Murder at the Arboretum

News Flash! A murder has been committed at the Arboretum. Prominent local letterboxer Ira Boxer was found under a tree, covered with the normal forest debris. Mr. Boxer was apparently strangled by a person or persons unknown. Police are currently conducting an investigation.

Murder at the Arboretum
Box 1: The Crime Scene

Disclaimer: All of the events and names in this letterbox are fictional. Any similarity to actual events and persons, whether living, dead, or nonexistent, is purely coincidental.

A body has been discovered at the Arboretum in North Harris County. The victim has been identified as one Ira Boxer, age unknown, of Houston. It was 10:00 AM when the call came in. Detective Gandolph de Grey was nearby, though off duty, and he immediately headed that way. He followed the familiar signs to the stoplight, then turned west into the Arboretum. He drove to the end of the road and parked his blue VW bug, which he affectionately called the “Blueberry Beetle”, by the pavilion across from the playground. He knew exactly where to go.
From the trailhead at the pavilion, he took the Hawthorne Loop Trail. At the trail junction, Detective de Grey went straight without hesitation for 90 steps, where a uniformed officer pointed left into the woods to a 3’ tall oak stump and, lying next to it, the log that once was a tall oak tree. Following the log to its far end, he came to a pair of large pines. Behind the larger of the two, the one on the left, he saw the body of Ira Boxer, covered with leaves and twigs. Ira was a big man, and tall, maybe 6 feet 4. The body was wearing only a pair of red boxer shorts, decorated with white hearts. He had been strangled. Detective de Grey noticed the blue bruises on the man’s neck. Or was it something else? He subconsciously looked at his hands, then took out his handkerchief and wiped them.
In the victim’s left hand was a rubber stamp, the image of which was red boxer shorts with white hearts and the letters “IRA”. The detective perused the crime scene and noticed several items strewn about that might prove useful. Among these were a silver feather, clutched in the big guy’s right hand, and a round metal pathtag with the image of a young bear on it. The tag was in a small plastic bag marked “FF”. Another plastic bag, a Ziploc with the word “Logbook” written on it, was also found. It contained some kind of berries, possibly dewberries. Also scattered about were quite a few jelly beans of a single Jelly Belly flavor called “Chocolate Pudding”. In the mud next to the body was a footprint, made, obviously, by a bare foot, about a size nine, de Grey guessed. He could tell that the victim had been taking part in “letterboxing”, a sort of treasure-hunting game. The detective was not unfamiliar with the sport. He knew there was a “gathering” of letterboxers going on in the park, so perhaps some of the participants knew Ira Boxer. He went back to the police officer and asked him to get their names and make sure they were available for questioning. When the officer returned with the names, he carefully recorded them in his notebook. There were five of them:

Sterling Seagull
Kid Kodiak
Suzy Shoeless
Rubus Trivialis
Jogsfer Jellybeans

Murder at the Arboretum
Box 2: Suspect No. 1, Sterling Seagull

Detective Gandolph de Grey backtracked along the trail toward the pavilion until he came to the trail junction he had passed earlier and turned left. He continued until he came to another junction where the Hawthorne Loop joined the Post Oak Loop. He turned left again and took 90 steps to another officer who indicated that Mr. Seagull was in the woods about 30 steps away, waiting to be interrogated. The rather tall, distinguished-looking gentleman was contemplating in the fork of a green double-trunked tree that had sort of white horizontal stripes, hidden by sticks that had been leaned up against the tree. Even so, the detective recognized him immediately.
An hour and a half earlier, Sterling Seagull had stepped behind a tree and peered cautiously around it. A slight scuffling had alerted him that a muggle might be at hand. He was in the woods looking for a good spot to hide a letterbox. The man was slender enough that the tree hid him well, or so he hoped. When he saw the chap come around the curve in the path, he knew this was no muggle. It had to be that obnoxious newbie, Ira Boxer, although he had never seen him in person. He could tell by the red boxer shorts with white hearts that the man wore. They matched his signature stamp. Sterling could see that the man had a backpack slung over his shoulder and was carrying a small camo-taped box. Straining to see, he realized that the box had a small hooked wire attached. Could it be one of his own boxes that the man had, or was it a box that he had come to hide? If the latter were true, that could only mean that the big guy in the boxer shorts was stealing his idea. A cloud crossed the face of Sterling Seagull. Maybe Ira Boxer had gone too far. Serves him right. Ah, the detective’s here. He looks oddly familiar. Reminds me of that fellow that always finds my boxes the day after I plant them.

Detective de Grey asked his usual questions and deliberately printed a series of precise , almost microscopic, notes in his book.

“Your signature stamp is silver, am I correct, Mr. Seagull? A silver bird if I recall.”

“Yes, of course, it’s a silver seagull.” Sterling replied.

De Grey smiled, “Of course. And we found a silver feather at the crime scene. What do you make of that, Mr. Seagull?”

Sterling Seagull, an ardent bird-watcher, didn’t hesitate; “I should say it came from the wing of a bird called the Gray-Belly Goshawk, a frequent visitor in Houston this time of year, Detective.”

Who was the next suspect? Ah, yes, Kid Kodiak. Odd name, that.



Murder at the Arboretum
Box 3: Suspect No. 2, Kid Kodiak

The Kid had passed Sterling Seagull and walked east past the junction of Post Oak Loop and Hawthorne Loop, staying on the Post Oak trail, then across the wooden footbridge to the trail’s intersection with the Serenity Trail. He continued on that path to a bench on his left. He welcomed the rest and sat down to wipe his brow. Kid Kodiak wasn’t his real name, of course, he had only chosen it for his trail name because it was his family’s pet name for him on camping trips when he was a kid. He had regretted the choice a hundred times. But, of course, he had placed so many letterboxes that he was forced to keep it. He was on the way to check on one of his new boxes, “Neither Hide Nor Hare”. Just thinking about it made him chuckle. He had only hidden it yesterday and it was probably his best box yet. His boxes were well-known for their wry humor. He had felt pressure lately to plant more boxes, ever since that newbie, Ira Boxer, had appeared on the scene and vowed to replace him as Texas’ most prolific letterboxer. He knew that the box was behind a large oak tree about 10 steps off the path. "Is that a willow oak or a water oak?", he asked himself. No matter, it was green with moss and a rather large and straight tree, so he needed to add that to his clues. He walked over and reached behind it, expecting to find it in a pocket about a foot above the ground. Sure enough, it was right where he expected it to be, covered with sticks and pine cones. He retrieved and carefully opened the box. Drat! Someone had already found it and had taken the new pathtag he had placed in it for a “First Finder” gift. He removed the logbook from the plastic bag. When he opened the book, his face flushed with anger. The finder was Ira Boxer! “That guy’s really getting on my nerves! If I could get my hands on that guy right now, I couldn’t be responsible for my actions!”, he seethed, then remembered that Mr. Boxer was recently deceased. He took the box back to the bench and repacked his letterbox. That’s where Detective Gandolph de Grey found him.

“Are you Mr. Kodiak?”, he asked, although he knew the identity of the young man very well.

“That’s only my trail name, you want to make something of it?” he challenged.

“Then I assume this is yours?” asked the detective, holding out the pathtag that he found at the scene of the crime. “Can you explain what it was doing at the murder scene?”

“That Ira guy took it from my letterbox this morning. I assume he was gloating over being the first finder of my box when he met his unfortunate fate,” said The Kid.

“Yes, I can understand how that could be a motive for murder; have a good day, Mr. Kodiak.” Gandolph de Grey stroked his long mustache as he headed down the path in search of the barefoot lady, Suzy Shoeless.



Murder at the Arboretum
Box 4: Suspect No. 3, Suzy Shoeless

When Suzy Shoeless pulled into the parking lot, the blue VW bug caught her eye. She was certain she had seen that very same car before...was it at Brazos Bend or maybe Rusk? Both? Could it be the mysterious boxer that’s always hanging around gatherings, but never joining in, the one that’s first finder on almost every box? Nah. She looked at her watch. It was almost 9:00 AM. She knew she was early and there was no one at the pavilion. Her feet were hurting, so she sat down and put on her size seven shoes. She couldn’t go barefooted as she once had. As she started down the trail, she dismissed any thoughts she had about the car and followed the clues to her first box of the day. An hour later she had found and logged in five boxes. One more and she would return to the pavilion to check in. She saw Kid Kodiak ahead, sitting on a bench, and started to say “Hi”, but saw that he was talking to a gray-haired gentleman about something. Could that be….? Nah. She passed them by and continued on down the path, bearing left at every intersection as she went. When she passed the restrooms on the left and the trail map sign on the right, she took the West Oxbow Loop and began counting her steps. Following the clues, she took 125 steps and looked into the woods on the right, just off the trail. She found what she was looking for, an oddly misshapen oak tree. The box was supposed to be in a hole in that tree, about waist-high. That’s where she was looking when a voice behind her gave her a start.

“Ms. Shoeless, I presume?” It was the grizzled man she had seen talking to The Kid. “My name is Detective Gandolph de Grey. What can you tell me about Ira Boxer?”

“Not much,” Suzy said, “other than the obnoxious posts he makes on the Texas Letterboxing message board.”

“Why did you consider them so annoying?” asked de Grey.

“They were just mean. He was always gloating about how he was the greatest letterboxer ever, when in reality, he’s never done much. I cut him off a couple of times and threatened to ban him from the board, but that didn’t stop his rantings. I finally told him that if I ever saw him, I was gonna kill ‘im!”

“I see,” said the detective, “Someone has done just that. Tell me, since your name is Shoeless, why are you now wearing shoes?”

“It’s not about footwear, Mr. de Grey, it’s about philosophy.”

Rubus Trivialis was next on the list.



Murder at the Arboretum
Box 5: Suspect No. 4, Rubus Trivialis

Detective Gandolph de Grey left Suzy Shoeless and continued to the east, passing sign post #12, on the left, as he went. The sign said "Red Bay", but he didn't stop to read the details. He passed the next trailhead sign and, bearing to the right, the bat house, keeping it on his right, then on to the next trail junction. To the left, he saw the wooden footbridge that led into the Maple area. He crossed the bridge, stopping at the far end, and looked 90 degrees to his left. He saw a huge downed tree not too far away, with a big gnarly limb pointing up and outward and, just down and to the left of that limb, another one pointing at the ground. On top of that limb was a hole. He saw Rubus Trivialis sitting on the log, but when she saw him, she ran down to the left end of the log, where it meets the ground, and hid in the hollow, covering herself with pieces of bark, as if she was terribly upset about something. He decided to find out what was bothering her.

Rubus had come to the gathering a little early to check on her letterbox, the one called “The Candy Jar”. It was a rather large box, full of “candy” stamps, and keeping it well covered was critical to its survival. This was true of all boxes, of course, but, because this one was so large, she checked on it frequently. When she rounded the corner on the trail, her eyes searched for the large oak tree where “The Candy Jar” was hiding, guarded by prickly dewberry vines. She stopped to pick a few before turning her attention to the letterbox. To her surprise and horror, the box was completely exposed! On closer inspection, she could see that the lid was still on, so maybe the contents were safe. Sure enough, all was well, but who could have been so careless? She opened the box and saw that the plastic bag that the logbook was supposed to be in was missing. Why would anyone steal a plastic bag? Then, she noticed that the last finder was that new guy, Ira Boxer. Rubus was well-known in the letterboxing community for her mystery boxes and the cryptic clues, but lately, Ira Boxer had been finding all of them, some just a few days after she planted them. Worse, he was even hiding his own mystery boxes. Why, he planted one a couple of weeks ago and she still hadn’t figured it out. That guy infuriated her! Then to leave her box out in the open like that and to steal a Ziploc bag. “I could just strangle him!” she cried.

“I see a blue stain on your fingers; is that the same stain I found on Ira Boxer’s neck, Ms. Trivialis?” He introduced himself as Detective de Grey.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve been picking wild dewberries. Stains your fingers every time,” replied Rubus.

“Would you stand up, please, Ms. Trivialis? I’d like to see how tall you are.” the detective politely asked.

“I am standing up, Detective.” She said. She was clearly indignant.




Murder at the Arboretum
Box 6: Suspect No. 5, Jogsfer Jellybeans

She was always training for a marathon, it seemed, so jogging through the various parks around Houston had become part of her routine. Why walk when you can run? And, since taking up the hobby of letterboxing, she had combined the two, jogging along the trails, stopping only to find a letterbox, popping jellybeans on the way to keep her energy level up. That’s how she came up with her trail name, Jogsfer Jellybeans. She loved jellybeans and figured if she jogged, she could justify this one passion. She had chosen Mercer Arboretum on this particular day because she loved the botanical gardens and she could cool off by strolling through there when she finished running. She usually ran alone, and she felt comfortable doing that. She could, after all, outrun any danger that might come along. Except for the occasional pack of wild dogs, or maybe ticks out in the woods. Engrossed in her thoughts, she didn’t hear the footsteps coming up behind her. She sensed more than saw him, as he passed her in a blur, reaching out and grabbing her bag of jellybeans as he went. In shock, she stopped and watched him disappear around the corner of the wooded trail. He must be a runner, because he was wearing some kind of shorts. Not normal running shorts, but red with white hearts, almost like those funny valentine boxer shorts. Suddenly she became angry...not only had he passed her like she was standing still, but he had taken her jellybeans, and they were her favorite flavor, “Chocolate Pudding”. No one could get away with that! She wanted to go after him, murder on her mind. But first, she would finish her run.
Gandolph de Grey looked up to see a young lady running across the footbridge and away from the Maple area. She jogged to the “You Are Here” Sign #12 and went left. He saw her walk a ways down the trail and go behind a huge Twisted Oak on the left. He found her resting at its base where the vine was sprouting.

“Do you know Ira Boxer?”, he asked, and offered his badge as identification.

“I know him by reputation only, but I saw him,” she replied, “It was a while ago. He made me mad and I had to run to cool off. Haven’t I met you? Do you happen to have a jelly bean on you?”

“It’s curious that you should ask, Ms. Jellybeans. A lot of them were found scattered on the ground around Mr. Boxer’s body.”

“What a waste of jelly beans.” She said it with a certain amount of sincerity.



Murder at the Arboretum
Box 7: The Murderer

So, who do you think murdered IRA Boxer? To find out, you must start at the Twisted Oak Tree. Proceed to the Bald Cypress Swamp, keeping right as you go around, then follow the signs to the Hickory Bog and cross the boardwalk that takes you through the Bog. From the end of the boardwalk, take 125 steps and then stop. You should see a small clearing just ahead, and, looking left, you will notice a tall, vine-covered, multi-trunked tree off the trail to the left. Here, the murderer is in hiding, but if you find him, and you should, the culprit will be revealed.

This series of letterboxes was placed by The Texians.