Two Mini-Murdoch Mysteries

by DoctorH

A teleplay in two acts, in which Murdoch and Crabtree are investigating two separate murder cases. Murdoch is taking the lead in one case, and Crabtree is taking the lead in the other, subject to Murdoch's supervision. Both Murdoch and Crabtree are puzzled by their respective cases, but each man educates the other so that they can formulate plausible solutions.

1. ACT I

"Two Mini-Murdoch Mysteries"

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Each of the mysteries here could be the centre of a separate mystery, supporting two separate stories. I decided, however, to combine the two mysteries into a single short story, and explore the idea that sometimes two heads can be better than one.)

ACT I

(FADE IN. ESTABLISHING SHOT OF STATION HOUSE NUMBER FOUR, afternoon. CUT TO: INT. STATION HOUSE NUMBER FOUR, MURDOCH'S OFFICE. MURDOCH is seated at his desk, reviewing documents and scowling. CRABTREE approaches MURDOCH'S OFFICE and knocks. MURDOCH looks up; MURDOCH'S expression suggests that he is not pleased to see CRABTREE.)

CRABTREE
Is this a bad time, sir?

MURDOCH
(sighing) Is this about the Erb case?

CRABTREE
It is, sir. (helpfully) You asked for me to give you an oral report this afternoon.

MURDOCH
That I did. (sighing again) Now is perhaps as good a time as any, George.

(MURDOCH sets the documents aside. MURDOCH motions, and CRABTREE enters and shuts the office door. CRABTREE seats himself and readies his notebook.)

MURDOCH
(muttering) This Spooner case is taking longer than I had thought. Well. What have you, George?

CRABTREE
I have interviewed all of the witnesses in the Erb case.

MURDOCH
Excellent. Before you give your report, George, please refresh my recollection a bit about the Erb case.

CRABTREE
Quentin Erb was killed in his own home at about eleven o'clock this morning, give or take half an hour, by an assailant armed with a sword. The evidence indicates that the murder took place in Mr. Erb's bedroom, which is where his body was found. There were four other men in the house at the time. (consulting his notes) Mr. Sutherland, Mr. Nance, Mr. Willingham and Mr. Beeson. Apparently the murder weapon was Mr. Erb's own sword; Mr. Erb served in the army many years ago and he had mounted on his hallway wall his army sword. The sword was removed from its mounting and was used to take Mr. Erb's life.

MURDOCH
Does Dr. Ogden agree that the sword was the weapon used?

CRABTREE
She does indeed, sir. The victim's wounds are consistent with (pantomiming a sword thrust) penetration in the midsection by the sword (pantomiming a sword withdrawal); Mr. Erb's death was quick; the sword was found at the scene, stained with blood.

MURDOCH
Has Mr. Erb's sword been checked for finger marks?

CRABTREE
Yes. There are none. The grip of the sword would not retain finger marks.

MURDOCH
And I assume that none of the other people in the house saw or heard who was responsible.

CRABTREE
That is indeed what they say. Each man has given a statement saying that he did not see Mr. Erb being attacked, nor hear anything that sounded like an attack; and each says he does not know who did commit the attack. (pause) But at least one of them is lying.

MURDOCH
In other words, you believe one of the men in the house is the killer.

CRABTREE
I do, sir. Each man asserted his own innocence, and each man was quick to point out that Mr. Erb had many enemies; but there are no indications of anyone else being in the house at the time. Also, it is unclear how any intruder could have gotten into or out of the house without being seen. All windows were latched, there was no forced entry, and there were no footprints on the property except those leading to the front door. Further, no stranger was seen on the premises or escaping from the scene of the crime.

MURDOCH
All right. These four friends who were in the house at the time—

CRABTREE
(interrupting) Actually, they were not "friends." They were more "business acquaintances."

MURDOCH
Oh. So— these other four men were in the house, as part of some sort of business arrangement?

CRABTREE
Yes, sir, in a manner of speaking. They were all there to try to settle a business dispute. The dispute is quite complicated and— I am hesitant to say so— I do not really understand it.

MURDOCH
(irked) Well, since Mr. Erb was involved in a serious dispute, George, it may be relevant to motive! You may have to work harder to understand what this dispute was all about. It may be the key to solving the case.

CRABTREE
I agree, sir! But if I may explain: The victim— Mr. Erb— and three of the other men in the house, are all parties to a lawsuit, in which title to a very large piece of real estate is at stake. The legal issues in the lawsuit are so complicated, that the judge in the case has asked the parties to sit down and try to settle the case on their own, so that he will not have to sort through all of the thorny issues.

MURDOCH
Ah. So the reason the men were in the house together was to discuss putting a legal dispute to rest.

CRABTREE
Yes. This was actually the second day of meetings at Mr. Erb's home. Four of the men— the late Mr. Erb, along with Mr. Sutherland, Mr. Nance and Mr. Willingham— are parties to the lawsuit. But the fifth man in the house—

MURDOCH
I was just about to ask about him.

CRABTREE
—Mr. Beeson, is a neutral party who was acting as mediator, to try to help the four men reach an agreement. Mr. Beeson, I understand, is quite good at this sort of thing.

MURDOCH
So Mr. Sutherland, Mr. Nance and Mr. Willingham may have had reason to do harm to Mr. Erb, because they were involved in a serious legal dispute. Did Mr. Beeson have a possible motive, George?

CRABTREE
No, sir. As a matter of fact, I have effectively ruled out Mr. Beeson as a suspect, sir. Not only does Mr. Beeson lack any motive to kill Mr. Erb, Mr. Beeson suffers from joint ailments that affect his ability to walk and move. He is in no physical condition to slay a man with a sword.

MURDOCH
Ah. But the other three men, they are all capable?

CRABTREE
Yes sir. They are capable. And moreover, all three were known to be out of the view of other witnesses for many times that day.

MURDOCH
So they all had the opportunity to commit the crime.

CRABTREE
Exactly, sir. I feel I should also mention that there is no agreement among the witnesses about the events or activities of the various suspects. I have tried to find a generally agreed-upon timeline of events, but the witnesses agree on some things, and disagree on other things. Trying to establish who was where in the house at what time has been a fruitless endeavour. And since the time of death at eleven in the morning is only an approximation, we cannot know which man was missing at the time of the crime. We do know that most discussions took place in the drawing room, on the opposite end of the house from the bedroom where Mr. Erb's body was found.

MURDOCH
Were there any scheduled events or patterns that may help us recreate a timeline?

CRABTREE
Not really, sir. Mr. Nance mentioned that he made some trips to the kitchen to get tea, and a few trips to the study to use the telephone. Mr. Sutherland took some breaks to smoke his pipe, and did so away from the meeting area so as not to offend Mr. Beeson, who found tobacco smoke to be highly disagreeable. Mr. Willingham said he used the washroom at least twice and he too used the telephone in the study. Mr. Erb got up from time to time and walked around. Every so often, some of the men would go off somewhere and converse, and return to the drawing room a few minutes later. These were all impromptu events, and no one could give any time when any person was in the drawing room or away from it. Except, of course, Mr. Beeson; he was in the drawing room at all times, he never moved from his chair.

MURDOCH
If, as you say, Mr. Beeson can be ruled out as a suspect, then he may be less likely to distort the truth, and his testimony might be worthy of more weight. Does Mr. Beeson have an account of who was where at what time?

CRABTREE
(sighing) He does not. He said he never left the drawing room and could not see down the hallway or the bedroom where the crime took place. Some of the time, one or more of the others were with him in the drawing room, and a few times, he was alone. But he cannot be sure about the order of events or the times at which they occurred. He candidly admitted that he simply did not pay attention.

MURDOCH
(sighing) Who discovered Mr. Erb's body?

CRABTREE
Mr. Nance did, sir. It was noticed that Mr. Erb had been absent for some time, and so the others went to look for him. Mr. Nance found his body in the bedroom and alerted the others. At that time, Mr. Willingham was looking in another bedroom, and Mr. Sutherland had checked the washroom. When Mr. Nance yelled, they all converged on the bedroom and saw the body. The Constabulary was notified at once.

MURDOCH
How much time elapsed between Mr. Nance going into the bedroom and alerting the others?

CRABTREE
A few seconds. The witnesses all agree it was between ten to thirty seconds.

MURDOCH
(sighing) It sounds as if I will have to interview all of these witnesses anew. With my attention to the Spooner case, however, I wonder how I will find the time. In the meantime, George, there is something you can do for me.

CRABTREE
Yes, sir?

MURDOCH
Make a map of the house, showing where all of the rooms were. The map need not be exactly to scale, but—

CRABTREE
(interrupting) Sir, I've already done that.

(CRABTREE rises and pulls a folded paper from his notebook, unfolds it, and hands the paper to MURDOCH. The paper shows a house floor plan. MURDOCH is impressed.)

CRABTREE
This is not precise, but it is fairly close to scale. I used my own paces as a guide for the lengths.

MURDOCH
Excellent! (looking over the plan) And where was the body found?

CRABTREE
Here, sir, in this bedroom, between the bed and the north wall.

MURDOCH
The house seems to be quite large! Only one story?

CRABTREE
Yes, sir; and a wine cellar, which my drawing does not show.

MURDOCH
(pointing to the map) There are one, two, three, four bedrooms, is that right?

CRABTREE
Yes, sir. Mr. Erb and his wife had seven children. Mrs. Erb and two of the children died a few years ago, and the other children are grown. Mr. Erb lived in this house alone.

MURDOCH
And these other rooms— washroom, kitchen, dining area, study, closets, drawing room?

CRABTREE
Exactly right.

MURDOCH
I see you've drawn a number of chairs in the drawing room.

CRABTREE
Yes, the drawing room is where most of the discussions took place. Mr. Beeson spent nearly all of his time in this chair here, next to the fireplace.

MURDOCH
I take it there was no fire in the fireplace; otherwise Mr. Beeson would have been too warm.

CRABTREE
Yes, sir. The fireplace was not in use.

MURDOCH
Those in the drawing room can see partly into the drawing room, part of the hallway, and the front door— but other parts of the house cannot be seen from the drawing room.

CRABTREE
Correct, sir.

MURDOCH
And where was the sword?

CRABTREE
(pointing to the map) Here, in a display case on the wall at the end of the hallway. The sword could have easily— and silently— been removed from the case.

MURDOCH
And could then have been used to silently commit the murder. By the way, I assume you have had the scene photographed—?

CRABTREE
Yes, sir. I had the entire house photographed, not just the bedroom where the body was found.

MURDOCH
Excellent. When the photographs are ready, let's look at them.

CRABTREE
Yes, sir.

MURDOCH
(slightly exasperated) I'm sorry, George, but this is really all of the time I can spare for you. I must return to the Spooner case—

CRABTREE
I understand, of course, sir. I will question the four men again, to determine whether I can understand their dispute and possible motives, better.

MURDOCH
And press them on their alibis.

CRABTREE
Yes, sir.

MURDOCH
And ask about their experience with swords.

CRABTREE
I did ask. Mr. Willingham admitted to enjoying fencing in his younger days, but he used an epee rather than a military sword. Mr. Sutherland and Mr. Nance were in military service, and they learned about the use of bayonettes, and drilled with bayonettes, but not swords.

MURDOCH
(a bit rattled) I'm afraid, George— I'm afraid I just cannot adequately focus on the Erb case right now. Just— just question the witnesses again, look for inconsistencies and other problems with their stories, and— and we'll discuss this case again tomorrow. Bring the photographs of the crime scene.

CRABTREE
Of course, sir. Begging your pardon, sir?

MURDOCH
Yes?

CRABTREE
The Spooner case— I was just wondering what it was about—?

MURDOCH
(after a moment collecting his thoughts) Mr. and Mrs. Spooner were shot and killed at six o'clock in the morning last Tuesday, at the rooming house that they owned. The time of the shooting is known with great accuracy, because the occupants in the building heard the gunshots, and seconds later, heard a cuckoo clock sound six times, and while the cuckooing was going on, they heard the sound of the killer escaping through the front door. The occupants promptly finished dressing and came downstairs and found the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Spooner. I have a prime suspect in the slaying: his name is Max Zeller. He was one of the occupants of the rooming house. He has motive— a very strong motive, in fact— and he was known to own a pistol of the type that fired the bullets that killed the Spooners. A pistol that he now claims to have "lost."

CRABTREE
(anticipating the next word) But—?

MURDOCH
But— Mr. Zeller has a very solid alibi. He was with co-workers from 5:58 until 6:03 that morning, when he reported for work. And since the other occupants in the house all agree that the shooting occurred just a few seconds before six o'clock, it would mean that Mr. Zeller did not have an opportunity to commit the crime. Mr. Zeller could have committed the crime at 5:55 before he left the house; or he could have returned to the house briefly at 6:05 and committed the crime— but we know that the crime was committed at PRECISELY six o'clock.

CRABTREE
The witnesses supporting Mr. Zeller's alibi, are they—?

MURDOCH
Unshakable. They all swear Mr. Zeller was with them at six o'clock. They all were present, Mr. Zeller included, when the Fiduciary Bank clock showed six o'clock. And the Fiduciary Bank clock is well-known for its accuracy.

CRABTREE
Perhaps, the cuckoo clock in the rooming house is wrong, then?

(MURDOCH makes a face.)

MURDOCH
Perhaps. At this time, I have no evidence of that. It is possible that Mr. Zeller— or someone else— reset the hands on the cuckoo clock, or tampered with the clock to make it run slower or faster. If Mr. Zeller tampered with the cuckoo clock, he may have committed the murder at 5:55 or 6:05, but the other occupants may have THOUGHT the time was exactly six o'clock. Tampering is something that I need to investigate further. (anxious to begin) And I really ought to be investigating it now.

(An idea strikes CRABTREE.)

CRABTREE
Could it be that Mr. Zeller tampered with the clock by re—?

MURDOCH
(interrupting) George, I'm sorry, but I must break this off. You have work to do and so do I.

CRABTREE
I— of course, sir. I will come to your office again tomorrow.

(MURDOCH returns to examining the documents on his desk, and making a few notes.)

MURDOCH
(lost in his work) Fine.

(CRABTREE quietly collects his things and leaves the office. FADE OUT.)