Moonlight Symphony

Five - Finale

Jack was in the middle of a press conference. Journalists were gathering quickly around him. It was about to start. Where the f**k are you, Mael? Don't leave me to deal with these aliens on my own, Jack thought.

Mael was nowhere to be found. A day after the findings, he simply said that he had one last thing to investigate before he could give a conference.

Giving up completely the possibility of Mael saving the day, Jack stepped forward to try to sound the best that he could.

“Sir! Is it true that you have finally caught the culprit behind the Secret of the Moonlight?” a journalist asked.

“We have found the corpses of all the victims that went missing, or were remotely attached to the file. The culprit is in solitary confinement, awaiting a court order that is going to sentence him to life imprisonment,” Jack said.

“Sir, what about the rumors that–“

“Look, we found them . . . all of the corpses, all these murders are tied to a single person, a person whom we have already captured and you want to talk about rumors? Have you no regards for the families that were victimized by this case?” Jack interrupted as he got up from his chair. “No further questions,” he repeated as he began to walk away. This trick he learned from the best himself, Mael.

As he was walking in the crowd of journalists surrounding him, asking more questions, he could not avoid thinking about what Mael had told him. What if he was right? What if they didn't solve the case? Dumbass he said to himself.

***

Mael was rushing towards the solitary confinement where the culprit was imprisoned. He pulled the car and entered the huge prison. Everyone around there knew Mael.

He was very popular among his coworkers for his incredible wit and capability. They would usually greet him or make a small talk, but, in that day, they would just step back.

They were happy because of the news, another impossible case that was solved by their hero detective. If it was them they would be dancing with joy, that is why the look upon Mael's face and his presence didn't make any sense to them.

“Why are you here?” An officer finally asked Mael.

But he simply walked by. He moved towards the area where the single cells were located. He asked for permission to interrogate once again the culprit.

“Detective, we are under strict order—”

“Do I look like I care? Lives are at stakes here!” Mael shouted at the guard. He was simply doing his job.

“But sir, I cannot permit anyone to see—”

“Get away from me,” Mael said, before he pushed the guard aside and opened the door behind him.

The culprit was sitting in a chair, behind a small table. His bed was intact and he was handcuffed. A smirk wore his face as he saw Mael enter.

“No guards. Leave us alone,” Mael asked.

The two guards that wanted to come inside were left behind. They didn't want to question Mael no further.

“Do you have a cigarette? I'm dying for one right now,” the culprit said.

Mael made sure that no one was listening to them. He blocked the security camera with a simple piece of cloth.

“We went to your house,” Mael said, sitting on the other side of the table.

“Oh, did you? A wonderful place I've got. Oh jeez, I miss my TV so much,” the culprit said.

“We found the secret room. Every single corpse of the case was there, alongside with the hand of the girl you killed,” Mael said.

“So you believe me. Why? Isn't it easier to just let things go as they are? You already have me as the responsible for all the crimes.”

“But you aren't. That's the problem,” Mael answered, he rolled his hands into fists.

“Very clever, indeed. I have nothing left to lose, so I will admit that you are right,” the culprit said before he leaned closer to Mael. “I didn't kill them,” the culprit added.

“Why did you kill the blonde girl? That's the part that makes no sense,” Mael asked.

The culprit laughed and put his feet on the table.

“I thought you would understand, but it seems I was wrong. Mister Sherlock,” he taunted as his face wore a grim smile. “I didn't expect you to miss that tiny possibility.”

“You improvised, but you failed . . . horribly might I add.”

“Yep, that's how it went. See, I admit it. That b***h saw me inside of her house. That is not how things were supposed to be. Curiosity killed the pussy.”

Mael smirked at him. “There it is, that ridiculous bravado, you think you are in control and dare to speak poems about the dead.”

“What difference does it really make now?”

“The dead will not hear them,” he added as he untangled his fists and drove them in his pocket.

“You and I are really similar do you know that?”

Mael tilted his head slightly and frowned. “No, no we're not,” he said before he sighed. “You see, unlike you, I admire life; that is why I respect the dead,” he added.

“The killings were beautiful, you gotta admit it,” the culprit said.

Mael smiled at him. He felt up a rage build inside of him, the likes of which it would spark an inferno and burn all those around. “I need you to tell me exactly what happened that night, what did you see? Who knocked you unconscious?”

Mael had plenty of questions but he had to prioritize, he knew he didn't have much time before he is discovered, so he had to make it count.

“I didn't see anything, you know I sent the cassette to that b***h so she runs along to another place.

The robbery would've been perfect, I would hide in her house until it was safe to go outside, but when I went there . . .” he paused as he swallowed.

“The real killer came and knocked me out cold. It was for a split second, but I swear I heard someone whisper behind me before I was hit, I'm not insane. Somehow, the real killer found out about the cassette and he came to collect.”

Mael smirked yet again at the culprit. “Ah yes, the cassette,” he said before he paused.

“It was a nice touch,” he added as he took a hard look at the culprit. “Can I tell you something?” he asked as he leaned closer to the culprit.

“You are nothing but a hack,” he said before he took his hands from his pockets and in a blink of an eye stabbed the culprit in his right ear with his hand that carried a needle, and with the other he muffled his mouth preventing him from shouting.

The culprit made as much noises as he could, but they were not enough to garner any attention. His eyes widened up at Mael.

Mael locked eyes with the culprit, his breathing was steady, far too steady. He then simply smiled again at him and whispered, “Sonata."