Good old Sunday,
named, (I assume), in honor of that gallic god 
whose statuary always shows him heroically holding hands aloft  --  
bravely gripping whipped cream & chopped nuts  --   
-- but, sometheless, it inspires a return visit to:

             The Investigatory Files Of A Case That 
                   Remains Largely Unsolved By 
          Those Creatures Going Under The Alias Of: 
                                     Human.
 

                                           *
 
 

                         THE PRIME SUSPECT
 
 

From the outset,
everyone who undertakes this peculiar inquiry 
into that certain --  apparent crime 
unavoidably believes the culprit to be human.

Most men initially, (and most, to the end),
believe that other humans are either
directly responsible for the misdeed 
perpetrated upon their being,
or else in the past, they so offended the gods as to
bring down a curse on all of humanity,
from which he now individually suffers.
         ….(kiddy detectives!)
 

 
A few get beyond such playground bemusements,
and arrive at a theory of the crime that presumes the
ill deed was one which a man inflicts on himself.
Without reaching at least this stage,
no real investigation is ever commenced.

But this proves ultimately to be an illusionary move toward the actual solution of the case,
and for several glaring, 
(although amazingly overlooked), reasons.
One is: lack of motive;
another is: lack of motive,
and a third is: lack of motive,
and fourth, (and most astounding of all), is that:
       a detective cannot investigate himself!

It is illegal, immoral, impertinent, repugnant, dangerous, disgusting, against department policy,
and to top it off  --   impossible.

Now it is that final reason that distracts,
and bamboozles even those gumshoes with G.E.D.s,
for there are no visible clues in the case to suggest that an investigator could not investigate himself…
…if he wanted to….
and for precisely that reason alone is this case so double dammed difficult to unravel. 

You might think that a detective of integrity, 
and a passionate dedication to the truth
could be trusted even to investigate his own affairs;
that his honesty and impartial approach to his work would override any subjective interests with which 
the inquiry might come in conflict.
But it is not herein a question of a man’s intention --
it is a simple matter of: You Can’t Do That --
simple, yes;
easy to realize? --  it would give Sherlock a migraine.
 

Once a particular detective gets on the case,
it is his exclusively;
no one else can join in, or help solve it;
it is truly his case alone --
--  and there is the key clue: “alone;”
not with a partner,
not with half a partner,
but alone:  a – l – o – n – e     --  alone!
meaning: “A totality of --  ONE”!

This being the inescapable, inalterable 
plain facts of the situation,  I then ask you this:
WHO is the detective going to investigate? 
If there is no one whatsoever involved in the investigation but him  --   
--  who is there for him to investigate?
 

Curious-piled-on-curious is that the detective on the case can never grasp this salient fact;
he can hear it and try to take it under 
sincere advisement, 
but its reality will forever elude him,
for no matter how often he may ask himself:
”Can I, or can I not directly perceive myself,
and make valid observations thereof?”,
the answer that will always and automatically appear in his mind is: “Why yes I can!   Obviously --  I can,”
and being on the case alone,
ne’er a voice can he hear to the contrary.
 

We now come to what should be the next and supreme stage of the investigation, 
but one rarely, rarely, rarely ever reached;
the phase where in it should suddenly become obvious & non debatable that what is needed now is:
            An Investigation Into The Very Nature OF
                           The Investigation.

 
Ahhhhhh! --  and now for the first time,
real progress begins to be made in solving this 
most peculiar of alleged grievances,
for although each detective who becomes involved
in this case is on his own --  operating all alone,
and thus incapable of actually investigating himself,
he can turn his attention unexpectedly around,  
and look into the question of:
”Just exactly how did  the feeling for the need for this investigation come about to begin with?” --   
--   THERE is your pay off question!
There is the line of inquiry guaranteed to 
finally solve the case.
 

    Do you hear?
    Do you comprehend?
 
 

             Go to your EMPTY ROOM, and
                OPEN THE DOOR WIDE.
 

                                           J