Official Blog For Author Thomas McClurg

This week has been amazing, carried entirely by the fact that MSU is in the final four. BAHAHA take that you stupid red birds. It’s good to be the underdog.

Anyway here is the solution, finally, to the current Cerberus Bay. Sorry it took me so long to get to this place but like i said this whole thing is a giant experiment anyway. Also keep in mind that this is not a legal drama. I’m not concerend with proving anyone guilty with a piece of hard evidence in a court of law or convincing a jury why so and so should be innocent. There are plenty of places you can find the legal side of things, Cerberus Bay is written with the intent of providing you with a mystery. Something that will make you think and guess and assume. My goal is not to provide you with a sure idea of who is guilty by the end like many crime dramas do, but rather to help you ponder who could have done it and why, then find the answer when it’s all said and done. Hope you enjoy it.

Cerberus Bay

Sandwiched between two towering apartment buildings, the crumbling alley ran right into the bay. The cracked pavement turned to packed dirt and eventually water as the dead end sank into the surf. Lying peacefully in the sand, smoothed to an almost reflective glaze by the tide, was the Nemean Lion. Still and serene, it appeared to be sleeping, but its heart no longer pumped lifeblood through its veins. Kat Price was waiting on the other side of a wall of caution tape and greeted the Detective as he and Hades approached.

“This way Detective, “She said holding up the caution tape so they wouldn’t have to duck as far. “One of the residents happened to glance out of his window and saw the lion’s body. Did more than a double take before he called it in.”

“Any idea how it died?” asked Tarman. Kat was happy to have an answer ready, “We found multiple tranquilizer darts embedded in its skin. Way more than would be needed to simply put it to sleep.”

“An overdose.” Detective Tarman finished her thought, “It went to sleep and just didn’t wake up.”

Kat nodded, “That was our guess.”

Hades listened with half an ear, his focus was centered on small patches of blood recurring on the patchy pavement every few steps. Pointing to them he asked, “And what of the blood?” Kat was so in tune with her detailed reporting she didn’t flinch when answering the thief, “Steaks or ground beef of some kind. We found bits and pieces of partially devoured raw meat forming a path up to the lion.” Kat brought them to a halt where the pavement changed to sloping sand.

“So someone brought the lion here, lured it to the end of the alley, then tranq’d it to death.” said the Detective in a summarizing tone as he stared down at the hulking mass of the Nemean lion. Its body was only part way down the sloping sand shore of the alley’s end, beginning where the rhythmic waters of the tide crept up shore only to retreat back to bay. Its partially soaked fur drifted like seaweed with every new wave. “This must have been an old boat launch way back before these apartments were put in.” said the Detective, “Whoever did this was probably hoping the tide would carry the body away.”

“But it didn’t.” said Hades. The thief knelt to the ground and began examining the place where the sand and pavement met.

“You’d think they would try to push the body in after it was clear the tide wasn’t going to do it for them.” He mumbled to himself, but Tarman heard him, “It’s a big lion, you’re certainly not going to try and push it while it’s awake and moving it once it’s dead would take a crane.”

“So they left it…” said Hades. Detective Tarman moved Kat aside and began asking her about tire tracks, but Hades remained at the ground. He doubted tracks would be present. The pavement was practically a gravel road and even a fresh patch of burned rubber would be difficult to decipher. Instead he stared at the sand. His eyes narrowed. There was hole in the sand. Sharp and well formed, like someone had driven a thin stake into the ground. Then a short distance away there was another one. The punctures in the sand trailed up to the corpse and disappeared. Retrieving a pen from his pocket, Hades took it apart until he had the plastic cylinder that held the ink. Thin enough to fit into the holes, Hades inserted the pens innards. Pushing it past the surface of the ground, Hades was finally able to hit the bottom.

“Roughly six inches deep.” He said as he put the pen back together. Tarman returned from his discussion with Kat, “There are no discernable tire tracks and none of the residents interviewed remember seeing or hearing a vehicle come down the alley.”

“But one did come down.” said Hades standing to his feet with a triumphant look on his face. It was a van, and I know who was driving it.

Tarman raised an eyebrow, “And you know this how?”

Hades chuckled, “Who would steal the Nemean Lion? Why commit a crime? It usually comes down to irrational motivation, and this one is the most irrational motive of all.”

Who stole the Nemean Lion and Why? How did Hades know?

Solution

The Nemean Lion was stolen by Ben Pool’s wife Diane. When the incident occurred with Jeremy Fenmire and her husband was promoted to the zookeeper in charge of the lion. She feared for his life. It was at that time she wrote the threatening letter to Sasha Michaels, delivering it at the employee dinner. Sasha of course did not do anything and the issue was dropped. Meanwhile Diane was helping her husband deal with the stress of becoming the lead zookeeper. She rehearsed his routine every morning, giving her an intimate and detailed knowledge of how to handle the lion. At the employee dinner the following year, she attended with Ben as always. Drugging him to have an excuse to leave early, Diane got him into the passenger side of his work van with the help of one of the off duty security guards at the dinner. Having Ben present, though unconscious she was able to navigate to the where the Nemean Lion was held. Applying her knowledge of the Nemean Lion she had obtained from her husband, she managed to get the lion into the back of Ben’s work van. Then she drove to the old boat landing and got the lion to follow a trail of food down to the shore where she used Ben’s tranquilizer gun to overdose the lion with sedative. It was her hope the tide would carry the body away, but it never got that far and the lion’s dead weight was far too much for her to move. While Diane was one of several people with both the knowledge and opportunity to steal the lion, Hades realized she was the guilty party when he examined the ground near the lion’s body. The deep punctures in the sand after the pavement gave out were created by the stiletto of a pair of high heel shoes. Diane was short and her husband Ben was quite tall. The disparity was glaring and as is common, Hades guessed she wore extra high heels during social functions to help cover up the difference. She had been attending the zoo’s employee dinner prior to the theft and would have been dressed accordingly. With that supposition the pieces came together for Hades and he finally had his motive, love.