Chapter 11

  It was far too late in the day to start anything new, and I didn't want to deal with the cultists until I was physically and mentally prepared, so I decided to go home and sleep. I was woken up early next day by my secretary who had broken my direct instruction and come in early, 9 am in the morning. Even though I had asked her not to come before lunch.

  “Don't worry boss,” she said, “I won't bother you. I'll just clean up the area, tidy it up a little.”

  And she wasn't kidding around. I don't know where she got a vacuum cleaner and a broom from. She started cleaning the whole place like an old lady from the sitcoms. She had brought in what looked like three days' worth of food, so it wasn't like I could complain.

  After a heavy late breakfast, I decided I couldn't put her off anymore. Might as well bite the bullet and be done with it.

  “Fine Eve,” I said, “Show me what you got.”

  She came over all smiles and giggles like a small girl who had discovered an interesting

  butterfly and was showing it to her daddy.

  “It took me quite a few hours and a few phone calls to my friends, but I've managed to find people who know the both of them personally. The girl's name is Jessica Smith by the way. His name really is Tobias, but he is not a police detective. He's a security guard at the Tesco in the next town.”

  “Security guard, eh? Quite a promotion he gave himself. And you say you managed to find their photos?”

  “Yes for both of them. Here they are.”

  She gave me her phone, and I checked out the photos. “Can I email them to the police? Do you mind?”

  “Sure,” she said.

  I used my own email on her phone and sent the photos to the detective marked urgent. I then also called him just to make sure he checked his email. It went to voicemail, but I was sure to leave him a message explaining that I had clues on the case.

  “Do we have any contact details for this Tobias guy? He didn't give me any phone number or any way to contact him.”

  “Not his phone, but I do have the id for his messenger app. We could send him a quick message and ask him to come over?”

  “Great idea.”

  He replied in seconds and agreed to come see us in 10 minutes.

  It was happening faster than I thought, but might as well deal with it before I went to deal with the cultist. The police detective came back to me within two minutes. He sounded extremely surprised. “That is the girl we found, and yes, her name is Jessica. Who is the man?”

  “If you come over, I will not only tell you who he is, but also solve the murder for you. Can you be here in 15 minutes?”

  “Give me 25.”

  Okay, I thought to myself, do I do this the Poirot way or do I just directly accuse him of murder? I must have been thinking out loud because Eve turned to me with a surprised look.

  “What?” she said. “What's the Poirot way?”

  She smirked even as she said that, which meant she had a suspicion of what I meant.

  Tobias walked in just that minute, and I didn't have time to tell her. I turned to him, “Please have a seat. I have found your sister. What was her name by the way? Hannah, right?”

  He shrugged.

  “Man, you are a real terrible liar. You have given us three different names for her, and you forgot to tell us that she's your girlfriend, not your sister.”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  He jumped up, his face red with anger and his fist ready to hit. I decided to take control. “Sit down!” I said sharply. “You are already in enough trouble, do not make a fool of yourself anymore!” He still looked angry, but decided to sit down anyway, staring at me like he was going to kill me any minute.

  “I had my suspicions on you the moment you walked in the door. You were far too angry when you first saw me, and your attempt to beat me down made you look suspicious. No police officer with 10 years of experience would start by throwing punches. Even if you thought I had kidnapped your sister (as you claimed), you should have been suspicious or hostile, but you went straight to punching. It is clear you hated me for a reason and wanted me dead, but why I wondered that was a strange thing. Why were you so angry at me and asked for your bullshit story about a missing sister? I saw through that immediately. Clearly, you wanted to frame me for the murder of your girlfriend? No, do not lie! It is true! Sit down!”

  He had been about to get up, and this time I physically pushed him down. Something in my eyes made him pause for a second.

  “And then it hit me-- the first time you came to my house, there was a bit of blood on your shirt. At that time, I just dismissed it as a shaving cut, but no cut bleeds that much.

  I think you killed and buried your girlfriend near that abandoned restaurant. The police already found her body, and they also found that you had left some stuff there and were sure you were going to go back to pick it up. You went there the same time when I was there to investigate the dead homeless woman. And I think you saw me, but I didn't see you. You must have felt suspicious why I was there. You must have thought I was there to arrest you.

  And then something happened - something even I couldn't have planned.”

  This was a tricky part. I couldn't tell them about my strange companion in the mirror, so I had to find some other excuse.

  “There was a gas leak there which caused many birds and small animals (like cats and dogs) to pass out and bleed from their noses and eyes. I myself got away with great difficulty. The reason you had blood on your shirt was because you were there as well, and you must have had nose bleed as well.”

  I don’t know about him but Eve was sure I was bullshitting. If her eyebrows were any more raised they would touch the roof. I ignored her and continued.

  “That gas leak must have hit you hard. You probably were going to murder me there and then right in an abandoned restaurant, but you were too shaken and you saw me get away. I don't know how, but you managed to track who I was and my history with supernatural cases.

  So you came here next morning planning to murder me. That's why you were so angry. You thought I knew you had killed your girlfriend and had buried her there, and were planning to kill me as well. Only later you realised I had no idea who you were, and so you made up a bullshit story about your sister vanishing. Am I correct so far?”

  He looked like he was boiling over, yet I pushed him. I don’t know why. “And all that bullshit about you having contacts in the police and making calls to the police-- that was all a lie, wasn't it? That was when I knew you were lying. You casually mentioned Unit 7. A real police detective would have been terrified of even whispering their name. At the end of the day you’re just a crappy security guard.”

  I knew I had pushed him too far.

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun. “You son of a bitch. You lying bastard. None of that is true. You were the one who killed my girlfriend. You're the one who buried her there. I'm gonna say that to the police. You're under arrest,” he said, pointing the gun at me.

  “Let's put the gun away now, shall we, and leave the arresting to the police.”

  Just in time, my friend from the police, a real detective this time, turned up with three policemen, two of whom were armed. Within seconds, they had snatched the gun away and put him in handcuffs. The police detective turned to me, “We suspected him from the beginning, of course. And we have him on camera trying to dig up the place where the body was buried. His threatening you with a gun, which I recorded by the way, will only help us.”

  He shook hands with me, and as the other police officers took Tobias away, he leaned closer and whispered in my ear, “Thanks buddy, I owe you one. Let me know how I can repay the favour, anytime.”

  “I will thanks,” I said.

  As he was being led away, Eve clapped and gave me a standing ovation. “That was brilliant! You got him. I'm so impressed. You solved the whole case in just one day.”

  “I cannot take all the credit. The police already suspected him. They would've arrested him anyway. The fact that he was coming here and I suspected he would try to kill me forced the police to move faster. So no, I cannot take any credit for solving this case.”

  “You are too humble boss. What about the other case? The homeless woman one. Do you know what happened to her?”

  And this is where I had to lie to her. I trusted her as much as I trusted Tobias. She hadn't tried to kill me, but she was playing some game I didn't understand.

  I said, “I have no idea. I'm meeting some people tomorrow morning around 10 or 11 in the morning. If you want, you can tag along with me tomorrow. But don't come in too early. Come in meet me in the city centre at 11 o'clock, and we'll go from there. For now, I need to rest. I had a terrible night. I haven't been able to sleep.”

  “Okay, boss. I'll let you sleep. And I'll see you tomorrow, 11 sharp. Good day.”

  As she left, I actually turned off the lights and went to bed. I was going to pay the cultist a visit exactly at midnight, and I needed to be fully awake at that time. I knew it was going to get rough.