Stepping out of my city issued cruiser, I approach the front yard of the victim’s house. I look around the neighborhood and notice a tall, lanky woman with dirty blonde hair next door. She slipped into her 2018 Toyota Camry and drove away. I turned my head and focused back onto the crime scene, lifting the yellow caution tape as I enter into the victim’s house. Approaching the entry way to the kitchen, I look to the corner and greet him. “ Good morning, Rick. What can you tell me about the victim?” 

Rick was a little bit younger than I- no more than thirty years old and was afraid of anything alive. His long, curly, black tendrils had been covering his icy blue eyes. Sometimes it was hard to tell if Rick ever left his house, just by looking at his pale complexion. Rick walked over towards me to show me the deceased woman’s chart. “ Her name is Janet Colins. She’s 45 from Spokane, Washington and is divorced with no children.”

   I looked over at the kitchen and noticed what looked to be a couple traces of blood splatter on the upper cabinets. “What was her time of death?” Rick flipped her chart to the next page. “Her T.O.D was just after two am- 2:20am to be exact.” I continued to examine the kitchen cabinets and  had noticed that a chef’s knife was missing from the wooden knife set holder. “Interesting. Rick, what was her cause of death?” Rick flipped the chart yet again, she was stabbed once in the sternum. My eyes shifted from the empty knife slot to Rick. “Did we recover the murder weapon?” Rick looked back at me with disappointment. “No, unfortunately we didn’t.” I nodded and continued to examine the rest of the kitchen. Just before I could carry on, my phone had rang. Pulling it out of my pocket and unlocking it, I answer. “ Detective Anderson.”

 I could hear the town sheriff shuffling around, trying to locate a more quiet area. “ Detective! This is Sheriff Stoneham. I need a favor to ask of you. There’s a criminology class in Bellevue Community college. The professor would like to cover the topic of local homicides and wants to have a representative from the police force stand in and discuss the intricacies of these type of cases. I regrettably can not attend this time around and was wondering if you’d be willing to?” I stood in the doorway between the kitchen and living room of the victim’s house, considering my options. There had been a pause in the case until we could recover the missing murder weapon and in the interim there had to be interviews conducted. The more I thought about my options, I began to realize that this school stand in may help the case. “ Sure thing, Sheriff. I can do that for you.” I ended the call and turned to look at Rick.

 “ Hey, Rick. I’m going to Bellevue to stand in for a criminology class. Maybe they can help with the case.” Rick stared blankly back at me and nodded. I made my way out of the entry way and through the front door – to the out side lawn, where my cruiser had been parked across the street. I open the door and hop into the driver’s seat, as I turn the key to the ignition. Hearing the engine purr to life, I give the neighborhood one last glance before driving away.