Death in a circle

The lightning illuminated the dark study when I opened the huge wooden door. It reeked with a faint humid smell of old books and wet wood. The strong acrid metallic order overpowered everything else, you could feel it on the tongue. Another lightning c***k, and a shriek brought back the electricity needed for my case to start. A young woman of approximately in her 20s was lying on her back. Eyes open in shock, legs sprawled about but her clothes still on her. Only one button was missing from her stained white silky blouse. The blood was coming off from her smashed open skull. The weapon used was nearby and luckily not cleaned from the fresh blood still dripping from its tip. All the suspects were in the room; some crying, some in shock and some agitated. I gauged the room and decided to speak with an old man standing at the back and smoking his cigar. He was the famous retired military officer, Colonel Mustard. He looked dapper in his suit and his medallion pinned on his grey jacket made him look even superior. “Greetings Sir. A very unfortunate moment this,” I told the Colonel. “I am the detective that has been appointed for this case. I am sure you would have observed certain details that you would like to share with me?” It was imperative I looked him in the eye when I spoke to him. A military officer would take this as an act of confidence and someone whom he could trust. Colonel Mustard replied, “Most unfortunate situation indeed. Miss Scarlett was a lovely lady, loved by all but envied by the ladies. Such a waste on beauty. I had the pleasure of knowing her before. Charming woman and indeed pleasing to the eye. I heard her having a verbal discussion with a woman but we couldn’t see who. She had an altercation with Professor Plum, which was definitely not normal as the professor gets along with everyone. She came in with a Manila envelope but I no longer see that. Mrs Peacock ushered us in for a light meal and games. We were asked to drop everything in the library. I suggest you ask Mrs Peacock her version.” The Colonel puffed out the last of his cigar while I jotted down his observations. I thanked him and directed myself towards Mrs Peacock. She was a tall and old woman. She wore round gold rimmed glasses and had a hard stare like a school headmistress. Like her name, she was wearing a long vibrant green silk skirt and a blue and purple dotted silk blouse. She was sitting on a high royal sofa with a Scotch in her hand. She had a faraway look and her lips seemed to be quivering. “Hello Mrs Peacock. I apologise for my intrusion. I am the detective appointed for this murder case and I would like you to ask some questions, if you don’t mind that is. You are the Hostess of today’s party, so you must have known and invited everyone. Any particular reason to this party? Anything you may have noticed? Do you suspect anyone?” I asked Mrs Peacock. Mrs Peacock had a blank stare while I was inquiring her. She finally answered after taking a swig from her glass and gulping the whole Scotch down. She looked me in the eye and replied in a shaky yet loud voice, “I am sorry love, but I needed some liquid courage. In all my planning of soirées and cocktail parties, this has never happened. We all do have our skeletons rattling in the closets but we never let it out. We all behave very cordially when we meet.” I then whispered, “So what happened today? Why now? What skeleton did miss Scarlett let out that made someone murder her?” “Oh! I always knew she was a troubled woman. Always wearing a red dress, so tightly woven on her body that you could see the veins popping out. Always dilly dallying in front of men, swinging her hips and flirting with them. She did get a lot of favours from them, mind you, with just her wretched smile. She must have amassed a lot of rivals, men and women alike. She knew a lot of secrets and was not afraid of using it to her own advantage,” Mrs Peacock replied taking fast breaths. The anger made her talk more freely about the victim and her other invitees. “I didn’t want to invite her but she was the favourite of all. The life of the party as they say. Not inviting her would have been the death of my soirée and that is something I would not want to happen. But here we are, a death - murder in one of my elegant dinner party. How tasteless! I saw her come in with a manila envelope and asked her to drop her purse in the envelope here. Everyone did drop their belongings here. It would be uncouth to carry all of these while we move around and chat. But, during the meet and greet Miss Scarlett and Miss Peach were quarrelling about something in front of the Conservatory. Miss Scarlett had a paper in her hand. I don’t know what happened after that as I had an emergency with Mrs White in the kitchen. This party was to introduce and promote Mrs White’s new career, as a chef. She was formerly my cook but now she has become a renowned chef. One of her staff had burned the crème brulèe and we had to look into the matter. As a host, I could do as much. When I came back, both Miss Peach and Miss Scarlett had resumed to being cordial and socialising with everyone, separately. The electricity then cut off and as the party could not go even more dreadfully I had to suggest a candlelit dinner. It was gaudy but I had to keep my party alive. The servants placed some candle sticks and lit the candles in them. The Colonel and the professor went to check the black box with a huge wrench. I asked Mr. Green to help me barricade everyone in the room, so they wouldn’t get lost. He tied the doors with a long thick rope. He used an axe to close the Conservatory. Everything happened so fast after that. We heard a verbal altercation coming from the library but we were not able to reach there on time. By the time we opened the study door she was already dead on the floor,” recounted Mrs Peacock. I thanked her for her time and left her with her Scotch drink. The police commissioner finally arrived with his squad. He was, of course not pleased to see me and said so as much. But he knew he needed my help to finish this task quickly and as discreetly as possible. He greeted everyone and formally introduced me as part of their investigation team, which I absolutely hated but had to accept for my case to go smoothly. Once formally introduced, I moved on to my next suspect; Professor plum. “Hello professor. As you know the procedure I will need to ask you a few questions. Did you know Miss Scarlett personally? Did you see or hear anything before the tragedy? Any information would be welcome,” I said “Yes! Yes! Ha! Ha! I understand, I understand! You must do your job. To answer your first question, no I was not close to Miss Scarlett. She is a regular in these parties and we are cordial to each other, that’s all. I did hear a fight ensue in here moments before she died. I’m sure many told you that,” the professor replied. “That’s strange! I have witnesses testifying that you were seen angrily discussing something. What did Miss Scarlett have on you that made you so agitated professor,” I asked. The professor now with wide eyes and small drops of perspiration forming on his forehead stammered, “Now look here you! You might be a big shot detective but you need to know that each one of us here have secrets, deep dark ones. Once that might make your hair stand straight. Scar was always the one digging into everyone’s business. She loved having power over everyone and blackmailing us. Well, maybe this time, someone had enough of her antics.” I asked again, “Well what about the fight then?” He replied quickly, “Well if you should know. Scar found out that I was having an affair with my patient. Well, two of my patients and a nurse. I am not a role model and I do have needs.” He then stopped talking and started pacing the room in rapid successions. He looked like a crazed man. He would occasionally take out his handkerchief and wipe his glistening forehead. “Well they do have their secrets. What could have been the most dangerous one?” I thought to myself. The police commissioner was taking the suspects fingerprints and I decided to now gauge the room for proof. The main table in the study looked like a mess. Seems like someone was in a hurry to find something. Ohh! And look, an amber pendant. Must be of one of the suspects. I asked one of the police to escort me while I looked for clues and he took photos of the clues. I then analysed the weapon, a candlestick covered with thick blood. It seemed that the suspect used this tool to beat the victim multiple times till the skull cracked open . The Candlestick has been thrown on the right side of the victims head, indicating that the suspect is left handed, with a weak wrist. The way the candlestick is positioned seems that the killer stood on top of the dead body and then threw the weapon. There was a scuffle between Ms Scarletts and her murderer, she seems to be missing her top button which could have been possible if the killer held her by the collar. There are some nail scratchings on the neck meaning miss Scarlett did try to fight back. Let’s see if we have anything under her nails? Unfortunately not, maybe the suspect was wearing long sleeves or is really tall which is nearly half of the suspects. I do see a tinge of blue underneath the lipstick. Yes, her tongue is a vibrant blue colour and there is some foam, as well. Emanating a strong odor of, yes, cyanide. It was not a very strong dose that needed attention, but definitely one that killed miss Scarlett. There was no evidence as to how did only the victim ingest the cyanide and not the others. Maybe, there are 2 killers, instead of one! Or maybe, the murderer wanted to make sure that the job was well done. This case is definitely becoming more interesting. The police commissioner and his squad graciously helped put the suspects in different rooms and in observation. The study had to be cleared out so that the evidence could not be tampered anymore. There was a chance that there could b one or even more suspects. Miss Scarlett knew too much and her beauty could not charm her way out of death. I decided to investigate Monsieur Brunette, who was put into the guest bedroom. I was escorted by the police commissioner. A formality really, I had no use of him, but he insisted his presence was necessary for this case. He reminded me that he had introduced me as part of their team, so he had to be with me. With this pleasant thought we entered the room. The police officer who was meant to observe the connotes was clearly a rookie. He was exchanging numbers and was talking about his future plans after the interrogation. The commissioner assured him out and reprimanded him for his own professionalism. “So, Mons. Brunette how does a con artist like you get an invite to this elitist soirée? Did you have anything to hide that miss Scarlett knew of?” I interrogated him. Mons. Brunette calmly replied wirh a grin, “I knew you would ask me that. Always blame the low life, right? I crashed the party, alright! Heard some hot shots are going to be here and thought I could get some clients. I may be a scammer but I’m not a murderer. Miss Scarlett is the one who invited me. She has even helped me scam some people in the past too. I would never bite the hand that feeds me. Although I would not mind eating her up. She needed to lighten up though.” “So, who were you planning to scam in this party? What information did you have or rather Ms Scarlett have?” I inquired “Nothing. I just needed an invite to scam people. We were working separately tonight. She did not tell me her plans and she did not need to know mine,” he replied. I further inquired, “So you did not see her enter with a white file?” “No, I was too busy working in the room to realise when she even came in. I did hear her fighting someone in the study. We all were locked in the dining room with only candlesticks illuminating the room. We were too busy listening on the fight to notice someone missing,” replied Mons Brunette. The police commissioner thanked the fake lawyer and we walked towards the garage. A new police officer was stationed outside the scammers room. The garage was a temporary office for the police and it was filled with documents on all those suspects and the victim. They each had a dossier filled with scams, bribes, d**g trafficking, affairs, mob money, etcetera. Each one worst than the other. The overpowering coffee and sweets for the officers was disconcerting. I was able to go through the dossiers rather quickly. I already had all the information. There was nothing new in the files, unfortunately. “Why did you say that miss Scarlett came in with a white file when we know that she came in with a Manila envelope?” The police commissioner standing behind me asked. “I just wanted to know if he really didn’t know anything about the envelope. It’s best to confuse the suspects, then only will the truth come out,” I replied. “Time to meet the other suspects. Are you ready? “Ready when you are coming maam?” he replied. We went to the Conservatory next. Madam Rose, the psychic was there, and I saw that she had indeed made herself comfortable. She was sipping hot tea which, suspiciously smelled like rhum. The female constable was standing as far away as possible and looked disgusted. When we approached her I realised why. She was wearing a very heavy perfume, that not only masked the rhum like tea but also the many incense sticks that she had lighted. The windows in the Conservatory was open, yet it felt stuffy and it was a dizzying experience. “Ah! I knew you would come. I was waiting for you. You could ask your colleague here. I just shuffled my tarot cards and predicted your arrival. She, of course, did not believe me,” said Madam Rose. “Well, there is a murder case we are solving. We would have come sooner or later,” scoffed out the commissioner. “Not a believer I see! Not a problem! I did not earn my name just by begging people to believe me. I can prove it to you that I’m not a fluke,” she replied. She took out her cards and I could hear the faint clinking in her bag. She shuffled the cards and laid it gracefully on the table, murmuring something about 2 cups, upside down death and a double sided sword. “The killer is amongst us,” whispered Madam Rose with her eyes close. “Hmph!” scoffed the commisioner. “She was envied by many in this room. Manybenefittedd from her death. There are 2 murderers that you should be looking for. One a lady and the other a man. A love gone wrong and a revenge ensued,” her voice going louder and louder at each sentence. Suddenly, she stopped and opened her eyes and started panting. “This is what was revealed to me. The universe is not willing to reveal more to me.” “I heard a fight between Miss Scarlett before she was found dead. I came in early and was ushered to keep my bag in the study. I prefered to keep it with me, in case someone wanted a reading. I saw miss Scarlett enter and directed to the study. She had a Manila envelope and mrs Peacock followed her to the study. I went to take a few bites before the electricity went off,” she narrated. The police commissioner thanked her and we decided to head towards the next suspect. Not before the commissioner laughed and ridiculed Madam Rose and called her a phony. We directed towards the music room where Mr. Green was kept under observation. Mr. Green was playing the piano when he entered the room. The policeman meant to guard him was filming him. Honestly! I was not surprised. I have met only a handful of honest and hardworking policemen, and none of them worked for the police commissioner. The priest played a beautiful hymn of ‘Amazing Grace’ and even the commissioner swayed during the music. “Hmm,” I cleared my throat. “I’m sorry to have disturbed to what would have been a beautiful finish. But, we need your recount of today’s events. “The Lord works in mysterious ways. You have not disturbed me, my child. I was waiting for you. You have made me comfortable and I thank you for that. Regarding today’s events, miss Scarlett, may God bless her soul, was not very liked by many or rather liked for all the wrong reasons. She had a fight with miss Peach near the Conservatory. I heard Mrs Peacock had beautiful flowers and I couldn’t help but look at those. That is when I saw the fight. I then saw miss Scarlett have a tiff with Mrs White as her food was as she said, “tasteless” and she slapped Mrs White, I 7guess she had too much to drink. She then went in the study. We all heard the fight in the study after the electricity went out. Poor child couldn’t even have a few moments of peace,” narrated Mr. Green. The police commissioner said, “Thank you, father. You have been of great help.” He knelt in front of the father and was blessed. How could you believe a priest and not the future teller. Both deal with the unknown yet only one is believed. I still could not understand this notion of believing into something that held not grounds in the real world but in fiction. Facts! Now that is something I believed in. We next went towards the kitchen and saw Mrs white concocting a quick drink and dessert for not one but 5 of the police squad. Apparently, their coffee and sweets in the garage was over and they needed to refill. Bunch of unprofessional imbeciles. How are these the chosen elites? Eating and drinking something made by a murder suspect. My look made them all scatter away, for the best as I could see the commissioner wanting to join them in their temporary festivities. Mrs White seeing her kitchen empty addressed us, “I am sorry. But when I am stressed I tend to cook.” I asked, “Why are you stressed? Do you have a hand in killing miss Scarlett? “oh no! Oh never! I am sure someone might have told you that miss Scarlett spat on me and slapped me. I’m used this. I used to work for mrs Peacock and this was how I was treated daily. This is my first work as a renowned chef. I’m not going to spoil my career for thiS Not fond of going back to being a personal chef,” she replied. I further inquired, “Tell me, all the food and drinks come only from your kitchen? All the ingredients and menu have been made and inspected by you? I mean all these lovely food. You don’t want anyone to sabotage it would you?” Mrs White asked, “Why? What happened? Was the quiche bland? What did Mrs Peacock say? I have inspected each food and drink made so by myself and inspected them before they left my kitchen. Some of the guests brought champagne and we opened those up and gave to the guest. My food has been the success of the party. If someone is trying to sabotage my work, it must be Mrs Peacock. She was never too happy to let go of me! Although, she kept this party to keep up with her appearance. She is one lying woman who takes bribes with whoever she could.” I replied, “Why thank you for this information. I guess, I’ll let you get back to your cooking. I see Mr. Commissioner wants to taste the cookies you just concocted. Let’s not keep him waiting.” Mrs White glad that the interview was over filled the commissioners hands with all the cookies he could carry. “Hmmm! You should taste one! They are so soft, buttery and gooey in the middle. You get the hint of walnut and also chocolate chips. It feels like you are eating a piece of cloud - chocolatey cloud,” moaned the commissioner. “I’d rather not let the sweet get to me. We need to meet our last suspect and I hear she likes to sweet talk man into doing whatever she wants. You think you up for it?” I laughed. “Hmph! I know how to control my impulses, mind you! This was only for energy. I have not eaten anything since morning. My sugar level was low,” he grumbled. We directed ourselves to the game room where miss Peach was playing pool by herself A police woman were standing far off in the room observing her. Upon a closer inspection I saw a camera pointed towards her. The commissioner explained that she was a very manipulative woman and could charm her way out if not monitored well. “Well! You insult me by saying that I manipulate people by my charm. I’m just a likeable person. Is it a crime to be this beautiful?” Miss Peach smiled and said to us. “Miss Peach! Sorry to disturb your game but we need to ask you some questions,” I said. “It’s okay. This game is more interesting. Trying to solve the murder mystery? Who could it be? The beauty and the damned? 8 suspects and one victim. All having a motive but who had the courage to do so?” Said miss Peach. She walked across the pool table and took aim on the 8th ball. She perfectly executed the shot and stood up. “I just wanted to know whose secret she wanted to reveal? Who had the more to lose? I mean, she knew everything is!” Ms Peacg moved closer to us. She carressed the commissioners lips and cleaned off the last cookie chocolate and liked it “Mrs White seems to having improved her cookies the last time I ate,” she whispered. The commissioner cleared his throat and angrily asked. “Where were you when she was murdered? We heard witnesses saying that you were fighting with her!” “Tut! Tut! Tut! That is no way to talk to a lady! Let’s sit down, shall we? She said gesturing to a 2 seater sofa and chair. The police commissioner decided to stand while I took the chair. Miss Peach made a show of sitting down and crossing her legs making sure the slit in her long dress revealed her long brown legs. “Forgive my partner for his outburst! We had a long day and he had nothing to eat except for a few cookies. I’m sure you would like to return back to the comforts of your own home. We all would. After all the soirée was supposed to end at 11:00 PM and here we are at 3:00 AM still interrogating everyone,” I told Ms Peach. “What we would like to know is that, did you, perhaps notice something? With whom was Ms Scarlett talking to? Did she have anything on you, that you did not like?” “Ha, ha!” laughed Ms Peach. She was sitting at the edge of the sofa but after hearing my questions she further backed away on the sofa and put her hands behind her head and put her legs straight ahead. She made herself comfortable and replied, Ms Scarlett! That little nympho had secrets on everyone. Unfortunately for her, so did I. I had secrets on her. She was not happy to hear that. The hunter for once was hunter. I am sure many Witnessed our verbal fight. I will tell you her secret if you cut me a deal.” “That depends on what you have to offer and if it even is worth it.” I smiled and answered back. “Oh It definitely is! Don’t you want to know what was in the missing manila envelope? Yes, mr commissioner, I know the envelope is missing and no, I don’t have it. You can have your guard check me or you could do it personally. I don’t mind,” she smirked. “We already know the contents of the envelope and have it in our possession. Now, if you don’t have anything to offer. Maybe we should continue with our investigation. We might need to question you more so I guess you keep yourself busy and not take a nap. You would need your wits to be able to answer correctly,” I told miss Peach. Miss Peach now with wide eyes, “Wait! I do know more. I know the secrets of everyone. I can help you solve this case sooner. I need to go home and have my beauty sleep. I have a date later today and he was a tough nut to c***k. I can’t miss this date,” she implored. We headed towards the garage with all the information as the commissioner could not believe all the details miss Peach had. “Why did you tell her we had the envelope? Were you trying to confuse her to make her confess?” asked the commissioner. “You seem to be growing on me, Sir. Yes, you do understand my methods,” I smiled and answered. When we entered the garage, 2 police officers were waiting by the door. “Sir, maam! We found a hidden camera lodged between the books. We were able to track its frequency and it led us to the Conservatory. Madame Rose had installed it before the blackout. She also had some small bottles of what she calls potions and antidotes,” one of them said. “So she must have poisoned miss Scarlett and stolen the envelope. Maybe Scarlett came to know that she was a fake, “ scoffed the commissioner. “Were you able to see who took the envelope? And did you test the potions for cyanide?” I asked. “The police are viewing the video footage and the bottles have been sent for testing. We shall know the results in a few minutes. As for the candle stick, the person was wearing gloves and may have covered herself or himself, as well as there were no blood splatters on any suspects,” he replied. “Thank you officers. You have done well.” I said “Let’s assemble all the suspects in the dining room shall we? We shall bring the evidence in front of them. I’m sure the manila envelope or rather its contents would still be in the study. Or it would have ben noticeable to carry it with you,” I told the commissioner. I was able to look into the evidence and confirm my theory on who the killers were. We all assembled in the dining room. It seemed that stress and anxiety kept everyone awake and agitated. “I thank you for your patience while we interrogated each one of you. Obviously, one or may be more of you lied so we wouldn’t know the real truth. But as we say, the truth always reveals itself,” I declared. “ I will be passing some blank papers which you have to write what you witnessed and sign them. Just to make sure that whatever you said was the truth. I walked around and jotted down my observations while they wrote. I then revealed that we have a video footage of the murder and will soon play it but I had to ask more questions. “Professor Plum! Is it true that you slept with Miss Scarlett when she came in for her checkup? She saw you hooking up with the nurse. The nurse as vengeance told her about 2 of your other conquests?” I revealed. “Mr. Green! Is it true that you and Colonel Mustard scammed and stole the mob money to cater for your own desires? Monsieur Brunette you in turn, posed as a lawyer to fight the case for a rich widow but scammed her as well while also sleeping with her,” I continued.