The Murder of Mr. Caruthers

By Harry Daems

Long has man been intrigued by the possibility that some men might have the power to delve into the mind of his fellow man. Many are the tales written about people with this ability. Most of them dealing with the mystery of what could transpire if someone would develop that power. My attempt here is not to toy with the occult and mystery of what could be achieved if you had that power but rather just to portray the lighted hearted aspect of everyday living. I have attempted to write an unbelievable tale that sounds like it could actually happen.
A young girl June Blair who is caught up in a web of intrigue that is threatening the life of her Bother Jim Blair with a charge of murder is trying to combat the true culprits with the use of her mind reading ability. Unsure of who may have committed the heinous crime June compiles a list of suspects. Follow along on Junes journey to reveal who murdered Mr. Caruthers

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503543041

Harry Daems

Born in Montana in a gold mining camp in 1931; he was raised on a cattle ranch bordered by the beautiful Madison River. Mr. Daems ran away from home when he was 11 years old, and being the master of his destiny from that point on in his life, he bounced around the western United States from border to border and from river to ocean. He joined the navy during the Korean Conflict and spent 4 years fighting for his country. Now in his waning years, he has taken up the pen to write down the many stories rattling around in his head; stories he so wants to share with those who like to read. This odyssey you are about to embark on is far and away his favorite tale. Enjoy!

Book preview

CHAPTER I

June, at the age of sixteen, was a very precocious young girl, having developed at an early age the ability to anticipate the thoughts and the very mind-set of anyone whom she may come in contact with. The gift she possessed bordered on the age-old concept of extra sensory perception. No one ever told her she was reading people’s minds. Probably because she rarely divulged what she observed. Being a very astute young girl, she realized at an early age that she could bring extreme embarrassment to friends and relatives. Coupled with her very compassionate makeup, she was inclined to keep the confidence of friends and relatives and, in most cases, total strangers. Along with all her other assets, June was a very honest person. To tell a lie or a fabricated story was not in her makeup. On the other hand, if the truth would hurt someone she liked very much, she would say nothing at all. The inclination to remain silent at times led many people to voice the opinion that June must have had her head in the clouds not to have seen what was going on. On those rare occasions, June would simply smile and nod her head in agreement. She loved her parents and her three siblings with a passion as well as the two cousins who lived with her and her family, and to bring embarrassment or discomfiture to anyone of them would cause her unnecessary sadness. It was far too easy to simply cross those mistakes—as she wanted to call them—from her mind as though they never happened. Of the two cousins, Hillary, being just six months younger than her, was closer to her than her brother Bobby, who, at twelve years of age, was an absolute dear on most occasions. Except for one drawback, he was the perfect helper around the house. Always ready to do anything that was asked of him. His one fault that June found not to her liking was his inclination to snoop into everything. Not that he did any real mischief, but June was of the opinion that he was far too young to be poking his nose where it did not belong. One of the places he had snooped into was the bedroom of her older brother, Jim, and the closet where he kept all his guns and ammunition. Now June knew that there were trigger locks on all the guns and that all the ammunition was securely locked in the bottom of the gun cabinet. But nonetheless, something in June’s subconscious mind prompted her to have a serious talk with Jim about his guns. Something else told her it would not be a good idea to tell Jim about Bobby’s proclivity.

"Come on, June, what makes you think my guns and ammo aren’t safe around Bobby and his friends?"

I’m not saying they are unsafe, Jim. I’m just saying that keys are easy to misplace or be stolen. I think it would be a lot safer if those keys were locked up in Dad’s safe in his study.

Okay, worrywart, I’ll have a talk with Dad. I’m sure he will let me keep my keys in his safe. Come to think of it, someone has been in my gun cabinet. Nothing was missing, but one of my guns was not where I usually keep it. Your concern about my keys makes me wonder if maybe there is something else you should be telling me. Do you think Bobby or one of his friends has been snooping in my closet?

Let me put it this way, my dear brother. Being one yourself, you must know that boys will be boys and the magical allure and mystery that surrounds a fire arm will pique the interest of any boy. I only wish to say, I think it is better to be safe than sorry.

June, it never ceases to amaze me the way you seem to get exactly what you want without half trying. Rest your mind at ease, sister dear, I’ll talk to Dad as soon as he comes home from work.

Thank you, Jim, I knew you would understand. See you at dinner. With that, she made her way down to the library where she had been engrossed in a good James Patterson murder mystery. The thing that was most intriguing about this particular novel was how closely it resembled the members of her own family all the way down to her two cousins who were staying in her home on an interim basis following the sale of their home in the city. As she was passing the door to Jim’s bedroom, she nearly collided with Bobby who was just leaving the room.

Oh! I’m sorry, Bobby. I didn’t see you. That was nearly a head-on. Recovering her equilibrium quickly, June was quick to observe that Bobby was hiding something behind his back. Making a hurried decision to let Jim handle this himself, she pretended she had seen nothing out of the ordinary. Don’t be late for dinner. You know how Dad is about being punctual. Hurrying down to the living room, June looked for Jim. She knew that if Bobby was given enough time, no one would be able to find out what it was he had been hiding behind his back. A hurried pass through the kitchen, then out to the patio. No Jim! Where could he have disappeared to so quickly? June was getting uneasy now, making a circle through the house, past the kitchen, past the library, down the hallway, by all the bedrooms! Then suddenly, it dawned on June that she was alone in the house. Her mother was nowhere to be seen, and the twins were not watching TV in the playroom. Both Hillary and Bobby had disappeared, and most mysterious of all, her brother Jim, who had been there moments ago, had also disappeared. There must be something happening that I know nothing about, she reasoned. Going to the front door and stepping outside, all her questions were answered in one fell swoop. Three doors down the block sat a police car with its red and blue lights flashing. Across the street was another and still further away two more, all with their emergency lights flashing their alarm. There were people standing around in little groups, intently watching the actions of the police, trying to interpret what was happening. June spotted Hillary, who was waving urgently at her to come on down the street. It was obvious she was a very agitated young girl. When June reached her side, Hillary grabbed her arm and dragged her out of hearing of their neighbors.

Oh, June, it’s absolutely terrible. Somebody has murdered poor Mr. Caruthers right in his own backyard, and the police are questioning everybody if they have seen anything. They haven’t asked me yet, and I know I’ll die of fright if they do. What am I going to do? You have to help me. You always seem to know what to do.

Calm down, Hillary, all you have to do is tell the truth. I’m sure you didn’t kill him, and surely you didn’t see who did, so you have nothing to worry about.

But, June, I heard the shot! I was just coming back from the garden with my book that I had left in my hammock when I heard it. At first, I thought someone had lit a firecracker. I even know what time it was. I looked at my watch to see how close we were to the Fourth of July and noticed the time on my watch was ten minutes till two in the afternoon, June 16. If I tell that to the police, they will grill me for hours.

Perfectly plausible explanation for noting the time and the date, when they ask you, just tell them the truth. Here comes Mom with the twins. I wonder where Jim is.

I saw him go into Mr. Caruthers’s house with the police just before you got here. They must be asking him a lot of questions. I hope they don’t think he had anything to do with it.

I’m sure they don’t, Hillary. But they will definitely talk to everyone in this area. Here comes Mom now. Maybe she can tell us something.

On reaching the two girls, Mrs. Blare pulled them aside and told June, I want you to take the twins to the house, June. This is not the kind of thing for them to see on the day after Father’s Day. And while you’re at it, take Bobby with you. He looks kind of pale around the gills. With the mention of Bobby, June was suddenly reminded of her urgent search for her brother Jim. A cold lump was beginning to form inside her breast. In her mind’s eye, she could see the object that Bobby was trying to hide behind his back. Trying as hard as she could, she could not erase the image of a revolver clutched in his right hand by the barrel and shoved up under the back of his sweatshirt. Securely in place was the lock fastened in the trigger guard. Slowly her world was coming down around her ears. June made her way to her room and there in her solitude tried to make sense out of what had happened.

Somehow she must decide just how much her brother Jim was involved in the murder of Mr. Caruthers. She had to admit that it was possible one of Jim’s guns might be the murder weapon. Next, because of the locks on the trigger guards, she was forced to admit that Jim must be deeply involved. No one else had keys to those locks. The next piece of this puzzle was Bobby Cummings. It had to be Bobby who took the gun from Jim’s gun cabinet, but why? Was he told to do it? Was he bribed to do it? Or was he just playing with it? The little that June knew about Bobby, the more she was inclined to believe that Bobby couldn’t be forced to do something he didn’t want to do. She had to talk to both of them to be absolutely sure. One of them would unknowingly reveal to her the truth. June knew her brother as well as or maybe better than anyone in the family. She was positive in her own mind that he could never be involved in a murder. As she dug deeper into the mystery, that fact and that fact alone was the one that upheld her and kept her from coming completely unstrung.

As she sat on the edge of her bed, groveling in misery, she heard footsteps in the hallway. Going to her door and opening it just enough to peek out without being seen, she watched two uniformed police officers go into Jim’s room with Jim. She could hear every word they were saying.

You keep your guns in your room?

Yes, I do, sir. I keep them in my gun cabinet with trigger lock guards on all four guns.

Where do you keep the keys to those locks?

I have them here in my pocket. Handing them to the officer, he said, You will need them to test-fire those two revolvers.

Do you always keep them in your pocket?

No, I don’t, sir. I was going to have my dad keep them locked in his safe in his study as my sister suggested. I had taken them out of the strong box I keep them in so I could give them to Dad when he gets off work.

Smart sister you have, Jim. We will only need the two revolvers, so if you will get them out, we will be on our way.

Complying with their request, Jim said, Please take good care of those two guns, sir. They are very old and worth a lot of money. I’d hate to lose them.

We will make sure they come back to you in the same condition they are in right now.

No, Jim! No! Don’t let him take them! She was screaming to herself knowing full well he had no other choice. As they walked down the hallway, she watched to make sure the two police officers left before she had her talk with Jim. She wanted them to hurry, but they were taking their time. They stopped to thank her mother for letting them come in without a search warrant, taking more the time she needed to talk to Jim and then Bobby if she could find him. They finally exited the house, going out through the patio and out past the garage. Hurrying as fast as she could, she ran to the front of the house only to see Jim get in his car that was parked at the curb and leave. The letdown she felt then was almost more than her overworked constitution could handle. It was then that she heard the garage door open and she knew her dad had come home from work. Wanting to hear all that was said, she ran to the dining room just as her dad came into the kitchen.

We have had a lot of excitement around here today, Dick. Do you remember the man who moved into the old Hampton house?

Yes, I do, Jen. He had a lot of trouble with the law before he came here. What did he do now?

Somebody murdered him today in his own backyard, and the police have been asking everyone if they know anything about it. They found out about Jim’s gun collection, and they came over and took his two revolvers to check the ballistics on them.

Good god! They don’t think Jim had anything to do with it, do they?

I don’t think so, Dick, but they say they are covering all the bases they know about. It seems that someone made an anonymous phone call and told them it would be a good idea to check the ballistics on all of Jim’s guns. It was probably someone who was mad at Jim over some trivial thing that he won’t even be able to remember.

No, Mom, no, just think about it, she said to herself. Whoever made that phone call knew perfectly well that one of those guns was the murder weapon. There is one thing I have learned reading all those murder mysteries. Whoever made that call had firsthand knowledge of the murder and probably was there when it happened. That means that Jim is being set up. Worse yet, he is being framed for something he didn’t do.

Suddenly, it dawned on June that if it were true that he was being framed, that means he must be innocent. And whoever it was trying to frame him must be the actual murderer. She was turning to leave when she was spotted by her mother.

June, find your cousin and have her help you set the big table in the dining room. I want her to learn how it’s done. Then have her find her brother and tell him to get ready for dinner. We are dinning formal tonight. I want her to learn the proper way it’s done. Complying with that request, June hurried to find Hillary and found her just returning from the garage.

Oh, June, I’m scared! I can’t find Bobby anywhere. His backpack is gone from his room, and I just looked in the garage, and his bike is gone too. I’m afraid something bad has happened to him!

Calm down, Hillary. You finish setting the big table, and I’ll go look for him. He can’t have gotten very far since we all returned from watching the police at Mr. Caruthers’s house.

Oh, please, June! Don’t leave me now. I need you to be with me!

Looking at Hillary, June began to realize that her cousin was a very distraught young girl and that she needed something to brace her up. Giving what she had in mind now a lot of thought, June toyed with the idea of telling Hillary her ability to read people’s minds. All her life she had kept this secret to herself and never intended to tell anyone, and many times she had vowed to take that secret to her grave. But now she knew she had to tell her cousin for her own uptight nerves and to give Hillary something concrete to hang her hopes on. Taking a deep breath, she told herself she loved her cousin very much, and she began to pray for some kind of guidance to let her know if telling Hillary her ability was a good idea or not.

Listen to me, Hillary. Here is what we are going to do. We are going to talk to everyone who knew him that lives in this town and find out just what they know about the murder of Mr. Caruthers.

But, June! Even if the police will let us go around talking to people, how are we ever going to get them to tell us what we want to know?

June looked at Hillary for quite a long time, studying her face, trying to read the thoughts racing through her mind, still uncertain if divulging her secret was the right thing to do. Finally, throwing caution to the wind, she came to a decision. She took the girl by the shoulders and squared her around to look in her eyes with a piercing intensity.

Don’t look at me like that, June. It bugs the hell out of me, makes me feel like you’re reading my soul.

Actually that’s what I’m trying to do, but you are not cooperating.

Well, please stop and then tell me why you are doing it.

Hillary, I figured if I could do it with you, I could do it with anyone.

Quit being so mysterious and tell me what you’re trying to do?

I wasn’t trying. I was doing.

For God’s sake, tell me what you were doing?

I was reading your thoughts, Hillary, and you are not easy to read.

What makes you think you can read my thoughts?

I’ve been able to do this for a long time, Hillary, and I think the time has come for me to reveal to you my secret, but you have to promise that you will never tell a soul what I am about to divulge. I need your solemn promise, Hillary. What I am about to tell you would have gone to my grave with me if not for Mr. Caruthers. Do you promise?

First you have to prove to me you can do this, and then I’ll promise.

Okay, you doubting Thomas, just think of something you know I know nothing about.

Very well, you magician, here is something I haven’t even entered in my diary.

In the space of a few short seconds, June looked intently at her cousin and said,

Hillary, you are not stepping on my toes when you decide that you might like Larry for a steady boyfriend. To me, he is just that good-looking boy who lives next door. I have my cap set for a nice detective on the police force.

Oh my god! was Hillary’s first reaction. She was holding her hand over her mouth, trying to stop her thoughts from escaping for June to read. And now with eyes as big as saucers, she could only stare at her cousin in disbelief.

My god, June! No one can have any secrets around you if you can do that all the time.

Yes, they can, Hillary. I only read what they are thinking when there is something I want to find out.

You mean it isn’t just automatic? You mean you have to actually read what they are thinking?

Look at it like this, Hillary, it’s a lot like an open book you see sitting on the table. You have to narrow your vision down to read the words. I only do that when I want to see what it says.

With eyes that were filled with wonder, Hillary could only stare at June. At first, she was at a loss for the right words to say. Starting out slowly and being very careful about picking the right words, she began a little speech that would bond these two girls together for life.

From the time that we first started playing together, June, I have had this feeling, she began, putting her right hand over her heart, that you were something special in my life. You are only six months older than me, June, but those six months loom up to appear like years and years. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t consider you smarter than me. Our GPA was almost identical in school. It’s just that I have always felt comfortable with you as a leader, and now you have given me something to make me love you even more. And, June, it was only a fleeting thought that I might like Larry as a steady boyfriend. I have thought all along that you liked him as a boyfriend, and that’s the reason I have never said anything.

Hillary, I am glad we are having this little talk. I can tell you frankly that I don’t think you can do much better in deciding on someone for a steady boyfriend. I think Larry is a very levelheaded young man, and I hope he likes you as much as you seem to like him. Do you think you might be in love with him?

Oh, June, I don’t know. Whenever he looks at me, I get this weird feeling right here. She placed her hand over her heart. There were tears in both girls’ eyes now when June answered her.

Sounds a lot like love to me.

On that note, the two girls were in each other’s arms, crying softly.

CHAPTER II

The call to dinner came before either girl was prepared, both girls being so distraught they had completely forgotten about being formally dressed.

"June, sometimes your lapses in memory scare me. What have you two been doing that you are not dressed for dinner?

Mom, everything is coming to a head over this murder, and it is beginning to affect us here. We have been looking everywhere for Bobby, and it looks like he has run away from home. His backpack is missing from his room, and his bike is gone from the garage. And, Mom, somehow I think Bobby knows more about this murder than he should, and I think that’s why he has disappeared.

Dick, I think it is time to give Ted and Margaret a call, said Jenifer, a look of concern on her face. Just as he was reaching for the phone, it began to ring.

Oh, I hope that is Jim calling home. We need so much to talk to him. In case it isn’t, you answer it. I am so tired of telling people that we know nothing about the murder.

June was listening intently to his thoughts as he spoke, and she knew this call was bad news.

I can be there in fifteen minutes, Mr. Benet. After a long pause, Dick spoke again. Yes, sir, we can all be there at ten in the morning. Hanging up the phone, he turned to his wife; and with a strained look on his face, he said,

Jenifer, our son is in jail charged with the murder of Dan Caruthers. Mr. Benet said he would allow us thirty minutes in private with him before the indictment is handed down. After that, it will only be on visitors’ day.

Jenifer was in tears now, wanting to know how they could possibly think that Jim was a murderer.

One of Jim’s revolvers was tested positive as the murder weapon, Jenifer. And because he had the only means of making them fire, it was either Jim that pulled the trigger or he knew who did. I am sure he will have a logical explanation when we talk to him tomorrow. We will know more after we talk. Now it is time to eat, and maybe in the morning, things will look a lot better.

Ted and Margaret had arrived in the middle of the night and had opted to not go to the courthouse on the morning of the seventeenth. Instead, they wanted to remain at the house in case Bobby would show up—a decision that would probably save June’s life. When they arrived at the Blare residence, they came by taxi from the airport, leaving no evidence parked in the driveway that anyone was home.

The ride to the courthouse that morning was a strained affair, with the twins full of questions about why their brother was in jail and Jenifer being loath to tell them why their brother was incarcerated. At the courthouse, they were met by Harold Benet and ushered into a private room that was usually reserved for a lawyer-client conference. With not enough chairs, Mr. Benet had a deputy bring in some folding chairs. As they were being seated, June noticed that the room was a corner room with a window in each one of the outside walls and a desk set in the corner opposite of the one connecting the two outside walls.

The chief of police left them for a few moments, saying he would be right back with Jim. While he was gone, June let her eyes take in everything around her. Looking out one of the side windows, she noticed a worker on the fire escape just across the courthouse square. As she watched him, she noticed he appeared unusually interested in the room she was in. Then a noise from the hall broke her concentration, and knowing it was Mr. Benet bringing Jim in, she looked toward the door. Her first reaction was one of anger. Where did they think he was going to run to from a courthouse full of police? They had him shackled in irons, both his arms and his legs. Her memory jumped back to the man on the fire escape, and she wondered if maybe he was a police guard or something. As she looked, she could see he was leaning over something, looking through the window on that side. She instantly knew what was happening, and with everyone’s nerves as tight as a fiddle string, her bloodcurdling scream caused everyone to jump. Next came the sound of breaking glass, the sound of a bullet striking flesh, and the