by Gary Pruett

Created on: April 21, 2008   Last Updated: January 25, 2012

Final Delivery

Section I: The Suspects

The paper boy
The neighbor
Teenage Trick-or-Treaters
The driver of the blue sedan

Section II: The Mystery

The weather on Halloween night had been mild. There was still snow on people's roof tops from the previous week's surprising storm, but you could tell it was melting. Icicles were everywhere. During the day, there was a steady drip, drip, drip. But with the temperatures hovering around freezing in the evenings, the icicles were growing exceptionally long and heavy.

The following day brought bright sunshine and rising thermometers. Police Chief Jacob Potter was enjoying the sun during his walk to the station. He was looking forward to enjoying a beautiful day, maybe play hooky and go shoot a round of golf.

When the Chief got to the station, he was surprised at the commotion. Sgt. Crane said, "Chief, looks like we've got a murder on our hands. We just got a call that old man Roberts was found face down on his front porch, stone cold dead."

The Chief and Sgt. Crane jumped into the squad car and headed to Roberts' house. They arrived to find several neighbors standing just outside the low chain-link gate, peering at the prone figure on the porch. Chief Potter told his Sgt. to move people away from the gate while he went to have a look at Roberts. He also asked Sgt. Crane to interview the people around the house, and also question the neighbors.

Potter carefully opened the gate and walked in. As he did so, he noticed there were no footprints in the faint skiff of snow still remaining. He thought that was odd, as there should have been many Trick-or-Treaters' tracks. Then he remembered that old man Roberts did his best to ignore Halloween. He always left his porch light off on Halloween night, even though he knew he would probably be the victim of the Trick part of the night's activities.

Standing at the base of the steps, Chief Potter noticed the morning newspaper lying on the first step. Roberts was lying face down, one arm extended, almost touching the paper. The middle part of his body was in a small puddle of water, and the screen door was held open by his legs. Looking closer, Potter saw a wet spot on the back of Roberts shirt. But it wasn't blood, just water. In the center of the wet spot was a hole in the shirt. He could clearly see a round hole, about the size of a finger, in Roberts' back.

The Chief spotted some yellowish areas on the wall of the house. He realized they were eggs. "Must have been some angry Trick

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