The four police cruisers with lights flashing outside of Brookline Jewelers looked as out of place in the tidy neighborhood as an ungarnished bagel at the deli across the street. But Homicide Detective Jim Mitchell wasn't even fazed as he flashed his ID at the uniformed cop who let him into the crime scene while keeping the curious yenta-passerby's moving on about their business. Mitchell took a minute to survey the area. The first thing to catch his eye was a man face-down in a pool of blood on the sidewalk outside of the store, with a crew from forensics working around him. Walking inside, he observed three people talking to three officers, with each person at a different emotional extreme. A short, gray-haired man in his seventies was yelling and waving his hands vigorously in the air while the officer tried to calm him down. A gaudily-dressed young woman, was sobbing, her mascara staining the uniformed shoulder of the female officer attempting to console her. And a well-dressed, middle-aged woman tapped her foot and stared at the ceiling in obvious distemper, her curt replies cutting off the entreaties of the officer attempting to question her.Around the store was an eclectic collection of jewelry and watches, with many of the nicer, shinier pieces in a waist-high, glass-enclosed, counter display that ran parallel to the rear three walls of the store. Shards of glass glittered amongst the jewels, and several pieces appeared to be missing in the broken case on the right side of the store. Most of the front wall, to the left of the door, was taken up by a large window display, and Mitchell could see the commotion outside through the store's front window. In the left rear corner of the store, above an old-fashioned cash register, was a security camera that looked about twenty years past its prime. Mitchell wondered if it would be any help at all. Also on the left wall of the store was a door that appeared to lead to a back room. "What's the story?" Mitchell asked Murphy, his junior partner, who had arrived at the scene a little earlier and now approached him from the store's back room.
"Well, it's pretty strange, Jim. I think you may have to use some of those 'detective' skills they taught you to piece this one together." was his puzzling reply. Murphy continued, "We've got an apparent robbery/homicide, but with a twist - the perp is also the victim."
"OK - so who killed him?"
"Well, that's where it starts to get tricky. Each person's got a different story - they all claim it was someone else who killed him. And here's the kicker - Brookline Jewelers had the Hurley diamond in for a setting. Now this is a half-a-mil rock that's gone from the safe and no one seems to know where it is. All these people seem to have lost track of it after the robber grabbed it, but it's not on him."
"And who are the suspects?"
"Well, the thief is - was - Blake Daniels. His girlfriend - that pretty, young thing bawling her eyes out - is Tonya Roberts. The older one with the attitude is Jill Simmons - she was shopping in the store at the time of the robbery. And the old guy is Phil Cohen - he owns the store, but we're having some communication problems with him. Apparently, his hearing aid is on the fritz, and he can't understand anything we're saying to him. But we called his wife, and she's coming here with a new one."
"Oh, man. This is definitely going to ruin my weekend." Mitchell scratched his head, unconsciously smoothing out his thinning hair. "Keep the suspects separate, and get them to the station - I want to question them individually. And for God's sake, check if there's a tape from that security camera up there - it would make our job a helluva lot easier."
Murphy winced a bit. "Well, there's a bit of a problem - the tape is really old, and it's just been used over and over again. All we can see is static. We're sending it down to the Boston lab, but it's going to take some time before they'll be able to get anything usable off of it."
"Geez! What about the body? Bullets?"
"We're also sending them down to Boston, but there's no telling how long it'll take - they're pretty backed up right now after that St. Patrick's day incident."
Mitchell sighed. "And if I can't charge somebody in twelve hours I have to let them all go. I guess we've got to piece together what happened ourselves. Let's get to the station."
Who will Mitchell talk to first?
Tonya Roberts, the robber's girlfriend
Phil Cohen, the owner of Brookline Jewlers
Jill Simmons, a customer in the store at the time of the robbery