Short Story Fiction, Inspector Pascal Mysteries 1000 #7

Precisely 1000-Word Fiction Mystery-Adventures of Inspector Pascal

INSPECTOR PASCAL MYSTERIES 1000
#7 The Greenhouse Case ©2016-2023 T.K. Naliaka

“The department appreciates Inspector Pascal’s preliminary efforts in organizing this investigation.  It has moved to a higher level of expertise, thus I and my associates will be leading it from this point on-wards!”

Standing by the glass entry vestibule, Sergeant Braque frowned and glanced at Pascal, back-dropped and framed by green tropical plants and the grid of the glazed greenhouse steel frame, standing still by the work table, with his left hand outstretched to set the dossier on the tabletop.  After a moment, Pascal seemed to be aware that all eyes were looking at him, then at Inspector Garland and back at him again.  He straightened, deferring to the senior investigator’s authority as if it was the most perfectly normal circumstance to have another inspector barge in and snatch a case out of the hands of an investigator junior to him right in front of an audience of murder suspects and other police, “Yes, sir.”

Inspector Garland crunched down the gravelly greenhouse aisle with his hand held out for the file.  Braque’s eyes narrowed, knowing how much work Pascal had already done for the case as he watched Pascal force himself to hand it over.  Inspector Garland took the dossier with crisp professional decisiveness and opened it.  But before he could humiliate Pascal any further by boxing him awkwardly between him and the table, Pascal stepped aside smoothly and walked away to park himself beside Braque with his hands clasped behind his back.  Sergeant Braque glanced at him.  Pascal’s face was a bland, unreadable mask, but Braque could tell he was angry. Braque peered sideways to monitor the slight smirk on his counterpart, Sergeant Ricardo, assigned to Garland, standing across the vestibule entry from him with two other uniformed police officers.

Inspector Garland paged through the documents then raised his gaze to the three men, “You! What do you do?”

The man, in a blue work coverall answered. “I’m the gardener.”

“When did you first notice that the greenhouse door had been broken into?’

He pointed to the man in a khaki shirt and trousers. “He noticed it first.”

“Who are you?”

He replied, “The greenhouse production manager.”

“Of course. When did you see this?"

“Well… when I got to work at 7 a.m. as usual.”

“So, you found the body at 7 a.m.”

“N-no… I didn’t find the body.  He did.”

“And you are…?”

“The groundskeeper.”

Garland raised an eyebrow.  “I thought he said he was the groundskeeper.”

“No-no, I’m the gardener!”

“What’s the difference?”

Sergeant Braque watched Pascal’s mouth press into a tight line.

“Well, I maintain the flowerbeds and ornamentals and he mows the lawns, does the tree pruning and hedge trimming.”

“All right then, what do you do?”

“I’m responsible for the ornamentals production.”  He swept his arm to indicate the rows of potted flowering plants around them. “We sell all these.”

Garland frowned. “What do you mean… ornamentals?”

“You know, potted houseplants – flowers mostly, fancy tropical plants.  It’s geranium season so we’re selling a lot of those.  Next to poinsettia season for Christmas, now is our most profitable month of the year.”

Garland nodded. “So, you work with him.”

“No, I’m the gardener.”

Garland glared at him. “I heard that already!”

“I work outside.  He works inside.  Get it?”  He twisted around to appeal to Pascal, delivering a coup capable of derailing Pascal’s career advancement. “Can’t you please explain it to him?”

Aghast, Braque watched Garland’s face turn red. “I can cite you for being uncooperative!”

The gardener protested. “I’ve answered everything you’ve asked!  Twice!”

Braque was surprised to see that Pascal’s stoic comportment had shifted to the intense stillness of a cat with its prey in sight.

Suddenly, Pascal strode forward to the greenhouse manager and demanded. “Why was the groundskeeper inside the greenhouse before you arrived at 7 a.m.?”

The two of them, the gardener and greenhouse manager looked up at him, then both turned to stare at the groundskeeper. “That’s a good question.”

The groundskeeper jumped up, but Sergeant Braque had one cuff on him, then the other before he could take a single step and shoved him back into his chair. “Sit down!”

Pascal addressed him coldly.  “He caught you trying to rob the cash register inside the greenhouse, so you killed him, but the manager arrived!  You simply didn’t have time to grab the money, so it didn’t appear that robbery was the motive!”  Pascal turned to Inspector Garland, “Inspector, my compliments for so efficiently uncovering the truth.”

After a startled moment, Sergeant Ricardo hustled to take charge of the suspect from Sgt. Braque.  Braque went back to stand by Pascal at the vestibule.  Inspector Garland looked at all them looking at him, the two other police officers glancing thoughtfully between him and Pascal. “Inspector, you’re dismissed!”

Pascal replied, “Yes, sir!”

Hustling to keep up with Pascal as he strode to their vehicle, Sgt. Braque frowned. “Sir, you had it in your hands to take back the case, but you just validated him instead. Why?”

Pascal stopped to peer at the blue sky then he replied. “What’s more important?  Squabbling with him for the credit or bringing a murderer to justice?  Garland got what he wants, fleeting glory for his performance appraisal that he’ll find is hard to maintain and I got what I wanted when I was assigned to this case.  I’m here to serve justice on behalf of the victim by identifying his murderer.  That is the only reason that brought us here.  I was just worried that the killer would be able to slip away, but we got him.  Success was achieved… point final!”

“Very good, sir!”

“Let’s go home. Tomorrow there will be another case to solve.” Pascal glanced back at the greenhouse as he opened the car door and then grinned at Braque. “And I’m in a hurry to make myself scarce; with my phone OFF before Garland realizes he’ll be working past midnight with the administrative paperwork.  He wanted it, so it’s all his!”
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