A small rural town of southern Utah had once been prosperous with the support of an affluent government authority. However, the administration of the town has now seemingly become adulterated with corruption. In the midst of the town stood Mr. Bradley, completely motionless, with an undeviating, dismal expression on his face. He peered down at the black casket containing the body of his deceased wife one last time at the conclusion of the funeral service. The sky had intensified and darkened as menacing clouds began to appear, overshadowing all that lay below. Since the burial of the casket would soon commence, Mr. Bradley started toward the car. Due to a skeletal deformity from birth, he walked with a quite a peculiar gait, noticeably impeded by the fact he must limp, which caused a forward jerk with every right step he took. While Mr. Bradley found himself completely exhausted by the time he arrived home, he could not put himself to sleep. Due to the unbearable loss of his wife, he began to suffer from acute insomnia resulting from the severity of his emotional strain.
After a few weeks had passed, Mr. Bradley knew he had to move on from the past by maintaining an optimistic attitude. He arrived to the conclusion that by disposing of all his wife’s belongings from the house, it would prevent the elongation of his time of struggle and mourning. However, in the middle of this process, the flicker of an object caught the corner of Mr. Bradley’s eye. He came across his wife’s most cherished and valuable piece of jewelry, a necklace given to her by her own mother. He observed its delicate, precise etchings, which contributed to its intricacy and distinctive appearance. In fact, this necklace had been passed down for several generations, and Mr. Bradley had no intentions of putting it to a halt. Therefore, Mr. Bradley had solely decided to keep this item as an intrinsic symbol of the remembrance of his wife’s honor.
Later that day, Mr. Bradley had called his brother, requesting that he join him for dinner, and more importantly help alleviate his current emotional stress. The bell rang, and at the door stood a much shorter, rather plump man. A lit cigarette was half exposed from his mouth, and his presence filled the air with the scent of rum. Mr. Bradley’s brother was in fact the mayor of the town, who was widely notorious for his habitual smoking and drinking.
“Hey, it’s good to finally see you. How’s your position as mayor coming along?” inquired Mr. Bradley.
“Unfortunately not too well. The people have started to believe that I’m a fake, corrupt man. Anyways, I would rather we not talk about this subject. The main reason I’m here is to check up on you”, stated Mr. Bradley’s brother.
While Mr. Bradley’s brother currently held the highest position of the town as mayor, he had begun to be perceived by the townspeople as a mere demagogue. While he attempted to act under a façade of material riches and possessions, he was often viewed as corrupt in actuality. Nonetheless, he had come to aid his brother Mr. Bradley, who was also aware of the mayor’s gradual descent into a life of corruption.
The morning after an expected mundane dinner initially seemed like the start of any other typical day for Mr. Bradley. He would complete his daily morning routine and devote time towards observing the precious necklace of his wife. While the constant reminder of her absence saddened him, he accepted what part of her still remained through the necklace. However, he was suddenly in complete perplexity when he saw the necklace was missing. Initial thoughts arose; he believed that he had simply misplaced it. However, after Mr. Bradley scrutinized possible areas in his house that the necklace could be, it was nowhere to be found. It seemed as though this sacred piece jewelry had been stolen from him, which caused him to ponder upon who could possibly be so malicious as to commit such an atrocity. Mr. Bradley then noticed a familiar scent, the fresh aroma of cigarette smoke and rum, particularly in the room that the necklace had been in. In addition, he found pieces of cigarette ash scattered all over the floor. While he strongly refused to believe his very own brother could have committed such an infraction upon him, he was determined to further investigate in order to find the thief.
Mr. Bradley decided to call his old, trustworthy friend, Detective Miller. The detective arrived promptly to inspect the crime scene, and validated the scent as well as cigarette ash discovered primarily by Mr. Bradley. Mr. Bradley proceeded to explain that the last person in his house before the theft was his own brother the mayor, who Detective Miller instantly connected his findings with; he had knowledge of the mayor’s history of drinking and smoking. However, Detective Miller strictly informed Mr. Bradley that he would make no assumptions unless hard evidence was obtained.
Over the next few days, the townspeople were convinced that the mayor was indeed the culprit, as the news of the theft spread around the town like wild fire. They justified their conviction by believing that his corruption had lead to desperation, for why the necklace, a valuable commodity, would be a suitable target for the mayor.
Back at the detective agency, Detective Miller was reviewing the files of the theft case when a man walked into his office and introduced himself.
“Hello Detective, my name is Mr. Clark, and I have valuable information I would like to share. I personally witnessed a figure leaving Mr. Bradley’s house with what appeared to be a necklace dangling out of his hand during my usual early morning jog. In fact, I was able to capture it on video!” exclaimed Mr. Clark enthusiastically. As the tape played, Detective Miller could discern the silhouette of a figure leaving Mr. Bradley’s house, despite the minimal light. Relative to other surrounding objects within the recording, Detective Miller determined that the height of the figure was much taller than that of the town mayor. After a more thorough examination however, Detective Miller suddenly believed he knew the identity of the mysterious theif presented in the video. While the theif was walking away, Detective Miller was shocked to observe a distinct abnormality in the figure’s movement; the figure limped on his right leg, which caused his body to repeatedly and abruptly jerk forward.
Immediately, Detective Miller took the video with him and started towards Mr. Bradley’s house. Upon his arrival, Mr. Bradley was initially delighted expecting news that the culprit had been found and caught. However, Detective Miller had revealed the tape to Mr. Bradley, explaining how the body type, height, and specific gait of the figure in the video exactly coincided with that of Mr. Bradley. Mr. Bradley grew silent, his face gradually turning pale, followed by an immense redness. After a long pause, Mr. Bradley finally confessed that there was no theft, but rather he himself had hid the necklace all along. Detective Miller was astounded by the fact that such a longtime friend could have shown such deceitfulness. Mr. Bradley continued to explain that he placed the ashes of the cigarette, and scent of the cigarette and rum in an effort to make the most believable case that his own brother had indeed stolen the necklace. Detective Miller questioned Mr. Bradley’s cruelty towards his own brother. However, Mr. Bradley explained how he had always envied his brother, especially due to his high status since his attainment as position of mayor. In addition, he felt that if his brother was believed guilty by exploiting the faults of his existing reputation towards the townspeople, not only would it result in his brother’s downfall, but his brother would also be forever condemned.
While Detective Miller could view the justifications of Mr. Bradley’s actions through Mr. Bradley’s own perspective, he had still committed an obstruction of justice, which Detective Miller could not simply ignore. Mr. Bradley was asked to place his hands behind his back; he was cuffed, and was read his Miranda Rights.