Hey guys! Chapter 5 already, woohoo!
And I know I said this episode was gonna be Halloween themed, however, I got an idea for a 2-part AU that I think you all will absolutely love. :D And without further ado, here is the Detective!Henry AU - "Who Murdered Joey Drew?"
Chapter 5 - Who Murdered Joey Drew? Part 1
Summary - Detective Henry Bayless and his trusty partner, Sammy Lawrence, are investigating a murder that has everyone who knows about it stumped. Close people to the victim, like butler Wally Franks, cook Lacie Benton, store clerk Shawn Flynn, newspaper writer Jack Fain, bank accountant Grant Cohen, and plumber Thomas Connor are puzzled about. So when receptionist Allison Pendle presents the case to the two detectives, and Norman Polk is currently off duty, the present trio are ready to take on the mystery, and solve the question that is on everyone's mind once and for all... Who murdered Joey Drew?
Henry sighed happily as he began to fill out his last worksheet... He enjoyed being a detective, but it was more so paperwork and writing things down than interrogating suspects and solving murder mysteries; but when the occasion arose where he needed to solve one, he would gladly take it.
Sometimes he wondered if Norman ever wanted to trade jobs for the day...
But as he gave his signature on the last page of his paperwork for that night, Sammy Lawrence, his trusty partner and right-hand-man, burst through the door, panting.
It was definitely an emergency... Sammy was always calm and collected whenever he was in Henry's office.
"Hey hey, what the hell Lawrence?" asked Henry. "You alright?"
"No, we just got our biggest case yet, and I don't know what emotions I should feel... its all so new to me..." he muttered.
"Boys! Get a move on!" Allison Pendle, the receptionist, called from the hall. "You've been called to investigate the murder of millionaire playboy, Joey Drew!"
Henry smiled widely, and was at the coat rack in less than five seconds.
"No time to waste Lawrence!" he yelled. "The game's afoot!"
"What do I do with the reports?" Alison asked.
"Sit them on my desk, and join us!" Henry said, grabbing his hat. "You deserve a piece of the action!"
"I'm in heels!" she said.
"Ginger Rogers does everything Fred does, only backwards and in heels!" Henry said. "Come at once! We shall run there! It'll save a fortune on gasoline!"
Sammy sighed and grabbed his coat and hat, while Alison quickly sat down the reports.
"Sorry Ms. Pendle," Sammy muttered.
"Oh, its alright! I've always wanted to do a case myself!" she said.
And with that, the three set off on their trek to beginning the greatest investigation the department had been presented with.
"We know the investigation just began, Detective Bayless," Chief police officer Bertrum Piedmont said, "but I can already tell my boys won't be getting anywhere with this case anytime soon. We just had to call the professionals."
"You made the right choice, Chief Piedmont," Henry said, pulling out his notepad. "So, can you describe to us what you could tell?"
"Well... he looked like he had been stabbed," Bertrum said. "Lost a lot of blood... I could tell that the murder hadn't occurred to long before we were informed."
"How could you tell?" asked Sammy.
"Well," Bertrum began, but suddenly, Butler Wally Franks walked over. "You fellas the detectives?"
"That we are," Henry said. "This lady is Allison, our receptionist."
"A true honor, m'lady," Wally said, kissing her hand.
"Ooh, such a gentleman," Allison cooed.
"Butler Franks, you wouldn't mind if we asked you a few questions, would you?" asked Sammy.
"Absolutely not!" Wally said, gesturing for them to come in. "If you all will follow me, we'll go to the one place there's no police."
"Thanks for your help, Chief Piedmont," Henry said. "I know you and Joey didn't always see eye to eye, but still. Thank you."
"No trouble Detective," smiled the chief, before tipping his hat and walking off.
A few moments later, the detectives, receptionist, and butler were deep in questions and answers.
"When was the last time you saw the deceased before the incident occurred?" asked Sammy.
"Just last night, brought the man a cup of coffee," Wally said. "He then said if it wasn't how he liked it one more time, he'd have my head! I'm tellin' ya, the man pays well, but he's a nightmare! If he'd'a lived to see the next day, he would'a been signing his last check to me, cause I'm outta here!"
Henry chuckled a bit. "So, were you aware of the murder before the police were contacted?"
"Nope, I ain't seen Chef Benton today," said Wally. "And she's the one who made the call. Body was discovered in the music room, slouched over the piano. Real gruesome, so I won't get into the nitty-gritty."
"Thank you," said Allison, smiling. Wally nodded with smile.
"So...anything else you want to tell us?" asked Sammy.
"Well... I can give you the names of everyone he's close with, I'd suggest interviewing them too."
Henry then wrote down all of the names as Wally listed them. They were bank manager Grant Cohen, his plumber Thomas Connor, his chef Lacie Benton, local newspaper writer Jack Fain, and grocery store clerk Shawn Flynn.
"Thank you so much for your help, Mr. Franks," Sammy said, getting up and shaking his hand. "The department will be in touch."
"No trouble sirs, and madam," said Wally. "Don't hesitate to call me if anything is needed of me."
"Will do," Henry said.
With that, Wally bade them all farewell, and the trio headed off to see chef Lacie Benton.
"Yeah, Joey and I were... close," Lacie cringed. "And by that, I mean we said hello and goodbye to one another, I prepared his food, and he signed my checks."
"I see..." Sammy said. "If this was the definition of close when it came to Joey, would you consider anyone else closer to him than you?"
"Lord yeah, that nut-job Grant Cohen," Lacie muttered. "Damn fool regrets ever taking up his position at this place. Truth be told, I feel kinda bad for him... had no idea what he was getting himself into when he signed off on the deal."
"We should talk to him next," suggested Henry.
"Will do," Sammy said.
"Thank you so much for your time, Ms. Benton," Allison said.
"No trouble," she said, smirking. "Now get outta here, I gotta cook up a meal for my traumatized co-workers. And keep an eye on that butler... something about him don't seem right."
"Will do," Henry nodded.
"Oh good Lord... oh sweet mama," Grant whispered to himself.
Sammy, Allison, and Henry looked at one another with concern clear in their eyes... this man had gone insane by the looks of it.
"So, uh.. sir, we're aware that you worked for Joey Drew as his finance manager," Sammy began. "Were you close with the deceased before his death?"
"Oh yeah, he made me do a lot of the work," Grant muttered. "Fellas... please don't take this the wrong way, but I'm glad that man is gone. He gave me so much work to do... and just the thought of finally being able to relax-"
"Sir... you're not saying your happy he's dead, right?" asked Allison.
"In a sense... yes, I am saying that," he said. "I mean, granted, I wouldn't wish such a horrible fate as LITERALLY being stabbed in the back on my worst enemy, but... the man was a terrifying one. Everyone who worked for him feared him, and you wanted to make sure you were as distant from him as could be whenever you were on duty."
"When were you informed of his death?" asked Henry.
"Oh, heavens... mere minutes after it happened," he muttered. "As a matter of fact... you could say I was at the crime scene. Oh sweet Jesus, I'm sorry, that was meant to be worded differently. I was on the phone with Mr. Drew mere minutes before the murder happened this morning."
Suddenly, plumber Thomas Connor walked past the room in the hallway.
"Oh,Thomas!" exclaimed Grant. "Come come!"
Thomas groaned, and walked in.
"Hello, Mr. Connor," Sammy said. "You did Joey's plumbing work, correct?"
"Eh... I guess," Thomas shrugged.
"Would you say you were close with him before his death?" asked Allison.
"Look... let's skip all the bullshit," he said. "Joey wasn't the guy you all think he was. When I went deep down into the lower levels of this dude's mansion, aka rooms no tourist/visitor would ever see... I saw things. This dude was into some freaky shit... pentagrams, odd objects, and those splats I saw? Probably blood stains. He paid me three times my salary to keep me quiet..."
There was a short pause.
"Right after he threatened my existence with just one word. He's a psycho and into a lot of stuff; he may have stabbed himself to jail an innocent, for all we know."
The three in charge of the investigation grimaced, and Grant was near fainting.
"Look..." Thomas began. "I can tell you guys the person who knows the most about him apart from me... and its not this wimpy accountant."
"Give us his name, and we'll not press charges against you for not talking," Henry said.
"I-I don't think we could do that anyway..." Allison whispered.
"Shawn Flynn, works down at the local supermarket," said Thomas. "Somehow that sly bastard probably has all the info on Joey you need to piece this mystery together..."
"Are we even sure he didn't do it?" Grant suggested.
"Look, trust me," said Thomas, "if he did, he'll be damn good at hiding it. I'd probably be the only one who could tell if the evidence he gives you is false."
"Then come with us," Sammy said.
"We need all the help we can get," Henry said.
Thomas sighed reluctantly. "You guys are lucky my fiance's out of town today."
Shawn Flynn was just minding his own business, organizing shelves and items at the store, as per the usual.
"Mr. Flynn?" Henry asked, appearing with his three "teammates" out of nowhere.
"Sweet Lordy-loo!" yelled Shawn. "Oh, hey Thomas! These folks with you?"
"Other way around, dude," he whispered.
"Have you heard of the death of Joey Drew that took place recently?" asked Sammy.
"Ha, that old fool kicked the bucket this year! Ya owe me ten bucks Tommy!" chuckled Shawn.
"Sir, we believe he was murdered, and the knife lodged in his back was pretty damn good evidence," Allison said.
"You aren't making a good case here," Thomas whispered.
"Oh... well, what do you need me for?" Shawn asked.
"We need to see what evidence you've got that could help us out," Henry said. "Your buddy here said you could be our only hope."
"I didn't directly say that," Thomas disclosed.
Shawn nodded. "Fear not gentlemen... and lady. Together, if you will follow me, I believe we can crack this case."
Hohohoho, the plot thickens! :D I hope you all are enjoying this little AU!
To help out a bit - I'm going to eliminate one of the characters from the suspect roster (in other words, they definitely are NOT the killer) - local writer Jack Fain. Everyone else... keep an eye on em folks. ;)
See you guys soon! :D
