Detective John

CHAPTER 4

“Well, I have one clue.” John said smugly. 

“What is it?” Ryan asked getting impatient.

“Ahh…..I don’t think I’ve been paid for today.” John remembered.

Ryan understood John’s intention and paid him his share.

“My investigation found that before this case happened, the tram company bought insurance with a huge payout. So, there is a possibility of insurance fraud.” John said.

After that, Ryan met with Lily’s Father, Robert who is a shareholder of the tram company. “How is the tram? I’m afraid it’s an inside job.” Robert asked.

“Not found yet, but I have sent people out to find it. It’s impossible not to leak any traces of such a large - scale operation. Boss, why did you want to invest in the tram company?” Ryan asked.

“Investing is to make money. Why else? Ryan, what business do you think is the most profitable?” Robert cross-questioned to which Ryan answered Crude Opium.

“Why don’t I do it then?” Robert asked.

“To keep your conscience clean.” Ryan said.

“And there is no future for this business. No country or nation rises by selling and buying narcotics. I invested in tram because of their technology. They have the best engineers from Germany. Only with such talents can a nation’s industry rise. And also, you can’t do business without any shady secret.” Robert cleared Ryan’s doubt.

“How is Lily? What about her private life?” Robert suddenly asked.

“She is good. She works very hard. And She….She is sharing an apartment with someone.” Ryan said.

“With whom?” Robert reacted.

On the other hand….

John was cooking dinner in the kitchen. Suddenly, he screamed seeing Lily sneaking behind. John then set the dinner and both of them sat at the dinning table.

“Mmmm….smells so good.” Lily moaned.

“Walking without sound! Do you want to give me a heart attack?” John exclaimed.

“I was afraid I might affect your thinking. Oh by the way, have you got any leads with the case?” Lily asked excitedly.

“Want to know? Pay me first. I’ll give you information based on the pay.” John bargained.

Lily huffed and gave him the money. John accepted happily and started

“The tram company bought insurance before the accident. Inspector Ryan thinks it can be insurance fraud. Also, the drunk guy who was electrocuted three years ago, that was not an accident.

Think, the family of a scavenger could not only hire a lawyer but also get media to protect their rights. This is more complicated than it seems.”

At that time, Ryan entered the house and asked why the environment is so gloomy. “Let me tell you something then. Brace yourself. After my Boss found out that you two share an apartment, he was so angry that he flipped the table over.”

John got scared and said “She insisted on moving in. What does it have to do with me? Lily, I beg you. Move out now from my house. If you don’t, I’ll move.”

“Come on, the case is not even solved yet. Fine. If you go, I’ll tell my dad you molested me.” Lily fake threatened John.

But John took it seriously and said “I am begging you! Just have mercy and let me go.” 

“So many female workers’ families are waiting. You are their only hope. I’ll move as soon as you solve this case.” Lily said.

“Then, hurry up and call your Dad. I want to see the contracts. All the accounts and contracts of the tram company. I want to see them all.” John ordered.

Lily managed to get the documents. John was checking them when Lily asked “Can you really understand it with such speed?”

“My reading speed is in proportion to my eagerness to kick you out.” John answered.

“Get the car ready.” John ordered Lily. Together they went to the power station again.

“President, we’re here to find out more about the tram case. I saw on Tram’s proposal that you once wanted to buy them.” Lily said.

“Yes. That’s true. I had the intention at that time. At that time, their business was not doing well and they were short of funds. I had enough money and I had cheap electricity. If only they had the vision to work with me, that would have been a win - win situation! But the negotiation failed.” The President explained.

John was inspecting everything in the office and suddenly said “Now that something has happened to the tram, it has become a hot potato now. It’s not too late for you to buy it now.”

“It would only be a white elephant for me.” The President laughed.

After the meeting with President, John went to the Police Station when he saw a body being taken to the morgue. He asked about his body.

“Passer-by found this body by the river. Nobody claimed for this body so we will just register on the record and cremate the body.” The assistant inspector said.

“This is too sloppy. You must have an autopsy on this body. And do it now.” John ordered.

“The deceased’s head was severely hit. His face was cut with a sharp object. His blood contains seriously high sodium and potassium levels. Undigested nuts and raisins in his stomach. There are traces of being bound at his limbs.” The doctor made an autopsy report on that body.

Suddenly, Ryan entered the forensic lab and asked John about what he is doing here.

“This dead guy here is related to the tram case. Do you remember? When we were at the scene, we smelled a weird smell. This person has the same smell. Do you know him?” John asked.

“I know. He was a little punk. He loved women and gambling. He would rob people on the street every time he lost money on gambling. And when he got the money, he would gamble again. Lily once wrote an article on him, warning night - shift female workers to be careful.” Ryan explained.

“Night - shift female workers? I think someone killed him because he saw something.” John guessed.

After some investigation, Ryan and John found the victim’s bicycle where traces of a common herb named Chamber bitter were found in the tyres. In the whole area, there was only one bluestone mine where it is found. So, they left for that mine for further investigation.

“Look, what we have found!” John exclaimed.

“Since, we found the missing tram, maybe those female workers are also nearby.” Ryan said.

They were looking for those women but suddenly some mobs came out of nowhere and attacked them. John saved Ryan from one of the goons but actually got scared and hide inside the tram while Ryan tackled those goons single - handedly.

“Thank you for saving my life. I will never forget this favor.” Ryan said gratefully.

“No problem. I just did it out of my instinct basically to protect my wallet. Why don’t you repay me now?” John said.

Ryan hugged John tightly and John mocked him saying he wanted a pay not a hug to return the favor. (repay and hug sound similar)

Then, more officers came. They found the night - shift female workers and rescued them and take them back to the Police Station to take statements.

“Now, my case is finished. Ryan, pay me and Lily, move out.” John said.

“Do you think this is over? We only found the missing passengers. How did the tram come here? Who did it? We don’t know these things yet.” Ryan said annoyed.

“Is that important?” John asked irritated.

“Of course.” Both Lily and Ryan said seriously.

All of them with a few officers then went to the power station. The President was already there in his office.

“President, you know the reason why we came uninvited. We have just found the disappearing tram and the female workers. The people you sent to guard the tram already confessed. They say that the mastermind of this case is you.” Ryan said.

“I am the mastermind? Then tell me. How did I make such a big tram disappear? The President asked.

“This is very simple. Before the crime, your power company used an excuse of repairing circuits to wire a temporary cable at that fork of the road. That night, you sent a lot of people in advance to put a lot of dry ice and smoke cakes at a specified position and a tack was temporarily paved for the tram to drive on.

When the tram was nearby, you cut the power off the circuit so that the tram lost power and moved to a specified position with inertial motion. After the tram stopped, you lighted the smoke cakes. The female workers in the carriage found something wrong and started to scream. At that time, your henchmen got in the tram and controlled them. At the same time, someone poured hot water on the dry ice to create dense fog. The ground around the rails started to c***k due to rapid temperature changes. At that time, the artificial fog surrounded the tram. Your men who were hiding in advance switched tracks immediately, and manually pushed the tram onto that track. Subsequently, the trolley pole was connected to the cable previously laid and the tram left the scene silently.

Before the smoke cleared, you were busy demolishing the temporary track while making weird noises and printing footprints. The main reason behind was of course to make money. You deliberately caused panic to make the tram company’s stocks plummet then you could buy them cheap. But what you didn’t expect was the tram company had bought insurance.” John explained.

“I listened to your story for a ling time. But these all sound like guesses.” The President said flatly.

“President, actually, the tram hijacking is a small matter. But you shouldn’t have killed a man. Now, let’s talk in detail about how you killed him.

I have been in this office before. At that time, the coffee table had a glass countertop, the curtains were made of velvet, and there was a cigar ashtray on the coffee table. The second time I came here, I found that the coffee table was replaced with a marble countertop, the curtains were changed and the ashtray on the coffee table was also changed from fluted to an ordinary ashtray. And the carpet was cleaned. I could smell the carpet detergent in this room. I secretly took a slice of your nut cake here, which was delicious by the way. Then…we found undigested raisins in that man’s stomach. Only then did I realize that he had been here before, too.

That night, the man was waiting at the fork of the road trying to rob a female worker from her night shift, but he stumbled upon your actions. He also got a smell of sulphur at that time. Then he followed you to the mine on his bike and came to blackmail you later. In this room, you killed him with that cigar ashtray. His blood splattered everywhere. So you had to replace the coffee table, curtains, and clean the carpet.” John elaborated the whole situation what happened that day.

“These are all just guesses. You don’t have any evidence.” President said getting restless.

“Do you recognize this then? At that time, an orange rolled under the sofa, and when I reached out to fish it, I got cigar tobacco on my sleeve. There was also cigar tobacco in the wound of that man’s head. After testing, it is the royal one, which you said only you own. The coroner will prove you guilty.” John said resting this case.

So, what do you think about this chapter? I hope you like it and please share and follow me to get daily updates.