THE HEAD OFFICE

CLAUD WOOD-2

          I was called to India because of a private request from the UN. It seems the Palace of Versailles case, was not only in Versailles, it was all around the world. I did not object to their offer, they gave me a private jet to India. 

Just the thought of a peaceful journey to another country without any crying kid or annoying, sleepy adults who sleep on your shoulder, made my mouth water. Nora, Paul, and Bella were told to stay in France, which was great.

I reached the Mumbai airport which was surprisingly not very busy today. I had to go to some guy named Arnav's house. Three people died till now including Gabriella, but this guy named Arnav, he's the only one who survived obvious death. 

I finally found his house, it was a one-story house. I knocked on the door and a young man opened the door. He held a knife in his hand and pointed it towards my face,

"Woah there, young man!" I said,

"What do you want?!" He asked,

"I'm looking for Arnav," 

After hearing that, his eyes widened,

"What do you want with him?!" He asked,

"I'm a detective, I'm here to question him," I said,

"Mr. Wood?" He asked

"Umm, yes," I told and he lowered his knife,

"I'm guessing you're Arnav?" I asked,

"No, I'm Naveen, his friend. Arnav's inside," He told,

I followed him to the kitchen and saw another young man staring at a happy meal box.

"Arnav?" I asked,

"Quite!" He said as he pointed a finger to me, "mausee's packing my lunch, I hope she packs cookies for me,"

I looked at Naveen who had a sad face as if to say, About that, 

"What happened to him? I don't see anyone named Mausee or anyone next to him at all," I told Naveen,

"Come with me," He told,

I entered the bedroom and sat on the bed, Naveen stayed standing.

"Mausee means, aunty. She was killed by the ones who want to kill him," He said,

I nodded. I went outside the house to take a good look at the house. I saw a garage and entered it. I saw a car, a Renault Kwid. I opened it, it was unlocked. The passenger's seat was stained with blood, the steering wheel had some blood over it as well and the airbag was out.

 "That's Arnav's car," Naveen said behind me,

I pointed inside with my mouth wide open,

"Come, I'll tell you," He said,

He told me what happened. I wanted to cry, but I held it back,

"The Head Office is behind this?" I asked,

"Well, that's what Ashish said," He shrugged.

The Head Office is an electronic appliance company, like LG. It is very random for them to be behind this. But, if they are doing this, there should be a reason and if there is no reason, they should be sued, murderers.

I went to Arnav, he was no more in shock, I don't think it will go on for long, 

"What's the last thing you did before you got the mark on your neck?" I asked,

"You're the detective, right? Let's sit and talk," He said,

"So?" I asked after I made myself comfortable on his not-so-comfortable couch.

"I went to sleep at 12:30 am that day," He started and I took out my writing pad from my bag, "I had a party that day with my friends, because I had gotten my licence," He said,

"Anyone suspicious in the party?" I asked,

"There was no one in the party," He said, weird.

"Continue," I said, I didn't want to ask him 'why no one was there in the party', 'cause it would've made this conversation weird,

"I was done with the part at 12 am," He said, I nodded, "I had to clean up, so it took half an hour, after that, I had some more food because I was hungry. I switched off all the lights and slept on my bed with my phone. I checked my social media and went to sleep, that's it, please don't judge me," He finished.

I took a note of this and found nothing suspicious in this,

"Do you work anywhere?" I asked,

"I work in the mall 2 kilometres away," He replied,

"Did you meet anyone suspicious there?" I asked,

"No just everyone I meet everyday," He confirmed,

I nodded. He didn't do anything weird or meet anyone suspicious. This is going no where,

"Give me all your social media contacts," I said,

He told me his WhatsApp no. His twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

"I'll leave now," I said and left.

I booked a hotel room nearby and stayed there. I took a bath and that's when an unknown number called,

"Hello?" I asked,

"Mr. Wood, how was your investigation today?" Someone asked through the phone,

"I'm sorry, who's this?" I asked, it was from UN.

I told the details of everything that happened today,

"You've done a great deal of help, Mr. Wood. We want you to report your investigations to this number only. I'll give you a code, coz you know why, boy," he said,

"Did you call me a boy?" I asked,

"Huh, Oh no, that's the code," He said, "I'll go and tell this to the General and once again, thank you," He said and cut the phone.

I sat on the bed and started watching some NEWS, and slowly drifted to sleep. I woke up in the morning and went to brush my teeth. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw it, the bar code on my neck. I touched it to see if it was real,

"Are you kidding me!" I screamed breaking the toothbrush,

"No, I'm not," A voice said next to me and jumped at me with his knife in his hand.

He stabbed at my eyes, but I was still alive, I could see him rip apart my stomach with his knife and do a lot of other things I cannot explain. I closed my eyes because I didn't want to see it. I opened my eyes and found myself in the bed and let out a deep sigh,

"A dream, huh?" I muttered to myself,

I got out of the bed and went to brush my teeth. I checked my left neck again, just in case. It wasn't there. I took a bath and made a decision, I will cherish and live my life to it's fullest, because it is the biggest thing anyone could beg for and after I made this decision, I had a sudden urge to save the others who were under this case as fast as possible.

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