Death at Springfield.

Chapter-7

On rushing to the kitchen, we found Mary vomiting profusely. A cup of milk lay broken on the floor beside her. Sabil ran out again, to inform the Basils I assumed.

Daniel and Ariana filed into the room a while later, followed by Dawid and then Sarah. Sabil returned too. Their faces were alarmed. I noticed Dawid clutching a key with a silver key- ring attached to it in his hand.

'What happened?' Sarah asked, hurrying to Mary's side.

'It seems she's been poisoned.' I said.

Aariz was sifting through the contents of the refrigerator. 'Where is butter?' He ejaculated irritably.

Ariana, for once seemingly calm, rushed to him and pulled open a compartment in the fridge. She extracted a packet of butter and handed it to Aariz . He took a bite-sized piece of it in a spoon an as soon as Mary stopped being sick, he helped in eating the butter.

'Why are you doing that?' Dawid asked him uncomprehendingly.

'The butter helps in not letting the poison be absorbed.' Aariz replied.

Mary looked pale and haggard. She swallowed the butter arduously. Daniel had rushed out on Aariz's command to get his car. On hearing a honk, we managed to transfer Mary into the car to be driven to the hospital. I was asked to stay at home with the two ladies. I had also the task to console Ariana who was no longer stable and was murmuring, 'Peril has come to this house. I wish I had never come here.'

'Everything is going to be okay. Don't worry.' I comforted her helplessly, not knowing what else to say.

The following two hours were spent in tense anxiousness. A fear nagged away at me that there was a person amongst us who was planning all this-the murderer.

Finally, the doorbell rang and Sabil emerged to open the door. I had completely forgotten that he was in the house. Aariz, Daniel and Dawid entered along with the Inspector and Sergeant.

'Mary is out of danger now.' Aariz announced, making me and the women sigh with relief. Another death would've been too much to take.

'It was arsenic poisoning.' Inspector Matin said. 'By the way, Sabil, I gather that it was you who told Mr Tijan that Mary had been poisoned. How did you know?'

'As per Mr Tijan's demand, I went into the kitchen to find Mary.' Sabil spoke from his position beside the door. I found her vomiting profusely and a cup of milk was lying on the floor, broken. Mary pointed at the cup with difficulty and said to me, "Something in the milk." I guessed that there was poison in the cup and rushed back to inform Mr Tijan the same.'

Matin nodded and said, 'I wonder where the criminal might've found the arsenic. Somewhere in the house, I guess. Well, Mary will be kept in the hospital until the doctors are satisfied.'

'Oh, I almost forgot to give you the key of the shed.' Dawid said, extracting it from his pocket and handing it over to Matin. 'I found it in the attic among my belongings.'

'Thank you Mr Dawid.' The Inspector said. 'We will proceed to survey the shed right now.'

He and Sergeant went out to the shed in the garden.

Both the policemen returned in a matter of minutes. Matin was holding a tin can in his hand. He held it high for everyone to see and said, 'Weed killer. Contains arsenic. The can was opened recently. We'll check it for fingerprints but I highly doubt we'll find any. The criminal wouldn't be that careless.'

He said: 'Mr Aariz, where were you when Sabil came to inform you about Mary?'

'I was waiting for Mary with Haris in the hallway.' Aariz replied.

'Why did you want to see Mary?'

'I wanted to ask her a few questions.'

'Alright. Where were you at that time, Mr Daniel?'

'I was sitting in the living room with Ariana.' Daniel responded. Matin turned to Ariana who confirmed the statement with a nod.

'What about you, Mr Dawid?'

'I was upstairs in the attic, searching for the key of the shed as per your demand.' Dawid replied.

'And you came down-when?'

'I was descending the stairs after I had found the key. That was when Sabil told me about Mary,' said Dawid, looking Matin directly in the eye.

The latter paused for a few seconds and then proceeded to ask Sarah, 'Where were you, Miss Sarah?'

'I had gone to my room and was reading a book when I had heard disturbed voices downstairs,' replied Sarah. 'I came down to find out what the matter was and saw everyone rushing to the kitchen. I followed them. You know the rest.'

'Thank you,' said Matin. 'I will not detain you people any longer. You can go.'

The four Basils instantly stood up with an expression of relief on their faces.

'Well,' said Matin, 'this time Mr Daniel has a cast-iron alibi unless he and Ariana are accomplices.'

'That seems highly unlikely.' I commented.

'Exactly.' Matin said. 'That is highly unlikely. As for Miss Sarah, there is no proof that she was in her room all the time. The same applies for Mr Dawid. He can't prove that he was in the attic when Mary was poisoned.'

'It is possible that anyone of the two had mixed the arsenic in Mary's milk before we had that meeting in the living room.' I said.

'No. Mary wouldn't pour out the milk in her cup and leave it for a long time,' said Aariz.

'Then maybe the person had administered the poison in the container in which the milk is kept.' I said.

'That isn't possible. Remember, Mary bought coffee for Matin which was made of that milk and he is perfectly fine.'

Matin nodded. He said: 'Mary must've poured out milk in a cup for herself and got engaged in some other work out of the kitchen. That would be the only time for the poisoner to mix the arsenic in her cup.'

'That is a probability.' Aariz said vaguely. 'But the person also had to have the key of the shed to get their hands on the poison.' He reasoned.

Matin gasped suddenly. He said: 'And Dawid was the one who knew where the key was.' 'Miss Sarah spent most of her time in the attic too.' Aariz said. 'She might've come across the key then.'

Matin nodded thoughtfully and Aariz continued, 'However, both of them-Dawid and Sarah-were upstairs and to mix the arsenic in the milk, they would have to come down to the living room in order to make their way to the kitchen. But Dawid and Ariana were present in the living room. It wouldn't have been possible to slip out to the kitchen without being spotted by them.'

'Then maybe it was Sabil.' I suggested.

Inspector Matin shook his sceptically. 'I doubt that. He is in service here at Springfield for five years and he seems a very loyal and trustworthy chap.' He said.

'What might've been the motive?' I wondered aloud.

'There is one I can think of'-Matin said. '-that Mary might've heard or seen something that she doesn't even know she has witnessed which is dangerous and risky for the murderer.'
A/N
Hello:)
So how was the chapter?
Tell me your suspicions through comments:)
Oh and this book won't have many more chapters because the chapters are very long (2nd chapter is of 29 pages).
The amazing new cover is made by CherokeeRose_. Thank you so much:)