Crime Stories Read Online Free Page B

long has the hospitality suite been open?”
    “It’s been open all night. I know for a fact that every contestant has been in here, some several times.”
    Bitsy rubbed her temples. She couldn’t believe that one of the women she’d just met would commit murder just to win.
    “Should we call the police?” Niki asked.
    “Yes. We’ll have to cancel the bake-off.”
    “The negative publicity will be devastating.”
    “I know. But there’s nothing—”
    Bitsy’s voice trailed off when her eyes locked on the gun. There was something unusual about it. She crept closer to get a better look.
    “This isn’t a regular gun,” she said. “Look at the writing on the side.”
    Niki came over and read the word engraved into the stock.
    “Starter pistol? What’s that?”
    “It’s used for races. It doesn’t fire real bullets. Only makes a loud noise.”
    As the words left Bitsy’s mouth, she smiled.
    “Call security. I know who the saboteur is.”
    Who is the saboteur, and how did Bitsy know?
    SOLUTION: Bitsy believed Holly Doolittle had brought the starter gun. A loud noise, especially at the high altitude in the Colorado Rockies, would cause flour-based cakes to collapse. Holly was making a cheesecake, which would be unharmed by the loud bang, ensuring a win. Holly had bragged about her plan to her next door neighbor, who placed the anonymous call to Bitsy.

After I sold Piece of Cake, I figured I had a new market that would take everything I wrote. I was wrong. After buying my previous story, Woman’s World gonged this one. My hat’s off to Encyclopedia Brown, because this isn’t as easy as it looks.
    Only obscure knowledge will lead to a killer…
    T he First Annual Spokane Zoologist Convention ended on a very sour note…a murder.
    To make matters even worse, no one knew who the dead man was.
    “I’m sure he’s a registered zoologist,” said the convention organizer, Dr. Myrna Simmons, who claimed she recognized the deceased from the day before. “I checked him in at the reception table. I remember searching for his name tag. But for the life of me. I can’t recall his name. The poor man.”
    The victim was a handsome forty-something male, wearing a blue suit and a red tie. His wallet was missing. A cheese knife pierced his back—it had apparently been taken from the hors d’oeuvres table. A napkin was wrapped around its handle, preventing the killer from leaving fingerprints.
    The body had been found lying face-first on the coatroom floor. One of the convention attendees had gone to hang up her jacket, and almost tripped over him. Immediately afterward, the police had been called, and the banquet hall sealed. No one was allowed to leave without permission from the authorities.
    Detective Robbie Walker personally checked the alibi of every person in attendance, and was left with four remaining suspects. During the course of his investigation, Walker cross-referenced the guest list and discovered that there was one person too many in the banquet hall. Walker deduced that this convention crasher was the murderer, and he’d taken the dead man’s name tag in an attempt to blend into the crowd and escape.
    None of the four suspects had any form of picture ID on them, and each was unable to confirm his identity.
    Walked needed to figure out who the imposter was.
    He approached the first man, an elderly fellow with a bushy white beard who claimed to be Dr. Jordan McDermott.
    “Dr. McDermott, what types of animals do you specialize in?”
    “I study the duck-billed platypus,” McDermott said, a bit too cheerfully considering the morbid circumstances. “Its fur is among the softest in the world. It lays eggs, and after they hatch it nurses its young. The male platypus is also poisonous. Quite an amazing animal.”
    Walker was skeptical. “Is all of that true?” he asked the others.
    They each shrugged.
    “Zoology has so many specialties,” said Dr. Apu Patel, a tall, thin man with penetrating brown