. He pointed me in the direction of three students sitting down at a table. I flashed them my oh-so-handy badge and said that they needed to tell me what they witnessed three nights ago, but made sure not to tell them of the suspected crime that took place so their information would be completely truthful. They say they were hanging out and they all of a sudden heard a loud noise like the screeching of a car. They went out a few minutes later, and saw a car had stopped a block ahead, and a young male got into the car. They were able to identify the type of car: it was a blue Ford mustang. Eventually they went back inside, believing nothing major was going on. I asked if any of the kids remembered the license number but one of them only said they knew it was a Florida state license. I took down the notes of what they said in a separate journal and thanked them. Now, it's time to hunt for that car.

Day 3

It was surprisingly a bright day. Surprising because just the night before, thunder was roaring. Thank goodness there wasn't any rain. That would've messed up the crime scene. Usually I work solo on cases, so that's exactly how I worked for this one. I went around the local dealerships in the city, asking of when they had ever sold a Ford Mustang to any young guy. The results were very vague and wide, but at least I was starting somewhere. Then, I remembered what one of those students had said right before I left: It was a new looking car. That means it must've been bought recently. With that, my results narrowed down to 3 in the area, since blue mustangs were rarely sold this month. The boys were all adults, but barely. That means that their profiles would be in our local database, and that I could narrow the search from there.

When I got back to my cubicle in the office, I hit the keyboards faster with my hoofs than one can say the word 'fast'. Immediately, I got hits for each name I typed in and their description.

Wallace Hampton- Age 20, single, lives in Northborough

Nick Cage- Age 23, married, has moved to Texas

Jack Tripper- Age 25,single, lives in Northborough

I figured I could cross out the second one, since I scrolled down the page and saw that he moved before the crime ever happened. I analyzed the data about the other two, and looked up their background story. You know, their life. Nothing particularly caught my eye until I started reading about the last one, Jack Tripper. Now that was an interesting story. Says here that he was going to inherit money from his grandfather. Supposedly, it was stated in the grandfather's will before he died that Jack would get the money. It also says that both his mother and father died before the Grandfather, and that's why he gave the money to no one else. But, the will states that if he gets into any criminal activity before the court hearing, it was not to be so. Something like This would definitely make me suspect him as the criminal. Suspecting that he'll abide by the rules and saying "he won't do that then" is a big mistake. What if he did something by accident? I looked up the address of his house and phone number. I bit my lip. What was I going to do now? Ask him questions?

Instead of daring to call him and question him, I decided to look up the person who was labeled on the report as the so-called "only witness". I phoned him up. He told me of everything he saw of the girl. Why hadn't I called him up before? He gave a lot of information that I wouldn't have gotten anywhere else. He was a fellow classmate of hers, someone who had a crush on her. Ah, young feeble love. He said that he had been following her to the hangout, and planned to talk to her, but didn't manage to because he was shy. As he was approaching her, she suddenly walked out in a disoriented manner. He said that he had noticed this since she had started to drink at the bar. Hmm. Well, no wonder. He summarized that he saw this as a sign not to go after her anymore, and so he stayed inside. "I never knew this was going to happen to her, if only I had listened to my conscience." He quoted.

Piecing this information with what I saw outside JoeShmoe, I concocted a hypothesis on what could've possibly happened. Ok, one night, she was just having fun with her friends. She gets a little too drunk and then decides to go home. A car comes and swerves, trying not to hit her. With the fact that there's blood, that must've meant that she got hit. But what after that? Why is she missing? I need a solid piece of information to tie it all together. It was only the next day that I figured out what to do.

Day 4

I told the boss that I was almost done solving the case, just to make him pleased. Well, I was telling the truth. Out of his mouth he said to just get it over with, but I knew that he was thinking something else. Anyway, I finally figured out what to do. I talked with the boss this morning about search warrants. He said I'd have to go through a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official to be able to search through someone's home or stuff. I did exactly that.

I dialed up the suspect's number in a remote location with a phone I could easily throw away. An investigator can never be too careful. I told him that I'd need to come over to his house and check his things because I was trying to find an answer to a case, and it had to do with him, which was partially right. It's just that I didn't mention the part that he was a suspect. I rolled up slowly to his house, my MapQuest directions on the passenger's seat beside me. He had told me that he wasn't going to be there, so I could freely check out his place. With that, I took the liberty to find the key he told me about underneath the map and strolled right in. It could've been a trap but I had no choice but to check the place out. Noticing nothing out of the ordinary, I noticed that his car was out front as well. I picked the lock with a pin and immediately stood back. A horrible scent came out of the trunk. I looked closer at the fabric. Looking left and right, I cut a little piece of it and put it in a plastic baggie I had always kept on me but never used. I looked inside the house again, checking the trash cans. And that's when I saw it. Bloody gloves.

I took it and the little piece of cloth back to the lab for testing. As I had thought, both had the blood of the girl on it. We had caught our suspect! Or so I thought…

Day 5

We brought him in for briefing in a white room with one of those one way mirrors. His story didn't add up somewhere… it didn't. And THAT'S when I finally got it.

Later on that afternoon, I heard that the police had arrested Samantha. Good, I thought in my head. The guy confessed to the crime eventually after I saw that his bogus story didn't add up, saying that he was told on purpose to hit the drunken girl. His last minute conscious told him to swerve away, but it was already too late. He ran out of his car and checked if the girl was dead, which he thought she was. Soon after that he loaded her to the back trunk. He hurried his pace when he saw some guys run out of JoeShmoe, the guys that I had met a couple of days back. He then drove away and threw her into a river, never to be seen again. Or so we thought. He said that it was all Samantha's idea. She hated her sister. She hated her success and everything about her that she went insane about it. It was no wonder why she had that neutral, uncaring face on when I had interviewed her. So, the guy did not commit the crime on accident, it was attempted murder. Either way, the grandfather's will still stated what it had said, so he couldn't in the end get the money. I found out that the guy had freely let me in because he thought he had removed all evidence, but he was mistaken. As for the sister… we soon located her washed ashore on a beach not too far from the river, alive, but not well.

In the end, Samantha was sentenced to I don't even know how many years, the guy was sentenced the same amount of years for actually doing the killing, and we made sure to take care of Samantha's sister, Rachael. Oh yeah, and for this great finding, I was awarded a party by Luffy and a raise. I guess this week turned out pretty well! And now I have to attend to Usoppu who's sulking in the corner, being jealous of my success.