Chereads / Conundrums / Chapter 18 - Shell-shocked

Chapter 18 - Shell-shocked

"What do you mean, Della? You don't think Mike is a part of this?" Asked Lexi with a baffled face.

" I'm not sure about that. I just don't want him to be a part of it." Said Della.

"Della, you need to believe me. I am pretty sure Mike is a big fat liar..." Said Robin.

"I'm sorry Robin. I don't.. I don't think it is true. " Said Della.

Robin got exasperated and he left the room.

They all stopped talking and Della was ruminating..again.

"Guys!" Yelled Robin

"What happened Della? Why are you suddenly so excited?" Asked Lexi

"We need to take a picture of Mike and see if it matches anyone's face with the drawing in the girl's room that we found in the Onti Clocko!" Exclaimed Robin

"That's not a bad idea." Said Della

" I'll call Mike." Said Lexi.

"No, I'll call him." Insisted Della.

They invited Mike for dinner and asked father to prepare something delicious. They were done eating dinner after a while and decided to talk .

"Do you want to take a picture Mike?" Asked Della.

"Sure, anything for you Dell." Said Mike.

"I'll take the picture." Said Robin.

Robin took a picture of them and cropped out Mike.

"This is.. beautiful." Laughed Robin with a mischievous smile.

After a while, Mike chatted with Della and went home.

" We must wake up soon in the morning to go to the Onti Clocko." Said Della.

"Do we really have to do that?" Asked Lexi.

"What do you mean, Lexi? Of course we should. I understand you're scared but, come on!" Exclaimed Della and went to sleep.

It was 6:00 AM in the morning. The investigators were already up and they were drinking hot coffee...again.

After they were done, they put it to wash and waved good bye to Arthur.

They drove to the Onti Clocko as soon as possible.

"I'm so excited to unveil the mystery!" Exclaimed Della.

"So am I!" Exclaimed Robin.

They reached the Onti Clocko and they asked the servicemen to stand outside the house and protect anyone from coming inside.

They went to each and every room and searched for a family picture.

"There's no picture here, I give up!" Said Lexi.

"Wait Lexi. You need to be calm." Said Della.

Finally, they went to "CAT'S ROOM".

They noticed the drawings in the room..again.

Della was dumfounded.

"Guys, come and look at this!" Yelled Della.

They came closer and kneeled down.

"Could it be a coincidence that the father in this picture has a similar face to Mike?" Asked Della.

"Yeah, he pretty much looks like him." Said Robin.

They went to the cone shaped floor. They tried to search for clues and finally, Della found a "Pentax" camera in the corner.

"Guys, look what I found!" Exclaimed Della.

"Since, it hasn't been used for long, I don't think it's working." Said Robin.

"We'll have to repair it. Said Della."

Della took it to the 'Camera repair store' and repaired it.

"Ma'am, you can't take pictures. But I can show you the data." Said the man who repaired the camera.

"Please, allow me to look at it." Pleaded Della.

The camera technician showed her the Data and there was only one picture. It was a selfie taken by a child.

The photo was really blurry and hard to recognize the face.

Della asked the technician to send her the picture and he sent it.

She asked the officers to de-pixelate the image and send it to her.

It took them a long while but finally, they de-pixelated it.

They sent it to Della immediately and Della was befuddled.