An Easter Egg (An original detective story)

  "…it seems your efforts were all in vain, Sherlock," Dr. Klosse smirked gleefully. "Crime's getting worse and worse."

"I look at it philosophically; Doc. It's the law of supply and demand. If there was no crime, then who'd need us detectives? On the bright side, detective work can’t be subcontracted to China. So for now, at least, detectives will remain in demand."

Barrington lied. He hated the fact that most of his efforts in quarantining crime ended up in court, where expensive lawyers that only gangsters could afford on their payrolls, helped them "get away with murder." It resulted in a constant nagging pain, for detectives and law enforcement. Much effort, money and, sometimes, the life of good people were spent in tracking them down, only to see them… back in the streets in a couple of years, causing worse mischief. But that was the way it was "C'est la vie" as the French put it …and so one had to look at it philosophically or it would be too depressing. Block it from your mind and think of something else. Thank God for Sports!   

"It keeps pathologists in work too, you know," he winked at Dr. Klosse, "even those who once threw human remains at each other." Barrington jabbed back, referring to the incident that got young Klosse expelled from the medical school for irreverence to a human body. The poor blasphemer had to move to the Caribbean and apply to a medical school all over again. The thought made Barrington chuckle.   

Klosse smiled widely letting Barrington know that the joke hadn’t had the desired effect on him, as they entered the pathology lab.   

Barrington wrinkled his nose as he did always when meeting the smell of formaldehyde. "So Doc you agree that the reason for the "Smile Boy’s" death was the car crash? It was going, at least, a hundred miles per hour, the driver lost control, the vehicle turned over multiple times. As a result, as you know, it was one big mess of blood, bones, and guts."   

"The end result, yes, but these were not the reason…" Dr. Klosse turned his back to Barrington opening the door of the cabinet and putting on gloves. Laboratory lamps reflected gingerly on the pathologist's bold head. “I mean there was a reason why it spun out of control in the first place.”  

“it was one of those things… it was dark, they drove at more than a hundred miles per hour.”  

“on the straightaway portion of the road?"

“Accident happens…” Barrington shrugged.

Dr. Klosse shook his head “No” with confidence. 

"…oh?" Barrington's eyebrows rose. "… Then how?"

"Quite unusually, actually.” Dr. Klosse lifted up the sheet off the body.  “McPherson was hit in the left eye and that caused him to lose control." 

"Hit in the eye? What was it? Can I see?"

"Be my guest." Dr. Klosse grinned as he pointed to a Petri dish with some gooey substance soaked in blood.

"What is it?" Barrington cringed again.

Dr. Klosse grabbed tweezers, swirled a couple of rounds in the dish and delicately lifted a small, flat, oddly shaped particle. "The eggshell," he smiled broadly and then declaimed jokingly: "Who would’ve thought that the demise of the "Smile Boys," the most notorious bank robbing gang in the entire state history, would be decided by a simple egg."

"An egg? You're assuming someone threw an egg at the "Smile Boys’" car and that egg hit McPherson in the eye?"

"I assume nothing even though I’m the guy who knows something about throwing things.” His sardonic owl laughs “huuh, huuh, huuh” filled the lab. “I’m just saying McPherson's left eye was shattered by a raw egg and that the speed of the impact was close to 170 miles per hour.” He stopped for a second and shook his head apparently responding to his thoughts.  “Actually, I can't imagine how, even at that speed, the egg could have pierced through the windshield glass."

 "Oh," Barrington watched as the piece of the eggshell was put back in the Petri dish. "That's actually the easy part. The windshield was broken in the shootout in front of the bank, right before "Smile Boys" bailed out. Guards in the bank saw them getting out from the car wearing their "Smile" masks and started shooting right away. Unfortunately, one of the guards was killed and another one is in critical condition in Mercy hospital." Barrington jaw muscles showed on his cheeks as he ground his teeth. 

"So coming back to McPherson," Barrington was thinking out loud, "someone must have thrown the egg and it hit him in the face, poked his left eye right out resulting in him losing control and the car crash. That seems to be the simple explanation." 

"Quite simple indeed." Doctor Klosse nodded in agreement, threw his bloody gloves in the trash receptacle, walked to the faucet and started washing his hands.  

"I bet I know what happened…" Barrington followed him mechanically rubbing his chin and wrinkled his forehead. "It were some kids celebrating their Easter break. We usually receive reports of vandalism right about this time. Students running around drunk, breaking car windows with baseball bats, throwing eggs at vehicles, stuff like that. It’s amazing how much aggression these kids accumulate during the semester. It’s a pity cuz most of them are really nice kids and alcohol makes them behave like hooligans. What they do is really unacceptable."

"So you're planning to get the guy?" Dr. Klosse looked at his watch as it was getting close to lunchtime. 

"That's my job." Barrington shook his head multiple times as the question caught him in the middle of his own thoughts on the subject.  

"Sure `Protect and Serve', I understand" Dr. Klosse's lips curved in a grin. "Only in this case, assuming it was him, the boy did a great service to the people, don't you think? Those “Smile” sons of bitches, they were causing much mischief and kept the entire city in fear for quite a while." 

"You're right about that, Doc, but the law is the law." Barrington looked at his watch. "Well, don't want to be a party pooper, but I gotta' go. Gotta' find this kid or whoever it was. See ya', Doc." He waved over his shoulder as he hurried out of the lab."

Barrington hadn’t had a chance to eat anything since morning and stopped at ”In-and-out” to get a cheeseburger, fries, and a coke. As he was relaxing after the meal he lowered his driver seat down, opened the windows to get some fresh air and tried to clear his mind. 

 He closed his eyes, rolled his head back until it met the head rest and relaxed.

"Protect and Serve", "The Law is the Law" these slogans rasped through Barrington's head like an old door with rusty hinges. On one hand, he certainly didn't like the idea of letting hooligans who throw eggs, break windows and, for God sakes, committed a murder, get away with it. Yet on the other…there was some kind of odd justice in the result of that egg throwing prank. In some inexplicable way the amount of Goodness that had been hijacked from the Universal repository of GOOD by the very existence of the "Smile" boys, was recovered. It was as if God himself directed the boy's hand. And if God did indeed intervene and reinstated the proper status quo, who was he, Barrington Cupper, to oppose the “Heavenly will?"

Through the straw, Barrington sucked from the cup the remains on Coke.    

“But can the double negative bring a positive? It can do it in math, why can’t it do it in life? Can an evil action be corrected by a similar evil action? Bible say “don’t kill,” but in the same Bible people kill left and right and even God himself killed millions by creating the Flood. So you can kill only it allowed by a higher substance, by some governing system. They out there know better whom to kill and whom to let go.” 

Barrington shook his head in disappointment.

“In which way, the justice system that is doing such a correction is better than an accident? And why, in the end, a hand of a prison executioner that administers a lethal injection is cleaner than the hand of a boy that threw the egg. If you think about it, it is the same justice system that allows rich crooks to get away from murder - a crooked system. Isn’t then working for this system makes a crook? No this doesn’t make you a crook, but by sticking to its policies it makes you to a co-conspirator. Oh, good Lord…I am only a little man. What can I possibly do?”

Barrington opened his eyes and turned on the key in the ignition, sucked through his teeth and waved uncomfortable thoughts away like a fly. ‘If in doubt, follow the protocol’ he winced, ‘even though it’s going to be a hell of a task to lift fingerprints off eggshell shards.’