The Solution

Walking always clears my head. Maybe it’s something about the fresh air or the freedom of moving in any direction I want. I love the dense warm summer air as a myriad of sensations hang in the thick atmosphere. 

The city has its own rhythm. The melody of sounds is deafening and chaotic, but when I’m walking, I hear an orchestra of car horns, people talking and laughing, clinking glasses and plates. Even the cadence of many diverse footsteps on the pavement is a synchronized symphony making music to my ears. No matter what time of day or night, it’s so alive. 

I watch a couple walking down the street holding hands and yet spy another fighting with pointed fingers, glaring fire in each other’s direction.

Someone on a park bench reading gives me wonder what they’re thinking. Are they reading for pleasure, school or maybe just intellectual curiosity.

Even the smells of the different restaurants capture my senses. Barbeque, Italian, Mexican, they all have such distinct and individual odors, yet they blend to create an enveloping nose bouquet. But just the aroma is making me hungry.

I need to focus. People think solving crimes is easy. It’s not. X never marks the spot. And no criminal voluntarily confesses, “It is I. I did it” That nonsense is for cheap movies, dumb plays and dime novels.

When my back is up against the wall, thinking through the case always helps me. My pop used to say I live inside my brain, like a think tank of experts debating everything. I guess that’s why walking clears my head. Even among the hectic city streets, it’s the calming background I need to center the disorder of my mind.

So Whodunnit? And how? Those words resonate with me, echoing in my head. 

Serves me right for my arrogance. I thought I wove such a masterful crime web of intricate clues and suspects, the solution would just come to me. But it has eluded me like a veiled mistress of the dark, keeping the key in the shadows, just beyond my reach.

I have to think. It is I? Could it be that simple? Or am I just looking for an easy answer.

I’ve got it! No that won’t work. What about? No, it’s trite. This is crazy, nothing’s working.

Maybe I need to go back to the drawing board. Or wait! That’s it. I’ll have a glass of wine. Sometimes that can clear the cobwebs.

And if that doesn’t work? I hear children’s books are fun to write.