Ballard Street by Jerry Van Amerongen for March 09, 2012

She should be riding that broom.

I see by the looks of that broom that this is not the first time that Sandy has used this tactic…

Sandy does run thru a lot of brooms.

At least Neal can’t say he’s never been swept off his feet by someone…

Neal looks rather bushed!

Wondering where all the cowbells have gone?

As seen at the Frog Blog

I like Sandy’s no nonsense stance. Elbows up, well balanced and good control of the follow through. She’s done this before.

Looks like they need to trim that hedge.

After awhile Neal decided he rather liked the company of the shrubbery.

“Found the Frisbee, dear!”

MURDER AT CORNER HOUSE

Chapter 1.

Sandy McGonagel took community seriously. “We emerge from our community, and our community, in a sense, emerges from us” she would often remark, and her hearers would immediately respond with affirmative gusto. “You are so right dear”, and “ain’t that the truth?” and similar assertions of concurrence, without even the broadest understanding of what she was talking about, because it sounded so wise, and nobody wished to appear confused by such profundity. Her keen sense of community, and of service, led her to take a careful interest in the comings and goings and doings of her fellow residents who occupied the rows of shrub fronted houses lining Ballard Street and the minor avenues and cul de sacs that criss-cross its length.The daily perambulations with Tasha, her sprightly Appenzeller Sennenhund, took her in wide circuits covering these byways, and her impulsive scrutiny resulted in a detailed knowledge of the names, ages, occupations and habits of almost every occupant. The less charitable of these in unguarded moments would mutter words like “interfering old busybody” and “meddlin’ rubberneck!”, but Sandy saw herself as a community guardian. Thus it was no surprise to anyone that she was one of the first to hear of the terrible business up at Old Jed’s place.Jed Cornhauler lived on his own at Corner House, a ramshackle timber building on Ballard and Vine, with a housekeeper visiting from 10 till 2 o’clock three days a week. On Friday morning she had arrived to find the house deserted, and on checking out back had discovered her employer’s dead body upturned in the hedge behind the veranda, shot through the heart! Sandy decided at once that this would be a good day to visit Irma the wife of the local Chief of Police with some long promised home made preserves, and some two hours later she arrived at the lines of yellow-black tape now adorning the stoop at the front of Corner House, with a hand written letter to wave at the officer on duty standing by a squad car who rolled his eyes and let her into the house.Lieutenant John Neal of Homicide Division was not amused to find himself having to give an account of his morning’s work to a civilian amateur sleuth, a batty old lady yet! But the letter from the Chief was clear enough: Miss McGonagel’s local knowledge had helped the police department in a number of previous cases and she should be permitted to inspect the crime scene. He gave her the facts as briskly as he could, hoping she would then leave. Mr. Cornhauler’s neighbor reported hearing a gunshot some time between 9:45 and 10:15. Mrs. Rodriguez said she had arrived at 10 a.m. and discovered the body about ten minutes later. Mr. Cornhauler was shot in the chest, and from the position and angle of the body he must have been standing on the veranda close to the window when he was shot, fell back against the rail and teeter-totted over it into the hedge running alongside. Therefore he must have been shot through the window by someone inside the house. The only other person who could have been inside the house at his time was Mrs. Rodriguez, so she had been arrested, charged with first degree murder and driven down town.Sandy was not satisfied and her expression showed it. With a warning not to touch the body, Lt. Neal reluctantly allowed her to go onto the veranda and look for herself. As she passed through the kitchen on her way to the back door, she picked up the switch broom that she had so often seen Jed using on the stoop when she passed by with Tasha on the lead. Standing on the veranda in front of Jed’s upturned feet she used the broom as a measuring stick and found that it fit exactly between the window and the wooden rail. She had often seen him holding that same broom close to his body as he swept the steps; it reached from the floor to perhaps the bottom of his ribcage. Had he been standing right in front of the window and fallen backwards, he would have hit the rail a little below his shoulder blades. His center of gravity would have been well inside the boundary of the railing and his body could not have slid over it into the hedge.With a glint in her eye, Sandy realised that Neal’s theory was nonsense! Jed must have been standing away from the window and near to the rail, so he could have been shot by a third person standing in front of him on the veranda. Mrs. Rodriguez was probably innocent, and Sandy had to put a stop to Neal’s nonsense and get her acquitted. But how? She knelt on the floor and started to examine the discarded sheets of newspaper…

With apologies to the estate of Dame Agatha Christie.And welcome back, No. 6!

Brilliant! I can’t follow that! :-)

@LogicalDuck60you both are committable…

that ought to do it!

Sandy always was a no-nonsense kind of person.

Good form, balance, follow-through. She nailed it!

Wrong type of broom to get rid of snow.

https://cleoandcompany.net/march-9-2022/

Good morning Balladeers, (((((Plods))))) and Miss Susan.