Flash Circles

1) Time Period and Locale - West Hempstead, NY, a small town on Long Island, early 21st Century.

2) Detective - Theodore Snow, 26 year old journalist for the local paper, the West Hempstead Beacon.

3) The Crime - Over the past 3 months in the nature preserve surrounding the water tower, mysterious blue flashes have been reported. Dead raccoons found at the sites of the flashes are found disemboweled; arms, legs, and tails stretched out; and the ground within a 3 foot radius completely cleared of brush. Most recently, a dog reported missing on Saturday turned up in the same condition, coinciding with the last of the flashes at 11:15 on a rainy Tuesday night.

4) Clues - the clearly unnatural deaths of the animals, cleared brush, and bright blue flashes are the most overt clues. 7 feet away from the last of what the town's inhabitants call "flash circles," a blood covered, silver encrusted ruby cuff link was found. When the dog's carcass was moved, half a shoe-print was found. Sprinkled around the flash circle is minute pieces of singed paper, and a matchbook from the Lucky Pub, a local bar, was found left next to a close-by tree. Additionally, at the dog's scene, the cleared area only had a 2.5 foot radius. The dog's innards were found in the dumpster behind the local 7-11 the next morning in a few layers of plastic bag.

5) Motive - The Raccoons' appearances were a complete mystery. Suspicions ranged from Alien experiments to local teenagers who were more sadistic than bored. The dog's death however seemed different than the usual pattern because of the smaller circle and material evidence that the other scenes lacked. The dog was not popular in the neighborhood, the owner's neighbor, Dan Jameson, a crotchety old man hated the dog for its incessant barking and on more than one occasion threatened to kill it. The dog once escaped and bit the paper delivery boy in the leg, earning his distaste as well. The usual group of teens liked to tease the dog at night due to it's hyperactivity at their presence and its proximity to Hempstead Ave, the main street. The dog was also notorious for swallowing any small objects he found, much to the chagrin of many of the townspeople who've lost valuable items to the dog's curiosity.
Method - Because of the strangeness of the Raccoon's death, it wouldn't be hard for any of the suspects to have tried to pawn the disappearance off as another mystery by reproducing the strange conditions of the Raccoons' appearances.
Opportunity - All of the suspects have the opportunity. Although the reserve is fenced, it wouldn't be hard for either the paperboy or the teenagers to hop the fence. Dan Jameson works for the water authority, and thus has a key to the gate. The dog's owner, Michael Swanson, is known to have a drinking problem and was, as he often is, out at the Lucky Pub all night, giving anyone the opportunity to abduct the dog (which lives outside the house in the fenced yard).

6) Alibis - Dan Jameson - Away the weekend the dog disappeared, visiting his daughter in Vermont. The night of the flash, Jameson says he was at home, watching his usual shows and then asleep after 10:30.
The Paperboy - On the night of the dog's disappearance the paperboy had a music class recital in the local middle school. After that was over, his parents verified that he went to bed and stayed there until the next afternoon. On Tuesday night, the boy had a basketball game with his friends, went out for pizza afterward, and slept over at his friend's house.
The usual band of teens who haunt the neighborhood were in front of the 7-11 until 2 AM on Saturday night, afterwards their whereabouts are unknown until the next morning. On Tuesday night, they hung out by the 7-11 until about 11, when they quickly disbanded and turned up again at the pizza store 4 blocks away about 45 minutes later.

7) Climax - In order to deter any more animal disembowelments, the Nassau County ASPCA began to patrol the nature reserve from 8:00 Pm to 4:00 AM every night. The night Theo volunteered, they patrol ran into Swanson, the dog's owner, stumbling around the forest with a bandage on his hand. Swanson, obviously drunk, is calling out his dog's name, and tells the patrolmen that he remembers having left his dog around there. When the patrolmen try to calm Swanson, he makes a break for it. Another flash goes off about 7o yards to the right, and turning to look at it, Swanson runs into a tree. A number of flares and a small, bloody knife falls out of his pocket, and when he comes to, he confesses to the "flash circle" phenomenon.

8) Denouement - Theo was able to report the story for his next issue: Swanson was responsible for the Raccoons as well as the dog. When drunk, Swanson fancied himself a biologist and was "studying" Raccoon anatomy. 2 days after his dog ran away, it faithfully returned, hungry and whimpering. Drunk and angry at the dog, Swanson kicked it, and it bit him in return. In a fury, Swanson killed the dog, and, realizing what he did, decided to dispose of it in the same way as the raccoons. Because he was hurried, it would soon be light, Swanson quickly cleared a circle without taking the usual measurements and disemboweled the dog, forgetting this time to take care to clear his footprints. Not wanting to be seen, Swanson left the carcass for the day, returning the next night to set the flare. However, since it was raining that night, Swanson covered the flare a in a box, figuring it would burn up, exposing the flash. The rain washed away his footprints, except the half covered by the dog's remains. The cuff link was just another item the dog had swallowed, and fell out of the stomach when Swanson was moving the innards. In his haste to get out of the rain, Swanson forgot his matchbook. Swanson was "studying" raccoon anatomy, not dog anatomy, and had no use for the organs. He left them in the dumpster assuming that if they were discovered, there'd be no way to trace it to him. The night he was discovered, he was particularly drunk and went about one of his "studies." When he had set the flare, he returned home with the organs. Not greeted by his dog, he remembered being in the forest with the dog and went back to look at it where the ASPCA volunteers had found him.

9) Summary - Swanson was arrested for cruelty to animals and put in rehab for his alcohol problem. Theo's story was one of the most popular ever to appear in the Beacon, and eventually landed himself a promotion to editor. About a year later, Theo moved on to write for the New York Times. West Hempstead is happy to no longer be plagued by speculation of Aliens, miscreants, and the strange blue flashes.