The Mysterious Case of Eileen Vermont

July, 11th

My mission today was to go and learn more about Eileen from her highschool. As soon as I had stepped out of my apartment door, I banged headfirst into a man. He wore a cheap-looking leather jacket with loose worn-out jeans. His face was astoundingly hairy – curly shoulder-length hair, a long curly beard and an equally hairy moustache – and he wore dark shades.

"Sorry." He muttered almost inaudibly.

"My bad." I said immediately, and proceeded to go downstairs, when the man stopped me with a question. "You must know about the case of Eileen Vermont."

"Yes." I replied carefully.

"Which police office is investigating on her case?" he asked.

"The Wilhemshire County Police Office. It's two blocks down from here, a turn to the left and straight ahead till the dead end."

"Thank you." The man nodded.

"Er, excuse me sir? Do you live here?" I asked out of curiosity, but the guy pretended to not hear me.

In Austen High's, Eileen Vermont was apparently not very neglected. On my visit, I saw a board made for her in the main office, decorated by her various pictures and the wishes of her school friends. in fact one of the comments also mentioned this person called 'Andrew' – I'm sure Andrew loves you no matter what you feel about him. I wondered if he was Eileen's ex-boyfriend or someone she hated. As I was reading the comments, a boy with black hair appeared beside me.

"How do you know Eileen Vermont?" he asked casually.

"She was an acquaintance." I replied.

"So, you were not very interested in her when she was alive. But now that she has died a very mysterious death, you see it as your chance to find out the cause."

"Yes." I answered a little hesitantly.

"Well, I'm pretty much in the same situation." He said. "Actually, can I confide something in you?"

"Sure."

"Eileen Vermont left me some . . . clue about her death. Which of course makes me want to investigate all the more who was the culprit."

"Culprit, you say. Weren't the police officers telling everyone that it was probably a suicide?"

"I don't know, but Eileen does." the boy said darkly. "And she wanted me to know, which was why she gave me some clues."

"She left me with some too." I said quietly, and for a second or two the boy looked at me in astonishment.

"What clues did she leave you with?" he asked finally.

I narrated to him all that had happened the night of Eileen's death, and the kid listened seriously. When I had done, I asked him about the clue that Eileen had left him with.

"It's a poem, actually. It was sent to me at exactly 2:00 a.m. on the night of her death."

"But, she was killed at 2:03."

"That's what makes this poem so thrilling." He said excitedly.

"Mind showing me?" I asked, and he immediately fished out his cellphone from his pocket.

Amongst his chats with Eileen, the last message which had been sent to him by Eileen went something like this:

The solution lies with the keeper of hounds
To reach to when I have lost the fight
The mirage under which lie empty grounds
Will be where the secrets unite

"Makes any sense to you?" the boy asked.

"No. I might need a little more time to decipher that." I said hesitantly.

"Same here. I feel that if I can truly unravel this clue, I might find out what actually happened to Eileen – even though the poem makes no sense right now."

I nodded. "We'll find out together. We've been given these clues by Eileen, so I suppose we are meant to."

The kid looked surprised, but happy too to finally be able to collaborate with someone else. "Yeah. What's your name by the way?"

"Alexandra Lawrence."

"I'm Joshua Clarke." Joshua. The Joshua that Mrs. Vermont and her lady companion had mentioned in Eileen's funeral. I do not know in what context his name had been used in their conversation, but I had at least found out one of the names that the women had mentioned. Andrew. Vera. These were still left.

r