Boy Finds a Clue in Sandbox That Helps Police Solve the Biggest Case in Town — Story of the Day

Little Joseph was building a sand castle when he found a key buried in the sandbox. His mother hands it over to a police officer, who quickly recognizes the key as evidence linked to a rich businessman's murder.

On a pleasant Saturday afternoon, Little Joseph was playing with his friends in the sandbox his dad had built for him near their yard.

He and his buddies were building a sand castle, and as Joseph excitedly scooped another plastic shovel full of sand, his fingers brushed onto something hard that felt like metal.

"Mommy...Mommy!" the 6-year-old boy ran to his mother, chirping at the top of his voice. "Look what I found!"

Joseph's mother, Lily, put her phone down and took a key from his hand. "Looks like someone lost their car key," she wondered. "Where did you find it?"

"Over there...in the sandbox!" Joseph pointed to the sandbox. "Is it Daddy's? He built the sandbox for me, right?" he asked.

"No, honey. I don't think it's Daddy's...I don't remember seeing this key before. Why don't we ask Daddy?!" Lily chuckled as she scooped her son and made him sit beside her before ringing her husband, Richard.

"Found this in the sandbox? Know where it came from?" she captioned a message along with a snap of the key and pinged it to Richard's number. But he told her he had never seen the key.

"Weird!" thought Lily. "Guess I'll have to drive to the police station and hand it over to the cops so they find the owner and return it."

Lily drove to the police station and ran into Detective Gibson. "We're new in town. Just moved in last month," she told him.

"Oh, no worries, ma'am. You can hand over the key to me. I'll take care of it," Detective Gibson smiled.

Lily rummaged through her purse as the officer waited eagerly. "Here you go!" she exclaimed. Detective Gibson was stunned when he saw the key and noticed something all too familiar about it.

"I know who owns this key!" he laughed. "Don't mind me asking...but did you find it somewhere near the station, ma'am?"

"Oh, no...no, officer," Lily denied. "My son found it in a sandbox. Actually, my husband recently built one for him to play outside our house."

"In a sandbox?" Detective Gibson's brows furrowed.

"Why Officer, is something wrong?" Lily grew anxious.

"No...no, ma'am," Detective Gibson smiled. "I just wanted to know …is this sandbox...or your house...near the northern highway?"

"No, Officer. But I think the place my husband ordered the sand could be near the northern highway," Lily explained. She showed the detective a receipt on her phone and sent a screenshot to his number on his request.

"Thanks for your cooperation, ma'am. And one more thing...please don't tell anyone...not even your husband. The thing is, the matter is a bit sensitive. Whatever we discussed stays within this station, alright?"

Lily nodded and left the station. Meanwhile, Detective Gibson sat on his chair, and as he stared at the key, an infamous murder case brought to the station two weeks ago flashed into his mind.

"Officers, we have to find the killers as soon as possible. The pressure has surged, and news about Mr. Karl's attempted murder has spread like wildfire," Police Chief Davidson burst into the station that day, two weeks ago.

"Christ, Reginald! What happened to your face?" gasped the chief.

"Nothing serious, Chief," Detective Reginald said. "Just got into a small fight with some thugs messing up with my car."

"Ah, fine...hope you gave them a good one, too! Okay, guys, listen. Mr. Karl's a reputed businessman in town. He was returning home from a business deal…someone robbed a million dollars from him and shot him this afternoon. He's hospitalized, and the case is on. We need to find those robbers and attempted murderers quickly."

"Due to pressure from the upper end, I'm assigning Detectives Gibson and Reginald to solve the case," the chief added. "There are no witnesses. Nothing interesting at the crime scene either. So good luck, you two!"

Everything reached a dead end when the two officers scoured over the case files. "Damn! Even the gun used by those attackers wasn't recovered," Detective Reginald sighed, slumping back in his chair.

"Maybe we should interrogate his family...and housekeepers? It's clear, officer...somebody aware of his million-dollar business deal has done it. Looks like a pre-planned heist, don't you think? We must immediately dispatch a team to search for the gun and his house..."

Detective Gibson's thoughts were consumed by different angles as he scanned the case reports. "We can't suspect anybody...and everybody, Reggie," he said. "There are no clues...but there's something the attacker overlooked," he added, pointing to a photo of a surveillance camera on the highway.

"I've dispatched a team already to look for the gun," Detective Gibson added, putting on his cap. "Let's go check the footage at the transportation department."

As the detectives keenly watched the footage at the transportation department, they spotted Mr. Karl's car passing through the highway before the screen went grainy and the footage was abruptly cut.

"Sorry, officers," the transportation officer said. "Guess it's a shutdown. We lost the footage, and they can't be replayed due to a technical glitch. Sorry!"

The detectives were disappointed because they had come this close, and had the video played a little more, they could've probably obtained some crucial lead. Just then, Detective Gibson got a call from the hospital, and the doctor informed him that Mr. Karl was conscious.

"I wouldn't recommend an interrogation now...but if it's urgent, you can proceed, Officer," the doctor said.

"Great! Mr. Karl should know something about the attackers," Detective Reginald exclaimed when Gibson shared the news with him. "But what about your daughter Mary's dance performance in school? You had promised her, right? Why don't you go to her school and see her dance while I interrogate Mr. Karl?"

"Thanks, pal!" Detective Gibson nodded and hurried in his car to his daughter's school. But on his way, he got another startling call from the hospital. "Mr. Karl's dead, Gibson," Detective Reginald informed on the other end of the line. "Seems he had seizures...he passed away before I could meet him."

The news jolted Detective Gibson as he applied the brakes, bringing his car to a screeching halt. "This case is getting more interesting, buddy! Meet me at the pub tonight...I want to discuss something."

That night, the detectives met at their regular bar, trying to make sense of the recent events surrounding Mr. Karl's murder.

"It's so confusing," Detective Reginald chugged another drink. "He takes the road with all that money...he gets attacked...the money is stolen...the cameras stop working...I mean. There's got to be something."

"Yeah, right...But I think there's something right in front of our eyes that we're overseeing..." Detective Gibson sighed as he sipped his vodka.

"Ah, well...doesn't the criminal always hide in plain sight?" Detective Reginald chuckled as his partner fixed his eyes on him and raised a brow.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?" Detective Reginald squared his shoulders and burst into a giddy laugh.

"Ah, my mind is freaking messed up," Detective Gibson sighed. As the night wore on, the officers enjoyed their drink and chatted for a long time. Then, all of a sudden, a gang of heavily drunk men with tattoos crawling up their necks surrounded their table for no reason.

"Shut that disgusting mouth, dude," one of the men sneered at Detective Gibson. "You laughing at me, huh?"

"Listen up, man," Detective Gibson warned the guy. "How about you buzz off?"

The enraged man charged at him, and chaos soon erupted in the bar. A fight broke out between Detective Gibson and the men, and someone rang 911 as the situation got wild.

The thugs were arrested that night, and the news reached Chief Davidson, who suspended Detective Gibson from the case.

The suspension hit Detective Gibson like a bag of bricks. He had worked hard day and night to solve this case to grab that much-awaited promotion. But now, everything he did for this case was handed over to Detective Reginald, and he could do nothing but just storm out of the station.

"All the best, Reggie. I hope you crack the case!" he said. It had been two weeks since Detective Reginald took over the case, but no crucial leads were found, and the case was still frozen at a dead end.

But that day, Detective Gibson knew he was a step closer to the culprit behind the murder and robbery of Mr. Karl. As he burst out of the station, he walked over to his partner's car and rang him.

"Where are you, Reggie?" he asked.

"Where else, man?" Detective Reginald chuckled. "Grabbing a quick sub at Pop Steaks. I'll be back in ten minutes."

"Ah, Pop Steaks! The steak corner! You know what? I'm starving after breaking my head on all those case files. Be there, pal. I'm on my way!" Detective Gibson hung up. He grabbed the car key Lily had handed him an hour ago and hastily unlocked Detective Reginald's car.

Twenty minutes later, he pulled over at the eatery where his partner was enjoying a jumbo steak sandwich. "Gib! Over here!" Detective Reginald waved at his partner. But his smile faded, and the juicy steak curled in his lips spilled out when he saw Detective Gibson wasn't alone.

"What the hell? Gibson, what's going on? Why are they cuffing me?" he panicked as two officers cuffed him and escorted him to the cruiser.

Detective Reginald's shoulders drooped as he sat back in his chair in the interrogation room half an hour later.

"Seems familiar, huh, Reggie?" Detective Gibson laughed as he played a video on his laptop. It was a recording from Detective Reginald's DVR, showing him and a gang of masked thugs approaching Mr. Karl's SUV and attacking him before robbing his briefcase stashed with the million dollars.

"A little boy's mother dropped off a lost car key at the station this afternoon," Detective Gibson added. "I couldn't help but recognize the unique initials engraved on it...and I noticed the key belonged to you!"

Detective Reginald gasped in shock as he realized his game was now over. "Every criminal leaves a small clue behind that costs them big time! For you, it was your car key! Only if you knew you'd lost it in a sand quarry just a mile away from the spot Mr. Karl was attacked!"

"Ah, the culprit was hidden in plain sight, after all, wasn't he?!" Detective Gibson laughed.

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"What toys? I didn't send you any!" A detective investigating a 7-year-old murder case is stunned when the deceased's kids ask him to stop sending them toys. Ultimately, he finds a clue to solve the murder mystery. Click here to read the full story.

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