The phone rang out loudly, gathering the eyes and ears of all in the office. Despite their attraction to it, few were willing to pick it up. There was a long stalemate before Officer Johnson answered the call. “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” he inquired.

“Hello, yes, there’s a dead body in the alleyway behind Rocky’s Tavern,” the caller pleaded. “It’s a woman aged from about 30-35, dark brown hair with a slightly heavy figure and presumably caucasian.” This was a shock to hear, not only because it was a dead body but because it was a relatively young woman. Rocky’s Tavern had a customer base of about 90% miserable old men, and assuming she was in the tavern, she’d definitely be out of place in such an environment. However, there was no time to speculate on why that was, because before long there were several names assigned to work on the case.

“Johnson, O’neill, Brady, get down to the tavern ASAP,” shouted Jacob, the Chief Officer. Johnson and Brady scurried over to their cars, before realizing that they might want to bring someone else along with them. The trip to the tavern was extensive, and it felt as if there was bad blood in the air. Dead body cases weren’t common in the town of Diensburg, in fact they were almost unheard of. This was going to be an interesting case.

The car came to a halt, and the alleyway in which the body had been found loomed over the night sky. It was as if it were a monster, terrorizing the townsfolk with its sheer size alone. The buildings expanded in size more and more before the scene of the body became apparent. It had many people surrounding it, so it seemed the paparazzi beat anyone else to it.

The victim lay upon the dark-red brick wall, appearing as lifeless as the artificial plastic bag used to suffocate her. The conclusion was obvious to everyone, but there was still more evidence needed to prove it was the case. Brady, the detective, searched for the fine details of the case, first observing that the crime had happened behind a large trash bin, a ploy done to alleviate much of the attention from the body. “Well, this makes it obvious what happened. There’s no way this case isn’t a murder!” he exclaimed. 

“Now hang on a second, Brady, there’s still more evidence needed. It would be foolish to jump to conclusions,” replied Johnson. He had his way with words that made whomever was near him bow down in agreement. “What else is there in this scene?” Despite how blatant the answer was, the investigation continued. 

It was at that point in which more evidence was found, since behind the woman was a note. Brady picked it up and read aloud, “Dear world, no longer will Jane Driessen be able to handle the hurdles that have been given to her. Throughout life she’s been ridiculed by her peers, without the hopes of ANY second chances. To whomever’s reading this, please be aware: This could be you.”

Despite they not referring to themselves, it was unanimously agreed upon that it was a suicide. No one even stopped to question why she used a plastic bag, or why she did so in such an obscured spot. They just saw the note and no signs of force being used, and called it a day. It felt a little disingenuous for the so-called “detective” to draw conclusions so quickly, but hey, I wasn’t the one in charge.