A/N: I did this for a class project. We had to make a story that involved forensics for our Forensic Detectives class. I did this. I know it sucks, but bear with me on this, kay?
Disclaimer: If I owned the story, I'd be Charles Dickens. Not only would that mean I'm dead, and therefore incapable of writing this story, it'd also make me a dude. And there is no way in hell I am a dude.
***
March 5, 1865
It is a peaceful evening in the Village. It has started to rain, and the drops are pelting against the roof in the most fearful manner. I have heard the rumors of a murderer being loose, but think nothing of it. The trees are blowing against the house in the wind and the shutters are knocking. Pip is downstairs, I suppose. He said that he had to do something important. When will he understand that I will never love him, as I am incapable of love? Sometimes I wonder if he is going behind my back, but I digress. Besides, I know that he would never do that, as that fool is too in love with me.
I hear something downstairs. It is probably Pip, or Miss Havisham here for a visit. I don t care either way. Everyone is worthless and only here for me to break their hearts. Well, I must go. I do tire of writing.
Yours,
Est-
"And it ends there," another investigator remarked.
"That is odd," I said, examining the blood-stained letter. I was on an important case. It was the case of the murder of Estella Havisham. I had been sent back in time to March 6, 1865 to solve this case, and I was determined. My friends had come along with me, and we had somehow persuaded the people from this time to let the case into our hands. "Would you like to be alone with the evidence?" one man asked.
"Yes," I replied. "This is very crucial, and I just need some time to think."
They obliged and left me in the evidence room alone with my thoughts.
Now, I said to myself, There are a few suspects. First is Pip. His motive would be that he realized Estella never loved him and the sadness drove him mad, but when I talked to him he seemed completely sane, innocent, and sad for Estella. I thought back to the conversation I had with Pip at the house he was being held captive at.
***
"Mr. Pirrup, I m sure you are aware of the current situation?" I asked. We were alone in the sitting room, and I was recording his every word.
"No, I'm terribly sorry, I don't. I went out that night to go to the pub with my good friend Joe. A few hours later, I got home and was apprehended by the constable. 'Ah,' he said, 'returning to the scene of the crime, are we?' I wondered what he meant and was about to ask before he cuffed me and dragged me to the Hulks. Then you came and now, now I am here."
"Well," I said, "I am quite sorry to be the one to tell you this, but it's Miss Estella. She was murdered that night while you were supposedly at the pub with this Joe fellow."
"Oh, dear! Poor Estella! I do so wish that I could ve been there to help her!" he exclaimed. Pip seemed utterly distraught, but not completely broken down as I had suspected.
"Are you alright?" I asked him.
"Yes, I'm fine," he said. "I feel remorse, but she was always so rude to me, and she never really loved me. I realized that, and while I held her in high regards, I hardly loved her as one might suppose. I really barely liked her."
"You are aware that this could condemn you?" I asked.
"Yes, but I would have no motive. While I did not like her, as I said I held her in high regards. And I never would hurt another soul, save that pale young gentleman who wished for a fight with me. But I would never harm another, I assure you."
"Mr. Pirrup," I said, "If I ask this Joe and anyone else that was at the pub that night if they saw you, would they agree to your alibi?"
"I should say so," Pip said. "But the only ones I know were there are Joe, the bartender, and Mr. Wopsle."
"Well then, Mr. Pirrup," I said, but Pip cut me off.
"Now, I ll have none of that. You and I are on the way to being great friends, I believe. And as a friend (or acquaintance at least) you shall call me as most do."
"It's not very business-like and hardly professional," I said, "and definitely beside the point. We re here to solve a murder, not determine what name I should call you by."
"That's very true," said he, "but I would much rather you call me Pip. Mr. Pirrup does not suit me well, not at all."
"Alright, Pip, but in court I shall refer to you as Mr. Pirrup and now, if you please, we will get back to the investigation. Now, you say if I interrogate these three they will testify to your being in the pub with them?"
"That is correct," Pip said.
"Alright, I shall get to that at once. Good day, Pip."
"Same to you," he replied with a small smile.
I sighed. Yes, I had checked, and his alibi checked out. There were a few suspects left from our original list. I looked over my notes, trying to find something I missed.
Philip Pirrup: Known commonly as Pip. Had the incentive to kill Miss Estella. She did not love him and he found out, so he killed her? Fingerprints and DNA found nowhere near Miss Estella as they slept in separate rooms, but found at the house as he lived there. Alibi proven true. Innocent.
Joe Gargery: Blacksmith. Had the means to kill Miss Estella but no incentive. In the pub with Pip at the time of the murder. House dusted for fingerprints and DNA, Joe s fingerprints and DNA not found. Innocent.
Mrs. Joe Gargery: Pip's older sister. Could have killed Estella while Pip was at the pub? Disliked Pip. However, she had no means of transportation and would ve been caught on the way there or back. Aside from that, she had company AND her fingerprints and DNA were not found at the scene of the crime. Innocent.
Mr. Pumblechook: Disliked Pip. Incentive: Frame Pip? With Miss Havisham at the time of the murder, no other alibi. Yet to be tested for fingerprints or DNA.
Miss Havisham: Wealthy old lady. Despises all humans, mad at Estella for not breaking Pip s heart. Has the most motivation. However, nobody would believe her to be the suspect seeing as she is a wealthy old woman. No alibi other than being with Mr. Pumblechook at the time of the murder. Yet to be tested for fingerprints or DNA.
I looked over the paper again and sighed. I had a strong feeling that Miss Havisham was guilty. The problem was, no one was being let into her estate.
I remembered dusting for fingerprints.
***
"Alright, I need a fingerprint and blood sample from each of the suspects," I ordered.
Pip and Joe submitted to the tests without hesitation, save a few questions. Mrs. Joe was more wary and kept asking me why I was taking her blood and fingerprints, protesting to the needle. I ended up just taking a few hairs and a little blood. Miss Havisham locked herself up in her estate, and Mr. Pumblechook was with her.
I took blood samples from the scene of the crime and a small sample from Estella s corpse. Each blood spatter was Estella s, except for one.
Pip's blood tested negative. Same as Joe's and Mrs. Joe's. All I had to do now was acquire blood samples from Miss Havisham and Mr. Pumblechook.
For now, the aforementioned were innocent. However, we could not rule out the possibility of an assassin or a mercenary being hired to kill her. But who hired them, and why?
***
I groaned. Why was my job so difficult? It had been proven that Estella was killed by a blunt object. Miss Havisham would be unable to wield such an object with her frail and brittle old body. Mr. Pumblechook, however, could. As could any other member of Miss Havisham s family.
The best theory I had was this: Miss Havisham was angry at Estella. So angry, the old woman plotted the girl s death. Mr. Pumblechook came over one day to pay Miss Havisham the rent and he somehow ended up hearing of her plan. He realized that this was the perfect chance to frame Pip whom he hated for reasons unknown. They plotted the murder together and hired an assassin.
But how could I prove it?
I had to get into Miss Havisham s house at once. I pondered how and then remembered: Estella had a key!
"Flynn!" I called out to my partner. "We re going to Miss Havisham's house! I think I ve got this case wrapped up."
"Should I bring handcuffs?" she asked excitedly.
"We don't really need them," I started, but she grabbed them anyways.
I sighed. "What is it with you and handcuffs?" I asked. She replied with a smile, "They're shiny."
I rolled my eyes and we rode over to Miss Havisham s house in a carriage.
"Now," I said on my way there, "We need to find evidence, DNA samples, anything. They either hired an assassin or did it themselves somehow. Maybe Miss Havisham s stronger than she looks?"
"I have an idea!" Flynn exclaimed. "We can try to arrest Miss Havisham (handcuffs ha!) and then if she's strong enough to resist arrest she's guilty."
"But we have to do a DNA test just to make sure," I said.
Flynn agreed and we got to Miss Havisham s estate.
We walked up to the gate and made sure that Miss Havisham wasn't looking out the window. Then we unlocked the gate and walked in.
We went upstairs to the old woman's room. I gripped my gun and knocked on the door.
"Miss Havisham, Mr. Pumblechook, this is the detectives working on the case of the murder of Miss Estella. You will be taken into custody where you will undergo a DNA test. For the time being you are innocent until proven guilty. Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in the court of law. Come quietly and there will be less charges pressed against you."
There was no reply; I knocked one more time and then motioned to Flynn, who swiftly kicked down the door.
There was Miss Havisham and Mr. Pumblechook, holding out guns of their own.
"Young ladies," Miss Havisham said evilly, "I am afraid I cannot let you leave here alive."
Flynn and I quickly gripped our weapons and Flynn said, "There's no need for a fight. If you come quietly-"
"I cannot come quietly, as this action has now attested to my guilt," the old woman replied. Thankfully we were bugged, so this was all being caught on tape.
Suddenly, Mr. Pumblechook shot the old woman.
I blinked. "What the heck just happened?"
"Agent Pumblechook," he said, flashing his badge. "I was criogenically frozen and woke up a hundred-some years later. I blended in quickly and was sent here from the future, as were you two, to solve the murder of Estella. To do so I had to go undercover as an accomplice of Miss Havisham's. My orders were to find whoever it was that was guilty and shoot them down if they were holding any sort of weapon."
"Umm... Okay," I said. "So, the case is solved, everyone else's name is cleared, and your back in your own time. What now?"
"Well, you can either stay here or be frozen like me," he responded.
But that is another case altogether.