Death at Springfield.

Chapter-1

'Ah! So we pull up to Springfield house.' Aariz Tijan, my uncle said. The house was a beautiful mansion. It was painted white from top to bottom.

The house belonged to a friend of Aariz. Two days ago, he had called and invited Aariz to his house for a visit. Aariz, asking me in his dramatic way, had convinced me to accompany him on the said trip. I flattered myself by believing that he enjoyed my company. Well, truth be told, I was the one who enjoyed his company.

He was a man of about 55 but it amused him to tell people that he was older than that. That was the kind of twisted sense of humour he had. He was fairly tall and quite strongly built. He had startling blue eyes which people could not resist staring at while talking to him. A mischievous smile usually rested on his lips. People found him easy to talk to. I'm not sure about anyone else but I did. He had an astounding tendency to understand people.

Presently, we reached the door of the house and I rang the bell. It was promptly opened by an old fashioned butler. He spoke in an expressionless tone, 'Good morning sir. You must be Mr Tijan. Please come in.'

He stood aside as we passed through the door.

'I hope,' Aariz said in his cheerful manner, 'we did not arrive too early.'

'No, Sir.' The butler said leading us up the stairs. 'Mr Basil has been expecting you for a while now.'

He opened a door to our right and announced our arrival.

A frail looking man rose from his seat by the fireplace to greet us. He looked much older than Aariz and a bit intimidating. He looked at us with his cold grey eyes and said, 'My dear friend! It's good to see you. You haven't changed much after all these years.' He looked at me. 'And this must be your nephew.'

'Yes sir.' I said. 'My name is Haris.'

'Hello Haris. Please sit down.' He said offering me a seat on the couch and Aariz and I sat down.

'Rigel, what have you done to your health?' Aariz said disapprovingly. 'You used to be so strong.'

'Oh! I'm just getting old.' Mr Basil said waving his hand as if to dismiss the subject. 'There is no one here to take care of me except Mary, the maid. That reminds me, you must be hungry.' He rang a bell sitting on the table beside him. A woman came hustling in whom I guessed to be Mary.

'Mary, bring in the tea.' Mr Basil instructed her and she rushed out with a nod of her head.

Rigel Basil seemed like a rather harsh man and I instantly took a dislike to him. I started regretting ever coming to this gloomy, old house. It didn't seem like the appropriate place to spend one's holidays.

Clinking of glass could be heard as Mary re-entered the room with a tray of snacks resting at her elbow. I saw Mr Basil looking at her with severe eyes and noticing her every movement. She put the tray on the table and left.

'I remember that blueberry muffins used to be your favourite so I got Mary to prepare them for you.' Mr Basil said, offering a plate of the muffins to Aariz. I looked at my uncle and he seemed like a little kid who just got his favourite candy. Sometimes he was so childish that I forgot he was a grown up man.

We both eagerly accepted a muffin each.

Mr Rigel patted Aariz' shoulder with his left hand and clutched his cup in his right.

After we had finished our tea, the maid came in to collect it.

'Mary, tell my children that I want them to come in here and meet my friend.' Mr Basil said and Mary murmured a 'Yes Sir' while leaving.