The Dining Room Murder Case
Nikki Xaysanasy
List of Characters:
Haruhi Suzumiya
Kyon
Yuki Nagato
Itsuki Koizumi
Miruku Asahina
Sam Iowder
Mr. Gasper
Mrs. Gasper
Gerald the Butler
Marvin the Gardner
It just happened to be this morning when I got a call from Haruhi who wanted to me to go with the brigade to Mr. Gasper's house for dinner. Mr. Gasper is a famous local writer in the city who took a liking to the SOS brigade. And I bet all of this happened because of her. Even though it's only 10 A.M, I needed to do something before 6. I met with Koizumi early in the afternoon and we went to the library. You know he always have that eerie smile all the time, it kinda freaks me out.
Once we got to the library, we found out that it was closed.
"I forgot it closes on Sunday" I said
"I see, well, I guess we have to do something else" Koizumi said
We took a short walk to a library restaurant to have lunch. I thought to myself that it be a good morning without any interruptions.
"What a fine afternoon" Koizumi said
"Yeah, it's rather peaceful" I replied
"Because Haruhi isn't around?"
"Hah, yeah, with her, we're always doing something tiring and unusual"
"Whatever keeps her happy, we don't have to worry about the world being gone"
I just hope nothing strange will happen when we're eating dinner tonight, the only thing I need to see is another fake murder scene at a big mansion. Are we even going to a mansion? I guess we'll find out. After we finished our meal, Koizumi and I said our goodbyes, and I started heading home. It's only three hours until showtime, so I think I'll go take a nap. Once I got home, I got a drink of some juice and went to the couch. I turned on the tv to a local news and I slowly fell asleep. My dreams aren't important since you know, they're dreams. For what I thought was 10 minutes, my phone started going off, you wouldn't believe me who called me. Well, you probably do, it was Haruhi.
"What are you doing? Get over here now, penalty! Penalty! Penalty!" she yelled in my ear
"Huh, what are you talking about?" I firmly asked
"Did you forget what we're supposed to do today, we're meeting up with the writer who wanted to interview us!"
"But it's only 3:30"
"What! It's 5:45! If you don't hurry up! I'll kill you! Over!"
And just like that the conversation ended. I can't believe it's been two hours since I slept, I thought it was only ten minutes, I got ready and rode my bike to the usual place we usually meet at. By the time, I got there, Haruhi was so impatient, she even started walking towards me while I was still riding my bike.
"Penalty! Penalty!" she yelled
Once I got near her, she pushed me off.
"What did you do that for!?"
"I told you, I was going to kill you for being late, it's already 6:05, let's go! Oh, and we have to share bikes, so Yuki and I will ride with you, while Miruku will ride with Koizumi."
We got the preparations for the bike ready and started to ride off. Haruhi told me the directions and at the same time forcing to me turn here and there. About ten minutes we arrived at a really big mansion.
It was so big, I can't even explain how big it is in text, maybe big enough to host a school, if that make sense. I wonder what he does for a living besides writing, do any writers get houses that big? Oh yeah, he does have a wife. I wonder what she does.
We got up and parked the bikes near the door. While Haruhi was running towards the door, she accidentally pushed Asahina-san near some newly planted flowers.
"Hey, watch what you're doing, I just planted those!" yelled a man who you can see just near the garden."
"Kyaa... Sorry!" And with her cute voice and expression, she apologized.
I couldn't help think why that was so cute, we just got yelled at. While I helped to pick her up, Yuki and Koizumi was already making way to the door.
"Good evening everyone, I'm glad to see you guys found the right house" the old man said, who happened to be Mr. Gasper.
And finding the right house? I mean who could miss this huge house, it almost expanded up to like 3 blocks, and cover like half of a street.
We made our way inside and he directed us to the dining room. There was already two people sitting down, It was Mr. Gasper's wife, and someone that looks like he was our age. As we all sat down, we all introduced ourselves.
"While we get dinner prepared, I like you to meet, my wife, Mrs. Gasper, the butler there, Gerald, who is also the main cook." Mr Gasper said
"Hi, we are the SOS Brigade, I am the leader, Haruhi Suzumiya, while those 4 are members one to four."
Hey we have names you know
"The quiet one there, is Yuki Nagato"
She looked up at Mr. Gasper, then went put her head back down, it looks like she was reading a book. Wait a minute, where did she get that book? Eh, oh well.
"That one right there, is Itsuki Koizumi, and the one next to him is Kyon"
Haruhi started to move towards Asahina-san.
"And the cute one here with big breasts is Miruku Asahina, our main star for the club"
Everyone in the room laughed, even the kid sitting across from us. Haruhi looked at him and asked who he was.
"And who are you? I don't remember hearing you were invited"
"Sorry to intrude, but I was too, also invited by Mr. Gasper." the kid replied
"My name is Sam Iowder"
Haruhi looked confused, and I started to look at the kid again, and he was right, he was Sam Iowder, the high school detective from the United States, what is he doing here in Japan!?
"You are, Sam Iowder? The high school detective from the United States, what are you doing---"
Haruhi interrupted me.
"You're a detective! Wow, this outta be interesting"
Sam laughed and looked at me
"You were going to ask what I was doing here, is that correct? Well simply, I helped Mr. Gasper out a couple times when he visited America, and to repay me back, he gave me a free trip to Japan." he said
Wow, he's acquainted with Mr. Gasper, that's pretty cool.
Dinner was served by the butler and everyone got comfortable in their seats. The gardener sat down with us too.
"Ahh, and this person here, is our Gardener, his name is Marvin, maybe you saw him outside the house"
He murmured something really quietly. He wrote some blue jeans that were really dirty, especially near the right pocket, why would someone go to dinner being all messy.
Marvin got up and helped the butler serve the food. It looked delicious, and everyone was exicited to eat. Mr. Gasper got his plate first, then his wife, then Sam, then Marvin himself, the butler's seat, Asahina-san's seat, Koizumi was next, then me, then Nagato's, then lastly, Haruhi.
"Everyone dig in" Mr. Gasper said.
Everyone started eating, we had steaks with rolls, green beans, Mashed Potatoes, and Marconi and Cheese. Even though it was more western style, no one seemed to mind. After two minutes or so, Mr. Gasper got up and started gasping. It looks like he was choking. And before any of us got up, he already fell down to the floor.
"Ahhh!!!!!!!!!!" Both Mrs. Gasper and Asahina-san screamed
"Nobody moved" said Sam
He walked towards the body and checked his body. I bet he was checking for his pulse. He first examined his hand and neck, and looked closely at his lips. He looked towards us.
"He's dead"
What? Someone died, right next to us! Wait this is a joke right?
"No, you're lying!" yelled Haruhi
"Don't get close to the body" said Sam "And no I'm not lying"
He looked dead serious and Haruhi sat back down.
"Seeing that we're about 20 minutes away from the city, it be while for the police and ambulance to arrive" he said
Asahina-san called the police and ambulance and got a word that they will be on their way. Sam looked at the food and examined the fork and everything. Everything on Gasper plate was munched down, like he a lot of everything, especially the mashed potatoes, it's all gone.
"Nobody leave the room, we have ourself a murder case" Sam said, with his eyes looking directly at us.
Everyone was shock to hear this, was there really a murder? Happened right in front of us? But how?
Haruhi got up and looked at the Butler
"You're the murderer! You killed your boss, what was the motive? It's always the Butler! Tell us now! As the leader of the SOS brigade, I will find the truth to this murder" she said
Sit down Haruhi, you're not going to find anything out
"I would like for you to sit down, please" insisted Sam
He examined everyone of us, just by looking. He sat down back at his and was lost in thought. And to no one's suprise, so was Haruhi.
"It looks like we're in a bit of a trouble" Koizumi said, with that eerie smile of his
"Are we going to die too?" Asahina-san asked with her cute voice that would make ike every man on Earth fall in love
"No, I'm positive we're not going to die" I replied back to her.
While everyone was talking and sitting back, I was thinking about the outside of the house. It was a big yard, it was full of flowers and trees, it was a nice yard. But then again, would the Gardener really plant that much for this big of a place? I mean this could be made into a shopping mall. Wait, wasn't some company supposed to build a shopping mall around here? Eh, I can't remember oh well. I look back at Haruhi, who was still lost in thought, then she randomly got up and with her happy expression on her face, I knew something bad is going to happen.
"I know who did it!" she said
"Who?" Sam asked
"The Butler did it. It was you, Gerald, you killed Mr. Gasper"
"And why do you think that" I asked
"Yes, enlighten us" Sam said
"Well, it was simple, while he was cooking the food, he marked a plate for the Mr. Gasper and secretly added poison on his plate, so when you served the plate to him, you were positive he was going to eat it, and bam, he died right in front of us. It wasn't clever, but I know that's how you did it"
The butler looked alarmed and while he was trying to speak Sam stopped him.
"That's a good deduction, but I would like to say that you are wrong"
Coming from a great detective, I know for a fact, he can get this case solved way better than Haruhi can. Please Sam, solve this case before Haruhi goes crazy! Wait a minute, wouldn't Haruhi go crazy if she didn't get the case right, oh man, now we're in trouble
"What! Why do you think that, do you have a better answer?" Haruhi asked in a angrily manner
"Well, most of the stuff you said was true, but to the point where the Butler killed him wasn't right, I would like to say you were on track, but you got a couple points missing"
He got up where everyone could see him standing near the body, which is pretty creepy"
"I will tell you how he was killed" he went on "It was true that Gerald cooked the food, but he didn't poison the plate while he was in the kitchen, but in fact, the plate was poisoned in front of us."
Marvin eyes just went big, and now I assume he must be the one that killed him, and I think I know what the motive is, but I don't know how he killed him. Please, detective continue!
"We had to two people served the food. The Butler and the one that insisted him, the Gardener. I thought this over, and I can only think of one solution. One possible answer. The murderer was you"
He pointed at Marvin
"Haha, you think I killed him? He asked
I think you killed him
"What proof do you have?"
"The spot near your right pocket" Sam said
"So? I'm a gardener, I always have dirty jeans, and I usually wipe my hands using my jeans"
True, I can see that happening
"While that may be true, if you look closely here, you can smell a faint odor of almond, which means, he was poisoned with Potassium Cyanide." he said with confident
"You can search all you want, but I don't have any containers that have Cyanide in them" Marvin said with a smile that looks like he really was the killer, and knew what he was doing.
Everyone was on their toes and was drastically looking at the situation, everyone was getting pumped up to know the real answer, well except for Nagato that is, she's still reading.
"Yes, that is true, I could have told you that, but there's another way you could have transported the poison, and if you look carefully at the plate, you'll see some trances of soil, not to much, but a tiny bit for a normal person not to notice"
Marvin's reaction changed, he looks like he started to sweat
"Of course that be there, it's because I still have soil. I must have some stuck to my nails or something" he said
"Nope, well that's true too, but you didn't use the soil from there, you used the soil that's in you're right pocket" Sam said
Marvin looked at his pocket all shocked like he just heard the truth
"You secretly put your hand in your pocket before you up got up to serve the food, then without us noticing, you left traces of soil in Mr. Gasper's plate" Sam continued "If we did a forensic check there should be trances of Cyanide from that side of the pocket and judging that you didn't want get poisoned yourself, you didn't even eat your food. You only served Mr. Gasper and your own plate didn't you? I already know why you killed him. I just want to hear it from you"
"It was because this place was going to become a shopping mall" Haruhi interuppted
What are you doing! We were just about to hear the confession!
"Yeah, that's right, Me and Mr. Gasper agreed to turn this whole property into scenery of plants and trees, so beautiful, people would come to see it. Though we said that a couple months ago, it'll still take for awhile for it to grow to a scene like that."
Marvin looked at Sam
"This is where I wanted to get my revenge, I been secretly following him to his meetings and eavesdropping on his phone calls. He made a deal with a big company to sell this property and make it become a shopping mall, everything will be destroyed even the yard, all my hard work I put into this place, it won't be finished, all because of that stupid man. After I confronted him about it, he laughed at me and said "I don't care what you think, As long as I get money, the scenery doesn't mean nothing, I rather let it rot for I care" those words drove me mad, I would have planted and planted for free because of his vision to turn this yard into an attraction"
"And that's why you killed him? Haruhi asked
"Yes, I did" he admits it
Wow, he actually confessed. And why did Haruhi had to butt in?
"I have nothing to lose, I can live on with my life now" Marvin said
"No you can't, you're going to live with guilt for the rest of your life, with the pain you inflicited onto yourself by killing someone else" Sam said and looked at him with fierce eyes that could kill an animal, if that were to be possible
Moments later the policed arrived and took our statements, as well as Marvin confessing to the police. Mrs. Gasper thanked Sam for his hard work and apologized to the whole SOS Brigade. She didn't have to apologized to us, we should apologized to her, for losing her only husband. We said our goodbyes and left the mansion. I felt bad for her, man, I can't believe the one person she loved died. Right in front of her, for all people to do that. Geez.
"I thought it was the Butler, it was always the Butlers in the stories" Haruhi still complaining about that. "Ahh oh well, guess it's time for us to go home"
"Wait up!" and it looks like Sam was walking behind us
"I'm sorry you guys had to be at a situation like that. I can't believed it happened right in front of our eyes, I was sure we could have prevented it. Looks like I'm still a amateur detective after all"
That's not true, you were awesome tonight!
"Hey Haruhi" Sam continued "If I would have let the situation wait itself for another ten minutes, you would have figured it out, haven't you?"
Haruhi looked at him and smiled
"I could. But I wanted to see a real detective do it. Your deduction was great, but I could have done better!"
Hah, that's Haruhi for you. Sam shook all of our hands and told us he was leaving back home in a couple days.
"Well, you guys seem cool, well I dont' have to go back home until Monday, maybe we can hang out tommorow? Show me around and let's do things you guys think are fun"
Haruhi got all exicited and went up to him
"You got a deal! As the leader of the SOS Brigade our mission tommorow is to show this tourist around the city!" she said
"Looks like she's happy" Koizumi said with that weird smile of his, he doesn't stop doing that does he? Wait, when did he appear next to me
"I'm glad this all over don't you think Kyon-kun?" Asashina-san appeared behind me. Aww man, I just fell in love again
As we started walking, Haruhi got Sam's number, and Sam made his way back to his hotel. Tonight was intense, but it was alright, we made a new friend. I can't believe a Detective is sharp like that to find our the murderer just within a day's time! I guess a modern day Sherlock Holmes exists.