The Mysterious Mugging

A cool breeze passed over Alistair as he sat atop the tallest tree in Sherwood Park, eyes glued to his favorite pair of antique binoculars. After that fateful run-in with the car, he decided that he would let cases come to him with ease. This allowed him to spend more time enjoying life, instead of continuously wondering if he would ever get another chance to do the investigation work that he longed for. Hence, on this day, he was doing just that. Alistair could not remember any occasion in recent times when he had been as relaxed as he was now, engaging in his favorite pastime, people watching. Earlier in the morning, there were not many people in the park and he had taken to watching a bright red cardinal build a nest in the next tree over. Later, the sun was out in full blast and many people milled about eating ice cream and generally chatting happily. He stayed up in the same tree until twilight. Just as he was considering settling for the night in the tree, he looked over toward Castle Apartments to the southeast, and some thing caught his eye. After moving the binoculars down and quickly refocusing them, he saw two people engaging in some kind of violent activity. After a short time, he saw hit the other in the chest, grab an item that they were holding, and run off into the night. Leaping with more energy than The Detective knew he had at this time, he ran towards where the victim was still standing. By the time he reached the the spot where the event occurred, the victim was gone. It was almost as if the mugging had never occurred. In his annoyance, Alistair began to argue with himself. “It doesn’t look like anyone is here, and nothing is disturbed, said one part of him. The other insisted that, “I saw it through my trusty binoculars!” He spent a while searching the scene of the crime for evidence. Finding none, he slowly walked back toward his treetop paradise. As he prepared for bed thirty feet in the air, he remembered thinking that he saw the crime at twilight, and wondered why he had taken his eyes so seriously.