My name is Tony Altru. In college, my keen sense of observation and knack for all things magical earned me the prevalent nickname “The Warlock”, a moniker that I still carry proudly today.
“I wish you wouldn’t drive so fast,” April said to me from the passenger seat of our small car. “You know I hate it when you get like this.”
Three days passed and, finally, the files I requested arrived by carrier late in the evening. In a hurry, I ran into the dining room and threw the stack down on our large oak table and started spreading the files out.
The other two interviews didn’t go much better. Though no one broke down and cried and there were no further unpleasant surprises, nothing interesting or of use was yielded. The frustration from all three interviews more or less banished from my mind any thoughts of interviewing other victims and forced me to return home, admitting defeat.
I returned home to an empty house. April had left a note on the refrigerator saying she’d gone to the post office and the grocery store. This was a pretty typical thing for her. Every time her online business received a large order she’d head to the post office to ship it off and then run to the grocery store for a cheap bottle of Merlot for us to share that night. I would have complained about her absence at such a critical time, but frankly, I loved Merlot too much to risk losing my share.
As I paced the stage in the small town hall auditorium, it began to dawn on me exactly how lucky I was. Most detectives, even those that spend years studying the craft before entering the field, wait years, sometimes decades before dealing with a case like this. Even then, very few are able to crack it and even fewer solve it with an epiphany out of the blue.
The talk continued for another hour or so. After the cops ran out, the crowd had plenty of good questions for me. I did my best to answer them. Some of them, like questions about Jeffery’s mental status or motivations, I could only give partial answers to, if any at all. Some others were too complicated to be answered right then and there, but most I answered with at least perceived grace and tact.
