Sunset

Sunset, Illinois was a small town in the northeastern corner of the state which had about six hundred people. It was around ten square miles large and had many trees and was full of verdant grasses. It was a crop town which meant it produced tons and tons of potatoes, carrots, lettuce, apples, oranges, and bananas. It was well known for its beautiful and seemingly endless acres of farmland. However, it was also well known for its kind populace, which loved the quiet and bucolic nature of the town. Sunset was quiet and serene. Everyone cherished their lives.

It had a police department, a fire department, a general store, and a park. The police consisted of twenty-five police officers and the fire department had ten officers. The general store was owned by an old man who had lived there for his life. The park was called Meadow Park and was in the center of the town. Children loved to play there every day. Sunset was complete with lots of fun things to do and full of funny and interesting people. Sunset was simply heaven to most.

Mr. Harold and Mrs. Carrol Hudson were a couple of twenty five years who had lived in the town their whole lives. They made their money by teaching music lessons to interested families. Carrol was about fifty years old and her husband, Harold, was a man who was about sixty years old. They taught many families and earned enough to live on their tutoring jobs. They loved each other so much and couldn’t imagine being without the other. They were truly the definition of a happy couple. They loved each other to bits. 

One day, as Carrol was teaching piano to a young girl named Megan, she overheard a large thunk in the attic of her house. With panic, Carrol ran upstairs and to the attic where she saw her husband lying face flat on the ground on the bottom of the attic. Harold was dead, so it seemed. She shrieked and nearly collapsed on the floor herself. But she knew it was best to remain calm, so she decided to hold to the stair handrail. Carrol went to the lifeless body of her husband and quickly called the police. Either this was a murder or it was her husband’s own misfortune. Her husband was gone.

Once four police officers arrived at their small three-story home, Carrol showed the police the lifeless body of her husband and the police were stunned. One police officer exclaimed, “Who could have killed him without you knowing firsthand? Weren’t you at the floor level of the house?” Carrol answered, “I know, I know. I don’t know what happened! I was teaching then all of a sudden “Thud!” Carrol and the police were confused as to how her husband could have died while Carrol was in the house at the same time. The police decided to start an investigation. Carrol said, “Thank you so much” to the police. The police went out of the house and knew there was a lot of work to be done.

Carrol sat down in her red recliner in the living room and wondered if her husband accidentally killed himself. Or, she wondered, who could have killed him if it was a murder. She shuddered at the thought and was paralyzed with anxiety, fear, and apprehension. “Hopefully they’ll get him soon,” she thought. Carrol called the police and asked how the investigation was going. The police responded they were going to start tomorrow. Carrol thought that it was about time to start. It was going to be a long week. 

The police first interviewed the neighbor, a young woman of about thirty years of age. She said she didn’t know anything about the incident, because she was outside the house doing lawn chores. Her house had a window that was near the window of Carrol’s attic. So the police thought maybe the young woman could have shot Harold through the window. But as she proved her innocence through her clean-cut lawn, the police ruled her out as a potential suspect and went on with the investigation. The police knew that this was either a murder, or an accident. Only time could tell.

The police then went on to the possibility of Harold’s death being an accident. They went to the attic and saw the floor. It was made of wood but it wasn’t anything particularly slippery or smooth. So they decided that Harold most likely didn’t slip and fall as he was doing housework in the attic. The police were stunned at how clean the attic was. Harold spent a long time in the attic cleaning it. But it was obvious he didn’t kill himself by accident. 

So then the police went on to the last possibility. Maybe Carrol was lying the whole time and killed her husband herself. The police dug deep into their relationship and found no obvious signs of dissent. But there was one thing that intrigued them deeply. Mrs. Hudson was Harold’s trust fund beneficiary. So because of that, they found out it was Carrol herself who committed the murder and not her husband or her neighbor. She was the culprit all along. 

The police dragged her out of the house as she screamed, “It wasn’t me!” The police were stunned as was the whole community that she killed her own husband. The whole community was forever scarred by the murder. No one went outside alone ever again.