Homicide Detail. A 40 year old mother is murdered, and Joe Friday has to put the pieces to the mystery together

Checking into the Woodfield High School office, Joe Friday and partner, Ben Romero break the news to 16 year old Roberta Dixon that her mother has been found murdered. Later at the morgue,. The detectives learn more about the cause of death. Young Roberta has recovered enough from her shock, to tell Joe about her family life in her single parent home. She does her best to help cops connect with friends of her mom.

After Roberta is placed in the custody of child services, Joe follows up on leads regarding friends of Mrs Dixon, and reexamine the crime scene. Nice house, nice size yard, well kept. All that can be found is a dead canary. Dead by a sharp weapon… the same thing used on Mrs Dixon. What might Roberta reveal about the canary, or the connection to her mom’s death?

The clues begin to flood Joe, and the evidence all piles up to point to Roberta. Should the cops keep trying to track down the husband? Holes are poked into all of Robertas statements. It doesn’t take much confrontation with the troubled teen to get to the bottom of the crime. The thin web of lies is swept aside, to reveal the fight between her controlling mom over her pet canary. But the twist is in who killed the canary, and why?