“The golden statue shone in the silver moonlight that came through the thick glass windows. Paul stared into the  glass, his eyes not moving from the person's face as the statue came down on him. His piercing scream was stopped as the statue came next to his ear. This was done just for mere money.”  That’s what the newspaper said about Paul Tessa’s mysterious murder.
A statue. Thick glass windows. Unknown person’s face… A murder scene pinpointed at the right time, right precision, and right trajectory of force. This was no out-of-the-blue criminal, messing around in the dark. This was poignantly a planned, precise murder scene, executed by a sly, cunning, conspiring assassin… who people had no suspects for.
Samuel Williams Xavier sighed, openly looking sick of staring at those words with not a single idea of where to start. This was usually not the case --- everything came easily to Samuel. He was, after all, a MIT and Harvard graduate, coming from a long line of detectives. Samuel was the fourth generation of the Xavier family, a group of highly skilled educators, who were underestimated because of their strange appearance -- tall, skinny, dark hair, light, hazel eyes, pointy and prominent nose, and huge eyes.
The Xaviers’ might not be the best athletes, but when it came to the use of brain-power… rest assure that they would succeed. That was why Samuel had been called by Mr. Odin Khow Fox, the chairman of Whodunit Detective Agency. Samuel was what they needed to find the murderer, a man who had committed a grave feat to the world’s most famous violinist, Paul. But, Sam had no idea, none at all, to who the murderer might be. All he wanted to do was go back to Heathrow and relax.
As if on cue, Mr. Fox burst into Samuel’s office and exclaimed, “Son, we don’t need you on this operation. The MI6 is looking into it. Thank you for your support.” Mr. Fox paused, thought something, and nodded.
Samuel replied, “If that’s what you want, sir, I’m sorry to say that my people are already looking into the matter. It would be quite rude to call back the investigation, would it not?”
Mr. Fox looked like it wouldn’t be a problem at all to call back the operation, but he just pursed his lips, as if thinking something. He regained his professional composure and said, “It’s a mighty hard task, you know. But knock yourself out” He then said, “This isn’t the first time people have tried to find that manhandling criminal. But if you find him… well, you might never have to be part of Detective Agency ever again”
That was when Samuel knew for sure that he had to call his former colleague, a University of Cambridge graduate, Asa Brewer. He dialed Asa’s phone number and in 30 minutes, Asa burst through the door with a huge smile.  The men embraced and quickly went back to business. Samuel explained the murder report, the sudden call from the agency, and Mr. Fox’s “award” of retirement from detective work. When he finished, Asa paused for a second, thought hard, and said that he knew a teenager who called himself “The Snitch” and would most definitely know about all of this. So, off they went, to find “The Snitch”.
Asa drove all the way across Yorkshire and went inside a coffee shop. There, standing next to a bunch of little boys, stood “The Snitch”.  He stood at 6’4” and had a boyish face with brown hair and gray eyes. He was muscular and looked nothing at all like how you would imagine a snitch to be. Nevertheless, Asa marched right up to him and asked a few questions. As it was, the Snitch was half-Indian, half-Italian and couldn’t speak any English. Or so it seemed… But being part of a family that originated from the basic forms of stealth and slyness, Samuel went right up to the boy and snatched his collar. He pushed the boy against the wall, until he was completely in hold of “The Snitch”. Samuel threatened the boy that if he didn’t answer Asa’s questions in English, he will turn him to the cops. Because if somebody didn't know how to speak English, how could they know what snitch means? Or for that matter, how could that person be in the United Kingdom at all?
Light dawned on the teenage boy and he finally croaked out, “Okay, you got me. Let me go, I’ll tell you everything I know…” Samuel, being as kind-hearted as he is, released the boy and motioned him to speak. Little did he know that “The Snitch”’s next words were: “For a price, that is. You let my secret out and you want to know about Hoodwink. Well, might I just say, that is going to cost a mighty lot.”
Samuel and Asa exchanged looks as if to say, “Hoodwink? That’s what the criminal calls himself?”. Then, both men darted their attention to the snot of a boy and asked him what he wanted. The boy grinned evilly and pointed to Samuel’s watch. It was nothing much, except for the fact that the Xavier family had had always kept it to themselves. Every man in the family inherited one from their Grandpa. It held family-related-sentimental values. Not to mention, it was worth no less than 500, 000 pounds. Samuel knew he couldn’t give the watch to the boy, so he turned on his heels and walked back to Asa’s SUV. Behind him, he heard the Snitch laughing in victory and Asa glowering.
Samuel knew he could have gotten the answer to the whole mishap, but there was no way he was giving the watch to that boy. So, he followed his only lead: “Hoodwink”. He searched up the meaning and learned that it was to delude and outwit someone. Like how a fox would play dead and then pounce on it’s prey. A fox…
Samuel brightened as if he had found the answer. Sly like a fox… Fox, as in Mr. Fox! Samuel laughed out loud; that idiotic boy had given him the answer! There was still a chance that he could be wrong, though. However, if Samuel’s hunch was right, then the word “Hoodwink” must have stood for something. Hoodwink... it sounded so, so familiar. What if it was a code? A puzzle? An anagram, maybe? Samuel felt the heat of frustration coming over again. He took a deep breath and went with the idea that “Hoodwink” was an anagram. He thought for a few minutes and he got it!
Odin Khow, Mr. Fox’s first and middle name, was a simple anagram for the word -- surprise, surprise -- “Hoodwink”!
Samuel hurried over to Asa to reveal his victory… and stopped in a mid-run. His eyes widened when he saw that Asa stood next to Mr. Fox, leering at Samuel. He couldn’t quite understand what was going on. Why would Asa, one of his best friends, stand next to an evil, inveigle man? That was when he connected the dots: Asa hadn’t helped much at all; when he had been talking about “The Snitch”, he had been praising him . Samuel, being as smart as he is, could not believe that Asa, of all people, had betrayed him.
“Ha! Didn’t see that coming did you, you stupid, stupid man?,” Asa roared.
“Why would you do this? You were my best mate. I can’t---,” Samuel begins
“Best mate? Puh-lease! I’ve been living under your shadow since that unfortunate day I met you, you toad! And I am sick of it! At first, I thought of you to be this annoying, rich brat. But, now, there won’t be a brat left anymore! You know why? Because Odin will kill you!,  Asa paused for effect. “And I’ll be there to provide assistance.”
As if following suit, Fox’s goons attacked Samuel from every direction. They came at his arms, his legs, his face, everywhere. They lashed out in amazing force and practically wiped him out. And he let him. What was the point of fighting when you know you are going to lose?
Before a cloud of blood sprouted on his face, Samuel saw Asa crowing in victory. Seeing Asa roaring in laughter when he was badly wounded broke Samuel's heart greatly. Soon enough, he felt a hard punch to his gut. As a result, the breath got knocked out of Samuel. And slowly but steadily, Samuel’s heart diminished into nothing. The fog in his head cleared up a bit. He tried to take a deep breath but came up gasping instead. He felt himself going rapidly cold… until his heart stopped working.
He knew he was going to die, so he used his last breath to say, “I’m… sorry, Asa.” Afterwards, Samuel’s body became silent, motionless, and dead.
A few moments passed that way, with the faint sounds of clicking in the background. After that, there was dead, stone silence.
Until…
“Cut! Nice job, people! That was a very good scene! We are so going to win the Oscars for this!” Then, in the background: a loud round of applause.