THE WITCHGATORS

THE WITCHY CASE

"Sometimes evil comes with a veil of good..." Shryaon started, "Long ago there was a small boy Hamen. As he was a small boy, imagining things was part of his fun. Once a ____ came to his village and was a practising meditation under a tree. He thought about it and heard some people saying that sage posses the borrowed power of god. He was impressed and started meditation from then onwards under an oak tree but there was a problem. Instead of contacting the god, he got influenced by a powerful spirit of the Demon King. Firstly his commands were small like poking a needle on his finger, stealing milk and grains from neighbours but then he started to use him as a tool to influence people to create a new religion. A religion to worship him as God and the people influenced with it were called skull witches..."

"I only asked you to talk for passage of time in this small journey to show you how this town looks, but you started this old story" I exclaimed 

"When did I said it is just a story," he said in a mysterious tone and became quiet.

"What's that ?" I shouted as  I observed a mess around The Mayors' house and also tried to change the topic.    

 I and Shryaon descended from the carriage and inquired one of the nearby humans about this situation. 

He was an overreacting character who said, "Sir the great mayor, who had executed ten witches! Our saviour! The symbol of this town! Was murdered by a witch! "

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "This is a piece of bad news, right Shryaon." But this guy was nowhere to be found.

Just then I saw him with the towns' Sheriff, Leman De Semzer. 

"So what happened?" questioned Shryaon. 

"Oh! Shryaon. You have moved to this town. Well, this is a witch case. The maid when entered the room, she found him lying on the floor with a witch symbol scribbled on a piece of paper kept on his stomach. So as witchcraft is mixed there is no need for a councillor like you. "

"Hmmm.....so can I at least see the body as I have never seen a death because of the witch…"

"I am doing this only because you are the queens favourite…" said the sheriff while guiding him inside the room.

 "Hey wait" I shouted. "What is going on? Where are you going? Were we not touring the town as you have returned after a long time?"

"Let her in. She is my new assistant." He said with that plain voice.

"Wha..." before I said anything he grabbed my hands and pulled me inside the big house.

The room was big and had two windows and ventilators. There was a single bed with a table near it. There was a wine glass quarter filled and a bottle of wine. There were two chairs to sit near the window and a cupboard to keep money and clothing. The body was lying on the floor near the bed. There was a white colour lather coming out from the body and there was a pentagram drawn on an old paper lying on the floor.

"Interesting," he said while observing the pentagram. 

"See this is a deed of a witch, I told you. Thus there is no need for your involvement." said the sheriff.

"There is surely a need for my involvement. Tell me what do you know about witches?"

"Not more than this is a symbol of the witches and they are bad," said the Sheriff.

"That means nothing!" he claimed in the same plain tone.

"What do you mean?" questioned the Sheriff.

"This body has no wounds and has white substance coming out from the mouth thus he died from poison and the mark is used for protection or sacrifice which is never done with poison. So I would like to conclude that this is not a deed of a witch but a planned murder" concluded Shryaon.

"So Mr Shrewd Who is the murderer?" said to him in a tone of mockery.

"The murder was probably done through the poison as there are blisters in the throat," he said while peeping into the mouth.

"Hey, Shryaon!" exclaimed the Sheriff "this is an easy case now I can solve it now. You may leave. Thank you!"

"Yes it is easy now but I will see how you will find the culprit."

While the conversation was going on I was standing there in the corner with a hanky on my mouth as I was feeling as if I will vomit now only. Just then he came towards me and said, "Is this your first time that you have seen a dead guy?"

I said, “Firstly at this time…..aa…..what is the time?”

“11:30,” said he looking in his wristwatch.

“Yes…At this time you are showing me such horrible sights and you think I will be okay.”

"Then let us talk to the suspects. It will make you feel better."

The first suspect was the mayors' friend D' Shampoo. He was a tall man and wore a black suit. It seems that he was a member of the council.

He testified by saying:

"My wife has gone to her mother's house so I was offered by the mayor, who is my old colleague, to live with him for some days so today morning I came here. I was in my room reading about half an hour ago when I heard the noise of someone screaming."

The second suspect was the maid. She was thin and was wearing a black dress and an apron. She said “I came to the masters' room to give him water as he had a habit to drinking water precisely at 11'oclock. As I entered the room what I saw ....” said the maid in an emotional tone “was the dead body of master…”

The third suspect that was Mrs Mayor seemed to be in a deep shock. She was standing in a circle of people outside the house.

He asked the maid, “How is her health?”

“She is not good,” said the maid “As soon as she heard the news she nearly fainted so we made her sit outside to get some fresh air.”

As soon as Shryaon tried to ask about the location she exclaimed. "Why do you want to record my statement? Do you think that I murdered my husband? Why are people disturbing my distorted mind..." said the coughing and crying wife. She was a beautiful woman and was dressed in normal clothing. "Ma’am please cooperate. Please tell in detail what happened"

"Okay!" she said angrily, "I accompanied him to his bedroom as we talk to each other only at this part of the day. I left the room at 10:50, while he was sitting on his bed with a glass of wine in his hands. Who knew that it was the last time I saw him…"

Just then we heard a shout from the Sheriff, "I have solved the case! Please, everyone, gather in the room where the accident occurred."

As we gathered in the room I observed that there were rats in a cage kept in the corner of the room. Also, I found that there was a dead rat on the table.

"I have found the poison in the wine bottle, this rat is the proof ", exclaimed while pointing at the dead rat. "And guess who had delivered the wine bottle, the friend of the mayor, Mr D' Shampoo. Do you have anything to say, sir ?"

He was in shock. He said surprisingly, "I brought this wine as a gift of his friendship. Why would I think of mixing poison in the wine of my best friend? "

"Sir," said the sheriff while peeping in a piece of in his hands, "you do have a motive. After removing the Mayor you can become the next Mayor of this town as you have connections with the Duke also. As all the proofs are against you thus I would like to conclude that you are the culprit. Corporal, please take him with you and tell those workers first to take this body to coffin it."

As they lifted the body and walked out I could only hear the voice of the mayor's friend, "I am not the murderer. " 

"Pity for him, " I said, but as turned around I saw Shryaon bending and touching the floor. He stood up and said something in the ears of the corporal along with a bag of coins. He then picked up the wine bottle and a glass. He kept the mouse in the glass on the table, covered it with a handkerchief and shook it, waited for some time and then took the rat out of the glass and observed it. He then poured some wine in another glass and dipped the rat in it once and observed the rat dies.

"Wait! " he ran outside and shouted to stop the carriage " sheriff you have caught the wrong guy."

"What! Have you gone ..."

"Wait and listen to what I have to say. Please!" he begged. "If this consumes your time than here" he took out a bag of gold coins “then take all my savings.”

“Very well, then do it fast.”

Next moment he gathered all the suspects in the room again and said, “Everyone please listen to what I have deduced. Firstly, Mr D’Shampoo is innocent. There was no poison wine.”

“What! I myself tested it on the rat and it died”

“See, firstly the poison responsible for the death of the Mayor should be concentrated as the blisters are only caused by the pure poison. So the diluted poison present in the wine can not be the cause of the death. One thing more the blister can only be caused in the throat if that concentrated poison would remain in the throat for some time. This means that the poison was poured inside the mouth when he was sleeping or was drugged to sleep.”

Everyone, including me, stood in amazement.

“One thing more the wine glass that he used to drink was not affected so it means that it was poisoned after committing the crime. This was seen by me as the mouse that exposed to the quarter filled wine glass was unaffected.”

“So that’s why he was shaking the mouse madly,” I thought.

“So actually what happened was that the culprit attacked the victim from behind with the drugged needle of  sleep, then poured the poison in the mayor’s mouth and in the bottle of wine and left a piece of paper with a pentagram sign on it to make it think that it was a deed of a witch.”

“So the culprit is…” said the sheriff.

“Yes, the person who saw the Mayor last time, his wife.”

“What nonsense!” said the wife, “This is a mere story and nothing. Do you have any proof that I did it. I am the wife of the late Mayor I can sue you for your statement.”

Just then the corporal who was tipped by Shryaon entered.

“It’s the same as you said I found the sleeping darts and the poison bottle in her cupboard”

 “What do you have to say now? Mrs Mayor” he said.

“Do not call me Mrs Mayor, he was not capable of the word husband and Mayor.”

“What! But why ma’am” exclaimed the Sheriff.

“Do you know that the witches that he killed were normal human beings? He did this to increase his value in the eyes of the duke. And one of them was my sister. I found this out as I read his personal diary. I had excused him but I can not forgive him for abusing her and not attending her death anniversary tomm… No today as it is midnight. But what made you think about me as the culprit and that story.”

“Oh! That actually when they lifted the body I saw a blood drop on the floor and then I saw a mark on the body this meant that he was struck with a sharp object, and as the object was nowhere in the room thus it must be on the culprit. I got my target locked on you as you said that ‘Do you think that I murdered my husband?’I never told anyone else than the sheriff and his colleagues about his murder by a human.”

“Oh! My bad” said the wife as she walked out of the house.

“Well thank you Mr Shrewd. You are truly one of the intelligent subjects of the queen.”

As we were travelling back to my house I said to him, “It was a very witchy case!  I wonder how a witch look like.”

“Hey you did see one today,”  he said.

“What !!” I said in shock.

“Didn’t you noticed that the wife told the time although there was no watch in that room? This is because the witching time is 12o clock so she was able to sense that her powers have come back so she told the exact time. Also she used the dart that is not sold but only made by witches.”

“Then why did she painted a fake symbol on the paper” I questioned sharply.

“Fool! Because she uses her brain. If no one would have intervened in the case then it would be considered as a curse and if one was able to figure out what is its meaning then that person would ignore the witch problem and will find the culprit which would be considered as Mr D’Shampoo and if by chance she is caught, the witch point would have been disappeared. She could have even esca..”

 He had no even finished his sentence that we heard a cry, “ The lady in the carriage have vanished into the thin air!” 

At that moment I fainted.