• The blood pooled nto the floor like a red river. Drinking in the thick liquid the wooden floor turned a dark red. The body lay face down on the floor with several knife wounds on his body. The weapon was still placed in the last entry way hilt up. The knife looked normal to the naked eye but had a bloody history. It was said to be cursed by the originally owner. The man, who was the current owner of the blade, was the one on the ground dead.

    Through the open shades the dyeing sun hit the ruby in hilt of the knife, which sent an eerie glow across the room. No one lived in the house besides the man whose name was Samual Burnock. He was a well known and respected man in the town. He was known to help those less fortunate ththan he was. It was said that when he first came into town all the children were sick and his presence alone healed them all.

    No one would find him until the next day when the cleaning woman, Muriel, came to the house and found the front door ajar. Worried she walked up to the house and entered. When she looked around the house everything was neat and tidy the way she had left it yesterday. She kitchen table and the chairs stood where they always were, the book shelf was packed with all his books and the coffee table in the parlor still had a coffee cup sitting there.

    Picking up the cup Muriel notices it is still filled with cold coffee. Besides the cup a untouched cut up apple turned a dark brown on the skin. It had been left there all night, Muriel realized.

    "Mr. Burnock!" Muriel calls out only to here nothing in reply.

    Making her way to the steps she notices muddy foot prints on the floor. They led up the stairs and down the hall towards the master bedroom. Muriel silently fallows the foot prints with dread building up in her heart. As she enters the room she steps onto something warm wet and squishy. Looking down she screams as she sees Mr. Burnock on the floor.

    Several hours later the town officials swarmed the house searching the house from top to bottom. They found no clues except for the foot prints on the floor.

    "Can you tell me you did when you entered the house, again please?" Thomas Polack asks Muriel again

    "I was coming up to the house when i saw the door a jar." Muriel starts "Well i knew something was off because Mr. Burnock never leaves his doors open, ever! So i went into the house knowing something was wrong. Once inside everything was in order but i noticed that his coffee and his apple were left untouched. Mr. Burnock always had his evening snack. So i decided to go upstairs when i saw the muddy footsteps leading upstairs. I fallowed them into the master bed room and as i entered i stepped into something squishy and wet. It was blood. Thats when i screamed and ran out of the house."

    "All right ma'am. Now do you know if Samual had enimies? Any one who would wish him dead?" Thomas asks knowing that Samual DID NOT have enimies ion the town, everyone loved him.

    "Well, Mr. Burnock did mention a brother once or twice. He never did it on purpose though. Sometimes it just slipped out of his mouth." Muriel blabs "He told me they did not get along and Marcus, his brother was after his money. He was afraid something was going to happen to him and he was right. Now Mr. Burnock is dead and his fortune belongs to Marcus or so Mr. Burnock told me. He might not have liked his brother but he certainly was loyal to him. Poor, poor Mr. Burnock!" Muriel wails out, her voice carrying throughout the house.

    "What do you know of his family?" A second Town official walks up to the two.

    "Well i know his parents died several years ago, at least his father did, he rely spoke about his mother. He has a younger sister who is Married to a Merchant and his brother Marcus. That is his immeadiate family. I know he has an uncle because he stoped by once or twice this year. His Mother had two sisters so i think his aunts are alive and had promised to give him all their money when they passed away. You see, they had no children of their own and their husbands both left them with vast fortunes before they went off with their mistresses. I know it sounds odd but everyone in their town swore that it happened like that."

    "Allright, Muriel, thats good. Now we just need a little more information. Can you tell us a little bit more about this Marcus figure, please?" Thomas asks polity.

    "I don't know a lot morew but i can tell you that he does not sound like the nicest man. I got the impression that he is a rude and dishonest man!" Muriel finishes strongly

    "Thank you for your perticipation in answering out questions. If you can thhink of anything else that will help us, please feel free to tell us" Thomas smiles and slowly makes his way out of the house. He new Muriel to be a nice woman but also knew that she could easily forget things or mess things up.