The Shark Man's Downfall

4:25 P.M.

Daniel went around the house; the storm was getting worse yet again. There was a lot of thunder and a lot of lightning. What was Dan doing? He was doing a head count. There were four people he could not find anywhere in the house. He was already aware that Charlie and his father Bruce would be outside, they were having a meeting in the backyard in five minutes, but why they were there now was beyond Dan.

The other two people missing were his 81-year-old father and Johnson. He checked every room, including the attic and the basement, but nothing. The Prodes minus Alex came to him.

Catherine and Brain were huffing and puffing, they had sped around the house in search for the missing people.

"Are they anywhere?" Dan asked.

"I saw Charlie in a raincoat leaving via the backdoor, he was wearing large rubber gloves." Brain said.

"The clown ones from his suitcase?" Dan asked.

"Those are the ones."

"Did he say why he wore those?"

"He did not want to get his hands wet."

Daniel had a curious look on his face. "Interesting. Did you guys find the other three?"

Catherine shook her head. "We looked, I cannot find grandpa or Johnson. Bruce might be outside, but the weather is so heavy that you cannot see your hand even if it was directly on your face."

Daniel nodded. "I have little concern for Johnson, he is young and can take care of himself no matter where he is. But my father? He is old, I fear for his safety."

"We will keep looking for him, currently everyone else is accounted for." Brian added.

Suddenly there was a brilliant flash of light, it was very bright and the thunder that followed it was very loud. The trio of people were shocked. They feared that the lights would go out.

"What the hell was that?" Brian exclaimed.

"Shit! That was loud." Catherine exclaimed also.

"No, it was not just loud," Dan spoke. "That was close!"

"Close?" Brian spoke with a curious tone.

"That bolt of lightning was very bright and very loud, it must have struck our backyard!" Dan exclaimed.

Brian and Catherine looked at each other in worry. "Charlie and Bruce." The three of them said simultaneously.

They rushed downstairs and to the back door. They arrived just in time to see Charlie re-enter the house and Dan spotted him chucking something in the bin. He looked terribly upset.

"Charlie? Did you see the lightning?" Brian asked.

Charlie began to cry. "Yes. It was right in the backyard. I saw it firsthand; I am only glad that I was not blinded by the brilliant flash of light."

"What is the matter, Charlie?" Dan noted. "The way you are crying right now, you are not crying from fear, so, why are you crying?"

"It is my father. He is dead!" Charlie shouted and cried more.

"Catherine, take Charlie to your room. When it is dinner time, and he is still like this he can eat in there." Dan spoke.

"But dad, what about the mess?" Catherine inquired.

"If he makes a mess then Jasmine will take care of it." Dan explained. "I will call the ambulance and you ask Charlie his story, when he is up to it."

Catherine and Brian nodded, they helped Charlie up the stairs.

Daniel investigated the trash bin and noticed the object that Charlie so hastily disposed of. It was a burnt prank buzzer, it must have overloaded somehow, and Charlie threw it out because of that. But Daniel had a hunch that Charlie might come back for it, so he took the garbage bin and placed it in the basement, a room so clean that it did not need a trash bin in it. Daniel believed that this was the last place Charlie would look for the prank buzzer if he looked for it.

Daniel now put on some rain gear and picked up an umbrella. He had to remove his famous hat as the last thing he wanted was to have it be ruined by the downpour.

He went outside, the rain was so thick he could barely make out the grass, he was unable to even spot the silhouette of Bruce Smith. Where is he? Daniel asked himself. He looked toward the dark heavens; the clouds were relentless. This was not going to end anytime soon.

The rain soon began to calm, and Daniel finally found Bruce's body, Bruce was on his front, his right hand extended above his head and there was a burn mark on his hand in the shape of a circle. Daniel looked around and noticed a short metal pole, a lightning rod. It was half of Bruce's height. The lightning rod was about 15m from Bruce's body.

Daniel headed back inside. Something did not seem right. He called the ambulance first, then he called David.

"D J Lancer's office, David speaking." David said.

"David, do you know where my house is?" Dan asked.

"Yes, I do, what seems to be the matter?" David replied.

"My cousin Bruce died."

"Oh, sorry for your loss."

"Would you come here?"

"Why? Do you need my company?"

"No." Dan replied. "I just have a strange feeling."

"A strange feeling?"

"I think he might have been murdered." Lightning strikes and thunder booms as if on cue.

#

4:45 P.M

The ambulance and David arrive. David went straight to the paramedics. "Keep that body there for now, a detective said he may be a murder victim."

"Is he or isn't he a murder victim?" Johan Hostel, the male paramedic, asked.

"I am going to get some statements and then I will tell you." David answered. He then entered the back door. His overcoat and umbrella were flapping slowly about as the wind beat them.

David entered and lowered the umbrella, but nobody was aware of his entrance, the signature scent of strawberries did not waft through the air as David was missing one of his three signature items. He was not smoking a magical strawberry flavoured cigarette. Why? He had simply run out.

A youthful red-haired lady wearing an emerald shade of lipstick and a Perth police uniform followed behind David.

Harry also entered the house from the front door, he was carrying a little box with him, and he walked around the house, he found everyone at the dining table, they all looked upset except for Daniel, David, and the young police officer whose name was currently unknown.

"What is going on here?" Harry asked. A 23-year-old lady in a hooded jumper followed Harry into the room. "Melody, go sit next to Charlie, he looks quite upset."

The 23-year-old walked over to Charlie and sat next to Charlie.

"Why did you not invite me to this occasion Daniel?" Melody asked in her soft, dark voice.

"Because you are leaving tomorrow, and I thought I would give you time to pack." Dan said. "Is that not the message you received?"

"The rain has been so heavy that the letter was all but illegible, the reason for why you decided not to invite me was gone. But I understand, thank you." Melody added.

"Did you finish packing?"

"Yes, and Harry can confirm it." Melody nodded toward Harry.

"That is correct, I saw her suitcases for myself." Harry added.

"So, when you left the house..." Ben noted.

"I was going to Charlie's place. He told me to pick up his balloon animal kit." Harry put the box he had on the table.

"That will not be necessary anymore." Charlie spoke in a sad voice. "After seeing what happened to my father, I do not even have the strength to do balloon animals."

The lady officer took down some notes.

"David!" Harry exclaimed.

"Yes, sir?" David replied.

"Introduce us to the fresh face in the room."

"This is Aurora Cliff; she was hired to replace Henry Zachroy."

"Hi." Aurora said shyly holding her pad to her face.

"She has stage fright." David added. "Charlie you were there, what happened?"

Charlie looked at David with as much effort he could muster. "Well, we went outside for a talk, and he saw my lightning rod. He was curious and went over to it, and then suddenly, BOOM! Lightning strikes and he falls to the floor convulsing, I dragged him away from the rod and I tried to revive him, but to no avail. He died, right there, in the brunt of the storm." Charlie lowered his head and cried.

Victor, who was not in the dining room before, now entered and he was holding a telescope.

"Victor, what are you doing with that?" Daniel asked.

"After I saw the damage, the lightning did to the lightning rod outside, I retrieved my telescope because I did not want to find it destroyed by the lightning." Victor replied.

"But your telescope is gold, it has no ferromagnetic material, lightning is unlikely to strike it." Daniel added.

"But it could be struck still, right?" Victor added.

Daniel shrugged. "It is possible, but something made from iron or steel is much more likely to attract lightning then your telescope."

"I am not taking any chances. I will stow this away now." He went toward the basement.

Daniel got up. "David, could you meet me upstairs."

David nodded. They both left the dining room and headed to Daniel's room.

"Nice room." David noted.

Daniel took a packet of strawberry flavoured magical cigarettes. He gave them to David.

"Hey! How did you know I was out?" David asked.

"You have been here for a few minutes, and you have not smoked a single cigarette." Daniel replied.

"Oh." David said.

"What did you think of Charlie's story?"

David scratched his head. "I am not sure, something about it was odd."

"I was thinking the same thing. I think we should re-examine the scene with Charlie's story in mind, but there is something we should retrieve quickly before Victor spoils its location. Which I expect will not happen since he keeps to himself."

"He better keep to himself." David shook as if he was shivering from the cold, but Dan's room was warm. "That guy creeps me out."

"Well, sometimes you creep me out." Dan noted.

David laughed. "Oh yeah, you are right."

Daniel and David headed downstairs and into the basement. Victor was no longer present in here, but his telescope shined in a distant corner, Daniel picked up the kitchen's trash bin and showed it to David.

"What am I looking at?" David asked.

"See this prank buzzer?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, I see it, why?"

"Look closer."

"It is burnt, and it smells bad, the scent is overpowering my strawberry smoke."

Daniel nodded. "I wonder how it ended up this way?"

"I will take it down to the lab... actually, I can get Aurora to do it."

"Why is Aurora helping you today? Is Lucinda unwell?"

"No. 'Nothing interesting happens in Australia,' she is always saying. She seldom joins me here to help me." David picked up his walkie-talkie. "Aurora, please come to the basement, go through the door to the right at the east end of the dining room and find the stairs in-between two bookcases and open the door."

Aurora arrived a few minutes later. "Yes, sir?" She asked.

"David." David replied.

"Sorry, David. What is it?" Aurora asked.

David put his gloves on and took an evidence bag from his belt and placed the prank buzzer into the bag and gave it to her. "Take that to the lab." He spoke. "It may be important."

Aurora nodded. She was about to traipse off when Daniel took David's umbrella and blockaded her.

"What now?" She asked.

"Do not let Charlie see that." Daniel noted.

"Why not?"

"Call it a hunch."

She nodded. She understood. She put on a raincoat that she took out of a box in the room and placed the evidence into one of its inside pockets. She put her fingers to her lips. "It is our secret."

"Bring that coat back in one piece." David said.

"'Because nobody should disappoint Daniel Smith.'" She quoted, attempting to copy David's voice as best she could.

Daniel looked at David. "Did you say that."

David puffed some smoke and looked toward the ceiling. "I may have let something along those lines slip from my lips."

Daniel laughed. "There is no need to lie to me partner. Anyway, now with that matter out of the way, let us go outside and see if Charlie's story is accurate."

The two of them headed upstairs and began their journey to the rear door. David opened his umbrella, and they left the house. There was one question they needed to answer. Was Bruce killed by nature, or was he murdered?