A Preface to Murder　　

　　Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Sometimes life deals a bad hand. Sometimes it is hard to go on. Sometimes evil triumphs over good.　　Nancy sighed heavily as she pulled her daughter’s diary from the drawer. She leaned forward to examine the familiar writing. A postcard with a colored sketch fell onto the floor from the book the drawing was a picture of a long curved sandy beach on a tropical island; of course it would be Montserrat. She felt clumsy as she knelt to retrieve(取回,收回) the picture. Under no circumstances could she forgive or forget the criminals who tortured her beautiful Megan. It was difficult not to feel bitter about the events of the preceding year. She had shed so many tears in the past year since her daughter’s murder. Nancy recognized that she was suffering from psychological problems and had really become indifferent to the events in her daily life. She began to shake and then to weep. When would there be an answer to this damn nightmare?　　Megan had attended secondary school at a private girls’ school five hundred kilometers from home. In junior school she had been a straight A student. Now in high school she continued to study hard, play sports, join the school orchestra, plus a variety of school clubs. As a joke, her friends labeled her a genius, often just to make her angry. As well as being a high academic achiever she had a great capacity for fun. She thrived on an active social life. Slender, pretty and vivacious(活潑開朗的), she was the apple of her parents’ eye.　　

　　Every year in accordance with school policy, a student candidate was chosen to travel and live in another commonwealth(聯邦) country for six months. As Megan had an interest in a diplomatic career after completing university, she figure she would be considered a prime applicant if she applied for the position. A detailed essay was necessary to provide the committee with a clear idea of her intention. The selection committee would spend a fortnight reviewing the applications in an attempt to identify the ideal student. Megan also needed to undergo a rigorous personal interview, which would validate(驗證) her academic background and evaluate her general behavior.　　

　　The interview preceded well, Megan taking the initiative to underline her strengths. After school some of her friends gathered for coffee in the café near the school. They confessed to Megan that they were rather envious of the opportunity she might have to live in another country. They enquired about the details of the interview. Two weeks later Megan received a phone call notifying her of the successful results of the interview.　　Her parents were slightly nervous experiencing some negative feelings about Megan leaving the safety of home to live in another country. They knew the experience would broaden her horizons however, her destination, Montserrat, within the past year had a huge volcano erupt(噴發), disrupting(使中斷,擾亂) people’s lives. Unstable conditions, loss of homes and fear of more eruptions all tended to breed trouble among the poor of the island. Her parents’ concerns were for Megan’s safety.　　Departure day dawned clear and bright. Farewells were made to family and friends and she was off for the adventure of a lifetime.　　Megan’s arrival on Montserrat was both welcoming and initially uneventful(平靜無事的). The island family where she was to live for the next six months, made her feels right at home. As the pace of life on the island was more relaxed that at home, she was very happy. Her new schoolmates included her in their lives and she adapted quickly. Swimming in the warm ocean water, and sitting underneath waving palm trees in a mild climate, was a pleasant change from the cold northern winters.　　

　　One Saturday evening a gang of kids piled into a taxi, heading off for a barbecue(戶外烤肉餐) on the beach. Some of the girls decided to walk along the beach. Megan joined them, lagging slightly behind. She knew she ought to hurry to catch up but the moist sand felt good under her feet. Water lapped at her toes; the tide was coming in. the violet light of dusk began to darken the sky.　　In the growing darkness a van pulled alongside her, stopping with a squeal(尖銳的聲音) of brakes. Before she knew what was happening two masked men leapt out of the car and began to chase her, grabbing her and finally throwing her to the ground. The gross attack that followed was brutal and unexplainable. Initially Megan tried to fight off her attackers by clawing at their faces with her nails. Using a coil of rope to bind her hands, the men were free to proceed. First a fist broke her upper jaw leaving her unconscious. Then the hoodlums(無賴,流氓) used a metal rod to crush Megan’s skull(頭顱) and finally a knife blade penetrated her neck piercing an artery(動脈). After the crude act was completed her body was bundled into the back of a cab and discarded in a ditch in an isolated district far from the beach.　　

　　Realizing that Megan had disappeared, her friends dialed an emergency number, notifying the authorities of the situation. Once Megan’s body was discovered, a warrant(通緝令) was issued for the immediate arrest of the two wanted men. Megan’s parents were notified by the embassy. They in turn retained legal counsel and an intense inquiry began into the case. Those officials with an intimate knowledge of the island felt that the mugging was a case of mistaken identification and a complete misunderstanding(誤解), a misguided outlet for mounting frustrations on the island.　　Megan’s parents, Nancy and Don, cancelled all their immediate plans and flew to the island. Rather than wait for the small island ship to transport them to the island they were flown in by helicopter. After hiring a lawyer as an advocate for their cause(案件程序), they began to work with the local police tracking down any angle of the case that would bring these creeps first to court and then to trial before a jury, who in turn would convict them to lengthy jail sentences. As the days slipped by without any answers, they experienced severe emotional fatigue and life became a living hell.　　The investigation seemed to lag at first, but they were reluctant to interfere. The initial reports from this mess were inconclusive; many of the details not being addressed. As paying clients they lodged a complaint with the Governor of the island. After several months passed, the authorities had a frank discussion with Megan’s parents stating that as each day passed they were less and less liable to solve the murder. They cited other examples of unsolved cases and encouraged Nancy and Don to return home. Feeling both annoyed and frustrated, they decided they had done all they could here for the moment.　　Once at home again, Nancy withdrew from community life choosing to spend her time alone. These days, if you went looking, you could often find Don in a local pub having a pint or two of beer. He, too, is unable to come to terms with the sequence of events that tore his family apart this year. Just thinking about Megan brings a lump to his throat and makes his head spin.　　As time passed, it was becoming more and more evident that the stack of paperwork pertaining(與…有關系的) to his daughter’s case was not going to provide any answers immediately, if ever. Tips provided by the public proved to lead nowhere. The records will remain open until the case is solved, however for the moment the natural rhythm of life has been destroyed. Can a family withstand such a tragedy? Only time will tell.