Blue Screen of Death
Wait, what?
- 323
- Posts
- 15
- Years
- Age 29
- Wherever
- Seen Mar 1, 2011
KABOOM!
Darren was about to settle down to watch some good old TV when it went off. The whole city went crazy! Cars screeching, people screaming, it was mass pandemonium!
The bomb destroyed the whole building next to Darren's apartment. Now, Darren didn't normally do cases for free, and had never done anything bigger than looking for a lost pet, or wallet. But this was different. Darren lost most of his stuff in the explosion (TV, couch, recliner, fridge, etc.) and lost his left hand pinky finger! Also, he was settled down to watch TV because of a kung fu movie marathon. Darren loved kung fu movies. Darren was a P.I. out for revenge! Now the first clue was a piece of shrapnel found in his left hand (which was bandaged). The shrapnel, as unbelievable as it may be, was a part of the bomb casing. This was mostly due to the fact that even though the building next to his was a five-story apartment building, his was a two story, which could have very well been one house. Also, he lived on the first floor, and his bedroom was next the window closest to the rubble formerly known as a building.
The casing was from a round shell, (he had some friends that worked in labs) which would suggest a bomb somewhat like one of the round cannon ball like bombs you would see in a cartoon or something.
A few days later Darren (after having his bandages removed) was helping the cleanup crew by going through the rubble with a metal detector, looking for any objects with metal that may have survived the explosion. The machine beeped and he called to a worker "found something!" The worker came over with a shovel and a sifter and started going through the area Darren pointed out. "One set of keys," the worker told Darren. Darren found a name on the key chain, "Jepson family, found some keys for a Mr. or Ms. Jepson!" he shouted. A young man came up and claimed the keys. "Thank you mister." The young man said to Darren, "I lost everything in that explosion, except my car and my wallet. My name is Robert, what is yours?" "Darren, Darren Shore, at your service." Daren did a mock bow and shook Roberts's hand. "Your welcome for the keys" Darren called as
Robert Jepson walked away. A few minutes later, as he was going through the rubble, Darren gave a yelp and yanked of his headphones for the metal detector. "Ouch!" Darren thought, "I must have found something big!" He called over a worker again and the worker hit the rubble with the shovel just once and hit something big.
"Another bomb was planted," Darren mumbled as he recorded it in his case journal, "The letters O and E where engraved in on it." "It is my belief that the bomber engraved his or her name on it (the bomber is probably not that smart) and expected the bomb to explode like the other one." Darren finished his writing with the date, turned off the light, and went to bed.
The next day Darren decided to contact a friend of his who worked at the library. When he got there Darren walked up to one of the librarians and asked for Jane, his friend in the library.
He found her in the basement of the library. She had jet-black hair, and was wearing her usual blue jeans and a tie die shirt. "Well, well, well, stuck with filing work again are we?" "Ha-ha Darren, very funny. What do you want anyways?" She asked. "Well, you have probably heard of the building that was bombed just last week." "Yes." She said, waiting for him to get to the point. "Well, in case you did not know, I live in the apartment right next door to it." Darren said. "Well, I was wondering if you could tell me who has checked out books about bombs in the past few weeks or so." "Darren! You know that I could get in trouble for doing that! Only cops have that kind of authority!" Jane said in a low, warning voice. "I know that. That is why I asked you instead of one of the normal librarians. Come on, can't you do a favor for an old friend?" "Old friend? We've only known each other since high school." Jane replied. "I know, that's old enough to mean old friend, isn't it?" Darren said. "Well, alright, but if I get in trouble, you better get running!" "Alright." Darren said, with a slight hint of a chuckle. Jane typed in the search on the computer. Two names showed up on the screen. "Robert Jepson, 24, fresh out of college, lives in the building that was bombed. Checked out 'bombs: how they have evolved over the years.' Vincent Orther, 36 years old, lives here in town. He checked out 'bombs and you: a guide to bombs, TNT, and various explosives.'" Jane finished reading. Darren thanked Jane and left, he had a few house calls to make.
First, Darren figured a little visit to Robert Jepson was in order. He found Robert at the rubble of the old building, in a car, reading. "Hey Robert, enjoying the mobility of your car?" Darren asked, making Robert jump in surprise. "Yikes, don't do that!" Robert said when he landed. "Well, yes, being able to go to other places is nice, still looking for a place to stay, can't afford a plane ticket back to California. My mother and father live there you see, figured they could help me out for a while." "Where were you the night of the bombing?" Darren asked, taking out his small notepad for recording purposes. "I was at the community college, moving the last of my stuff out, after which I went inside and dropped of my keys, then went back out to get my stuff. I'm not a suspect, am I?" Robert had a slightly offended look on his face with the last remark. "Yes Robert, I'm afraid you are." "Well, ask the college, they can verify my being there the night of the bombing." Robert said.
Well, Darren did just that. The college did verify his being there at the time of the explosion. There was only one suspect left.
After a quick trip to the store, he Arrived at Vincent Orther's house he was glad that this man was normal. Or at least, his house was normal. When Darren knocked on the door he heard footsteps, and the door opened, but he did not see anyone. As he was looking around for the person who had answered the door, he heard a voice say "Down here!" then grumbling. Darren looked down and saw, to his dismay, a midget. "Darn," Darren thought, "so close to normal, it hurts." "Yes, what do you want?" The midget asked. "Well sir, I'm looking for Vincent Orther." Darren said, in a last attempt to talk to someone his height. "That would be me." Vincent said, with a slightly annoyed tone in his voice. "May I ask you a few questions then?" Darren said, saddened by the fact that the midget was Vincent Orther. "Sure, why not, you've already wasted this much of my time, why not waste some more." Darren was probably not going to like this guy.
"Well, get on with it." Vincent said with a grumble. Darren had just sat down on a regular couch, which was odd for a midget.
Well Mr. Orther heard of the north side bombing, haven't you?" "North side bombing, do you mean the apartment building that was blown up?" "Yes sir, I mean that." Darren replied "Where were you the night in question?" "I was here, sleeping, like a normal person!" Vincent said, a little too loudly. "Well, I can hear you just fine, Mr. Orther." Darren said, "Do you have proof that you where here?" "Proof? What proof do you need, isn't my word good enough?" Vincent yelled, "You know what, get out of my house!" Vincent then pointed to the door and Darren took his leave before things could get worse.
When Darren got home he noticed to things, one, he had lit a candle for some reason, and two, he had set the second bomb right next to the candle. "I don't remember doing that." Darren mumbled, right before realizing that the bomb was about to blow. The wick reached its end and there was a loud thud, like that of a muffled explosion. The casing fell apart to reveal a sleek metal ball, which had a small button on the top. After getting out of his 'about to die' pose Darren went over and checked out his new piece of evidence. He tried pressing the small button on top, but this made a small screen with four buttons labeled one two three and four pop out. Darren tried all of the number sequences he could think of, but to no avail. He decided to try again some other time. Darren had one last resource to get a favor from.
Down at the police station (yes, Darren has a friend in the police force) Darren found his friend, Roy Ether, at his desk job as usual. "So, what do you want now?" Roy asked, with a worried tone in his voice "I barely got away with helping you out by analyzing the bomb casing from your hand." "Well, I would like you to pull up a file on Vincent Orther, if you have one." "Vincent Orther, just a second." Roy said, typing in the name. "Wow, this dude has some serious problems." "What, what is it?" Darren said, pushing his friend out of the way. "Wow, you were right. A charge of arson when he was thirteen and a charge of theft when he was eighteen." "Burnt down his school, spent five years in a juvenile detention center. Got off lucky with a plea of temporary insanity. Claims bullies pushed him to the edge. Another month years for the theft. Stole a rifle off the top shelf of a gun store." Darren read off. "Height, three feet, eleven point five inches. Weigh-" Roy was cut off by a sudden "See ya!" As Darren was leaving. "Wow that man can not stand still." Roy mumbled, getting back to work.
Darren hurried out of the police station because he suddenly had an idea to the password for the metal ball. "Three one one five." Darren thought as he put in the number sequence. The ball, reacting to the password, opened, revealing a flash drive. "Whoa." Darren said, shocked.
He had to go to the library to check out the flash drive. When he opened the flash drive on the computer, a small window popped that said "password required" "Nice try," Darren said with a smirk, "three, one, one, and five." The password was accepted and the file opened. They're where two files on the flash drive. One said 'plans' and was titled 'why'. Darren opened the file entitled 'why'. It said "This is my revenge on the society that could not accept me. If this is being read, then I hereby will not confess, but I have left clues at the various sites of my crimes. However, the first clue is here. 'For the candle wick was still red hot, but why is the question.' If you find the clues, and solve them, you will find me, and I will confess." "Whoa, this dude sounds like he really wanted revenge." Darren said with a low whistle. Next, Darren checked out the file titled 'plans'. In it was this. "First, the bomb will be made out of cast iron and shaped like a ball. The top of the ball will be welded in place once I pour the black powder in. the black powder is my own special mixture and was first mixed with gasoline, filtered out, then bits of Styrofoam where mixed in to help it burn longer. Next, I will plant at the apartment building of the one who pushed me this far. He will pay." "Okay then, if I am right, this flash drive belongs to one Vincent Orther." Suddenly, a small window popped up on the computer screen. This is what it said: "Here is a little present, from me to you." Next to the text was a little graphic of a present opening and closing. As if the computer read his mind, another window opened which said "forty-three thousand, eight-hundred and thirty-three viruses found." "Oh crap." Darren said "That'll be one huge library fine."
The next day, after paying his fine to the library (one-hundred, twenty-two dollars and five cents is a very big number indeed) Darren sat down to concentrate on the clue he got from the flash drive. "For the wick was still red hot, odd, wick. Wicks are in candles. When would a wick be red hot? Right after it was blown out. Duh. But why would it be red hot? Because of the fire! Yes! Well, what does fire have to do with this? Vincent Orther's past, hmmm." Darren concentrated on this for while. After some thought about Mr. Orther's past he realized this "Vincent Orther was arrested for arson when he was thirteen!" Darren, once again, had to make a trip to the library.
He found the site of the arson in an old newspaper. The headline read "Young boy torches house." And was followed by an interview with the family. Darren went to the site of the arson after returning the old newspaper to its rightful place (he did not want any more fines.) Apparently, the owners did not rebuild the house. The area was all grass, except for one spot, which was flame-red. "Ha! His is too easy!" Darren went over to the patch of red and looked. And looked. And looked. But to no avail. Darren got very frustrated with this fact. He was so frustrated in fact, that he started clawing at the dirt with his bare hands. Suddenly, his hand hit something hard. He dug around it and found a glass bottle. He opened the bottle and found the second clue. This one said "congratulations, whoever you are, you have found my second clue." " 'Mister, how could you afford such an expensive thing?' the little boy asked the old bum. 'be quiet little boy, it is my secret!'" Darren mulled over this for a little bit, then realized, "If the bum had such an expensive thing, and it was his secret, then he must have obtained it illegally."
Darren (after making another trip to the library,) went to the store that was reported to have been stolen from by Vincent Orther. It was abandoned. He searched around inside and found the next clue. This one said "Well, this is my last clue. Three foot eleven point five. Eyes of brown." Darren guessed this was a mockery of the song "five foot two, eyes of blue."
He went to Vincent Orther's house with the flash drive and two clues in hand. He walked up to the door and said "Where is your brother." "Brother? What brother? I was an only son!" Vincent said, adamantly. "The hoax is up Vincent, I know about your brother." "I have no brother!" Vincent repeated. "You have been covering for him for years." Darren stated. "I will not stand here and listen to you lie!" Vincent was about to shut the door when Darren quickly said "You could not have stolen a gun from the top shelf of a store, you are a midget!" Vincent had a sudden look of surprise on his face. "How do you know about that?" "I have a few friends in the police station." Darren said, opening the door the rest of the way. "Well, you won't find him; he has a special way of hiding that makes it impossible to find him!" Vincent said with a smirk on his face. "Also, I know you do not have a warrant, so either get out, or I'll make you get out." "Oh yeah, what are you going to do, tackle me? Hah! Suddenly, out of no where, a rifle was pointed at Darren by the midget. "Whoa, that's what you'll do." Darren made a run for it, but boy, that midget could run. If Darren had looked into Vincent past he would have noticed one important fact. Vincent was a track star, despite his height. Which meant, that by the juvenile system of thinking in middle school and high school, Vincent was one of the so called 'popular' kids and therefore could not have been bullied do to the simple fact that no one wanted to pick on him do to his social status. All Darren had to go on for their being another person in the picture was the fact that the gun that was stolen (and being pointed at him) was from the top shelf. Vincent also had not gotten good grades while in school, and only made to college on a scholarship for his skills on the track. Also, Vincent did have a brother, a younger one to be exact. This younger brother was not one you would think to be related to Vincent Orther. His name was George Orther, but all through his school days he was George Geode. George was sadly put through one of the worst things a person could go through. Having to go, day by day, holding in his anger, having a constant fear of the bullies, George was one of the unfairly titled 'unpopular' kids. No one cared for him. But he was smart, light a house on fire smart, steal a gun smart, bomb a building smart. George was in college on a partial scholarship only, and was forced to live with his brother, so he could keep some money to pay off his student loans. Vincent covered for his brother all those years because he felt sorry for him. Vincent covered for his brother because he knew that George was fragile enough, and jail would not do him any good. George would probably wind up in a mental institute after a year in jail, and Vincent would not let that happen, no matter the cost. So, as Vincent chased Darren down the street, he was aiming (Vincent went hunting with his uncle Lou every fall, before school started) at Darren's heart, and was ready for the kill. Robert was also on the street Darren and Vincent where, and happened to notice Vincent aiming at Darren with a gun. He would not let that happen. Suddenly, Robert's legs acted without him. They sprang forward, and the next he knew, Robert was holding a midget and shouting "I got him, I got him Darren!" "Wow man, nice maneuver. You know, I could use a partner like you. You could live with me, and your work would be your rent." "Wow, thanks, wow this is so generous." Robert said in amazement. "Well kid, what do you say?" "Yes Darren, I accept your offer. Don't call me kid though, okay?" "Whatever you say, kid." "Well, not that this isn't nice, but could you let me go now?" A disgruntled midget exclaimed. "Nope, you're going straight to the cops."
The following week Vincent's trial was held and he was charged guilty of attempted murder. The cops searched Vincent's house, and sure enough, George Orther did have a good way of hiding. There was a secret brick in the basement, that when pressed, ejected a handle, that was attached to a door in the wall. The door led to what looked like a normal dwelling, and George was sitting there, reading a book. George was arrested for arson, theft, destruction of city property, and the attempted murder of the apartment buildings residents, and its surrounding residents. Robert brought his few things (luckily, a TV was one of his few things) and moved in with Darren the day after the trial. "Hey guess what Darren." Robert said holding up a TV guide. "Kung fu movie marathon tonight."
Darren was about to settle down to watch some good old TV when it went off. The whole city went crazy! Cars screeching, people screaming, it was mass pandemonium!
The bomb destroyed the whole building next to Darren's apartment. Now, Darren didn't normally do cases for free, and had never done anything bigger than looking for a lost pet, or wallet. But this was different. Darren lost most of his stuff in the explosion (TV, couch, recliner, fridge, etc.) and lost his left hand pinky finger! Also, he was settled down to watch TV because of a kung fu movie marathon. Darren loved kung fu movies. Darren was a P.I. out for revenge! Now the first clue was a piece of shrapnel found in his left hand (which was bandaged). The shrapnel, as unbelievable as it may be, was a part of the bomb casing. This was mostly due to the fact that even though the building next to his was a five-story apartment building, his was a two story, which could have very well been one house. Also, he lived on the first floor, and his bedroom was next the window closest to the rubble formerly known as a building.
The casing was from a round shell, (he had some friends that worked in labs) which would suggest a bomb somewhat like one of the round cannon ball like bombs you would see in a cartoon or something.
A few days later Darren (after having his bandages removed) was helping the cleanup crew by going through the rubble with a metal detector, looking for any objects with metal that may have survived the explosion. The machine beeped and he called to a worker "found something!" The worker came over with a shovel and a sifter and started going through the area Darren pointed out. "One set of keys," the worker told Darren. Darren found a name on the key chain, "Jepson family, found some keys for a Mr. or Ms. Jepson!" he shouted. A young man came up and claimed the keys. "Thank you mister." The young man said to Darren, "I lost everything in that explosion, except my car and my wallet. My name is Robert, what is yours?" "Darren, Darren Shore, at your service." Daren did a mock bow and shook Roberts's hand. "Your welcome for the keys" Darren called as
Robert Jepson walked away. A few minutes later, as he was going through the rubble, Darren gave a yelp and yanked of his headphones for the metal detector. "Ouch!" Darren thought, "I must have found something big!" He called over a worker again and the worker hit the rubble with the shovel just once and hit something big.
"Another bomb was planted," Darren mumbled as he recorded it in his case journal, "The letters O and E where engraved in on it." "It is my belief that the bomber engraved his or her name on it (the bomber is probably not that smart) and expected the bomb to explode like the other one." Darren finished his writing with the date, turned off the light, and went to bed.
The next day Darren decided to contact a friend of his who worked at the library. When he got there Darren walked up to one of the librarians and asked for Jane, his friend in the library.
He found her in the basement of the library. She had jet-black hair, and was wearing her usual blue jeans and a tie die shirt. "Well, well, well, stuck with filing work again are we?" "Ha-ha Darren, very funny. What do you want anyways?" She asked. "Well, you have probably heard of the building that was bombed just last week." "Yes." She said, waiting for him to get to the point. "Well, in case you did not know, I live in the apartment right next door to it." Darren said. "Well, I was wondering if you could tell me who has checked out books about bombs in the past few weeks or so." "Darren! You know that I could get in trouble for doing that! Only cops have that kind of authority!" Jane said in a low, warning voice. "I know that. That is why I asked you instead of one of the normal librarians. Come on, can't you do a favor for an old friend?" "Old friend? We've only known each other since high school." Jane replied. "I know, that's old enough to mean old friend, isn't it?" Darren said. "Well, alright, but if I get in trouble, you better get running!" "Alright." Darren said, with a slight hint of a chuckle. Jane typed in the search on the computer. Two names showed up on the screen. "Robert Jepson, 24, fresh out of college, lives in the building that was bombed. Checked out 'bombs: how they have evolved over the years.' Vincent Orther, 36 years old, lives here in town. He checked out 'bombs and you: a guide to bombs, TNT, and various explosives.'" Jane finished reading. Darren thanked Jane and left, he had a few house calls to make.
First, Darren figured a little visit to Robert Jepson was in order. He found Robert at the rubble of the old building, in a car, reading. "Hey Robert, enjoying the mobility of your car?" Darren asked, making Robert jump in surprise. "Yikes, don't do that!" Robert said when he landed. "Well, yes, being able to go to other places is nice, still looking for a place to stay, can't afford a plane ticket back to California. My mother and father live there you see, figured they could help me out for a while." "Where were you the night of the bombing?" Darren asked, taking out his small notepad for recording purposes. "I was at the community college, moving the last of my stuff out, after which I went inside and dropped of my keys, then went back out to get my stuff. I'm not a suspect, am I?" Robert had a slightly offended look on his face with the last remark. "Yes Robert, I'm afraid you are." "Well, ask the college, they can verify my being there the night of the bombing." Robert said.
Well, Darren did just that. The college did verify his being there at the time of the explosion. There was only one suspect left.
After a quick trip to the store, he Arrived at Vincent Orther's house he was glad that this man was normal. Or at least, his house was normal. When Darren knocked on the door he heard footsteps, and the door opened, but he did not see anyone. As he was looking around for the person who had answered the door, he heard a voice say "Down here!" then grumbling. Darren looked down and saw, to his dismay, a midget. "Darn," Darren thought, "so close to normal, it hurts." "Yes, what do you want?" The midget asked. "Well sir, I'm looking for Vincent Orther." Darren said, in a last attempt to talk to someone his height. "That would be me." Vincent said, with a slightly annoyed tone in his voice. "May I ask you a few questions then?" Darren said, saddened by the fact that the midget was Vincent Orther. "Sure, why not, you've already wasted this much of my time, why not waste some more." Darren was probably not going to like this guy.
"Well, get on with it." Vincent said with a grumble. Darren had just sat down on a regular couch, which was odd for a midget.
Well Mr. Orther heard of the north side bombing, haven't you?" "North side bombing, do you mean the apartment building that was blown up?" "Yes sir, I mean that." Darren replied "Where were you the night in question?" "I was here, sleeping, like a normal person!" Vincent said, a little too loudly. "Well, I can hear you just fine, Mr. Orther." Darren said, "Do you have proof that you where here?" "Proof? What proof do you need, isn't my word good enough?" Vincent yelled, "You know what, get out of my house!" Vincent then pointed to the door and Darren took his leave before things could get worse.
When Darren got home he noticed to things, one, he had lit a candle for some reason, and two, he had set the second bomb right next to the candle. "I don't remember doing that." Darren mumbled, right before realizing that the bomb was about to blow. The wick reached its end and there was a loud thud, like that of a muffled explosion. The casing fell apart to reveal a sleek metal ball, which had a small button on the top. After getting out of his 'about to die' pose Darren went over and checked out his new piece of evidence. He tried pressing the small button on top, but this made a small screen with four buttons labeled one two three and four pop out. Darren tried all of the number sequences he could think of, but to no avail. He decided to try again some other time. Darren had one last resource to get a favor from.
Down at the police station (yes, Darren has a friend in the police force) Darren found his friend, Roy Ether, at his desk job as usual. "So, what do you want now?" Roy asked, with a worried tone in his voice "I barely got away with helping you out by analyzing the bomb casing from your hand." "Well, I would like you to pull up a file on Vincent Orther, if you have one." "Vincent Orther, just a second." Roy said, typing in the name. "Wow, this dude has some serious problems." "What, what is it?" Darren said, pushing his friend out of the way. "Wow, you were right. A charge of arson when he was thirteen and a charge of theft when he was eighteen." "Burnt down his school, spent five years in a juvenile detention center. Got off lucky with a plea of temporary insanity. Claims bullies pushed him to the edge. Another month years for the theft. Stole a rifle off the top shelf of a gun store." Darren read off. "Height, three feet, eleven point five inches. Weigh-" Roy was cut off by a sudden "See ya!" As Darren was leaving. "Wow that man can not stand still." Roy mumbled, getting back to work.
Darren hurried out of the police station because he suddenly had an idea to the password for the metal ball. "Three one one five." Darren thought as he put in the number sequence. The ball, reacting to the password, opened, revealing a flash drive. "Whoa." Darren said, shocked.
He had to go to the library to check out the flash drive. When he opened the flash drive on the computer, a small window popped that said "password required" "Nice try," Darren said with a smirk, "three, one, one, and five." The password was accepted and the file opened. They're where two files on the flash drive. One said 'plans' and was titled 'why'. Darren opened the file entitled 'why'. It said "This is my revenge on the society that could not accept me. If this is being read, then I hereby will not confess, but I have left clues at the various sites of my crimes. However, the first clue is here. 'For the candle wick was still red hot, but why is the question.' If you find the clues, and solve them, you will find me, and I will confess." "Whoa, this dude sounds like he really wanted revenge." Darren said with a low whistle. Next, Darren checked out the file titled 'plans'. In it was this. "First, the bomb will be made out of cast iron and shaped like a ball. The top of the ball will be welded in place once I pour the black powder in. the black powder is my own special mixture and was first mixed with gasoline, filtered out, then bits of Styrofoam where mixed in to help it burn longer. Next, I will plant at the apartment building of the one who pushed me this far. He will pay." "Okay then, if I am right, this flash drive belongs to one Vincent Orther." Suddenly, a small window popped up on the computer screen. This is what it said: "Here is a little present, from me to you." Next to the text was a little graphic of a present opening and closing. As if the computer read his mind, another window opened which said "forty-three thousand, eight-hundred and thirty-three viruses found." "Oh crap." Darren said "That'll be one huge library fine."
The next day, after paying his fine to the library (one-hundred, twenty-two dollars and five cents is a very big number indeed) Darren sat down to concentrate on the clue he got from the flash drive. "For the wick was still red hot, odd, wick. Wicks are in candles. When would a wick be red hot? Right after it was blown out. Duh. But why would it be red hot? Because of the fire! Yes! Well, what does fire have to do with this? Vincent Orther's past, hmmm." Darren concentrated on this for while. After some thought about Mr. Orther's past he realized this "Vincent Orther was arrested for arson when he was thirteen!" Darren, once again, had to make a trip to the library.
He found the site of the arson in an old newspaper. The headline read "Young boy torches house." And was followed by an interview with the family. Darren went to the site of the arson after returning the old newspaper to its rightful place (he did not want any more fines.) Apparently, the owners did not rebuild the house. The area was all grass, except for one spot, which was flame-red. "Ha! His is too easy!" Darren went over to the patch of red and looked. And looked. And looked. But to no avail. Darren got very frustrated with this fact. He was so frustrated in fact, that he started clawing at the dirt with his bare hands. Suddenly, his hand hit something hard. He dug around it and found a glass bottle. He opened the bottle and found the second clue. This one said "congratulations, whoever you are, you have found my second clue." " 'Mister, how could you afford such an expensive thing?' the little boy asked the old bum. 'be quiet little boy, it is my secret!'" Darren mulled over this for a little bit, then realized, "If the bum had such an expensive thing, and it was his secret, then he must have obtained it illegally."
Darren (after making another trip to the library,) went to the store that was reported to have been stolen from by Vincent Orther. It was abandoned. He searched around inside and found the next clue. This one said "Well, this is my last clue. Three foot eleven point five. Eyes of brown." Darren guessed this was a mockery of the song "five foot two, eyes of blue."
He went to Vincent Orther's house with the flash drive and two clues in hand. He walked up to the door and said "Where is your brother." "Brother? What brother? I was an only son!" Vincent said, adamantly. "The hoax is up Vincent, I know about your brother." "I have no brother!" Vincent repeated. "You have been covering for him for years." Darren stated. "I will not stand here and listen to you lie!" Vincent was about to shut the door when Darren quickly said "You could not have stolen a gun from the top shelf of a store, you are a midget!" Vincent had a sudden look of surprise on his face. "How do you know about that?" "I have a few friends in the police station." Darren said, opening the door the rest of the way. "Well, you won't find him; he has a special way of hiding that makes it impossible to find him!" Vincent said with a smirk on his face. "Also, I know you do not have a warrant, so either get out, or I'll make you get out." "Oh yeah, what are you going to do, tackle me? Hah! Suddenly, out of no where, a rifle was pointed at Darren by the midget. "Whoa, that's what you'll do." Darren made a run for it, but boy, that midget could run. If Darren had looked into Vincent past he would have noticed one important fact. Vincent was a track star, despite his height. Which meant, that by the juvenile system of thinking in middle school and high school, Vincent was one of the so called 'popular' kids and therefore could not have been bullied do to the simple fact that no one wanted to pick on him do to his social status. All Darren had to go on for their being another person in the picture was the fact that the gun that was stolen (and being pointed at him) was from the top shelf. Vincent also had not gotten good grades while in school, and only made to college on a scholarship for his skills on the track. Also, Vincent did have a brother, a younger one to be exact. This younger brother was not one you would think to be related to Vincent Orther. His name was George Orther, but all through his school days he was George Geode. George was sadly put through one of the worst things a person could go through. Having to go, day by day, holding in his anger, having a constant fear of the bullies, George was one of the unfairly titled 'unpopular' kids. No one cared for him. But he was smart, light a house on fire smart, steal a gun smart, bomb a building smart. George was in college on a partial scholarship only, and was forced to live with his brother, so he could keep some money to pay off his student loans. Vincent covered for his brother all those years because he felt sorry for him. Vincent covered for his brother because he knew that George was fragile enough, and jail would not do him any good. George would probably wind up in a mental institute after a year in jail, and Vincent would not let that happen, no matter the cost. So, as Vincent chased Darren down the street, he was aiming (Vincent went hunting with his uncle Lou every fall, before school started) at Darren's heart, and was ready for the kill. Robert was also on the street Darren and Vincent where, and happened to notice Vincent aiming at Darren with a gun. He would not let that happen. Suddenly, Robert's legs acted without him. They sprang forward, and the next he knew, Robert was holding a midget and shouting "I got him, I got him Darren!" "Wow man, nice maneuver. You know, I could use a partner like you. You could live with me, and your work would be your rent." "Wow, thanks, wow this is so generous." Robert said in amazement. "Well kid, what do you say?" "Yes Darren, I accept your offer. Don't call me kid though, okay?" "Whatever you say, kid." "Well, not that this isn't nice, but could you let me go now?" A disgruntled midget exclaimed. "Nope, you're going straight to the cops."
The following week Vincent's trial was held and he was charged guilty of attempted murder. The cops searched Vincent's house, and sure enough, George Orther did have a good way of hiding. There was a secret brick in the basement, that when pressed, ejected a handle, that was attached to a door in the wall. The door led to what looked like a normal dwelling, and George was sitting there, reading a book. George was arrested for arson, theft, destruction of city property, and the attempted murder of the apartment buildings residents, and its surrounding residents. Robert brought his few things (luckily, a TV was one of his few things) and moved in with Darren the day after the trial. "Hey guess what Darren." Robert said holding up a TV guide. "Kung fu movie marathon tonight."