Detective Donovan Tackles a ‘Three Pronged’ Mystery

By R. Furman Kenney

Suddenly in the rather sleepy small city of Slidetown there occur in rapid succession three major "happenings", all of a very suspicious nature. Failing in his effort to solve these cases, the Chief of Police seeks the help of a "high powered" detective from New York City. The detective offers two weeks of his time in which to solve the three cases. Using an odd method in endeavoring to find the solution, he almost succeeds only to realize that the two weeks he allotted to these three cases is fast slipping by. He begins to despair of finding the solution within the time frame when suddenly from a most unlikely source he finds the solution to all three mysterious cases.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 17, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477229330

R. Furman Kenney

The author is a native of northeast Mississippi but has spent most of his life in Virginia. He is a widower and has two children and two grandchildren. He has earned the B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. In his early life he served a stint in the Navy most of which was on detached duty with the Marine Corps. He has written many books which range in genre from autobiography, history, fiction/novel, fiction/suspense, etc. His interests are writing, reading, gardening, family gatherings, educational activities and traveling.

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‘Three Pronged’ Mystery

R. Furman Kenney

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© 2012 by R. Furman Kenney. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 07/11/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4772-2932-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-2931-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-2933-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012911486

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DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my children who have been kind to offer me advice concerning various aspects of this work. To them I am deeply grateful.

PREFACE

Told herein are what at first appear to be two parallel stories. As the stories progress the reader will come to the conclusion that somehow the two story plots are interwoven. At the end the two stories are revealed to be dependent on each other.

The reader is advised to be patient in the beginning, for the first chapters do not seem to concern themselves with the subject indicated on the title page. Little by little it will become apparent that they are building up to the point where their parts in the three pronged mystery becomes evident.

In rapid fire succession three mysterious happenings of a very serious nature (a horrible automobile collision, a murder and a bank robbery) take place in the same area in a new subdivision of Slidetown, a fictitious city in New York state. They leave the people of the area reeling in shock. Each happening is considered by the citizens of the city to stand alone. In despair of being able to find the solution to the cases Police Chief Killen of the Slidetown police department turns to a rather famous detective, Detective Alex Donovan, of New York City for help. He secures the requested help, but Detective Donovan lets it be known up front that he can spend only two weeks working on the unique three pronged mystery.

Detective Donovan uses some unusual methods with which to endeavor to solve the three cases. He despairs of being able to solve the mysterious happenings until members of the little St. John’s Church unwittingly point him to the solution of the triple mystery.

R. Furman Kenney

Contents

Chapter 1 An Explosion Beyond Compare!

Chapter 2 A Sleepy City

Chapter 3 A Beautiful Church Site

Chapter 4 Attempting To Put Ideas Into Action

Chapter 5 The Dye Is Cast

Chapter 6 Endeavoring To Live With Their Decision

Chapter 7 Fearful Missionaries

Chapter 8 Preparation For The Task

Chapter 9 Visiting We Shall Go!

Chapter 10 Checking For Results

Chapter 11 A Serene Situation

Chapter 12 Visitation Reports

Chapter 13 A Great Crash!

Chapter 14 A Shocking Announcement

Chapter 15 Bank Robbery

Chapter 16 Turmoil Among The Top Brass

Chapter 17 The Pastor In Turmoil

Chapter 18 Help, Help!

Chapter 19 Under The Banner Of The Lord

Chapter 20 Help Arrives

Chapter 21 Bank Manager Under Fire

Chapter 22 Where Is The Truth?

Chapter 23 A Cut And Dried Case

Chapter 24 Detective Donovan Tackles The Three Mysteries

Chapter 25 An Unidentifiable Body

Chapter 26 Checking Another Angle

Chapter 27 Thank You, Lord

Chapter 28 Seeking An Identity

Chapter 29 Cold Facts

Chapter 30 An Odd Duck Detective

Chapter 31 Stepping On Forbidden Territory

Chapter 32 Unjustified Optimism

Chapter 33 Endeavoring To Determine The Who Factor

Chapter 34 Check And Double Check

Chapter 35 Looking In Another Direction

Chapter 36 An Eagle’s Eye View Of The Case

Chapter 37 Lost In Thought

Chapter 38 A Strange Request

Chapter 39 An Angle Of The Equation

Chapter 40 Trying To Find The Capstone To The Arch

Chapter 41 Things Are Not Always What They Seem

Chapter 42 People Are Not Always Who They Seem

Chapter 43 A Suspicious Situation

Chapter 44 A Sight To Behold!

Chapter 45 Clearing Up Details Following The Solution Of The Crimes

Chapter 46 Unexpected Results

Chapter 47 Goodbye To Slidetown

Chapter 48 To Sue Or Not To Sue?

Chapter 49 All Is Well That Ends Well

CHAPTER 1

An Explosion

Beyond Compare!

The Rev. Dr. John Thompson, the revered elderly pastor of St. John’s Church, was in deep and prayerful thought about the passage of scripture which was to be the setting for his sermon on the following Sunday morning. Suddenly he heard a very loud noise, a noise which to him sounded much like that of an exploding bomb, not that he had ever heard one. It was a sound accompanied by the shaking of the church building. His first thought was that the world was coming to an end as had been predicted in the Bible. A bit later he thought, Maybe we are having an earthquake… . I’ve never been in one, but I’ve read about them. A bit later he realized that it had been a big explosion of some kind.

Finally, having recovered a bit from the terrific sound that had sent shock waves vibrating through him, he walked unsteadily up the corridor from his office to the front door of the church building. Cautiously he opened one of the large double doors and hesitantly stepped out onto the paved walk leading from the front of the church to the city sidewalk. As he stepped onto the city sidewalk, he was almost hit by people who were rushing to the area from which the sound of the explosion had been heard.

He had gone only a little way in the direction of the noise when he saw a fire which was blazing so high that it seemed to him to be reaching to the sky. Almost immediately he felt its scorching heat which caused him to step backward. Already many people from the shops, the bank and the apartments had gathered, all showing on their countenances a look of surprise and bewilderment. What a sight had followed the big explosion!

The onlookers who had rushed to the scene looked on the blazing inferno in horror. A big question mark seemed to be on each face. The old timers whispered to each other that they had never seen such a fire as this. Newcomers whispered that they had never seen such a fire back in their home towns from which they had recently moved. The questions, What happened? What caused this big fire? seemed to be on the lips of everyone in the throng of onlookers. Some suggested that maybe a bomb had been dropped from a plane. Others shook their heads in a negative way to indicate that they did not believe that was a credible theory, because no one had heard a plane passing over the New Town subdivision of Slidetown prior to the explosion.

In troubled times like these could the big explosion have been caused by a suicide bomber? some of the onlookers asked. Who knows? Maybe there will be enough tangible evidence left in the residue of the fire to give us a clue.

Most of the onlookers were so mesmerized that they stood there for a very long while watching the blaze slowly dwindling down to embers. Maybe ashes would be the more correct term, for there were no embers. In the midst of the ashes were some almost melted pieces of metal tangled in odd shapes. It was impossible to look at them and guess what they may have been a part of prior to the fire.

The policemen had arrived shortly after the explosion and stood surveying the situation with a look of unbelief on their faces. The firemen were busily spraying water from their fire hose over the fire and also on the fronts of the buildings located near the scene of the fire. Realizing that there was no need in trying to save whatever it was that was burning with such a high and hot blaze, their purpose was to save the buildings which were near the fire.

One policeman was overheard talking with a reporter from the local newspaper, The Daily Sentinel. I am of the opinion that there was a head-on collision of two automobiles that caused the sound of the loud explosion and the hot fire. You know automobiles often explode following a collision because of the gas spilling from the ruptured gas tanks and igniting due to the sparks caused from the heavy impact of the two vehicles. I imagine that in this case the two automobiles were moving forward at a very high rate of speed which caused a great impact, one that resulted in the big explosion and this huge fire. The newspaper reporter was observed writing rapidly on his memo pad.

Pastor Thomas lingered at the scene for a long while watching the fire as it slowly died down. He said to himself, That was the biggest and hottest fire I have ever seen. I saw many when I was in my first pastorate out in the rural area where the church was located. There was no fire truck to call to the scene, for the local county seat town could not afford one. I repeat… this was the highest and hottest blaze of any fire that I have been near. Such were the thoughts running through his mind.

If I had had my way when St. John’s Church congregation voted on the question, ‘stay in our old building or sell and move to a new location’, I would have opted to sell and move. My spirits were dampened when the majority voted to remain in the old building. Well, if we had moved, I would have missed the excitement of this big fire, mused the pastor to himself. This is the most exciting thing that I have witnessed in a long time. Little did he know that more excitement was to come.

He stayed until the fire had been reduced to ashes. All that he could see beside ashes was some half melted twisted metal frames of some sort. Judging from the fact that the fire had occurred in the street, he assumed that the twisted metal frames had originally belonged to automobiles… . two automobiles because of the fact that it takes two automobiles to cause a collision of such magnitude as had occurred on this spot.

Finally, having awakened from his total mental absorption about the fire and its origin, he noticed by his watch that he had been glued to that spot on the street for well over two and one-half hours. He observed that most of the bank personnel and employees in the small shops up and down the street were returning to their places of work. The street was becoming bare of onlookers, firemen, policemen and street cleaners. He was amazed at how quickly and how well the workmen from those three departments had done their jobs and were leaving the scene. I’m proud of their efficiency; bless them! Reluctantly, he left the scene of the great fire and walked slowly back to the church and to his office at the end of the corridor.

Little did the pastor (or anyone else for that matter) realize that the excitement was just beginning. From infancy he had heard the old adage that calamities come in three’s. Through the passing of the years whenever he thought of that old adage, he shook his head and said, "I’m glad that it is only an old ‘wise saying’. One should not put ‘any stock in it’, for it is just an old saying, not necessarily a wise one. He never dreamed that he would have to ‘eat his words’ concerning the old adage.

CHAPTER 2

A Sleepy City

The explosion up the street jarred me out of complacency into deep thought as to what life is all about. I’ve heard it said that, ‘Life for man was meant to be peaceful. Life was meant to be interesting. Life was meant to be satisfying. Life was meant to be challenging.’ That saying may well describe the definition of the meaning of life as far as the understanding of most of the citizens of Slidetown are concerned. It isn’t that they have been taught such a philosophy of life in a public or private school. It is simply something that has been instilled in their psychic by the mode of life in their very average city of Slidetown. Those concepts of how life should be lived by the average person is simply something that they have absorbed by their subconscious understanding of life.

Most of the citizens of Slidetown assumed that such concepts were the standard of thought and conduct of all citizens in the nation. After all, why should not all Americans think and feel as did the good people of Slidetown? That attitude stemmed from the assumption that their home town was really the hub of the world, or, if not, surely it was the hub of America. The majority of the citizens of their rather sleepy city (town might be more accurate) had been born there, grown up there and had no plan ever to live anywhere else. Their theory was that if a person lived in heaven (as most of the citizens thought of Slidetown) why would he desire to move to any other place. They would be surprised or even shocked to learn that some of the citizens, especially the recent arrivals, might not feel that way. The newcomers among the citizens soon learned that the old timers were satisfied with status quo.

Could that have been the reason that the town had not grown in size as concerned population or as pertained to the business carried on there? The same old businesses that had been in operation for the past seventy-five years were the same businesses that were still keeping the wheels of commerce running in the town. If a person were to come back to visit the city after many decades of absence, he would have no trouble in finding his way around the city, because there were no new streets and scarcely any new homes… . nothing had changed… . same old situation. The atmosphere of the town was that of quietness. Loud noises were not heard floating through the air. Even the fourth of July annual parade’s band played in a very subdued fashion. The sound of Christmas music coming from some of the stores was muted to the point that it could not be heard more than a few feet from the entrances to those stores. Everything in and about the city of Slidetown was subdued in tone and volume. Good taste called for everything to be modulated.

The only exception to the rule of status quo was the building of a new subdivision on the outskirts of the city. As will be mentioned later that addition to the life and culture of Slidetown came about under much duress especially as concerned the members of the small rural St. John’s Church. The very idea of those building contractors from outside the area coming into their midst to interrupt the mode of quiet living with the disturbing noise of construction! That attitude was especially true among the members of St. John’s Church which had been too stubborn to move its congregation to a new site. They had stubbornly resisted all offers to sell their property at a very good price and move to a new location.

CHAPTER 3

A Beautiful Church Site

That great explosion has caused me to roll back the calendar to a time prior to the construction of the new subdivision on the outskirts of Slidetown and to a time prior to the great explosion, mumbled the Rev. Dr. John Thompson. He was sitting there staring vacantly out the window at the side of a high rise building some three feet from where he was sitting. Yes, in my mind’s eye I am enjoying the view that I formerly could see from this window prior to the building of the subdivision. There stretched before me as in the earlier days a serene and beautiful sight. The beauty of the meadow land in this section of the state never ceases to be a source of enjoyment. Dr. Thompson had grown up in a more mountainous area of the northern United States where one’s view of what was outside the window was interrupted by mountains. Here in this meadow land area it seemed to him that one could see forever. As he sat enjoying the view from his office window, his mind went back to his early boyhood days.

John, get out of bed. The horses are waiting to be fed and the cows are waiting to be milked! He well remembered that greeting from his father each morning back in his boyhood home. His mother had died when he was a lad of some ten years of age. His father had had to assume the family duties of both father and mother as well as that of the bread winner for the family. The family at that point consisted of his father, himself and a younger brother. The father was a rural mail carrier and part time farmer. He had had to depend on young John to assume a heavier role in the family life than was normal for a lad of his age due to the death of his wife. Being of a rather easy going nature John had tried to accept the added family responsibilities without grumbling too much.

His father had to be at the county seat post office early in the morning in order to get the mail for his route sorted before beginning his morning delivery route. Although he was now accustomed to the work of a rural mail carrier he never ceased to be proud of his government job. He felt honored to have won over other applicants in being awarded that position. The position of Rural Free Delivery Mail Carrier was considered to be one of the better and more stable jobs. However, it was not a full time job for a conscientious man, because it did not require him to work from sun up until sun down. In light of that fact he had bought a small dirt farm in the hilly land near his ancestral home, an investment from which he hoped to receive a bit of side income in future years.

In the farming season when he had finished delivering the mail on his route each day he rushed home, changed clothes and rushed to the barn. He hitched his two work horses to the farm piece of equipment which was needed for that day’s work (plow, cultivator, planter, disc, etc.) and hurried to the small field to work until darkness overtook him. With the proceeds from the farm land he wanted to pay off the mortgage on his little house and farm and to save something for his two sons’ education. Needless to say he was an industrious man.

Into that environment young John and his younger brother, Alex, had been thrust. Thus, John grew accustomed to his father’s somewhat stern order in the early morning hours to get out of bed. Although he became used to hearing that order, he did not like it, for he was still sleep logged. He felt that he must have a bit more shut eye, but he knew that his father didn’t think so. Therefore, each morning he crawled out of bed, rubbed his eyes, put on his overalls and headed for the barn.

He had been taught how many ears of corn and how much hay to put into the trough of each horse. He methodically went about doing that part of his morning chores. Then, he called the two cows into their stalls in the barn. He had been taught to put into the trough of each cow two scoops of commercial cow feed with just a bit of cottonseed meal sprinkled over it. His father had told him that cows liked that mixture of feed and, therefore, they would be ready and waiting to enter the cow barn to be milked when he called them. He had learned to milk cows only a year or so before that. Naturally it was a hard and tiring job for his tender young hands. Of course he was slow at it, which resulted in the cows finishing their food before he had finished milking them… . that resulted in trouble. At that point the cows became restless and in a kicking mood.

As Pastor John continued to reminisce about his boyhood days, he realized that he had been forced to grow up before his time so to speak. Having to assume so much responsibility in the family life at such a tender age had caused him to be of a thoughtful and serious demeanor. One of the harder tasks assigned to him by his father was to keep his younger brother, Alex, in line. That task was not always an easy one, for Alex was a lively and somewhat mischievous lad. Indeed, Alex and mischief seemed to