The Murder

The Murder (short story)

It was 3 am and I was called to the crime scene in a hurry. When I arrived at Trebor Villa, the house of my old friend, every face I saw was covered in fear. I was taken upstairs where I saw blood spattered everywhere. it was like the usual sights I had so I was used to it.  

I saw my friend standing by the door of the room where the dead bodies lay. Surrounding him were his nephews, niece and wife. The dead bodies were of the children's parents and they seemed to be terrified.  

So, I decided that once the children felt better, we would start our investigation for the murderer. After a little talk with my friend, he told me that it would be best if I start my inquiry after a week because of the condition of the children. I agreed. Meanwhile, no one from the house was allowed to leave the city. My team had their eyes on them.

When it was time for me to start investigating I asked them, '' What happened here? Tell me everything accurately and don't be afraid. I know that you people are horrified and your parent's death is so much to take in for such young children but you all must cooperate with me.'' 

My friend spoke up,'' We don't know what happened here. As you can see that this is a two-storied house and we live downstairs. I and my wife had organized a family dinner and then we heard a loud bang. We went upstairs to see what had happened and found them dead.'' 

It turned out that the victims of the murder had three children. A twenty-four-year-old daughter, a twenty-year-old son and the youngest son was seventeen. Their names were Artemis, Thiago and Elias.  

The Aunt of the children, Helena told me that while preparing for dinner Thiago and Elias were with her whereas Artemis was with the couple upstairs.  

This diverted my attention towards Artemis who was too scared to say anything but she finally spoke up when I further conducted an inquest. She confessed,'' Yes! I was with them. I was helping my mother get ready and then I excused myself to the restroom. When I returned, my eyes saw the worst I could imagine.'' 

Then I asked Thiago and Elias about it. Thiago said that he was helping his aunt while Elias said the same but he told me that he had gone to the restroom for some time. I inquired if he saw Artemis there but he answered negatively. 

I further examined the place with my two officers to see if I can find anything but I had no luck. My friend Trebor was with me the whole time, I delved for clues about what had happened but he seemed not to be interested in anything. 

'' Hmm... Suspicious.'' I said to myself. '' Not just Trebor but everyone in this house seems suspicious.''   

When we returned, the youngest one, Elias, looked as if he'd fall any moment. '' He is having a panic attack.'' cried Artemis. 

The family rushed him to the hospital and Thiago stayed back to help me with anything I wanted. I examined the whole place again and in Artemis' room, I found her diary which looked as if it was decorated by the devil. It had skulls of paper pasted on it and curse words written on the title. 

''This is her diary in which she writes about the people she hates'' said Thiago,'' I never read it though'' he continued. 

I told him that I'd be taking it with me to my study but looking at it fleetly I saw the words'' Aunt'' and ''Uncle''. I asked Thiago about the demeanor of his aunt and uncle towards them and what I heard next was quite shocking.

Thiago said,'' My aunt and uncle are not good people used to be. They used to be very rude to us because we lived in their house. They used to call my parents bad names. Although he was my uncle, he did not like my father.'' 

''So, what was the dinner for?'' I asked. ''They wanted to start over and be like a family.'' He replied. 

Then I asked him to take me to the hospital where Elias was and he ordered a cab and took me with him. The doctor told us that he was better and we could see him. 

I went in and asked,'' What happened Elias? Are you feeling okay now?'' He didn't reply as he didn't recover completely. Then he murmured something:'' I saw him'' ''What did you see? '' I asked curiously. 

'' When I went to the restroom, I couldn't go inside because Artemis was inside.'' I didn't ask him why he said the false statement before because it kind of had distracted him '' I decided to go back'' he continued '' Then instantly I saw him, he was staring right back at me. I could only see his eyes because it was pitch black.'' 

So, one thing was clear, Artemis was not the homicide because she was not there and while she was in the restroom Elias had seen the murderer. 

The murder of the couple was framed as a suicide. The woman had bruises on her neck and the man had them on his stomach and his hand as he wanted to cut his nerve. The woman was stabbed in the chest. It was framed like the man killed the woman and then killed himself but the killer wasn't going to fool me. 

The couple was young around 40 to 50 years and it wasn't easy to kill a strong couple as they weren't old. The body of the man had scars all over. He must have struggled to get himself free. 

The suspects in my investigation were Trebor and Helena, the children's uncle and aunt, but it wasn't going to be that easy because I had to collect proof against them, and what if they didn't do it... We couldn't reach a decision this quickly.

The next day, I went to Trebor Villa to investigate more and the family was back too. I went to the crime scene where the bodies were removed and chalk figures were drawn where they lay. Then I headed towards the restroom. The door of the restroom looked very old and had some tiny openings in it. I was looking straight at it and then I turned. Suddenly It all came up to me. I rushed downstairs to the voice of someone shouting. 

When I reached there, I found out that Artemis had done my work for me. The murderer was Elias! He had killed his parents.  

When Artemis was in the restroom, she saw all that Elias did through the tiny opening of the door but it was too late to save her parents, Elias was out of his mind. He charged toward her but then unexpectedly changed his mind. 

Thiago asked sadly,'' Why? Why did you do this?'' Elias lost it. He began shouting like a lunatic '' They didn't deserve to live. They never looked up at me like I was their child. I just asked them if I could go on a summer trip to Hawaii and they just refused without even knowing how much it meant to me and the last week I had had enough. They were going to end up things with the most wicked people in the world.'' 

He continued by saying that when he confronted them, they didn't listen to him and told him that he was very young to interfere in such matters. He didn't like the sudden change in behavior of his parents and he couldn't cope with it and so he decided to end the matter. 

All the family was shocked and at the same time heartbroken. Elias didn't look normal. He appeared as if he would kill anyone he liked.

Elias was sent to the mental asylum and after some appointments with the doctor, it was proved that he was a psychopath and his condition was getting worse. The doctors said that he had blood in his mind and that he could be deleterious. 

'' Detective Atticus! '' Thiago called out to me. '' You said that Elias saw the murderer who was staring at him. Was he lying? ''  '' No, he wasn't '' I replied.

I took him to the restroom and told him that Elias had told me that when he turned he saw someone while when he turned, he saw himself. At first, he looked a bit confused but then he understood it.

                                                              THERE WAS A MIRROR