By Double D
It was a rainy night. Thunder flashed outside, quickly followed by loud peals of thunder. Kooper sat inside his new house in Toad Town, capital of the Mushroom Kingdom. He sat at his table with a candle, letter in hand. His eyes opened wide as he read the contents. Kooper folded the letter back up and got up from his chair, dropping the letter as he walked into his room. He sat in his room for an hour, thinking about what he should do. Nobody had expected what would come next, and two loud peals of thunder blocked out the noise of a yell and a window being broken.
Pennington sat before his desk inside his new office in Poshley Heights. Only recently had
he turned his longtime hobby of private investigations into a profession. His secretary sat on the other side
of the desk. “Here is the information you requested on the recent death of Kooper A. Koopa,” said the
Penguin secretary.
“Thank you very much,” said Pennington as he made the “you may go now” motion with his hand. The secretary left the room as Pennington open the file. The first thing he saw was Kooper’s Biography.
Kooper Alexander Koopa
27 Years Old
Holds job at Koopa Bank, Inc
Annual Income 10,000 coins
Pennington pondered this for a second before moving on to the next piece of information.
Crime Scene
Victim was found with knife in hand. Broken window was found on 2nd level of estate, victim’s bedroom. Rope found on ground, partially buried below broken window.
Pennington mumbled a “Hmm…” then moved on.
Information on Koopa Bank, Inc relating to Kooper A. Koopa
Boss: Koops Wilbur Koopa
Associates: Koover Dean Koopa, Kooley Marvin Koopa
Associates' Previous Work
Koover Dean Koopa
Koopa Light and Fixture Co, Koopa Brothers Insurance
Other: Has rare blood disorder, cannot be exposed to temperatures under 0 degrees Celsius
Kooley Marvin Koopa
Previously in employ of Bowser Koopa
Other: Was under employ for two years, learned advanced war tactics
Pennington considered something, then pulled out the last paper.
Crime Lab Results
Blood on weapon: O+ (match)
Blood on floor: O+ (match)
Blood on window: O- (no match)
Fingerprints on rope: none
Weapons Tests: Pending
Pennington shut the file. He pressed the intercom button. “Marie, schedule an interrogation of the wife of Kooper and of his boss and associates,” said Pennington.
“Will do, sir,” came the reply from Marie, the secretary.
“This seems to be a case of murder or suicide…” muttered Pennington to himself.
Pennington knocked on the door of the Kooper Koopa estate. His wife, Katie, answered the
door. “Hello, you must be the private investigator. Come right in,” said Katie. Pennington did just that.
“Ma’am, I would like to ask you a few questions,” said Pennington in an emotionless, Sherlock Holmes-like tone.
“Go right ahead.”
“Ma’am, would you please describe to me Lemmius the 16th, two days ago, when your husband’s death occurred?”
“Certainly. About two hours before, a large thunderstorm rose up. The power went out, so we lit candles all over the house. A mailman came about 45 minutes after that, in the rain, to deliver a letter. I didn’t recognize him, but he said he was a substitute. Kooper said he could've sworn he knew the guy from somewhere, but shrugged it off and opened the letter. I saw him reading the letter in the dining room, then he dropped it and walked upstairs to his room. He looked very shocked. I asked him what had happened, but he ignored me and continued. About one hour later I heard a yell and a window break. The yell didn’t sound like Kooper’s voice. I am assuming it was a neighbor who witnessed the event through the broken window. I ran upstairs and found Kooper dead, knife in hand.”
Pennington, who had been writing notes the whole time, closed the notebook. “May I see the letter?” asked Pennington.
“Certainly. It is on the dining room table.”
Pennington walked into the room next to him and picked up the letter off of the table. It read:
Dear Kooper Koopa,
Koopa Bank, Inc regrets to inform you that due to a recent break-in, all of the money in your account (1,256,793 coins) has been lost. We are very sorry that we are unable to compensate you because of our massive losses. Once again, I apologize.
Koops W. Koopa
President and CEO of Koopa Bank Inc
Pennington grabbed the letter. “Mind if I keep this for a while?” asked Pennington.
“Not at all,” said Katie.
“Thank you for your time,” said Pennington as he left.
There was a knock on the door as two Koopas in casual dress and one in a business suit and
tie entered the room. Marie looked up at them. “Ahh, you must be Koover Koopa, Kooley Koopa, and Koops
Koopa. Please, sit down, Pennington will be ready in a moment,” she said.
Pennington soon poked his head out of the door. “Koover Koopa, please come into my office,” he said. Koover stood up and entered. They both sat down.
“Since you were one of Kooper’s coworkers, I thought I should ask you a few questions.”
“Go ahead.”
“Koover, where were you on the night of the 16th?”
“I was at my house, eating dinner.”
“When did you first hear that Kooper A. Koopa was dead?”
“The next day. When Kooper didn’t show up at work, I called his house, being one of his close friends. It was then that his wife, Katie, told me that he was dead.”
“Mmm-hmm… Did you know that Kooper received a letter that night from your boss saying that the bank had been robbed of all his money?”
“Yes. As a matter of fact, my boss, Koops, showed me the letter before he mailed it. I knew it would be a huge blow to him, but Koops mailed it anyway.”
“All right, this should be enough. Thank you for your time, you’re free to go.”
Koover walked out the door. Pennington also walked out and called Kooley in.
“Kooley, where were you on the night of the 16th?
“I was at my office, working late.”
“During the night?”
“Yes, I need the overtime money to help keep my family sustained. I recently took a pay cut.”
“Why?”
“Well, Koops wanted to give Kooper a bonus, but he couldn’t do it without laying off a worker and giving another a pay cut. I knew Kooper really deserved it, so I volunteered to take the pay cut. I don’t know who was getting laid over.”
“That seems awfully harsh just for one bonus.”
“Well, our biggest outlet was recently robbed.”
“So I’ve heard. How much was it robbed of?”
“All of the money there: 1,500,026 coins.”
“I understand that you used to work for Bowser.”
“Well, it’s a sad story. Bowser raided my town and held my wife and kids hostage, threatening to kill them unless I joined his troops. I did. After two years of working for him at ten coins a day, he was defeated and my family escaped with Mario. We restarted our life and I ended up working at Koopa Bank. I worked my way up, and eventually ended up where I am today.”
“Strange, Bowser doesn’t usually pay his troops…?”
“Some of them he does. I guess he figured that he should keep me happy so I wouldn't stir up trouble, so he paid me slightly.”
“All right, you may leave. Marie, bring in Mr. Koops Koopa.”
Koops walked into the room in his tie and sat down.
“Koops, where were you on the night of the 16th?”
“I was at home, with my wife, Koopie Koo. She accidentally set our security alarm off and we were locked into our house all night until we could call the company and get them out to fix it.
“I have a few questions to ask you about work. First, I have heard that your biggest outlet was robbed.”
“Yes, that is right. For 1,500,026 coins.”
“On the night of the death, Kooper received a letter from you,” said Pennington as he handed the letter to Koops. Koops got a puzzled look on his face as he read it. He gave it back to Pennington.
“I am sorry,” Koops said, “but I do not remember writing this. Plus, although we did lose all of the money in Kooper’s account, 1,500,026 is not such a massive loss that we wouldn’t be able to compensate him.”
“That is what I was thinking. This means that if you are telling the truth, the letter is a fake.”
“I promise that I am telling the truth.”
“Okay… I have heard that you wished to give Kooper a large bonus. Is that correct?”
“Yes, he deserved it. However, I would have to have laid off someone. I also had cut another’s pay, because of the loss, but that is of no importance. I decided that I would lay off Koover, because he has only been with the company two years, as opposed to Kooper’s five and Kooley’s fourteen.”
“What about Koover? What was he supposed to do?
“Well, due to the robbery, we were too busy to help him find a new job. The closest bank that I know of other than Koopa Bank is the Peng-Shroom Credit Union, in Shiver City, but I’m sure there’s another one somewhere closer.”
“Anything else you would like to add?”
“Yes. I saw Koover in my office the other day. He was collecting the notes on our company party the next day. On his way out, I noticed that he was also carrying a smaller piece of paper with some powder on it. I asked him what it was, and he said it was his napkin from the lunchroom, and that he had spilled salt on it. He said he was going to throw it away in the lunchroom after he distributed the report.”
“Mmmm… All right, this should suffice. Thank you for your time, you may leave.”
Koops left, and Pennington swung around in his swivel chair. “Someone is lying, and I still cannot tell if it is murder or suicide… but, I do have an idea…” said Pennington to himself.
His train of thought was interrupted when Marie entered the room. “Here are the finished Crime Lab results,” said Marie before leaving. Pennington looked at the paper. He skipped down to the latest entries.
Weapons Tests
Blood on weapon: O+ (match)
Wound: Koop-Shroom Security Knife v3 (match)
*new* Fingerprints on Rope: Koops W. Koopa
Suddenly, Pennington snapped his fingers and said, “That might be it! Marie, get me the records of Koops W. Koopa’s Estate security alarms. There’s only one company that does that sort of thing: Beezo Buzzers.”
“Will do, sir.”
About thirty minutes later he found the records. There was a positive match for the security alarm, but it occurred 1 hour and 41 minutes before the time when Kooper died. It took 30 minutes to get to Kooper’s house from Koops’s on foot. Pennington smiled.
“I’ve solved it!”
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