No Crime In Havenfall City
For a city of its size, that fact has always seemed unusual.
The Havenfall Police Department has never claimed the city is free of crime. Burglaries happen.
Assaults happen. People disappear. Bodies are found.
Yet Havenfall has one peculiar distinction.
Its cases tend to resolve themselves.
To understand why, I spoke with Police Chief Arthur Bell at the Havenfall Police Station.
Daniel Mercer: Havenfall has one police station serving the entire city. Is that because crime is unusually low?
Chief Bell: No.
Daniel Mercer: So there is plenty of crime?
Chief Bell: There is crime everywhere. Havenfall isn't special in that regard.
Daniel Mercer: Then why only one station?
Chief Bell: Because we don't have fewer crimes. We have fewer unfinished cases.
Daniel Mercer: What do you mean by that?
Chief Bell: People confess. Evidence appears. Stolen property is returned. Missing people turn up.
Sometimes the person we're looking for simply walks through those doors and tells us what they did.
Daniel Mercer: How often does that happen?
Chief Bell: Often enough that nobody here finds it particularly remarkable anymore.
Daniel Mercer: You're saying criminals voluntarily come to the police?
Chief Bell: I'm saying Havenfall has a strange way of bringing things to an end.
Daniel Mercer: Is that why the department doesn't seem as aggressive about certain investigations as people might expect?
Chief Bell paused before answering.
Chief Bell: We investigate what needs investigating.
Daniel Mercer: Even when something appears to be solving itself?
Chief Bell: Especially then.
Daniel Mercer: Why?
The chief looked toward the station window.
Chief Bell: Because sometimes something solving itself doesn't mean we've solved it.
That was the closest Chief Bell came to acknowledging the phenomenon Havenfall residents have spoken about for years.
There is, however, one question that remains difficult to answer.
What happens when a case doesn't solve itself?
The death of Martin Mathens has become one such case.
Despite the circumstances surrounding his death, the investigation has received noticeably less attention than many residents expected. There have been no major public appeals, no extensive press conferences, and little information released by the department.
When I asked Chief Bell about Martin Mathens specifically, his response was brief.
Chief Bell: “The investigation is ongoing.”
Daniel Mercer: Is the department satisfied with what it knows?
A pause.
Chief Bell: “We're satisfied that we're not missing anything.”
I asked him what that meant.
He did not elaborate.
Perhaps Havenfall's police have simply become accustomed to letting the city answer its own questions.
Perhaps the Hole has something to do with it.
Or perhaps there is another explanation entirely.
Either way, one thing remains strange about Havenfall:
The police are rarely left with a mystery for very long.
Except when they are.
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HAVENFALL CITY ARCHIVE
Interview: Havenfall Police Department
Subject: Crime, investigations, and the unusual resolution of cases
Interviewer: Daniel Mercer
