The Rabbit With A Knife(Edric Julian) THE RABBIT WITH A KNIFE
It was in the afternoon, I received a letter covered in a red package. For a middle-aged, tall and brown-haired man like me, I was hoping for a love letter. I opened the package like a child opening his Christmas present. It turns out that the letter wasn’t a love letter after all. I got a bit disappointed. It seemed to be a letter invitation as I began skimming it. The letter was written in a formal cursive way. It reads:
“Dear Sir John, We are inviting you to our carnival called the PAX Carnival 2002 in Southern California. We hope that you would be present in this grand opening.”
After reading the letter’s purpose, I glanced to the bottom part of the letter to see the name that had sent me the letter.
“Sincerely, Steve’s Financial Company.”
It was from Steve after all. A good friend of mine, we were colleagues back then, when we were still attending Harvard University in England. Quite a clumsy person, but from what I heard, he became a very successful businessman. It’s been years since I last contacted him and it seems that he hasn’t forgotten about me. How did he know that I moved to New York? Well, that doesn’t matter now since I’m packing my things to go on a trip to Southern California. Clothes, shoes, socks, undergarments; all checked. As a famous detective at a young age, I got quite a high pay for solving cases, which I had never failed to. While I was packing, my 44-magnum Desert Eagle fell on the floor from my desk. I picked it up and decided to pocket it in case that there’s any trouble. Now one last thing, I’d just remembered to invite my good old partner, Jack. An inspector, he is a few years older than me, also tall and good-looking, but not as good as me (true). So I called him and as always, he would just accept my offer. We went to the airport together and arrived there at around 5 P.M. I’ve ordered tickets for 2, so we can board the plane with ease. We arrived at California at 8 P.M. we called for a taxi and it drove us to the PAX festival. It was a sight to behold. The carnival was held in a really huge and wide place, almost as big as a football field. So we went inside and there, we were greeted by Steve himself.
With a British accent that I didn’t have, he greeted me informally:
“Ah, Mr. John. It’s been a long time isn’t it? It seems that you brought a friend,” he looked at Jack from top to bottom. “It’s unusual for you not to bring girls everywhere you go. Back then you……” I interrupted him.
“Let’s not talk about the past, OK? I’ve changed a bit lately.”
“Ah! I see….. Then let’s get to the opening performances shall we?”

Jack was giggling already. I just sighed, good thing he didn’t hear about the continuation or I will be very embarrassed. So we followed Steve to the main seats at front. There, we sat and the performances began. It was spectacular with all the colorful lights and fireworks. As the performances approaching its end, Steve told us that he has an urgent matter; he needed to go back to his office and will be back in 30 minutes. I was too focused on the performances to even give a reply. So he went and after half an hour or so, the performances were done, but Steve didn’t come back. I and Jack were quite confused, he should’ve been back by now but there was no sight of him. So we waited for another half an hour and still no presence. We became worried and asked the staffs of the event about the location of his office. We immediately went there. As we knocked, there was no reply at all. We barged into the room by kicking the doors wide open.
The floors in the large and classy office room were smeared with red and dark blood. The blood must’ve dried from 10-20 minutes ago. There was someone sitting on the armchair in front of the desk. The person was leaning backwards on the chair and in a direction opposite of the door, so we can’t see his face.
“Steve? Is that you?” I asked the person on the chair. There seemed to be no reply. Then Jack approached the person and turned the chair around. The person was Steve; with face covered in blood and dead. I called the California Police Department, and the police immediately came. The crime scene was bordered with yellow police lines. When the forensics checked the floor and desk, there weren’t any footprints or fingerprints. This was definitely a murder but judging from the blood stains, the murder was done around 10 minutes ago. We asked the event organizer, Mr. Rick, to lock down the whole carnival to prevent any suspect from escaping.
“From the looks of it, not many people can enter this office, am I right Mr. Rick?” Jack questioned him.
“Yes, since only 4 people can gain access to this office. It includes Mr. Steve himself, me; Mr. Greg the balloon distributor, and Gould the food supplier. We were given the pin to the office by Mr. Steve because each of us is his top manager. He had been leading us as the CEO since the early years of the company,” explained Mr. Rick.
“Can you call the other 2 people to gather here? Quick.” I requested Jack’s assistance.
Jack called the other 2 and all of those who have access to the office were gathered in the crime scene.
“One of you must be the killer, so we are putting the 3 of you as suspects until this case is solved. Please cooperate well.” I wrote their names one by one.
“But why us? From the thousands who came to the carnival, why did you only pick us?” Mr. Gould was quite nervous.
“First of all, only the 3 of you, apart from the owner of the office himself, have the pin to open it. Second, look at the way the door was built,” I pointed to the door made of metal and everyone rolled their eyes to the door, “100 % titanium and fully sealed like a safe, with no scratches or anything, the murderer must’ve known that the door was impenetrable.” I took a glass of water to drink.
“How about the windows? The murderer may be able to go through there.” This time, it was Mr. Rick who asked the question.
“Mr. Steve doesn’t like windows that much, which is why the window is small. No man would be able to pass through the small window. This murder can’t be poisoning or anything; it’s purely the use of a knife due to the number of stabs seen on the victim’s body. With so much blood stains, the killer must’ve been stained with some of the blood itself. Jack, find any traces of blood on their clothing.”
Jack requested each suspect to raise their hands and stay put while he scans each body for any blood marks. He noticed a red spot in Mr. Gould’s white shirt.
“IT’S BLOOD! IT’S REALLY BLOOD!” the other two suspects shouted.
“Be quiet!” Jack used his finger to rub off the stain from the shirt and he began to taste it. “Syrup, definitely syrup. No blood stains on all three of them.”
“The 3 of you only used these clothes? Did any of you put on anything else?”
“Greg and Gould did put on some animal costumes. After all, this carnival is intended for kids.”
I looked to Mr. Greg and Mr. Gould.
“Both of you take your respective costumes and try putting it on.”
They took the costumes and Jack helped them to put on their costumes.
“Thanks for the help; our hands can’t reach the zipper on our backs.” Thanked Mr. Greg who wore a rabbit costume.
“There’s still nothing John. What’s next?” Jack asked me.
“Help them to put off their costumes.”
As Jack pulled the zip of Mr. Greg’s costume down, it got stuck in the middle. Jack exerted greater strength to finally pull down the zip completely. As Jack pulled hardly, I realized a small piece of clothing in between the zipper. It fell down right after Jack pulled the zip completely. I picked it up and asked Jack to keep it. My brain was full of clues that couldn’t add up. So I told the suspects to rest for awhile. I went down with Jack to grab a cup of coffee when I noticed a boy was crying and his mother tried to comfort him. I looked upwards and saw a balloon floating; maybe it belonged to the child.
“The balloon floated huh…” I said it as I sipped my coffee. Then, I suddenly realized something important. I immediately went to the office where the 3 suspects were held in.
“This case is solved!” I told the 3 suspects.
“Who’s the killer then?” Mr. Greg asked.
“YOU.” I pointed to Mr. Greg.
“Impossible, I was a loyal retainer of Mr. Steve.”
“You may deny the accusation, but you can’t deny facts. You want to know how I got this conclusion? I’ll explain it to you whether you want to hear it or not. Why are there no footprints or fingerprints of the murderer? Simple. He was wearing a costume since the costumes covered the whole body from neck to toe, they don’t have any. Second, no knives can be seen anywhere in the carnival’s area radius. This is because the murderer floated it.”
“With what? An airplane?” interrupted Mr. Greg.
“Nope, something that is much simpler.” Jack took out a piece of balloon and began inflating it with air.
“With that, a balloon. I’ve asked Jack to check the direction of the wind during the time of the murder. The murderer must’ve wrapped the knife inside a plastic bag and tied it to the balloons to allow the knife to fly with it.”
A police came in to the office, “We’ve followed your instructions and found a knife north of the carnival’s site. It was wrapped in a plastic bag and a shirt covered in blood.”
“See? We’ve found the knife. Now, why are your rabbit costume and shirt not stained in blood? For the rabbit costume, it wasn’t stained because you put it off when he stabbed Steve. But he can’t put off the shirt by himself. That is why he used a handkerchief and tied it to the zipper, so that his hand can reach the zip. You were in a hurry aren’t you Mr. Greg? I saw a piece of the handkerchief that fell off when Jack helped you to open the costume. You were panicking and pulled the zip too fast, causing a part of the handkerchief to get stuck in the middle. You didn’t care about the costume and used force to pull it off. As for the shirt, after you stabbed Steve, you changed your shirt and you wrap your blood-stained shirt with the knife. It’s impossible to not sweat at all when you’re wearing a costume and work in a crowded place like a carnival. Your shirt was the only one dry.”
“Ugh……” Mr. Greg immediately tried to escape.
“You’re not going anywhere!” I took out my Desert Eagle and shot it right at his left foot. He fell in pain and the police secured him. He was speechless for a while then he said:
“I’d always been below him from the start…… I just want a place at the top.”
I went out of the carnival and sat on a bench to take a deep breath. The police department released the other 2 suspects and stopped the lock down of the carnival. Jack asked me:
“What is there to do now?”
“How about taking a rest by enjoying the beach? It’s California!”

---