The Case of the
Gumball Tooth
Kaitlyn put the quarter into the slot and turned the handle
on the gumball machine. Reaching into the tray, she removed her prize, but
instead of the gumball she expected, she held in her hand a human tooth that
still had bits of dried blood and gum.
Kaitlyn screamed and dropped the tooth.
A police officer, standing on the corner, heard her scream
and came running over.
“What’s wrong miss?”
Kaitlyn could only point at the tooth.
Detective John Murphy had just sat down at his desk with a
fresh cup of coffee when the officer walked up to his desk and placed the
folder on it.
“What’s this?” he asked Officer Stephens.
“Just came in. A little girl found a tooth in a Gumball
machine in town.”
Murphy opened the folder and glanced through the report.
“Okay, thanks,” he said to Stephens and continued to read.
Probably nothing, he
thought, probably one of the employees
lost their tooth and it accidentally fell on the line. Maybe there was a fight.
Then standing and grabbing his coat thought, I guess I’ll check it out.
His first stop was to the store where the Gumball machine
sat.
“I’m Detective Murphy”, he said to the young woman standing
behind the register, “Is the manager available?”
The young girl whose badge read beth, picked up the phone,
hit the intercom button and with her voice reverberating around the store said,
“Cliff to the front register please”.
A few minutes later and tall man in a shirt and tie, wearing
a name badge with Cliff on the front, came walking up the center aisle. As he
approached, Murphy introduced himself.
“Good afternoon, sir, I’m detective Murphy. I have a few
questions for you.”
“Sure,” Cliff said, “what can I do for you.”
Who owns the Gumball machine outside?”
“It’s owned by a small company called Lewis Arcade and Snack
Machine. They also own the soda machine out front. What’s this all about?”
“Probably nothing,” Murphy said. “Do you have a contact
person?”
“Sure,” and Cliff walk behind the counter, reached into a
drawer and pulled out a business card. “This is the guy we call when ther e are
problems with the machine. If there are no problems I barely see the guy. He
fills the gumball and soda machine regularly and I hardly ever see him.”
Murphy wrote the contact number in his notebook and handed
the card back to cliff. Murphy then went back to his car, took his cell phone
out of his pocket and called the number.
The phone rang five times
when it was answered, “this is Gregg.”
“Hello Gregg, this is Detective Murphy, do you supply the
gumball machine in front of Cliff’s Hardware?”
“Yes,” he answered, “Is there a problem?”
“I was just wondering if you noticed anything different the
last time you filled the machine.”
“No,” Gregg answered, “I just opened the box and dumped them
in.”
“Where do
The call was answered on the third ring. “Bingo Candy, can I
help you?”
“This is Detective John Murphy. I need to talk to someone in
your gumball division. Let them know this is a police matter.”
Murphy could hear the phone ring twice. “This is Rob Davis.
Who’s calling please?”
Murphy explained the situation to Davis. “We’ve already
talked to the man who fills the machine. He told us he gets the gumballs from
your company. Do you know how a tooth might end up in one of your boxes of
gumballs?”
“The only way I can think of is if the tooth landed on the
conveyer belt before the gum was packaged.”
“Any reports of someone losing a tooth?”
“No, but we do have an employee missing.”
The missing employee, Jeff Schmitt, worked the night shift.
Murphy questioned the staff. He got lucky on his third interview.
“I had gone on my break,” Alyssa Sanchez said. “I heard two
men arguing. I didn’t recognize the man’s voice, but he was accusing Jeff of
sleeping with his wife.”
“What time was this?”
“Around 11:30.”
“Did you see them?”
“No, I didn’t want to seem noisy, so I walked away.”
“Do you know if Jeff was having an affair?”
“There were rumors that he was seeing Denise Williams, a
woman who also works the night shift. Her husband works days. That’s when they
would get together, or so the rumors say.”
“Where were they arguing?”
“Near the break room by the vending machines.”
Murphy found the vending machines. There were three
machines. A soda machine, snack and sandwich machines. The soda machine had an
“Out of Order” sign on it. He looked around the area. Across from the machines
was a railing that overlooked the conveyer belt carrying the gumballs to the
packaging area.
So let’s say they
struggled here, Murphy thought. Maybe
a tooth is knocked loose and lands on the conveyor belt, but then why did Jeff
Schmitt disappear after?
Murphy walked to the plants security office. “Do you guys
have security camera’s setup in the plant?”
“Only on the entrances and loading docks. The Union
prevented us from installing them in the warehouse accusing us of spying on the
employees.”
Can you show me the video from two days ago between eleven
and twelve PM.
Murphy watched the video. He saw Williams enter the factory
at 11:20 and leave at 11:45.
“Do you know Jeff Schmitt?” Murphy asked the security guard.
“I know what he looks like.”
“Can you review the video at the time Jeff would have left
work that same night?
The guard watched as the night shift employees left the
factory. He then rewound the video and watched again.
“I didn’t see him with the rest of the crowd.”
“Could he have left from a different exit?’
“Not without setting off the alarm.”
So he never left the
factory
Murphy stood in front of the broken soda machine. He looked
at the lock on the side and saw scratches as if someone had picked it. The companies
lock smith arrived fifteen minutes later, opening the machine. Jammed inside
was Jeff Schmitt. A quick examination showed he was missing a tooth. His hair
was matted with dried blood on the back of his head. There was also a piece of
pipe with hair and dried blood visible at one end.
Murphy arrived at the Williams home accompanied by two
uniformed officers. Denise answered the door, a black and blue mark that she
had tried to hide with makeup, on her left cheek. Mr. Williams walked into the
living room, saw the police and turned to run, but the officers grabbed him
before he made it to the kitchen where he was arrested.
“How did you figure it out?” Williams asked.
Murphy held up the tooth. “My mother always told me that
chewing gum was bad for the teeth. I guess getting hit with a metal pipe is
worse.”
