The Comic Murder

The murder.

A guy held out the door for Lily as she was about to enter Starbucks at the mall.

"I think we have met before." He said.

Lily smiled and said "I am sure we have, I am the nurse at the mental hospital".

The guy looked at Lily confused. There was no anger on Lily's face. She seemed earnest. The guy left abruptly. It was then that Lily laughed.

This is what she was good at. Laughing and making people laugh.

She entered her favourite café and ordered her daily dose of cappuccino. The waiter who arrived with her coffee was clumsy. He spilled some coffee on her dress while serving. He realized his mistake and apologised profusely.

"Its okay, it's about time my dress got to taste some of my favourite coffee." Lily winked at the waiter.

She rose up from her seat, left her giant handbag on the table and went to the washroom.

Nothing could ruin her mood today. Lily was in her happy space. She had all that she wanted. She had finally bagged solo stand-up comedy shows at "Epicentre", the most happening cultural hub at London. Days of performing at get-togethers were over. Things were going good. She had a gang of friends to bank upon. She had even stopped regretting leaving her home and family on bad terms.

Life seemed pretty but unbeknownst to her, destiny had other plans.

Lily came back to her table and sipped some coffee. She felt lazy. She had nothing to do today. Her big show was after three days and she was already done with her preparations. She gazed out of the window and reflected upon the events of today afternoon. She wondered if she had done the correct thing.

Suddenly a policewoman entered the cafe with her team. They stopped at Lily's table. She wondered why, but remained as cool as ever. After all she was Lily, the 'comedian'.

"Why did the policewoman carry a pencil and a piece of paper?" asked Lily to the policewoman. "Because, She wanted to trace someone! Haha! By the way, I am Lily."

Her joke did not have the desired effect.

The policewoman cleared her throat and said. "Miss Lily, I am Inspector Samishta Kapil. We are here to question you about Sunny Merchant's murder."

"Sunny... Murdered? How come? I met him today afternoon! "

"That is precisely why you are under our radar. Sunny was dead by the time you left his place. And now if you will cooperate," Samishta paused and pointed to a female constable. "We have a search warrant for you."

The constable frisked Lily. She could find nothing on her. She checked the contents of her handbag but found nothing suspicious. She saw a blue silk scarf lying beside the handbag. It seemed to conceal something.

"What's this?" asked the constable, holding the blue scarf in one hand and the blood stained knife it concealed in the other.

"It's...my scarf. I don't know how it came here. I...I thought I had left it at Sunny's place. And ...and the knife...I know nothing about it!" blurted Lily.

"I am afraid you would have to accompany us to the police station. If the blood stains on the knife are indeed Sunny's, you are going to be in grave trouble." said Samishta.

Lily did not believe all this was actually happening. It seemed like a bad dream. She was waiting to wake up. She needed to do something but could think of anything. She needed to talk to someone and perhaps get a lawyer. She frantically called up her friends but none of them picked up her call. Apparently, the news of her arrest had spread like wildfire. After all, she was a celebrity of sorts.