Authors: Jack Parker
His eyes widened with excitement. "Yeah?"
"I…I think we should talk about this someplace else."
The excitement quickly turned to puzzlement. "Wha?..."
"I don't think my office is the best place to talk about this. Someone could be listening in on us. Or someone could walk in."
"Wait,
go somewhere else
?!"
"What are ya, goin' deaf? Yeah."
"Okay…and where exactly did you have in mind?"
"How about the warehouse?"
Collin's eyes dimmed. "Uh…okay. Let's…go to the warehouse, then."
After a short walk behind the headquarters, the two Forest employees made it to the old abandoned warehouse. As they walked in, they both groaned as they inhaled their first breath of the stuffy air. Collin closed the doors tightly behind them, leaving some cheap, weak-watted bulbs keeping the room lit up.
"Okay, so what were you saying?" Lisa asked, making sure she understood everything perfectly.
"You want me to go over the whole thing AGAIN?"
"Not the
whole
thing. Just the important stuff."
"Ugh…all right. Scott prints off the picture of Nick and threatens to show it to Randy unless he starts acting like less of an asshole-pardon my French. Nick doesn't, then gets worried that Scott's gonna show Randy the picture, and he decides to kill Scott to make sure that never happens."
"Collin, I think there's a problem with that," Lisa interrupted. "Randy didn't do ANYTHING to Nick, so that means he didn't see the photo."
"So?!"
"So…even Nick would be smart enough to realize Randy didn't know that picture existed. So he wouldn't have had much of a reason to murder Scott."
"Oh, please, Lisa," Collin sarcastically moaned. "Just because Randy hadn't seen it then doesn't mean he never
would
. He must've just thought Scott hadn't given the picture to him but still planned on it. And like I said, he had to make sure Scott didn't do that."
"But Randy had the photo in his desk…"
"And how was Nick supposed to know that?!"
"Ugh…okay, you got
a
point there."
"So, there you have it! Nick waits until it's dark out, and when he knows that Scott's on the hiking trail, he stabs Scott in the neck with Jess's knife. You know the rest from there."
"Stop it, Collin!" Lisa anxiously yelled as she put her hand up. "Now you're REALLY beginning to lose me."
"Why, am I going too fast?"
"No. There are a bunch of problems with that theory of yours. First of all, you said Nick STABBED Scott. But you of all people should know that Scott didn't die from getting stabbed."
Collin was silent, but then grunted loudly and violently. "Crap! You're
right!
...wait a minute! Scott's blood was still on Jess' knife, right?!"
"Yeah."
"And it was obvious the blood wasn't just smeared on the knife as a distraction, right?"
"Right."
"But the knife wound was too small for it to have been
a
stabbing, right?!"
"Yeah, but…"
"Well, isn't it obvious, then?! You're absolutely right: Nick didn't
stab
with the knife. He
threw
it!"
Lisa looked like she was struggling to come up with a counter for that argument, but she couldn't think of one. After several tense seconds, she said, "All right, but…you're forgetting about something else."
"What's that?"
"Remember that big deal you made about the name on the work forms being whited out that night?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
"Well, you concluded that whoever was working that night was the one who killed Scott and they erased their name so they wouldn't
look
suspicious, right?"
"Yeah."
"So that means Nick was the one who was working that night, right?"
"Yeah."
"But that would mean Scott just
happened
to be on the hiking trails that night. And Nick would've had to know he was. Now let me ask you this: why would Scott decide to show up here at 1:00 in the morning, and how would Nick have known about that?!"
Collin listened to Lisa's intense questioning and promptly went quiet. He tried coming up with an explanation, but for a while he just couldn't think of one. Then, something bizarre happened; it looked like something had just clicked and jolted him to life. "I'm so stupid!" he yelled as he smacked himself on the forehead.
"What is it now?" Lisa asked.
"Lisa, those were some pretty good points. You're right. Scott wouldn't have agreed to be at the forest that early in the morning,
especially
if Nick was the one who arranged that meeting, right?"
"What makes you think Nick arranged it?"
"Well, because you said that Nick would've also had to have known Scott was there, right? And the only way he would've known where Scott was and what
time
he was there would have been if he was the one who set it up, right?"
"Exactly. Scott wouldn't have done it."
Collin began grinning again. "Assuming it really was Nick who was working the night shift that night."
Lisa suddenly looked confused again. "What do you mean?"
Collin let out a little chuckle, but then he started looking generally concerned while still wearing
a
nervous smile. "Lisa, I've had it all wrong.
Scott
was the one who was working that night, not the killer!"
"What?!"
"Think about it: the only way Nick would've known Scott was there at night was if Scott was
working
! And if Scott was working, then he would've had no idea Nick was lurking around in the dark waiting to strike."
"What?! You're not making any sense."
"Actually, I'm making
perfect
sense. This would also explain why someone put their name down on the records. If Scott was the worker, then it makes perfect sense for a name to be there. He thought he was simply signing in for something that he thought would just be another night shift!"
Lisa was again stunned beyond words. So much information was suddenly coming about at once that it was hard to keep track of it all.
"So you're saying Nick was lying near the hiking trail while Scott was working that night, and then when Scott came by, Nick threw the knife and killed him like that?"
"That's
exactly
what I'm saying!"
"But why would Scott have even gone on the hiking trail that late at night, anyway?!"
Collin was silent for a while, but then his sneaky grin returned. "Lisa, you couldn't have asked a question with a more obvious answer. You never read the log book from that night, did you?"
"No. Why, was there something in it?"
"Oooooh yes.
'
JULY 27th, 1:32 A.M.- Camper in space 21C complains of loud thumping noise a few feet from her cabin. I will investigate this myself soon and try to figure out what it is. I'll report back when I have found the source.'
"Scott was outside that night because people were calling and complaining about a loud thumping noise! And if Scott was REALLY the one working that night, then that would explain why there was never another log book entry after this one, even though the person who wrote this said that they'd report it when they figured out what that loud thumping noise was!"
Lisa looked like she was watching someone get brutally killed right in front of her eyes. But after just
a
moment or two, she shook that feeling off. "Sorry, Collin, but I can't believe that."
"What!? Why not?!"
"You've apparently forgotten it's still dark out at 1:30 in the morning. Nick would've had no way of seeing where Scott was or anything like that. And throwing a knife in the dark?...please, that's gotta be borderline impossible."
"Hey, Nick would've had an easy time seeing where Scott was. Scott was probably carrying a flashlight when he went out to see what that loud thumping noise was. That alone would've been enough light for Nick to see that it was him!"
"Fine! I'll give you that. But still, Nick wouldn't have been able to see clearly enough to throw a knife. And besides, he'd have to be pretty damn accurate if he could throw a knife in the dark and land a direct hit."
"So? Maybe he was lucky."
"Collin, no one's
that
lucky. He would've needed some serious practice if he wanted to throw a knife
that
powerfully and
that
accurately."
After that, Collin went dead silent. He peered behind Lisa, his mouth hanging wide open in astonishment. He looked like he had just won the lottery but had yet to smile.
"Well, Collin?! We checked Nick's background before he came here and knife throwing lessons
certainly
weren't mentioned anywhere! So, how did he do it?!"
"…Lisa?..."
"What is it?" She didn't mean to sound so bossy and fired up.
"Look behind you…"
Groaning, Lisa turned around and tried to see what it was that was making Collin so awe-struck. It only too her a minute to realize what he was hinting at.
There, leaning right up against the wall, was the sign that read
ARBUR WINSLOW STATE FOREST MAP
and had to be taken down due to the graffiti on it. As always, there were the random small holes that were scattered all around it. Except this time, those holes had much more meaning.
"Collin, you don't think…"
"Oh, yes," he said. "Lisa…Nick was practicing on this
sign
. He probably tried to see where he usually hit the board from a few feet away. Then when he realized where his "hot spot" was, he waited until he saw Scott was standing right in front of it, and then…"
"…and then he threw the knife and killed Scott," Lisa coldly said.
Collin pressed his lips together, closed his eyes and nodded his head. "I think that's it."
There was a tense and painful silence lingering in the air for a few seconds before Lisa finally asked, "Collin…those loud thumping noises that people were complaining about?..."
"Yes. Those thumping noises were probably Nick experimenting with the knife and throwing it into the sign."
Lisa was shocked that they had both come to this conclusion. After a short while, Collin started laughing, much to Lisa's shock. "What's so funny?"
"I just can't believe it," he said. "NetPub…this stupid sign…the whited out name on the work records…I can't believe this is beating all that forensic stuff."
"Hey, speaking of the work records…" Lisa said, completely changing the subject.
"What about'em?"
"Well, you know how you said Scott signed in because he thought it would just be a normal night?"
"Yeah."
"Well, if he DID sign in, then why did Nick take the trouble to white out Scott's name after he killed him?"