Chapter-8
A person is a liar. A person is concealing things from us. He or she is amongst us. And the person is the murderer.
These were the thoughts swirling in my mind as I lay tossing and turning in my bed at night.
I wanted to refuse to believe this. I wanted to deny it. But deep down, I knew this was the truth. It scared me to think that I might accidently witness something sinister and the murderer would be inclined to strike at me.
The next morning brought a bright, sunny day to us. Somehow, the weather didn't feel right. It did not harmonize with the evil atmosphere at Springfield.
'You seem quite thoughtful this morning.' Aariz remarked as the two of us strolled in the garden after breakfast, the sun casting its bright rays on our faces.
'Well, I have been thinking a lot lately.' I admitted.
'Would you care to share your thoughts with me, young boy?'
'I'm wondering if we would ever be able to solve this mystery that we have stumbled across.' I said.
'Ah! So you are tired of all this.'
'More like scared.' I said dryly.
Aariz turned sharply to me. 'And what reason do you have to be scared?'
I kept quiet for a moment. Then I related to him my thoughts from last night.
Aariz relaxed. 'I wish you would accelerate your investigations a bit.' I said.
'Oh, so you think I have been stalling? That I've not been doing anything.' Aariz said amusedly and I smiled.
'Well, I have no idea what you have been doing. You never tell me.' I complained.
'I wouldn't like to tell you anything until I'm perfectly sure of it.' He said. 'But let us accelerate the investigations a bit, as you put it. This time, I will let you tag along. Come with me.'
'Where to?' I asked as I followed him.
Aariz walked down the driveway and out into the street. He hailed a cab and told the address to the diver, 'Wellness and Health Hospital.'
'We are going to pay Mary a visit,' he told me.
He led me to a room on the first floor of the hospital. We entered the whitewashed room. 'Hello Mary. How do you feel now?' Aariz greeted the maid who was lying on the bed, a drip attached to her left hand.
On seeing us, she made an attempt to sit up but Aariz indicated her to keep lying down.
'I'm feeling much better sir, thank you.' Mary replied to his earlier question. 'The doctor says that I'm out of danger now and that I will be discharged tomorrow.'
'Good, good,' said Aariz . We sat down on the chairs beside her bed and Aariz put the cup of coffee and the box of chocolates on a table that we had bought from the hospital cafeteria.
'Now, Mary,' Aariz said, 'do you have enough energy in you to tell us exactly what had happened?'
'Certainly, sir.' Mary said as she straightened a bit.
'After the Inspector questioned me yesterday, I went to the kitchen where I had kept a bowl on the stove to be heated as was my habit. I poured it into my cup into my cup and drank half of it. Then I got engaged in other works. It was maybe fifteen minutes later that I felt nauseous. After that, I kept vomiting and fortunately, Sabil found me in that position.'
'Did you notice anyone coming in or going out of the kitchen?'
Mary seemed to be reflecting a bit and then she shook her head. 'No.'
Aariz nodded thoughtfully and paused for a while. He picked up the cup of coffee and extended it towards Mary. She gave him a grateful smile and leant forward. Abruptly, a weird look came over her features and she jerked back onto her pillow.
Aariz hastily put the cup back down and I helped Mary lie down again.
"Oh! That must have been a wave of vertigo.' Aariz said. 'You can drink this when you feel well enough. We won't tire you any longer. I hope you get well soon.'
Then we left the hospital and drove back to Springfield.
*****
The following hours of the day were quite irrelevant to narrate, so I'm just going to skip to the next day which brought Mary home from the hospital.
We helped her into the living room, though she did not seem to need our help as she was quite healthy now. She sat on an easy chair. Inspector Matin was present too, along with all the members of the Basil family and of course, Aariz . We all sat down to cups of coffee made by Sarah. Everyone seemed cheerful enough on the outside, but I knew that the happiness was strained. We all were preoccupied by our uneasy thoughts on the inside.
After a while of small conversations and forced smiles, Aariz put his cup aside and cleared his throat to draw our attention, which he immediately did. Six pairs of eyes looked at him inquisitively.
'I've been reflecting upon the incidents which have occurred in this house since my arrival,' He began. ''I think it's time to share my thoughts and theories with all of you.'
Finally, I thought.
'Let's start from the beginning,' Aariz continued. 'On the night of his death, Rigel Basil had his dinner in his room. After that, Mr Daniel met him to tell his father about a certain lady who he wanted to marry. Rigel forbids him to do so for his own personal reasons, which caused a major feud to broil over between the two. Rigel also threatens to disinherit him if he dared to go against his demands. Daniel remained unsuccessful in getting Rigel to approve of the marriage and left angrily. Daniel hid this fact from the police. Why?' All eyes casted upon a very apprehensive Daniel, making the man fidget even more.
'He feared that that fight could be considered as a motive for him to have killed his father. And he was right. This could have been the case. Daniel later told us that he went back to see his father at 11 o'clock but was unable to meet him as he saw Mary taking Rigel's coffee to him. But as Mary has told us, she had taken Rigel's coffee to him a long time before that-just after dinner.'
'I wasn't lying.' Daniel spoke up anxiously. 'I swear I wasn't lying. I did see Mary taking father's coffee to his room.'
Aariz raised a finger to silence him and said, 'As Mr Dawid told us, he went to his father as he was in need of money and wanted to ask his father to provide him with some. But Rigel Basil refused. A thing that Mary told me confused me immensely at the time. She told me that Rigel had told her to bring a knife and that she had done as he had said. Now why would Rigel want a knife at that time? I thought just one thing-suicide. But I didn't quite believe in that solution. Then the second tragedy occurred-Mary was poisoned.
'Inspector Matin concluded that she was poisoned because she knew something that she wasn't even aware of knowing and that was dangerous for the murderer.
Who had access to the arsenic containing weed killer lying in the garden shed? Dawid.....and maybe Sarah too because she spent a large fraction of her time in the attic where Dawid had kept the key of the shed.'
Sarah kept calm even after this almost accusation but Dawid was clearly having a hard time containing his anger. Before any one of the two could protest, Aariz continued his speech, 'According to my theory, Mary was poisoned to conceal a crime. To conceal a crime she had committed herself because indeed, Mary is the murderer of Rigel Basil.'
A/N
Hello dear readers!!
I finally managed to write this very important chapter.
Tell me did you already suspect Mary or was it a surprise?
I really want to know so please comment away and vote too.
Have a nice day and stay tuned for the last chapter which will hopefully be updated soon.
YOU ARE READING
Death at Springfield.
Mystery / Thriller"Mr Rigel. He's dead." I announced breathlessly. Haris Tijan is invited by his uncle to accompany him on a trip to an old friend. The reunion turns out to be something else when their host is found dead in his bed. The situation suggests suicide. It...
