TALES OF CRIME AND FICTION.

Matt dropped me off at my apartment and he, went driving ahead; God knows where, for his secrecy was always his only companion.

I went to my apartment, the same messy place that I never had the time to clean. This time I didn't collapse on the sofa or go to my bedroom to sleep, My eyes were wide open and no signs of sleep were near. I went to the sofa and sat on it, on the table I pulled open my laptop. I sat in front of it, for a moment thinking why am I doing this, but I just had to so I opened Google and typed "Echis Columbrum". I knew I had heard this name before, before the snake was mentioned by Matt, I had known that name but where I head it, I couldn't remember. I pressed enter and there on the screen I saw the first option, "Echis Columbrum, Wikipedia". I clicked on it and it opened. There was barely any information on the snake, it just said that it was a legendary snake and was not found by any scientist or zoologist. It was still just a mythical creature that is said to have existed sometime in the past. A few details were mentioned, the Echis Columbrum was a snake of genus Echis which means it was from a family of venomous vipers and it was a distant relative of the vipers found in Africa, it also said that Columbrum is Latin for Serpent or snake. The website had no details on what the snake was. It just gave front detail, nothing more.

I closed the laptop and pushed it away, I knew I had heard this name before, from someone's mouth. But who? I stood up and went walking towards my bedroom, I entered it. The bedroom was the only place that was clean in the whole apartment, maybe because I rarely visited that room. It wasn't very big, just a bed and two small shelves filled with books and a wardrobe. I went to the shelf and started to go through the books, at length I came across the thing I was looking for. It was an old, brown, leather journal, its cover falling down but in perfect shape. On the cover there was an engraving, "Dr. A.B". Basically, that journal I had seen a million times and I had kept it although the very look of it brought back some unwanted memories to my head. But, it was a very interesting journal, an encyclopedia all itself, written by a very well-known person: My father. The journal was his, it was a Norwegian journal with yellow pages, filled with knowledge and years of research.

I rarely opened that journal, the last time I opened it, it was due to some case I was solving. The case that was still left unsolved was such a complex, dreadful, terrible and outrageous case of a missing person. It was mine to solve and I tried my best to solve it but in the end, I had to conclude that the person must be dead by now, for he knew too much. The missing person, whose case I was solving five years ago was a case I had never seen before and it was just strange, it almost felt as if the person planned his disappearance. The case was still unsolved and it was left this way. Anyway, I opened this journal five years later, this time to find information on the snake.

I flipped through the yellow, thin, ancient pages to find some information on the snake, but though inside I knew it wasn't a fruitful effort, I still did it I didn't find anything about the snake in it but I did find an interesting thing, A note on the WORLDS MOST DANGEROUS GANG OF CRIMINALS, STILL ON LOOSE. I wanted to read it but then I closed the journal, I didn't want to read it, what possibly could he know about this gang I thought and kept the journal back in its place. Then I went towards the bed and sat down on it. My whole life itself was an unsolved case, A missing Father, a mysteriously killed mother, an extremely private elder brother who I had last seen when I was eighteen and now a mysterious human had suddenly entered my life and he was no less secret than my elder brother and my father.

I fell back on the bed, My head swimming. I felt as if Matt was looking for a particular thing but, What? To find that out, I had to know who he was? and who he was working for. I was just in the midst of those thoughts when my phone rang up, someone had sent a message. I took out my phone from my pocket and opened it. The message was from Matt.

"Where did he get my number from?" I asked myself as I opened the message "Well he is full of surprises."

The message was short and to the point, it said "Dear Allison, I will pick you up tomorrow on eight, tomorrow we will finish this case because I know who the criminal is. I mean he is not the real criminal but he is the criminal who did this though he was working for someone else and you detective cannot capture that someone he was working for. Anyways, I'll tell you more when I see you tomorrow. For now, Good night!"

I closed the phone, and stared at the ceiling, my head swimming.

"Yup, a complex, unsolved case my life is. A missing Father whose case I couldn't solve and now this case, that I am solving with a person who mysteriously appeared in my life!" I sighed and tried to fall asleep.

************************

At 8 o'clock, Matt picked me up from my apartment.

"So?" I asked him

"Listen, the criminal I know but he is only the front, behind him a gang of criminals is working and you cannot catch them, no one can catch them for now. The snake is in their grasp so to retrieve the snake, you need to catch the gang and you cannot catch the gang that easily." he replied

"One question Matt." I said, "How can you be so sure that the criminal gang is behind this and what proof do you have that the criminal you caught working for them did this?"

"I have solid proof Allison and as for the gang, I am going to show you that it really is them." He said "We are going to the river bank one last time"

I looked through the window, it was a clear sunny day and the breeze flew swiftly. The new sun rays were glimmering through the streets. The car was swiftly driving on the road towards the Dalby Forest. When we reached there, Matt parked the car on the side and we both got out. He went towards the gate, and the security guard greeted us both, like usual and we greeted him back. Matt went inside, I followed him and we went quietly towards the river bank. When we had reached the river bank Matt looked around and went walking towards a particular tree.

"Here is your proof Allison" He said to me

I looked at him "What?"

"Yes," He said to me beaming. Then he did something I never expected he would do, He started to climb the tree.

"What are you doing Matt?" I asked him bewildered.

Matt pulled something from the tree branches and jumped down. He cleared the leaves and removed the dust from his black suit and then he showed me a very thin, small chip.

"What is that?" I asked him

"This Allison is a hidden camera." He told me "I placed it here, after I dropped you off at your apartment."

"Okay, but no one could have entered this place, there is a security guard here at the door."

"No one can enter if they are inside but, they can enter if they are already in the forest Allison."

I looked at him

"Before I show you this" He said showing me the small chip "I want to show you another thing."

Then he turned and faced the tree and started to walk backwards until finally he reached another tree trunk. He turned around and called me there. Then he removed the leaves that half covered its trunks. There, Boom, he had hit it! the bull's-eye! there behind those long leaves was a strange sign, a very strange sign engraved in the trunk. It was a shield inside which were a few mangled-up drawings and through the shield went two arrows.

"This is the evidence that the Gang of criminals is included. This Allison" he pointed at the sign "Is a warning from them that we should stop here and they always do this."

"But who made this?" I asked him

He showed me the chip and then took out his phone from his pocket, a black iPhone 12. he inserted the camera in it and opened his phone. A video started to play as the camera was inserted into the phone. There I saw in utter darkness a figure. A figure that was standing in front of a tree doing something, I couldn't see what he was doing though.

"Who is that?" I asked him

"Ralph" Matt answered "He never left the forest, He called the Gang and the gang asked him to make that sign, I swear that his phone must have that symbol."

"What" I said to myself

"Yes." He said, "So, what do you say, call the MetaX7?"

"I have an idea," I said to him "First we need Kevin to agree that Ralph left the team when they left the forest. We'll have more evidence."

"Nice Allison," He said to me "Then there is no time to lose, call him"

And with these words, he kept the phone back in his pocket and inserted his hands in his pockets as well. Then he turned and started to walk towards the Gate. I took my phone out to call Kevin, my eyes still on Matt, who was walking ahead in his lucid dreams.

We met Kevin outside the Dalby Forest's entrance. He was unaccompanied like I told him to be.

"Good day mates" He said to us in his casual manner.

"Hello Kevin" Matt greeted him "I want to ask, where did you seven go after we left the forest?"

"Well, the six of us went to a restaurant for dinner" He replied

"Six of you?" Asked Matt

"Yes, apparently one of our team left us here, no not here, in there inside the forest, near the gate." Kevin pointed towards the door

"Who was it?" I asked

"Ralph" Kevin answered

"One last question Kevin" Matt folded his arms on his chest "Where was the security guard when you left?"

"Inside his cabin, there" Kevin pointed at the cabin outside, near the gate.

"PERFECT!" Matt smiled, his eyes shining "Thank you Kevin, we no longer need you assistance."

"one question" Kevin stepped forward "Will we land in court?"

"Apparently," I told him

"Oh, cant you do something about it?" he asked

"No Kevin, it was clearly illegal not to report a dangerous, venomous snake and now it has become murder weapon of five innocent people." I told him

"not only did you not report that you found it, you also didn't report that it had been stolen" Matt interrupted "You'll have to answer to the court."

"I understand. Have you figured out who did this and why?"

"Yes we have" Matt answered and turned to leave, I turned around with him. We both sat inside the car.

"Where now?" I asked him "Ralph?"

"Your office," He said

"Why?" I asked him closing the door.

He started the car "To get the warrant to arrest Ralph."

With these words, he turned the car and was driving towards the Detective Agency. We had finally found our killer, we had the prof but we hadn't found the snake and to find the snake we needed to arrest the criminal gang which was near to impossible but, who knew, Matt Jones was full of surprises.