The Poisoned Fish Mystery

It all started when Brad, a storeowner, was cleaning the fish tank. He was looking for dead fishes so the tank could become clean. He started to pick the dead fish up from the bottom of the tank. It was a big fish. Actually, it was the biggest fish in the tank. He studied the fish from head to tail. The fish was definitely poisoned.

Brad didn’t notice that there was a customer. He must have known that the fish was poisoned. The customer started shouting that a fish was poisoned in the tank. The other employees that were working near the cash register and storing products on the shelves rushed to the seafood area. Brad showed the poisoned fish to them. They were scared, and so were the customers. They threw away the fishes they bought and ran out of the shop.

Days passed and Brad’s shop had less and less customers after they found out about the poisoned fish. The employees started thinking that Brad just wanted to poison his customers, according to the jokes he made when he was working. The fish truck didn’t send a lot of fish anymore. Lots of things were different.

On a Tuesday of November, there was not a single shopper in Brad’s market. Brad and the employees worked all day to clean the tank when Brad made another discovery. There were more fishes poisoned in the tank. The employees stopped working and Brad changed to another fish company so the fishes wouldn’t be poisoned, but no customer dared to buy any fish. The store was shut down for a week and they sold one or two things a day under a stand they opened on the street. Strangely, a small store across the street was filled with customers and stole all the business from Brad.

Soon, December arrived. Brad and department manager were talking to each other after a threatening note was taped on the door of the store. It said:

Dear Brad and store,

If you try to sell another fish, beware! All your fishes will be poisoned and we will make sure that your store will be bankrupt.

It didn’t have a name on the bottom. The case was getting too serious. Just then, two customers went in and started to buy some grocery. When Brad recommended the fish, they reminded Brad of the note. Brad knew they couldn’t have known unless they peeked when they saw it or if they actually wrote it. The two customers were very suspicious. After they left, Brad and the employees made a plan. The plan was to sell a fish to somebody, and then they would hide in the fish section overnight and catch the bad guys when they tried to poison the fish. They sold one fish to a man walking in the street as their plan started. Brad shouted to everyone in the street that they sold a big fish. The store closed at 9:00pm, and some of the employees left. They also shut the lights and locked the doors.

Brad and the department manager stayed quiet behind the tank. Suddenly there was a noise. The lock was broken. The two bad guys finally came and they went straight to the fish area. They almost put the poison into the tank when Brad and the department manager tackled the bad guys down. They were the owners of the small store.

“I can explain everything,” said one of the bad guys before Brad could ask anything. “We were working in that tiny shop across the street, but we didn’t have many people to come shop at our store. We wanted your business, so we poisoned your fish.” Brad phoned the police to take the bad guys away.

Everybody was shopping at Brad’s store again. The fish company delivered lots of fish. Brad never saw another poisoned fish anymore while he was cleaning the tank.