Dead By Now : A Murder Mystery [COMPLETED]

Chapter Three: How

I

How could any sensible human being, after murdering another human being, leave the murder weapon, with their fingerprints still on it, in the very same room where they committed the crime?

Even though the poison, which would later be discovered to be chlorfenapyr, that was injected into Elwood's arm through the syringe had not been identified yet, the discovery of the syringe did lead to the end of another big mystery that was keeping the town folks up at night.

After the discovery of the syringe, Mr. Adams's room was searched once again, thoroughly this time. "How could the murderer have gotten an entrance into a room that was locked from the inside?" was the unsettling question that no one seemed to have any logical explanation for. That was until the search revealed that just like every other typical victorian villa, The Lynntonville Manor also had secret passages. The answer to the seemingly unanswerable question was hidden behind the same cupboard, underneath which the syringe was found. A secret door, from Mr. Adams's bedroom, opened into the adjoining library.

Well, no one still knew who the murderer was but at least the people of the town could get a good night's sleep now.

Despite such town-wide public interest, however, the discovery of the secret door was kind of the only breakthrough the murder investigation made for a long time. And even though the official investigation did not have a prime suspect yet, the town did.

And to be honest their logic was not completely flawed. Who, out of everyone that was present at the lynntonville manor the night of the murder, but the woman who had lived in that house for more than 20 years could have known about the secret passage?

-

It was almost November now but life for Ophelia was still stuck in August, the month her husband died. It was not that she did not want to move on but that no one would let her. No one ever said it to her face, it would have been a lot easier if they did at least she could have gotten a chance to say something for herself, defend herself, but she knew what they were all thinking. Even though their tongues never did but their faces said a lot.

And even though there were six other people present in the house the night Elwood died, five of his friends and the maid Evelyn, but no one seemed to suspect anyone but the wife. I wonder how It did not seem odd to anyone that it was for the first time in almost eight years that all these friends had gathered together in one place. How did no one think that it could perhaps have something to do with the murder?

However, there was one thing everyone seemed confused about. Why would Ophelia want to kill her husband? They never had any issues, at least in the eyes of the public. Could it have been for money? Ophelia did belong to a poor family, after all. Or was it love? Had she fallen for someone? possibly one of Elwood's friends and killed her husband in an alliance with her lover?

For the moment no one knew why but what they were all sure about was that they knew the killer.

II

It was a cold, dark, and stormy night.. just kidding it was not. It was not even a night, to begin with, but a very sunny morning. Ophelia and Madelyn had just discovered each other and were still both very confused.

"What are you?" was the first thing Madelyn said to Ophelia.

Ophelia also replied with a question, asking her, "Who are you?"

Oddly enough, the first thing Madelyn noticed was the lack of a glass wall in the frame. Maybe because if it did have one, then this thing could perhaps be called a screen of some kind. An electronic device perhaps, and that would explain why there was a moving woman inside it. But the glass had already broken and there was no coherent explanation for whatever was going on inside it.

Madelyn's first instinct was to run away to someone, then bring them back here in her room, show to them whatever this thing was, and ask what she should do with it. But for some reason, she stayed.

"You look old and I don't mean age-wise. It's the room behind you and your clothes. What year is it where you are?" asked Madelyn.

"1919," Ophelia replied.

Even though nothing about this whole arrangement made sense to Madelyn but at least the fact that the lady on the other side was from 1919 somehow did, maybe because it could explain why she looked so.. different. Like she belonged to a different time.

After a few more questions Madelyn also realized that they were both in the same room, the same house but a hundred years apart.

She asked Ophelia a lot of questions about herself and even asked her to show the date on a newspaper to make sure it was really 1919 where Ophelia was from. Even when it was seemingly Ophelia's turn to ask Madelyn some questions about her life, Madelyn still didn't stop. She did not give Ophelia a chance to ask her anything, anything at all and instead, started telling her about her own life story. Ophelia looked too stunned to ask her anything, anyway.

From her being a recently divorced lawyer to her brother's recent suicide, I don't think she left anything out. She finally had someone to talk with, I guess.

Ophelia, on the other hand, put the painting frame back on the table and disappeared without saying anything.

Madelyn was sure Ophelia would not return alone. She thought, unlike herself, Ophelia had gone to tell people about what she had just discovered. That would be the normal thing to do, anyway, and Madelyn herself would have done it too if only she had anyone she was on talking terms with at the moment.

After a wait of around thirty minutes, Ophelia returned and contrary to what Madelyn had thought, she was still alone.

They again just stared at each other for a few moments without saying anything.

"I am extremely sorry, I should not have disappeared without saying anything. It is just a lot to take at once," said Ophelia.

"You don't have to apologize. I understand. There can not be a sensible reaction to a thing like this," Madelyn said in her reply.

"I am going to have to disappear for a while once again, I am afraid. I am supposed to be attending a wedding today."

"That is weird, not weirder than whatever this thing is for sure," said Madelyn, pointing to the frame, "but still weird. I'm attending a wedding today, too."

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