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by Billy Miner

  “Do you realize this gives you motive?” I asked.

  “What? You’re thinking that I killed that little…?”

  She held back her words, because it seemed like she was about to swear or call the murder victim names.

  “No!” she said. “I would never do that! I hated her, but I am not a murdered.”

  I calmed her down and said, “We believe you, Famelia. And we feel for you, seeing the situation you’re in. But just for protocol’s sake, would it be okay if we searched your room for a few minutes, so we can report to the office that you are innocent?”

  “Pfff… Go ahead. I have nothing to hide.”

  We searched for a few minutes and said goodbye. If she wasn’t the killer, then at least she was the happiest person to hear of the victim leaving to the afterlife.

  Suspect 4: Sorius

  “Where are we going now?” Barnes asked as we left Quinto’s and Famelia’s house.

  “I have a couple of suspects I still want to visit. The first is Lucy’s uncle. Supposedly, they were pretty close. I don’t know if he has some information for us, but I just want to make sure I am not missing out on anything worthwhile. Does that make sense?”

  “Of course,” Barnes agreed.

  We walked to the other side of town. It wasn’t even in town really, but barely outside, after crossing a few roads and farmers’ lands. There it was: A giant villa fit for a retired millionaire. It had the whole package: Pillars, fountains, and golden borders on the balconies. Barnes was impressed, since he had never seen this place before.

  “Whatever he did for a living, that’s what I might look into,” he said.

  I chuckled. “Let’s go talk to him, silly,” I said.

  We strolled to the front door and knocked. An old man opened up.

  “Detective Stalfoid,” he said with a smile. “I have been expecting you.”

  “Good. We are here for some questioning,” I said.

  “I figured you would come. I heard of the murder. It’s awful.”

  “Uhm… yes it is. And we are here to sort out what happened.”

  “Well, come in and have a seat.”

  The inside of the house was even better-looking. Barnes leaned over and whispered that he suddenly didn’t think Quinto was rich anymore, compared to this guy. I laughed again. It was funny to notice how impressed Barnes was with all these rich people. I could care less. I knew wealth had its pleasure but also its problems. Once everyone starts fighting over your money, it can cause some real dramatic scenes, and I suspected this millionaire’s wealth might have been connected to the murder somehow.

  “Ask me anything,” the old man said.

  “So, Sorius,” I said. “You are Lucy’s uncle, her mother’s brother. Am I correct?”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “And is your sister still alive?”

  “No, she passed away a few years ago.”

  “What about your wife or children? Are any of them still alive?”

  “No.”

  “Interesting,” I said. “So after you die, who will inherit all your possessions?”

  “Well, that would have been Lucy, I guess,” he said. “It’s all written in my will. She was the next person I thought of.”

  “And now that Lucy is dead, who will be next in line to receive what you have?”

  “Oh, it’s in the will too, but I don’t know exactly what it says. It’s been so long ago. Perhaps if she had any children, they would be next in line, but she and Argus never had any little ones.”

  “So that creates a dead end, doesn’t it?” I said, a little puzzled. “I am sure a lot of people would love to have your money, but now it’s unclear who will inherit it, isn’t it?”

  “I suppose you’re right,” he admitted.

  “I think I know enough, Sorius. Thank you for cooperating.”

  We stepped outside and returned to the village. In the meantime, I talked to my partner and told him about our next suspect, someone who had been spotted near Lucy’s house in the night of the murder, a sketchy figure nobody in town trusted.

  Suspect 5: Cheliqua

  I made sure Barnes was with me that late afternoon, since I was always a little scared going to the creepy place we were going to. It was a terrible looking place, a broken house that was barely kept up to accommodate the woman some called “the village witch.” I hated going there, but I had received a report from another officer that she had been seen at the murder scene.

  “Here it is,” I said, pointing to the house.

  “It gives me the shivers,” Barnes said as he looked at the spikey sides of the house and black front door.

  We knocked.

  She opened up.

  She was scary indeed: A woman with sloppy, curly hair and a brown scarf around her neck. She was wearing large, round earrings, a bunch of bracelets, and a purple dress. Behind her were skulls and jars with who-knows-what lined up on shelves. She looked at us awkwardly.

  “Yes?” she said in her squeaky voice.

  “Can we come in? I am Detective Stalfoid and this is my associate, Barnes. We would like to ask you some questions about the murder that happened last night.”

  “Sure. I certainly don’t know anything about that, but I can try to help out.”

  We went inside and sat down in what appeared to be the living room.

  “Would you like some tea?” she asked.

  “No!” Barnes suddenly exclaimed.

  “Oh, okay. I was just offering it. Let me know if you want any. It’s not a problem. I can make it in a heartbeat.”

  I smiled, because I realized Barnes had a harder time trusting this woman’s drinks. He probably thought her stuff was brewed in some kind of cliché cauldron or something. She sat across from us and looked at us with big eyes.

  “So last night,” I began, “you were found at the murder scene. Could you tell me where you were last night and what you were doing?”

  “Oh, I always do my rounds,” Cheliqua said. “I take a walk each night, just around midnight, to make sure no evil forces are drawn to the village.”

  Barnes and I looked at each other. She was a pretty big weirdo, I thought, but as long as she could give us clues, it could be helpful.

  “So were you near Lucy’s house yesterday?”

  “Yes, I was.”

  “What were you doing there?”

  “I felt an evil force.”

  “Really? Could you tell me more about that?” I asked.

  “It was evil… EVIL I TELL YOU!”

  Barnes and I flinched and leaned back as she was coming forward and waved her hands in the air. She continued, “There was an aura, a dark atmosphere, a wicked spirit who was going to haunt this place. I didn’t understand. I couldn’t comprehend. There was too much. I couldn’t stop it. Strange things… evil lurking underneath the ether. It wouldn’t go away. Blood… there was blood, bones, and skulls… monsters... creepers and endermen and ghasts… skeletons, everywhere, from the Nether…”

  Her whole story became scarier than the murder itself, but I had the feeling that it was all in her head, although she might have somehow sensed something was about to happen that evening. We listened to the rest and thanked her. Barnes just thought she was crazy, and I couldn’t find any clues whatsoever.

  “Was anyone else there?” I finally asked.

  “There were three men, just drunks, coming home from the bar,” she said.

  “Who were they?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. One of them was my ex-husband. And I felt my daughter’s presence. She is always with me. Valerie is connected to me, you see, even in her sleep.”

  “Sure,” I said.

  She did sound crazy, but just to be sure, I was going to interrogate her daughter and ex-husband. We thanked her and left the house. We were both happy to be out of that place.

  “Don’t you think she did it?” Barnes asked.

  “She hasn’t left my pool of suspects yet,” I answered.
“But it doesn’t make any sense. She is pretty crazy, but she doesn’t have any motive. She isn’t even related to Lucy, so if something happened between them, we’d still have to find out about it.”

  Suspect 6: Valerie

  Cheliqua’s daughter was more of a delight to be around. We quickly noticed that, even before we met her. The house was neatly trimmed with lovely colors and delicate paint. The outside looked warm and inviting. It looked tiny, like any young, starting person would have, not like a retired millionaire or anything, but cozy nonetheless.

  Her front yard was a little more chaotic, but that was just because of the chickens. She had about 10 chickens that were roaming around freely.

  We walked past the chickens to the front door. When we knocked, she opened up and let us in. I gazed at her beautiful appearance. She was in her early twenties, obviously, and her long, blonde hair reached down to her hips. Her peach-colored dress had something of an angelic tint to it, and her smile was to die for. If she couldn’t help us with the case, I would be sure to visit her again sometime, that is, if she didn’t have a boyfriend already.

  Barnes and I sat down and started our conversation.

  “I hope we aren’t invading on your privacy,” I politely said. “Your mother, Cheliqua, said she saw you outside last night. Lucy is dead, and we are looking for any clues or anyone who may more about that.”

  “Oh, that’s okay,” Valerie said. “You’re fine. Yes, I was outside yesterday, but I’m afraid I can’t tell you much. I don’t know anything about it.”

  “What were you doing there anyway?” I asked.

  “Well,” she explained, “I was very concerned about Cheliqua. She has become crazier lately, and yesterday she was just moping around about evil spirits and enderdragons and such. It made no sense at all. So I quietly followed her and observed for a little bit. Besides, there were some drunk men in the streets. I wanted to make sure she wasn’t going to get in trouble with those.”

  “Still, it’s a little odd for a young woman like yourself to be up that late. Don’t you think it was a little unsafe to follow her by yourself?”

  “Now that I think about it, it might not have been the brightest idea, but I care about Cheliqua. Fortunately, nothing went wrong… well… except for the murder. But that was something else.”

  “Do you always call your mother Cheliqua?” I asked.

  “Uhm… yes, sometimes. She is proud of her name. She thinks it’s cute.”

  I didn’t know what to think of that. Perhaps she wasn’t really proud to be Cheliqua’s daughter, seeing that she was a little nuts, so maybe that’s why she called her by her first name. But I wasn’t going to suspect anything.

  “Your mother said her ex-husband was there. Did you see him as well?”

  “Yes, I think he was there. He was just partying with the guys. My dad likes to do that in the weekend, but I don’t think he did anything wrong.”

  “Do you ever call your dad by his first name?” I asked, noticing how she referred to him differently.

  “What? Oh, uhm… of course. His name is Borus. If you want, you can question him too. I don’t know exactly what he was doing that night, but I am sure he is not a murdered.”

  “What makes you so sure about that?” I asked.

  “Nothing in particular. I just don’t think he could have done it. I mean, he doesn’t even have a motive, does he? You always need a motive to kill someone.”

  “That’s true. We’ll go talk to him.”

  We left her place, but I was sad to leave. My questions had been sharp and thorough, but inside, I felt mesmerized by her beauty and was secretly hoping for something more in the future.

  Suspect 7: Borus

  Next, we visited Borus, Valerie’s dad and Cheliqua’s ex-husband. If he was near the murder scene that night, he may have seen something and could give us some more clues, so we could figure out who committed this crime.

  Borus’ house was simple. It looked like it belonged to someone who didn’t take life too seriously, at least not anymore. The exterior was nice but not extravagant. The door we knocked on was made out of strong wood. But it did not open immediately. We heard footsteps.

  “Who is it?” we heard a male voice ask.

  “It’s Detective Stalfoid and Barnes. We are here to investigate the murder.”

  It was quiet for a while.

  “I didn’t do it,” he said.

  “We know,” I said, bluffing as if I actually trusted him and making him feel at ease. “But we know you were there that night, so we just want to know what you might have seen.”

  “I saw nothing,” was the answer.

  I didn’t know what to say anymore. I looked at my colleague. Then he stepped forward and said, “It doesn’t matter. We still want to come in. If you don’t let us in, we’ll come back with a warrant. Would you rather have that?”

  Then we heard a lot of clicks. It sounded like he was unlocked a dozen locks. Very distrusting person, this Borus character. He peeked around the corner of his door and said, “Okay, come in, quickly.”

  We stepped in and sat down on one of the chairs in his simplistic living room. He sat across from us and showed a certain fear in his eyes. I don’t know if this was normal, or if he got extra skittish after what had happened last night, but I started.

  “We would just like to know what you were doing last night and if you saw anything,” I said.

  “I was just at the bar and walked through the streets with my two friends,” he said. “I saw my ex-wife there. She was sitting down on her knees and throwing her hands up in the air, chanting some weird spells of some sort. That woman creeps me out. Why do you think I got divorced?”

  “Ah, yes. But we’re not here to ask you about your previous marriage,” I said. “We are just looking for clues. What else did Cheliqua do?”

  “She patted her hands on the floor and then cursed the heavens for bringing down evil upon us. Then she went home and made some other weird sounds. I didn’t stick around for too long, because I didn’t want to be embarrassed in front of the guys.”

  “Did you see Valerie there?”

  “My daughter? Was she there? I didn’t see her. What was she doing outside that late?”

  “Perhaps following her crazy mother who was chanting spells and making noises,” I said.

  “Oh, but Cheliqua is not her mother,” Borus said.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Cheliqua is not Valerie’s mother,” he repeated. “I am her father, but her Cheliqua is her stepmother. She hated her. That’s why she won’t ever see her.”

  “I am sorry? Did you just say that she won’t ever see her? But she said she was following Cheliqua that night because she was concerned,” I said.

  “That doesn’t sound right,” Borus said. “She has always been bitter towards her real mother because she dumped her with me and that freak.”

  “Okay, okay,” I said. “It’s starting to make a little more sense now. Could you enlighten us with some more information about your family structure, please?”

  “Certainly. You see, when Lucy and I split up, she was already pregnant with Valerie. But when Valerie was born, she gave her to me, saying she didn’t have the means to take care of her. Valerie grew up with me and Cheliqua, but she always hated her. Furthermore, she hated her own mother even more. She kept it a secret, but I knew how bitter she was when she found out that Lucy was her mother and had dumped her to be raised by Cheliqua.”

  A light bulb lit up in my brain. It seemed so far-fetched. Lucy did have a daughter, but she never told anyone about it. Valerie would inherit all her great-uncle’s riches, and since she had always despised her real mother for abandoning her, she just became a suspect with two motives.

  Barnes was paying close attention to Borus’ story. He was beginning to connect the dots as well. When we left, we went into an alley to discuss the matter.

  Solving the Case

  “Do you really think a young, beautiful
woman like that would kill her own mother?” Barnes asked me.

  “It’s too bad that she is young and beautiful,” I admitted. “But she has two motives: The hate for her mother Lucy, who abandoned her and put her with that weird woman, and the inheritance of her great-uncle. There is no doubt in my mind she is the one who did it.”

  “And what about evidence?” Barnes asked.

  “Let me think,” I said.

  I thought.

  And thought.

  “Aha!” I suddenly shouted. “I’ve got it! The feather! The chickens! It all makes sense now. The feather I found at the murder scene came from Valerie’s chicken coop. But we need more. Let’s go. You get the police and I will go to her house.”

  “Uhm… I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” he protested. “If she is a murderer, then you shouldn’t go there by yourself.”

  “We don’t want her to escape either, do we?” I asked.

  “No, of course not.”

  “Okay, then I will stay outside, in front of her house, just to make sure she doesn’t come out.”

  “That sounds like a better plan,” he admitted.

  I ran towards Valerie’s home with a heavy heart, feeling the sorrow for such a tragedy and family drama. If she really was the killer, then one life had already been ruined by all the collaborating circumstances. It was awful. Besides, now there wouldn’t be a future for me with that beautiful girl anymore, so maybe that’s also a loss I lamented a little.

  I stood there and waited for the police. When a few officer came, we all went to the door and barged in. We looked everywhere, and eventually, we found a knife set, one of which was probably the murder weapon. But Valerie was gone.

  “Go to the backdoor!” I commanded.

  Barnes and another officer hurried outside.

  “There she is!” he said.

  We all ran after her. We saw her zigzagging through the narrow village streets, trying to get away from her accusers, but it was pointless. One of the officers cut her off and grabbed her.