It was getting late, the clock on the wall chimed nine times. Taking a deep breath, I opened my metal blinds and stared out into the night. I was tempted to pack it in for the night and go home, when the door slowly opened, and a young man of about twenty entered my office. He was at least 6 feet tall, with jet-black hair and deep blue eyes. The gentleman introduced himself a Henry McFly, and seemed rather nervous when I began to question him. Henry began his testimony and dated it back to about two weeks prior to our meeting. I sat and listened to this youthful figure before me, as I puffed on my fresh cigar.

“It all started at the diner, me and my girl, Gail, were sitting in nearby booth when Tony and his gang walked in the joint.” Henry stopped, and looked up from staring at his folded hands to see if I was paying attention.

“ Yes, go on.” I said while trying to keep hold of the cigar in my mouth.

“Right, sorry,” Henry continued, trying to calm himself down. “Anyway, Tony came over to me and Gail, and began to pester me. I looked right in his eyes and told him to beat it. He laughed at me, and said that I had better keep an eye on my girl.”

“Wait, this cat Tony, wanted Gail? What could he possibly want with her? I know you want him in for murder, but it’s not Gail’s body pushing up daisy’s right now.”

“I know Mister, just listen to what I’m laying down, alright?” Henry began to sound a bit annoyed with me, but I waved my hand for him to continue.

Henry stuttered out the rest of his story like he was trying to get a bad school speech over with. As I listened to him, I tried to watch his body language as well. I wanted to note any tone in his voice or twitch in his body that might give me more to work on than just some punk kid’s alibi. After what seemed like eternity, Henry stopped, looked up at me, and declared:

“I’m telling you, I didn’t do it! These guys got it pinned on ME, to make it look like I killed this girl! I don’t even know her name, why would I kill her?”

“Alright, alright, calm yourself down. We’ll get to the bottom of this. I just have to question this Tony guy for myself. Where did you say his gang hangs out after school?”

“Well, I think they go over to Mr. Harlan’s old place over on Jefferson.” Henry quick looked down at his watch, “Look Mister, I got to be getting home now. My mom’s cooking lasagna tonight, and I promised I’d be home before five.”
He got up, and quickly made his way to the door.

“Hey, thanks, Mister-“ He paused, and his faced turned a deep red color.

“The name’s Reilly, Detective Garrett Reilly.”
He nodded, turned and walked out. I sat for a moment at my desk, running the last two hours of events over in my mind. I took my bifocals off, and rubbed the frustration out of my eyes.