It was around 1 am when the door suddenly made a clattering sound, like someone was trying to open it roughly. After 10 min. of that unbearable sound, the door finally opened, it was pitch dark inside the room as that person entered he tried his way to the nearest locker. It was located near the window whose mirror from the bottom left was cracked while some pieces were scattered on the surface as it was making a crunching sound that was as low as the wind. As soon as he moved toward the locker he hit his right leg on the metal table that was located near the right side of the window attached to the locker it's the right side.
"Fuck" he said while slamming the table in pain.
He turned back and now he was looking for the lights switch which he never thought about in the first place. He went back to the side of the door while limping from the right side for a bit. As soon as he switches lights. He heard the creaking sound as if someone was trying to open the locker. But it stopped after a few seconds, so he thought it might be because of the air that was coming in through the small hole from the broken piece.
"Of course, the lights won't work. Why would they always cut the damn circuits?" He said while he turned back and went toward the locker while minding his steps on the way.
As he reached the locker he opened the 2nd drawer and started shuffling the files as if he was looking for the specific one.
"Now which file did Mr. Andreus ask me to bring. Maybe TK-981 or was it TN-689." He mumbled as he was shuffling them for some time. After thinking for some time he fetched a random one and stood up.
It was that time when he heard footsteps coming toward him that startled him so he stood next to the door. So that if someone came in he can make a run for it, as the room he's in was situated at the 3rd level so the window was out of the question. The footsteps grew louder and louder as if that person was specifically coming for that room. But as soon as the footsteps came near the door it just disappeared, after waiting for some time he opened the door and was about to make a run for it when suddenly someone drops behind him, at this point he was scared to the marrow of his bones. The door was closed by that person and he walked toward him from behind. As he was about to turn his face back he heard the gunshot and within a second he found himself shot.
"You! No, it can't be " that's all he was able to say after gathering all of his strength while laying down while the other guy jumped from the window after he took something from the drawer and used the guy's shoe to break the window from outside.
Next day.
It was early morning and there was already a large crowd around "the library", which usually opens around 5:30 am by the workers. According to reports, there was a homicide that was the same place where that shooting happened last night. The victim was none other than a constable known as Mr. Valcini Aron, who was fetching some confidential files for a higher authority whose name was not publicized for his safety. All the policemen reached the scene around 6 am and seized the whole place and after some time Chief Inspector William reached the scene. At that moment everyone presents there felt this situation was far worse than any one of them expected earlier. C.I. William sighed standing near the door as if he was comprehending the situation of last night. He was one of the most appreciated as well as creative inspectors that the people of the town "woods will" have ever seen.
He entered the building without uttering a single word to anyone present there and as soon as he went to the homicide scene he rushed towards the locker and checked all the files.
"As expected it's missing. Damn it!" He mumbled while he slammed the locker door. He didn't want anyone present there to know if anything was missing, so he stood up and said "it's fine, nothing missing". He approached the victim's body and started to check for any signs of struggle but unfortunately there were none and find out there were no bruises on his body, just a bullet wound in his chest. He paid his respect as he stood up and started questioning the workers who found the body in the first place.
"The door was locked from inside sir," Johnson told William while trying to look at the dead body as he was already nervous enough while answering the questions. Johnson was a manager in the building whose duty was to always check the doors and was in charge of managing other facilities which were unknown to other workers there. Including Mr. Johnson, there were a total of 25 workers including some janitors but today only 20 were present. Which made them the suspects in the eyes of inspectors but the Chief Inspector's intuition was a bit different. He knew none of the workers were having anything to do with this murder. C.I. William asked his team to send the victim's body for further inspection in case there were any clues regarding his death or the killer's appearance.
"This makes 10 in the past three months, Sir" Inspector Aaron Rodgers whispered in Chief Inspector William's ear while aiming that no one could hear it. This information had been kept confidential while the authority was doing its best to solve this case.
"Do you think it's him?" Constable Richard whispered to Constable Dawkins. "No, it can't be. This one was different from the previous one." Dawkins replied while they both looked towards C.I. William as if they wanted him to hear them. Chief Inspector said nothing but went outside, took out his pipe and filled it after he cleaned it. Everyone outside was expecting a statement from him but he choose to remain silent as he walk along with the building. It was already 2:39 pm Chief Inspector went to the restaurant called "The Finest One" along with his Subordinate Harold. It was at the opposite road at the corner. As soon as he went inside all the eyes in the room were at him. It was nothing new for him, William took the last table along with the window from which he was looking straight toward the third floor of The Library as he smoked his pipe. Harold came from the restroom after some time and took a seat at the same table opposite William.
"What did they mean by it was different, Chief?" He asked while having a blank expression on his face as if he didn't know what was happening up to this point, which was considerable as he just joined him two months ago.
"This time it was someone who was working in the department," William said as he puffed his last smoke from the pipe and put it in his coat after cleaning it.
"Do you have any suspects in your mind? " Harold asked in a low voice while he look at the menu at the front from his right side.
"Let's have something to eat first, I'm famished," he said while changing the subject as if he didn't want to continue the conversation on this particular topic. "Well, we should ask them to clean the table first" he added while he took out his pipe from his coat again. After some moment waiter came toward William's table and start cleaning the table with a wet cloth very roughly. Harold was becoming impatient at his ill behavior. As soon as William lit his pipe to smoke again, the waiter jumped at him and took his pipe "you can't smoke here, Chief Inspector" he said while he put his pipe on the table and went back.
"How dare you! Do you..." Harold yelled at the waiter when C.I. William hold his arm and asked him to calm down. Harold was dumb folded after seeing this side of Chief. He never knew the one who was known for his loose temper would stay calm after getting humiliated by a waiter. They both ordered their food which came after a very long wait. Moreover, it was cold and salted for William. He didn't even say a word and eat patiently while looking at the third floor after every 5 minutes. It was around 4’o clock but William was still at that restaurant and watching outside from the window as the people walked through that road. Everything was calm, at least from outside as everyone was terrified of today’s killing. While police had nothing that ties up the murder to any suspects they had. Weather was changing abruptly, people started wearing their coats while some were even closing their shops. “A big storm might be coming toward us” William said while he lit up his pipe for the fifth time in two hours and waved at the waiter while asking for some rum to which he ignored.
“What do you mean by it, Sir” he asked while giving a tough look toward the barman. William chooses to remain quiet again and pretended as if he was drown in his thinking. After half an hour was passed William looked at the clock and asked Harold to leave for the police station and see if there was any new clue regarding the case. Harold was very confused so he took his coat that was hanged near the coat stand instead on it, as William’s coat was occupying it. As soon as Harold left William stood up and sit at the table in front of him, after some time a man entered the restaurant who was wearing a formal black suit and was carrying a case with him. It looked to William as if he was a regular as when he entered everyone was looking at him and even the waiter see him to his private lounge. William observed everything that happened up-till the point manager came to meet the V.I.P.
William had spent his whole day waiting at the restaurant, as if he was specifically waiting for someone to meet him there. Around 5:20 pm, an old man came and sit near William’s table, he was wearing a tracksuit with a formal shoes as if he was someone in the force who rarely went out. They both just saw each other for few times and didn’t spoke at all, when suddenly William gave a little smile to the old man. He stood up and went near the bar and sat while he ordered himself a drink.
“I wonder for how long we all will suffer due to this infamous robber” old man speak while he scratched his neck as if he was providing a hint to William.
“Damn right, old man” costumer who was sitting near him said while he took his drink and stood up from his seat.
With in a minute an uproar was started regarding the bad workmanship in police department, to which instead of being uneasy and frustrated William was actually noticing the behavior of all present there while giving a faint smile to that old man as if he was planning to do this all along. After some time when everyone of them were busy C.I. William stood up from his seat and approached the lounge where the manager was sitting with that V.I.P for an hour.
“Don’t worry Mr. Andreason, this will be our secret” manager said while he took the packet that was placed on the table.
“You know that boss will not tolerate any kind of trouble” Andreason said while he pat manager’s shoulder and stood up. They both then start to walk toward the door when William suddenly get back to his table from the lounge door. As soon as they came out Andreason noticed that William was now sitting at the nearest table to them as possible.
“Have a good day, manager and hope next time everyone will be minding their business instead of lurking here and there like a dog.” He said while he pushed the waiter aside who was serving the drinks to a group who recently arrived. William didn’t react at all as if he was not paying attention which was actually true, as at that time all he could think of was that package that the manager got from that man.
Sahil Paradox
