2Yes, it was ready. The case was ready for the police to arrest its culprit. All suspects pointed the finger at one person, and one person only. It was clear that sixteen year old Adrian Young's mother was the one responsible for his murder.
Everything started when, as a detective, I was sent to this small town in Oklahoma to research this case. A kind woman who had been very close to Andrew (she claimed to have lived near him for years) hired me to investigate the story. She gave me who she pegged as the possible culprits: Adrian's insane ex-girlfriend, a bully that's been harassing him since elementary school, and the boss that fired him about a month ago.
This woman, Marlene McKinney, was a big help, having everything all worked out, presenting allibies, and motives for each suspect. She seemed to have taken this case to heart. She says that once Adrian had broken up with his ex-girlfriend, she sent threat ims and emails to him constantly. It all died down after a couple days, but she remembers Adrian blowing it off like it was no big deal. As an adult, however, she was concerned. The bully that's been harrassing Adrian has always been on his tail. Adrian was, supposedly, a fragile young boy, not the strongest of sorts physically, but mentally. The autopsy showed that Adrian was perhaps beat to death, and the body was found in the neighborhood park. The bully could've easily done it. The boss apparently didn't like Adrian that much because he was irresponsible, and nearly lost him his business. Of course, no one could blame him for disliking the boy when he's caused so much harm, but that gave him no excuse to allegedly verbally abusing him everyday. It's questionable whether physical abuse was involved. I've spent weeks with Marlene, and she's gone over everything that she's researched, and everything that she knows about Adrian. She says the police haven't really been doing much for the case, and she'd like for me to gather "professional" evidence to turn in to them, and perhaps rap the case up. The woman, one of a pure heart, and the deepest concern, easily won my allegiance.
My first stop was the ex-girlfriend. She says that she would never go to that extreme, even if she was hurt about Adrian. I asked her, if she didn't do it, then who did. She says that if anyone beat him to death, it was his own mother. She told me about how he would always tell her about when he was younger, and how he was threatened by her, and beaten by her, and how she was always taking advantage of his weakness when they were alone. I thanked her, and left, but didn't take what she said seriously until I got to the second suspect. I asked the bully about Adrian's relationship with his mom. The bully said that in elementary school, he would follow Adrian home sometimes, and a few times, his mother would pick him up. His mother would hit him as soon as he got in the car, and whenever he saw Adrian and his mom together, he was always cowering from her yelling at him. The bully didn't know much about Adrian's home life, but he knew that his mother obviously didn't make it easy for him. I began to get suspicious to who this woman was, and also wondered about the bully's conscience, or lack thereof, but instead moved on to the third suspect. The employer said that often, Adrian walked home alone, but when his mother came to pick him up. The same behavior the bully described, I was told about with the employer. Apparently, there was a new suspect.
With Adrian's body covered in bruises, and a two parent household, I was sure I'd found the match for who'd murdered him. I ran it over with Marlene, and she said that the mother was pretty suspicious. I went to the police, and they hastily put out a warrant for her arrest. The husband was in the house when the wife was taken away. "I've known her for nine years! She would never do anything like this! Please, don't leave me here alone!" I remember hearing the man scream, terror and pity in his eyes at once. I shook my head. It really was a tragic scene.
And, the funeral, even more tragic, had everyone that ever knew Adrian all together, weeping and mourning as one. I looked over to Marlene, who had not shed a tear.
"You must not be able to get all the emotions you feel into the open," I explained for her. "By the way, how exactly did you know Adrian?" I asked.
She looked over to me, her eyes as hard as steel. "He was my son."