Make no mistake, Detective Inspector Caitlin Murphy is the boss, and in Murder at Sunny Lake, that means she has to come down on her detectives sometImes.
Professionalism matters to Murphy, asked there is little room in her complicated life for goofy humor. In this scene, for example, Murphy is trying to enjoy a cup of coffee in the office, when she spotted something less than becoming for a homicide detective. FYI, I use the word “atelier”, for the main room.
The microwave beeped and turned itself off and Murphy fetched her cup from inside. She dumped a teaspoon of instant coffee into her cup. She sat down while she stirred her coffee and thumbed through her in-tray. She looked out at her staff. Girard was handling his email. Hamilton was leafing through her postcards. And Parker… Murphy squinted her eyes. Was that a penis? she thought. She blinked a few times. Yes, it was a line drawing of a dick and balls, and he was laughing at it.
She tapped the spoon on the side of her cup, got up, and headed quietly into the atelier. Her eyes were fixed on Parker’s screen. She stealthily creeped up behind him and casually said, “Michael?”
“Yes, boss?” he said as he turned in his chair. She glared at him and put her hands on her hips. “Uh, yes, boss?”
“Your screen.”
Parker turned his head to look at his screen. “Oh no!” he sputtered as he pushed the off button on the monitor. “I’m sorry boss, I… I am so sorry.”
“What was that?” Murphy asked loudly. Hamilton looked up and carefully put away her box of postcards. Girard stood up for a better view.
“It’s just a joke, boss,” he said meekly.
“Turn your monitor on and explain the joke to me. Go ahead, explain the joke.”
Parker sighed and turned the monitor on. His face was burning with embarrassment, and he cleared his throat. “This is, um, this is a route one runner took to work today. A group of us at the station run to work and share our running maps. Some of us, uh, have these silly runs and make drawings from our routes,” Parker explained.
“Is that the joke? Because I’m not laughing yet. Cleo, Adam, are you laughing?”
“No.”
“No, boss.”
“So, explain it. This guy takes a map, draws a dick or something on the map and posts it to the group?” she asked. “And that’s funny?”
“No, no,” Parker said as he clicked on the next few maps. “Here, see? A stick figure. And here, here’s a fish. This one is a cat. Not a good cat, but not bad,” he said. “You set your running app to track your route, and then you go, taking certain streets to create drawings. It maps your run and saves it to the cloud. It tracks route, speed, start and finish times. Then you download a screenshot, and, uh, post it to the group.”
“Which one is yours?”
Parker paused a moment before hanging his head. “The cat,” he said.
Despite seeming like a throwaway scene, it actually carries a lot of weight in the story. Allow me to explain.
Insights Into Personalities
Murphy does not like frills: she microwaves water for instant coffee. She doesn’t mind that her people might be doing personal things on work time: she has no problem with Cleo Hamilton’s postcards. But she is concerned that Michael Parker is displaying and laughing at a digital penis drawing.
As she insists later, there is no place for dicks, boobs, racist symbols, or anything less than kid-friendly on police computers. Murphy does not deal with this in an aside, but makes a very conscious decision to call him out in front of the others. She even involves the others by asking if they are laughing: a clear sign that she is the dominant alpha in the atelier.
Michael Parker
Parker is a young man, easy going and kind. He’s a guy’s guy, so sure, he laughs at drawings of dicks. But he’s also willing to be held accountable and, in the remainder of the scene, agreed to get the other runners to stop posting offensive drawings. No denying, little protest, he understands the police hierarchy and does what he’s told. He’s a decent guy, and personally chose to draw a cat on his run rather than anything questionable. The scene also shows Parker is more tech savvy than Murphy who had no idea this kind of app existed.
Adam Girard and Cleo Hamilton
Adam Girard was working, on the computer, answering an email. He is diligent and professional. Cleo is looking through some postcards that another officer brought her. She had no problem doing something personal on work time, but is smart enough to put it away when the boss is a little pissed off. It’s also a hint of Cleo’s attention to detail, which comes up later in the novel. In fact, she is assigned lead on another case because Murphy can trust her attention to detail.
The Running Mapping Software
I use an app that tracks where I am walking, quite accurately I might add. At the end, I get statistics and a map with my route appearing in red. There are runners who create art and post their routes publicly. It can be fun and funny.
This type of running mapping app is a vital key to Murphy and the team for tracking where their Sasquatch hunter walked. The app he used, ‘Mes Errances’, to track his movements. Like most of these apps, his allowed him to pin comments at specific locations. The Muskoka Municipal Police used the app to read the map, follow the GPS coordinates, and locate where the Sasquatch hunter made a startling find.
A Lot In One Scene
Small details illuminate significant aspects later. Employing vivid imagery and descriptions breathes life into your characters, reflecting your unique perspective, character traits, and narrative allure. Incorporating details is an essential skill to personalize your story.
Later friend…
P.S. Image by Lenny Maughan, a marathoner from San Francisco.
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