TALES OF CRIME AND FICTION.

"So, this is how it all began: The MetaX7 was actually called here by one of the visitors. They told them that an obnoxious smell was rising from the river. So, the team decided to check what was causing this smell to arise, wondering if it was a dead aquatic animal which is causing the smell. To their surprise, they found five bodies underwater. three of them seemed as if they were weeks old because half of their skin was peeling off and some was nibbled by sea lice and other creatures, the other two seemed to be recent; though their skin was numb it wasn't nibbled off or peeling off. The team was in shock and they immediately called the police officers who had those bodies taken out of the river. Media arrived, making a fuss and people gathered to see what was going on over here. The forest was immediately sealed, the people were sent home, and the police called our detective agency to find answers. this case was handed over to me as the other detectives were already busy. When I came over here, obviously the media had this forest surrounded, and the entrance was sealed with police tape. One of the officers greeted me and took me to the crime scene. I observed the five bodies; they were all male genders, it was hard to tell if they were dressed in new or old clothes because the dress they wore was covered with patches of rotten fabric, and here, the color was also faded. There was a chance that this happened because they had been underwater for a long time.

Three of the bodies were horribly nibbled and were barely identifiable, the papers found in their suits were all wet, their inks had faded and thus no evidence could be collected through their pockets. One thing I noticed common in all of them was that their face color was a little red, like their allergies had been triggered before they died. No one had any idea who they were, among us detectives and officers. Their faces were way too mangled up to identify who they were anyway, so, I sent them off to our Forensics lab so that I could get some lead. Dr. Michael, who is our Forensics expert, took a look at their nibbled bodies and at last, concluded by giving us the identifications of the five victims.

From there I found out their names, the first three were Jones, Stephan, and Henry. These three were killed first and the other two, whose faces were a little identifiable were called James and Jarred. Now I had to go meet their families but first I needed to figure out more about their bodies and how they were killed. Dr. Michael gave me his report twelve hours after submission. He concluded that he still hadn't figured out how the five died but he did figure out that the five of them were all blind, suffering disease some kind of eye disease. He said that they either committed suicide or were murdered. I stated that a river is a very unlikely place to commit suicide so it has to be a murder. Then I collected some personal details like about their families and where they lived. I am not going to tell you the whole long story, I'll just make it short.

Each family stated that the victims were on a business trip and tomorrow they had to return; we found the bodies on Monday (May 1), I visited the families on Tuesday so they had to return on Wednesday (May 3). They said that the victims had no enemies and weren't worried or distressed the last time they had seen them. They also told me that they didn't identify the other victims, thus the victims weren't close friends otherwise their families would know. They also told me that the victims were all suffering from eye disorders and three of them were blind but, I also learned that all five of them had great brain potential and were highly intelligent; more than normal people are. I asked them about the victims' jobs but all the families stated that the victims had no job but recently they had been called up by a company. Surprisingly, the families had no idea of the name of the company. Since then I have been trying to figure out a way to find out for which company they worked for."

I completed my story. I was sitting in the car, and Matt was driving it next to me. we were headed to the Jones' house. The car was driving swiftly on the road.

"Tell me one thing Miss Allison," He said, eyes on the road

"Yes? And, call me Allison please" I told him

"How can a dead body stay underwater? dead bodies float on the water"

"Yes, that is the strangest part; the bodies were found underneath the river and they were not above it"

"In what state did the police officers find them under the river? I mean, were they under some rock or anything?" He inquired

"I don't know"

"You don't know the most important part of the crime" He smiled "I mean, this is notable that no dead body can stay underwater for more than six hours, and from your statement, I learned that the three bodies from the five were so delicate and numb that they looked as if they had been underwater for more then three weeks. another thing I just figured out; three bodies had been in that river for more than three weeks and the smell started to rise after such a long time. Bodies start to decompose after four weeks or so but in oxygenated water, bodies rot and they rot in four days or so. You said that the Dalby Forest was a tourist spot and it was always filled with people so: how can no one smell the horrible smell of rotting bodies? it is very unlikely that the three bodies stayed underwater for more than four weeks and two more were added which stay there for two more weeks and did not come up the surface or start to rot."

"I have to agree, I had an idea about the fact that how could no one smell the rotting,," I told him

"It is a very noticeable thing, Allison."

"So, how in the world were the five bodies so numb? That could only happen if they stayed underwater for more than a month."

"Every question has an answer, we just need to find it. There are many possibilities, but only one of them was the cause of that sudden numbness." He remarked.

Then the car drove in complete silence. I had a new story to think about now: How come no one noticed the Rotting at first? Matt had a very strong point when he said that human bodies can rot faster in oxygenated water. What could be the reason for this murder? The rest of our journey ended in silence.

"We're here," He said to me as he parked his card in front of a white Bungalow surrounded by trees. We both stepped out of the car.

"Seems to be a rich family" he stated, observing the house. We both went towards the door and rang the bell. No answer came at first, so we rang it again. After two or three tries, there came a manly voice from inside.

"Who is it?"

Matt signified me to answer him, "It is Detective Allison from the Detective Agency of London, and with me is my partner, we are here for asking some questions," I said

The door opened revealing a middle-aged man dressed in trousers and a tea-shirt, his brown hair messily laying on his head, his eyes wide open behind the glasses he wore. He stepped aside to let us in.

"You already visited us Detective Allison" He addressed me

"Yes, but we are still not satisfied with what we heard from you, I hope you do not mind giving us the answers to our questions" Matt gave a very serious look to the man, he stood in his usual way: hands in the pockets.

"Anything to find the killer of my son, please come in," He said and led us to another room, the guest room.

"So, you are the victim's father?" Matt asked him

"Yes," he said "The name is Carl Hamish."

We entered a beautifully decorated room, with sofas on either side of a glass table that stood in the middle. The floor was carpeted and there were nearly four shelves in the room that were filled with books. Carl gestured us to take a seat on the sofa. we sat down, and he sat in front of us.

"So, what do you do?" Matt asked

"Well, I am a Zoologist," he answered

"What did your son do?"

"Well, he didn't have any specific job because he was blind. But his mind was very sharp I must say and recently all of a sudden, a company was interested in him and they called him for an interview."

"An interview? where?"

"Well in Washington"

"Washington?"

"Yes"

"What was the name of the company?"

"He didn't specify any of those details"

"You sent your son to take an interview in a completely different state and you didn't even care to ask any details about the company he was going to give an interview to?" Matt raised his eyebrows

"He said that he would tell us everything after his job is confirmed"

"That, I must say, was a stupid act"

"Matt!" I looked at him, shocked

"No, he is correct: it was a very stupid act" The man took off his glasses and wiped his eyes "Look where it landed us"

Matt shook his head, in a satisfied way "Tell me Mr. Carl" He said, "Did your son use some kind of chemical for his eyes?"

"No, he didn't. He was born blind" Carl answered, clearing his throat.

"I see" Matt leaned back on the sofa, he looked satisfied with the answers he got.

"Tell me" he sat up all of a sudden "Does your son have any friends?"

"Yes, some school friends"

"Any of them called Stephan or Henry?"

"No, those are completely new names"

"Do you live alone?"

"Yes, My wife died and My son was murdered" Carl's voice shook as he spoke, his eyes filled with tears.

"I am sorry for your loss, we'll try our best to find the murderer of your son" I tried to show some sympathy because Matt showed no signs of showing any.

"I am interested in the victim's room," Matt said

"You can visit it"

"great" Matt stood up "Lead the way if you'll please"

I stood up with Matt, his behavior was just very strict. Carl also stood up and took us towards the exit of the room. We went through a corridor filled with pictures of women, men, and children. Matt observed each one of them as we passed. We passed a kitchen and then went up a staircase of wooden stairs. upstairs were three rooms opposite to one another. We entered the room that stood opposite the two doors. The room was dark, Carl switched on the lights revealing a neat room with two windows opposite the door, and next to the windows was a single bed, well made. on the wall on our right was a shelf filled with books. on the left side was a study table with a study lamp on it and some papers.

"Did you touch anything?' Matt asked

"No, he left it this way" Carl replied

"Why are there so many books? wasn't he blind?"

"Oh, those are special books, for him to read"

"Okay, you can leave us," Matt told him and turned to look around

"I apologize for his behavior sir" I apologized to Carl

Carl smiled and left us. I entered the room.

"Did you take a look?" He asked

"Yes," I told him

"What did you find?"

"Nothing, nothing useful"

"Okay," Matt replied and turned towards the shelf, for some time he kept on studying the shelf with great attention. When he had satisfied himself, he moved towards the study table. He pulled out the top drawer and started to go through it as, it seemed to me that he didn't find anything of his use in it so he closed it and opened the next drawer. From this drawer, he pulled out a laptop.

"Bingo!" He stated and opened the lid. I just stood back and watched what he was doing. Matt opened the computer and went straight to Chrome. He clicked it and jumped up happily.

"Yes, good thing our victim hadn't signed out of his email account" He smiled at me and opened the Gmail of Jones. I moved closer to have a better look. On the top of all emails was one email that interested Matt and he opened it immediately.

"It is from a man called Harald Grimson. It states that a medicine-making industry has a job for him. It says that his resume stated that he had great knowledge of zoology. Interesting." Matt went on as if talking to himself "Turns out our victim Jones was a zoologist also. It also says that the industry has many branches but the branch that has chosen him is in Washington and his interview would also be held there. The industry's management also knows that he is blind!"

"How can a blind man make medicines?" I asked

"Maybe they needed him to tell them about medicines, not make them Allison." He said "So, long story short: A medicine-making industry had called him, it doesn't mention its name but it seems to me that the industry had great knowledge about Jones already. They knew he was blind."

"So what? Are we going to visit Washington?" I asked

"No, of course not. We need to visit the other victims too. I have a haunch that the Industry that called him must have called the other four as well, I also have a hypothesis that the industry makes medicine from venom because this person had broad knowledge in them. I can tell from the books on his shelf. All of them are about 'Venoms to Medicine'" he went on.

"What kind of medicine?" I asked

"That we'll find out after we have visited the other four victims Allison. We must move on now, I want to visit all the victims today." He said and taking out his mobile from his pocket he took a picture of the email, then he turned to me "Why are you still here? come on we have to go!"

With these words he went outside the room, and I followed him. I had no idea what he was onto if he came to a dead end, he didn't try to find a lead, he made one. He seemed like a professional Detective but he had made this clear that he was not a detective, then who was he? why had he entered my life all of a sudden and was trying to help me? these two questions didn't leave my mind, they were looking for answers and I couldn't stop them. He said he needed my help so, why is he helping me? What is he looking for? who is he looking for? and again, most importantly, Who is he himself?