Joy of Writing - Story Six - Mystery

The library was closing in 15 minutes, so I decided to quickly pick out a book to take home with me. I was sort of leaning towards a good mystery story. I spent a few minutes  looking through the mysteries but could not find anything that really interested me, so I wandered around some other aisles, to see if I could find anything I might like to read. 

The romance section was crowded with teenagers giggling about the titles, but I really did not expect to find anything there. 

I spent a few minutes in the non-fiction area but then noticed a table with a display of local authors. There I found a book on local history that I thought might be interesting, but then noticed the author’s name. OMG, I went to school with her, she was such a lame student. 

Time was running out when I noticed that there was a cookbook section and a quick search revealed a book on “Mysterious cooking” featuring recipes that appeared in famous mystery stories. Perfect, I could be eating what Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot ate. This was a great choice, I picked the book up and carried it to the check out computer. 

I scanned the back cover on the automated check-out system and got a message that the book was not in the library. Obviously a mistake, so I went to the actual librarian, who also got the same message. Looking confused, she went to her computer and typed the title in. 

“Well this is a mystery, I’m sorry, I don’t know what is wrong. The computer says this book is signed out by some unknown patron who doesn’t even seem to be in the system as having a library card. I’ll have to do it by hand since this book is obviously actually here.”

Perfect, I did say I wanted a good mystery.

Beach Mystery

A beautiful day at the beach

Here is a mystery for you . . . .

It has been windy the past few days here in Cape Breton, and although I am a five minute walk to the beach, I could hear the waved crashing on the shore all day yesterday. Early this morning I decided to walk down to the beach, and see what the wind and waves brought ashore. I did not find much washed onto the beach, but I did find a mystery.

Washing Ashore

Well above the high tide line sitting on a rock was a pair of pants and a jacket. I left them there as sometimes people are exploring like I was and will return, but after walking all the way down the beach I continued to be alone wandering the beach. Going back to the items, I thought I’d check for any ID, thinking I might be able to return the items. They were good quality items, “Clairbourn” or some other “designer” label. There was no real identification in either item, but there was a dry envelope (so they did not wash ashore . .) from Sprott School of Business, Carleton University. The front of the envelope had a hand written note in two different handwriting “for deposit – 70487106” and the name “Brian Peters”. On the back was a post-it note from smith&nephew with a list of things to do.

Left Behind

            Take cheques /deposit

            ?Pat Johnson

            De-caf coffee

            Dental plan?

Joe’s house

What a strange collection of tasks?

The Lost & Found Rock

A quick internet search did not turn up any likely “Brian Peters”, and “Smith & Nephew” is a medical research company and there was no Brian Peters associated with the site I could quickly see.

Now folk seem to routinely leave clothing items on this beach, and the locals seem to just bring found items out and lay them on a flat rock at the end of the path to the beach, hoping the owner returns to look for things. I have been here three weeks and the pair of women’s leopard pattern underwear that were there when I arrived are still on the rock, and a number of other items have been added.

You do have to wonder how this pair of pants and jacket got left on the beach. A few to many beer, or just forgetful after a day relaxing on the beach, but the mysterious envelope and odd list do make you wonder what went on?