Posted by Civilian Anna-Liza Riddle (Mystery Writer) in A Plan is Afoot
Jessica Fletcher looked at the camera and spoke to the viewer, “My cousin Emma ....” Oh sorry, that’s not it!

“I am Hercule Poirot, the most famous detective in all the world,” the short, moustached Belgian stated … Woops, wrong again.

“Just one more thing,” the disshevelled looking Lieutenant in the crumpled overcoat said to the famous actress who couldn’t have possibly committed the murder of her one time husband, as she was shown to be on a locked stage at the time of his murder … Drat it, I’m sorry Ryan, Jenn, I promise you both, I’m not trying to get us sued.

Ahem

Anna-liza stood in the kitchen of her house, having finished her breakfast and put the waste from it into the waste reclamation unit next to the sink, and her cutlery and crockery in the washing machine. She looked out the window as the sun was making its way over the eastern horizon. Di L Emma rubbed up against her leg, her cat looked up at her and let out a planitive meow.

Anna-liza looked down at the feline, a smile on her face, “Of course you’re hungry, Di, its been 8 hours since your last meal. Feline supplement 47?”

Anna-liza got the container down, opened it and put the food out for the cat. She then put the empty food container into the waste reclamation unit for it to be returned to the energy system. Outside, citizens were already out and about, and so she went out into her front yard, after pulling a hat on to protect her skin.

As she attended to some lillies in her front yard, a shadow fell across her. She looked up and smiled, as the man who’s shadow it was called out, “Mrs Riddle!”

“Charles Summers,” she replied, a genuine smile on her face, “how is that wife of yours and the baby she’s carrying?”

“Good thank you, Mrs Riddle,” he said, “you were right, you know. I really had nothing to worry about, she was loyal to me. The man she was with, he was her cousin. They were close growing up … but how did you know?”

“I observe people, Charles,” Anna-liza said, “it comes with experience. I could tell the way they loved each other, it was not the way that you and Moira love each other nor the way that Sol and I loved each other. Once I realised that, I knew you had nothing to worry about, besides they had a certain degree of similarity to each other around their faces.”

Charles looked at her, “thanks again, Mrs Riddle, I’m thankful for your experience. Until next time.”

“See you tomorrow, Charles,” Anna-liza said.

More people went by, she waved to and exchanged pleasantries with a few of them, and then saw she was joined by Di L Emma. She bent down and petted the cat. Di began purring in response to the stroking. Anna-Liza saw a group of Starfleet officers in the mustard yellow operations/engineering/security uniforms. She stood and scanned the group, looking for Lt Hatorm Alvarsen, without success, so she went over to talk to them.

“I was wondering where Lt Alvarsen is,” she began, a Trill from the group of officers walked over to talk to her.

“Ma’am, he’s unwell,” the Trill replied, “a bit too much sun, he hasn’t been taking care of himself as he should.”

“That’s too bad,” she said, “I enjoy his company, and he’s always helpful with getting Di out of the trees when she gets stuck.”

“Any of us would always be only to happy to help you get your cat unstack, Ma’am,” he told her.

“Lt Alvarsen has a way about him that settles Di down, plus he’s so tall, so he can reach higher into the tree,” Anna-liza said.

The Trill nodded, “well the offer is there, Ma’am, any of us can come help her unstuck for you.”

Anna-liza acted as though she pondered that, and answered “I’ll keep that in mind, thank you, officer. Please pass on my best wishes for a speedy recovery to Lt Alvarsen.”

The Trill waved farewell, “until we meet again, Ma’am.”

“Until then,” Anna-liza agreed and watched as they left.

She bent down to pat Di some more, as she thought on what the Trill had told her. Maybe she needed to take some cooking to the hospital, or to security to see if she could find Hatorm. She had need of one of his massages, she wasn’t as young as she used to be and sometimes the gardening and bending took more out of her than she liked to admit, even to herself.

Anna-liza Riddle,
Amateur Detective and Writer
Oed V

“This is what happened,” the well dressed former police officer said, bending in such a way that he wouldn’t touch the exposed beams … There I go, wrong detective once more.

Anna-liza read her manuscript and her editor’s notes with growing frustration. It just wouldn’t fit! At first glance, a Betazoid would solve the problem - a death in a locked room in which the victim had to have killed himself … with or without assistance. So, it would have had to have involved a telepathic or empathic instruction. But the time of her mystery coincided with Kirk’s original five year mission on the Enterprise … and at that time, the Betazoids hadn’t joined the Federation. They wouldn’t gain full membership until sometime later, before the turn of the century, 2294 or something like that if she recalled. But, the later time would cause other problems for the story. Her detective wasn’t in that area of space in the 2290’s, it was already detailed she was on Earth. So, Anna-liza pondered what the solution could be.

Her chime buzzed, and she looked up from the manuscript.

“Coming,” she called out as she rose to her feet.

Anna-liza Riddle,
Amateur Detective and Writer
Oed V