The conversation went on with the chief regarding the death of my friends.
"Mr. Toblin did your friends react differently? In general...."
"Not any. If it was, I may have failed to notice."
"Hmm....interesting."
"Is there any other clue that you have found?"
I asked urgently .
"Apart from the information I shared? None."
I nodded and let the topic die down. He and the other special investigator seemed to be indulged in a deep conversation regarding the issue-in-hand.
When the yellow Mustang came to a halt in front of an old building I gazed at chief for confirmation. He nodded and I began to get down. When we stood in front of the building, a low breeze ran through us and I shivered. When we started to go inside, many bats flew out from the inside of the old mansion . I covered my face to protect myself. When the path was cleared we went inside. Confused, I asked him
"Why are bats here?"
"Because we are entering through the backside of the building where no one can be found." The chief answered.
"Why is it so, why can't we enter by the front?"
"It is because, the front is nasty with all the papers and the restrictions that are tapped on the front door to prevent public to enter the house."
"Oohhh...OK"
We started climbing the stairs. I looked around and found many photos hung on the wall with different sizes, vases kept in most corners, furniture placed disordered, but all those items had one thing in common. The dust that has been settled on them. These must have been at least an year old. So, gathering some courage,
"What is this place? Exactly?"
I voiced.
"This place happened to be a home, a vacation house to be exact. But this has been used by the Laraonre's who had been found dead, a mass suicide in the very same house. So no one claimed this house. And that incident took place exactly 2 years before. So, as years passed , it turned into an abandoned house ."
As he finished, we reached the door where an 'X' mark was drawn. Mr. Robert opened the door knob with the help of gloves, I understood it technically .
When we went inside, there was no mark to be found. I glanced at chief in confusion. I asked,
"Was he hanged to death?"
"Nope, he was found in this closet's chest."
He explains pointing towards the closet.
"How is that possible? To be dead in closet?"
"He might have been thrown in there after the murderer took his life."
Tears pooled in my eyes, but I refused to cry.
"Here, this is his medical report, "he said handing a blue file, "and this's his post-mortem report."
I opened the blue file with shaking hands. The first thing was his photo, dead. His clothes were tattered, cuts everywhere, face unrecognizable, and his posture depicted broken spine. This is unfair. How could someone do this to him. He was my brother more than my friend. He was kind by mind and soul. I couldn't bear to see it longer so, I moved to the next file.
The reports said that there was Dextrose mixed in his blood. Which meant he was poisoned. But Dextrose is a kind of slow poison and it cannot kill people within a span of few hours, it takes longer than a week. The report also said that, Chris should have been dead before 7hrs. But there was also a mark on his neck that suggested that he was chocked. As I was going through the file, I heard a commotion outside the door.
I went out to take a look and there, our honourable chief was throwing tantrums.
"What happened chief?"
I asked.
"As I couldn't get much information from the others victims body."
I nodded.
"Mr. Toblin, did you find any thing suspicious? In the reports of Chris?"
"No sir, not any."
Then we started moving out. I kept chanting that I would take revenge for my friends' death. Then a thought struck me.
"Hmm...sir? "He turned to face me
"I think I found a clue."
He raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner.
"The reports say that Chris was choked.I mean the mark which the red tie lying beside would have made."
Then his eyes roamed in a calculating stance. And a goofy smile lit his face.
"We pulled the Ace card."
With that we went outside.