The Wishing Flower

Chapter 20

We went over to the field Zee had told us about. She said her parents had taken her and Sajal here every week to play around in the grass. The place was enormous, long blades of grass stretched out for miles. Zee had also told us there was also a creek nearby. If I didn't come here to find a missing woman, I might've been able to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Now, where to start?

"Look Clarke. There's a small shed in the distance" Julio pointed out towards a little shed that stood tucked behind a large oak tree.

That's a great place to start.

The shed housed a few rusty tools alongside an empty work table that seemed to not have been used for a long time.

"Who could this shed belong to? It's kind of in the middle of nowhere"

"I don't think this place belongs to anyone, anymore at least"

"But it seems like the perfect place to dispose a murder weapon. No none probably comes here and if they did an old knife would fit in with these rusty tools"

"You're right, but there doesn't seem to be any old knives lying around. Let's search every corner to make sure we don't miss anything again"

The shed was quite small so there was not much room for discovery, yet we made sure not to leave a single stone unturned. We went through the box of tools, there was a rusty hammer, some old wrenches and screwdrivers, but nothing that fit the bill of the murder weapon.

Julio was going through the dusty shelf that stood in the corner, "Doesn't seem like there is much here, just a bunch of old papers. Nothing important"

"Yeah I got nothing here either" I said disappointedly.

I didn't want to miss anything so I stood back and looked at the layout of the room. We searched the tool box, we went through the papers on the shelves, we even searched around the table. Wait, I did look on the table and around the sides but I didn't look underneath.

"I'm going to look under here" I said to Julio as I crouched down and ducked underneath the table.

I examined the underside with my flashlight for any clues that could help us with the case. "Shit, there's nothing here." I said under my breath.

I moved back to get a better look at the bottom edge, when something poked me from behind.

"Ouch! What the hell was that?"

"You okay?", Julio said crouching to see what was happening under the table"

"Yeah. I'm alright. There's just a nail poking from the wall", I answered. I examined the little metal point sticking out from the wall, but after another glance I noticed something wasn't right. It wasn't just the little nail that was out of place, but the entire wooden panel on the wall seemed off. I dug my fingers underneath the panel and tried to pull the piece of the wall, but it wouldn't budge.

"Julio, pass me the screwdriver! And the hammer!" I shouted from underneath the table.

I wedged the screwdriver in between the wooden panel and pushed it deeper in with the hammer. After a few attempts I was able to remove the piece of the wood, and I was shocked to see what was there. I pulled out the item with my eyes wide, and got up to show my partner.

"Julio", I said in disbelief, "We got it". In my hands I held a silver wedding band with a small paper rolled inside of it. I pulled out the little paper and saw that Zee's name was written on the outside.

Julio stood right beside me, the both of us heavy with disbelief, "This was definitely written by Sajal. Open it, let's see what's inside"

I rolled upon the paper to reveal what was written inside.

"Julio! Call back up right now and get them to search every inch of this place!", I yelled after reading what was written on the note.

We both dashed to the car, not relaxing the little paper flutter to the ground. On it was written two simple lines, but we both knew exactly what those few words meant.

I'm soo sorry for everything. Just know that I love you.