It was getting towards the evening as the street lights were turning on due to the early night of Albion as the sun set started to dim the whole sky. William walks over to a telephone booth and as he gets in he puts a copper coin in the slot and after a few seconds he pressed the numbers 19, 5, 3, 18, 5, 20. He brings the phone closer to his ear and the operator answers with a calm tone.
"Good evening, can you give me your code name please?"
"Warlock" William responds.
"Warlock…Ah Good evening young master Freeman, is there anything we can help you with?" The strange operator replied with a respectful tone recognizing WIlliam's status.
"I need a rifle delivered tomorrow at the Butcher's House at Crofts Lane Durabell and also a car to pick up someone by the name of Jack Doyle and an instruction for the driver to drop him off at the Butcher's House." William stated the demands as the person on the other side of the line wrote the instructions.
"Would that be all sir?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Our pleasure young master Freeman. Good evening." The man ended the call on a polite note and William left the booth thinking about tomorrow and the next day after it and as he was thinking about the troubled future his eyes caught a glimpse of policemen going in and out of a red house he could only think of one thing that came to his mind.
'murder.' he left just with that thought left behind like the corpse of the poor soul that left this world accompanied by three others.
Inside the house was an unpleasant scent and from the looks of the wooden furniture that was made with oaks and the roofs of each room that has chandeliers makes the owner that is dead a little prosperous even if he died.
There are 4 people in the living room where the incident happened. At the door was a well dressed man with brown eyes wearing a grey coat and a brown hat standing next to a police officer and opposite them was another police officer holding back a man with blue eyes and blonde hair with wrinkled shirt due to the struggle he is having with the police officer.
"I will kill him! He killed my father! I will kill him!" The man cried out his hatred towards the man who he accused of killing his father as he was kneeling with his hands in front of him in handcuffs. The supposed killer sat in silence even with the attempt of questionings of the police he dared not speak.
The man with the brown hat sighed.
"Something isn't right Marcus."
"What do you mean? The suspect is there as he was found with a revolver which by means he is the murderer Hal." Marcus dismissed his friend's worry.
"Yes but look at the victim's body once more."
Hal moved towards the lifeless body while wearing gloves.
He opens the cover and puts two fingers between the man's pale face as he turns it around to the right-side to show his hand that had liquid coloured white and red.
'A piece of shattered glass of milk.' Hal looked at the floor next to him and found drops of white liquid and also pieces of glass around it and smirked and turned to the victim's only family.
"Excuse me sir. May I ask what was the last thing your father drank if you can remember?"
"I saw him drinking milk he gets from the milkman that comes every morning and night."
"Thank you." Hal turned and faced the 'killer'.
"You are under arrest for attempted burglary and also attempted murder."
As soon as he said that everyone in the room was shocked as what they thought was the killer in front of their eyes was right there but what was Hal thinking.
"Marcus take him will you? I will interrogate him at the station." Marcus does what he was told and Hal walks out of the house with the stained glass windows of white rose on the door.
-At Wellington police station-
Marcus followed Hal as they hurried to the interrogation room to finally make a sense of what Hal was thinking.
The interrogation room opened and inside was one bulb light hanging in the middle of the ceiling as the rest was dimmed down and in the centre was a table with 3 chairs and the 'killer' was already sitting down.
Hal and Marcus took their places.
"Hello. Can you please repeat what you have said in your account of why you have killed Mr Harper?"
The 'killer' looked up and said with a shaking voice.
"He owes me some money and in which I repeatedly asked but he still has not paid me back and I need it for my treatment so instead of begging I thought I would make a demand and I knew he was going to be at his house so I took my chance with my brother's old revolver and shot him."
"And how much was the amount?"
The killer confused but responded
"30 Mercs."
"What was the illness you're suffering from again?"
"How long did you have it for?"
"3 days."
"Interesting, you said you had it for three days yet there are no red rashes on your face."
'The killer' was agitated as he didn't have anything to say.
" What time have you killed him?"
"5:00 in the evening."
"Hmm. Well, are you sure you were the one that killed him?"
Both the 'the killer' and Marcus were confused since he confessed why does Hal keep pestering him with obvious questions.
"Yes I am the killer."
There was a moment of silence between them as Hal squinted his eyes at him and after a few seconds gave a smile.
"No. You are not the killer…because the forensics confirmed that Mr Harper died 30 minutes before you shot him. The cause of death was heart failure due to the excessive eating habits of potassium in his daily life. So you did not kill him John. we also checked your story with the gun, your brother is in a coma due to an accident in mine where you worked with him right?"
Hal looked at John but he did not look back.
"Answer me correctly who killed Mr Harper?"
"I-I can't if I do they will kill him and me. So please…i did it i confess to the crime"
"John, we will do the best we can for you and your brother as both of you will be under our protection." Marcus tried to smooth the situation but John was unfazed.
John, do you even know if the one behind this would take care of your brother while you rot in prison you are the perfect scapegoat as he has your brother as leverage. You can either waste your silence for a thing that might never happen and I will report to you in a few days holding an envelope of your brother's fate or you can see the bastard name on a newspaper headline of him being arrested."
John looked up as he hesitated to speak and finally with a shred of will he found his bearing.
"I don't know, someone gave me a call saying i would have a changing opportunity if i do something for them. I thought it was someone my brother knows as he is involved with those kinds of people… it was tempting and the instructions were simple. The caller did not say a name and I didn't think I would recognise the voice of them so I just followed the man who gave me the money he was a tall man, with black eyes and a blonde hair also he seemed to have a scar on his left eyebrow and it led me to a milk factory called 'Villa Gala', that is all I know."
"Thank you John, I would do good on our deal unlike the last one." Hal got up from the chair and exited the interrogation room with Marcus.
"So, the killer is within the milk company." Marcus suggested.
"I guess so. We will go straight to it." They exited the station and got into the Bentley and Marcus got into the driver's seat and Hal got in the seat next him.