THE UNLUCKY MAID by Lucy

Dear Mr. Michaels:

We’re all here, and we’re very worried. We’re here because we knew about the crime that had taken place in this house. I’ll tell it to you: on a windy Saturday morning, in 1943, it was heard on the radio that last night a murder had taken place in New York. It happened in an old house. An old man lived there. He had hired a maid just a few nights ago, and five hours after her 4th day of work, a neighbor heard an enormous thump then the sound of dragging, and finally, steps one by one on the stairs. After hearing this everyone all over America get pretty scared, even me and the other guys. So one night we decide to investigate, partly because there is a rumor going around town that he is an exported animal killer and chef. So we creep up and then we quickly dash in. Suddenly the door snaps shut. We have a hard fist fight; we all thought the other had locked us in. Finally it ends.
I have a nasty black eye and so did Joe. Anyway we walked up the stairs and I whisper: “Hey bugs! Did you hear that”! He is as pale as a bed sheet and he nods slowly. I could feel that all seven of us were scared, but nevertheless I decide to walk toward the whimpering noise! But damn it! My match goes out! Guess we’ll just have to feel our way around. I walk into a room. After opening the door, there is a dim light, we can barely see. I squint and I see a big chest. I open it cautiously and I peer in: nothing. So we walk out. But Tony falls against something, a wall. But before Joe can reach him a piece of the wall that Tony touched comes open and there is the servant. “She is dead.”
Mickey is the only one who went to college, and he went to medical college. I do notice that Tony has a special interest in her. He says “Rosemary Wilkins” over and over again. “You okay , Tony?” I say. Tony just looks at me blankly, tears in his eyes,  and answers “She was my sister.” And then we comfort him. When we can tell he’s okay, we move on. Carrying the young woman’s corpse, we carry her to the window, we give her to Tony and we jump out. Tony carries her carefully down. Oh my goodness! It’s already 12:00! We bring the young woman down to the detective’s office then we decide to go back into the house. I get Mickey and Joe to guard the back and front of the house and I guard the right side and Tony guards the left after making sure he is stable enough. And I send Larry, Jack and José into the house to investigate.
I hear a whimper after about an hour and I look around. It’s coming from the front of the house. Joe’s crumpled on the floor. I whistle for the others. Mickey and Tony arrive together. Then comes José, Larry, and finally Jack. We get just a quick glimpse of someone running into the house. I run in with Jack and José, and I leave Larry, Mickey and Tony with Joe. I run up the stairs and I’ve got the intruder; he’s got a knife, but not a drop of sweat goes down my head, I’ve got a gun. I put my finger on the trigger, I move closer, and Jack and José have him from the back and right side. The only side he can run to is the left. So I whistle loudly and Larry, Mickey and Tony walk up holding Joe. I point the gun up against his chest. I threaten to shoot him to death if he doesn’t show me everything. So he leads us into the light dimmed room. He feels the wall and opens the trap door. But seeing no girl tied up, he jumps up with his knife pointed at José. He has a fiery look in his eyes. I wasn’t one bit scared, though. I signal for Larry to point the gun directly upon his back. The fiery look goes away, but he still has his knife pointed at Jose. And he says that he does transport exported animals from foreign countries and, yes, he does kill them to eat and to dissect. Then he explains that he thought Rosemary maybe had or would have found out, so he poisoned her.
At this Tony jumps up but Larry and Jack pull him back. The stranger says that inside the chest there is a locked secret passage of steps in one of the wooden pieces of the chest. It leads to the kitchen and laboratory. Then Mickey asks what his name is. He answers “Chino Rinaldi Dimitri.” But he says his wife just called him Rinaldi. And when Larry asks about the locked door he says it couldn’t have been him because he was at his psychiatrist who was his only friend. So we took him to the station in cuffs.

Sincerely,
Det. Jay Keegan