Jenny’s Last Love Letter
Detective Tara Miller of the Lincoln Police Department sat at her desk looking through crime scene photographs. She’d seen too many crimes, but this one really touched her heart.
The victim a twenty-one year old young woman named Jenny Denver lie dead in bed as shown in photograph number one. A piece of paper lay under her lifeless hand. She was under the covers in the same position that she normally slept according to her parents.
The second photograph was of the nightstand beside her bed which had a pad of paper, a glass of water, and an empty prescription bottle.
The third photograph showed a vase with a bouquet of wild flowers. There was a beautiful collection of dried white wildflowers mixed in much like baby’s breath might be.
There was another with a table set for two, with three candles. The center candle stood was a large white cylinder shaped candle, and on each side stood two red taper candles. Only the two red taper candles were lit.
In the middle of all the photographs a piece of paper in the victims own handwriting.
Without that note, the girl’s death may have been incorrectly labeled a suicide.
Dear Mother,
I have been killed by the man I thought would put a diamond on my finger. I love him so much still. I never told you of our love and I am sorry. I know you wanted me to finish my college education, and he would not be named yet. I’ve been killed by Socrates Poison. I cannot feel or move from my toes to my chest. My hand is going numb so I can’t writ
The note ended there. The last words were written by a shakier hand than the first portion.
What a terrible Valentine to find your daughter killed.
It was two days later. All fingerprints in the home were identified as each of the suspects volunteered their own.
Three sets were identified as belonging to the victim, her mother and father.
One set belonged to Ryan Dell considered a local skirt chaser. His were found only on the prescription container.
Another set belonged to Carl Christian a family friend who visited the home often with his wife and children.
Professor Bill Lockwood was Jenny’s boss at the Natural History Museum where she was putting together a display of local poisonous plants. His fingerprints were only found on a scrapbook of plants that Jenny kept.
Alan Cramer lived next door to the Denver family. His fingerprints were found a lot of places.
No fingerprints were found on any of the silverware, dishes, glass of water or anything the killer may have touched.
The meal had not yet been served.
The glass of water that had no fingerprints had minor traces of lint from a paper towel on the outside of the glass.
According to the girl’s mother, “Socrates poison,” was what Jenny called poison hemlock.
Detective Miller tried questioning each separately at the station with no results. She asked each of the suspects to meet at the Museum.
All four men entered the lounge outside the curator’s office. Detective Tara Miller asked them all to be seated and made herself comfortable.
In the next room were her Captain and some officers with headphones on. Tara had a listening device under her shirt.
Mr. Dell, we found your fingerprints on a prescription bottle found on the night table beside Jenny Denver’s bed. The bottle was empty. Can you explain why your fingerprints were on the bottle?
“I work at my dad’s pharmacy so he will help pay for my college. I am studying to be a pharmacist too. I work as a checker.”
“Very well,” remarked the detective.
“Mr. Cramer, you are a neighbor and close friend of the Denver family. We found your fingerprints through most of the house. Were you an especially close friend of Jenny’s?”
“I would say that I was. We grew up together. We shared a lot of interests and shared what we learned with each other. We liked to study together.”
“Mr. Lockwood, you are curator here at the museum. You were her boss and professor. Your fingerprints were on a scrapbook of plants that she kept. You had almost daily contact with the victim.”
“Yes, Jennifer Denver was my student and employee. She was very good at both. I did see her when she was at school and at work. She often brought her scrapbook in to show me new finds and to get help with identification.”
“Did you like Jenny Mr. Lockwood?”
“We all liked the young girl. She was pleasant, even my wife liked talking to her when she came to see me at work. Ms. Denver was an asset.”
“Mr. Christen, as a friend of the family what was your relationship with Jenny?”
“She was like a ray of sunshine. I remember when she and these boys came out to my farm to look for a sample of wild hemlock for the display here at the museum. My family and I miss her very much. She often babysat for my children.”
“Did she find any poison hemlock?”
“All farmers are on the lookout for plants that could harm their livestock. I try very hard to keep it killed back. But, yes they found a couple of samples along the road side.”
“The boys you are referring to sir?”
“Ryan Dell and Alan Cramer,” replied the farmer.
“So all of you knew what hemlock looked like.” It was not a question.
“Mr. Dell, you were seen arguing with Jenny outside your father’s pharmacy last week.”
“Yes, I wanted her to go out with me, but she kept turning me down. I guess I got a little upset.”
“Ryan, you think every girl wants to go out with you. Jenny was different. She didn’t like you bugging her at all.” Alan Cramer growled at the other young man.
“Did anyone hear your argument Mr. Dell?”
“Yes, Mr. Christian did, he had just left the pharmacy after getting some medicine for his wife.”
“I can confirm that, I told him to leave Jenny alone. She’d already told him no.” Carl Christian remarked.
“Captain, I am ready to make an arrest now.” Detective Tara Miller spoke up to the surprise of the four men in the room.
Review of clues:
Detective Miller spoke to all as she revealed what she had learned.
“First,” she said, “I know it is not Mr. Dell. The note was to someone she expected to become engaged to. You obviously are not that man.”
“Second, Mr. Lockwood,” she directed her attention to the curator. “Twice I tried to trip you up and twice you addressed Ms. Denver is a professional manner. You didn’t hesitate. You said your wife also liked Jennifer and met her at the museum. That is very easy to check out. I don’t believe you were ever at the Denver house.”
“Mr. Christian, you as well as everyone here knows what hemlock looks like. You were a close family friend and say Jenny babysat your children. You defended the girl when Ryan Dell tried to press her into a date. I will come back to you.”
“Mr. Cramer, you admit to being a close family friend. You and Jenny shared a lot of time together. You spoke of her as though you knew her well. You too, I will return too.”
“The victim was killed in February. February is a cold month in Lincoln, Nebraska. It is too cold for wild flowers or for hemlock to grow. Whoever took her that bouquet of wildflowers, had to save the hemlock and preserve it in its dried state. It is the only dried flowering plant in the bouquet. The rest of the wildflowers were fresh, but there are greenhouses in the area that grow native wildflowers in winter because they are popular, they would not grow hemlock.”
“Mr. Christian, you as a farmer, would have very little reason to want to preserve hemlock of all plants unless to poison a person. But, you and your wife continued to use Jenny as a babysitter. Even if you had an affair with her, I don’t believe you would have given her any hope for an engagement ring.” You are cleared.
“Mr. Cramer, you have been close to Jenny most of your life. You have been a neighbor. You knew about hemlock and would have known how to extract the poison and get it into the glass of water because you and Jenny shared that interest and information.
You would also have known the concentration to kill her. You set up the scene so everyone would think she killed herself. You washed the glass and refilled it, but left the paper towel lint on the outside.
You did not wait for Jenny to serve the meal. Jenny did not name you because she thought her parents would disapprove of the timing and possibly the relationship. But, you sir were that dinner guest. You could easily have gone into her home without anyone noticing. You had a lot of opportunities to know how she slept.
Your anger at Mr. Dell also gave you away.”
