The Enigma Within

The rain fell in a haunting rhythm the night Detective Liam unknowingly sealed the fate of his oldest friend. A cryptic message arrived, shrouded in darkness, setting off a chain of events that would unravel the tightly woven fabric of trust among them. “5 murders in one month”, said the news on television. “5 murders in the month of this cold December”, was the highlight of every news report.

The death of Ms Penhallow was shocking enough for the town of Veiled Hollow. Who would kill her and most importantly, why? Amidst of that chaos arose more that followed five murders in the following month. Detective Liam was pondering upon it, when his new companion, Detective Ryan came into his office.

“Good morning, Detective Liam. How are you doing today?”, questioned Detective Ryan.

“Very well. And yourself?”, replied Detective Liam.

“Pretty good. Let’s head out to investigate. Shall we?”, came the reply.

The two of the detectives headed out into the air of chaos. First, they went to investigate Ms Penhallow’s house. They entered the house, which was opened by Penhallow’s waitress, Ms Nemo, who lived nearby. “The house hasn’t been the same ever since Ms.Penhallow’s death. She was quite a dear. Who would want to murder her?”, asked Ms. Nemo.

“Your guess is as good as ours,” replied Detective Liam.

They went inside the house, where investigations had already started. They went near Ms Penhallow’s body, which was lying in the ballroom. “She had been knocked out by the murderer. It must have been a planned murder since no one lives in here except for her,” said Detective Ryan.

“You are not wrong there. Detective, can you pass me the notes that we took yesterday on this investigation?” asked Detective Liam.

“Oh! I am really sorry, detective. I kept it on our table”, replied Detective Ryan, with a yawn.

“What’s the problem, detective? Haven’t been sleeping well?”, question Detective Liam. “You could say so. Been having nightmares. Started to sleepwalk, lately, says my waitress”, replied Detective Ryan.

“Alright”, came the reply, as they continued their investigation.

“Well. No finger prints are printed on the body. The murderer must have used a weapon. Alright, let’s move on to the next murder”, said Detective Liam.

“It’s in the following street. Let’s go”, said Detective Ryan, as they packed and went. Their next victim was Mrs.Nora, who was an old woman who lived alone. She had lost her husband to cancer a few years back and she had no children.

“The lock was broken, and the reports show that she was being poisoned,” said Detective Liam. They moved on to Mr.Brown’s house, where they saw a blood-stained kerchief, with the initials J.R written.

“This is an interesting find. We can use this”, said Detective Liam.

They searched up the house of their victim Mr. Ramirez, where they found a glove. As they moved on with the next victim, they found a note with the name “John Robinson” near the body of Mrs. Jones.

“Through today’s investigation, we got a glove, a kerchief with the initial JR, and a note which reads “John Robinson”, said Detective Ryan.

“There’s more to that. All these murders had something in common:- a broken lock. If we check the fingerprints on the lock and match it with the ones on the glove, we can prove that the murders were done by the same murderer. I’ll run some tests. And what’s more, we know who the murderer might be! John Robinson. His initials are JR, which were the ones on the kerchief”, said Officer Liam.

Officer Liam returned, a few hours later, with a bunch of reports on his hand. “The results are in! The fingerprints match! John Robinson lives two doors away from Mrs. Nora. Let’s go”, said Officer Liam.

They went to the Robinson’s house. John’s wife opened the door and let them in. “Good morning officers! So nice to see you on a pleasant day,” said Mrs. Johnson.

“We’re not on a pleasant visit, ma’am. Let’s get down to business, shall we? We fear that your husband might have committed the murders you have read about on the papers”, said Detective Ryan.

“Well, what? John, come in here”, replied Mrs. Johnson with a bewildered look on her face.

“Fine morning, ain’t it, detectives? What brings you here today?” asked John.

“Mr. Robinson, could we get your fingerprints, please?”, asked Detective Liam, as Detective Ryan began to investigate the house.

 “Why?”, questioned John, with a surprised look.

“Sir, we believe you might find these familiar”, said Detective Liam, as he held up the glove and the blood-stained kerchief.

“I’ve never seen this glove before. But, this kerchief would belong to my sister, Juliana. She had one similar to that,” said John.

“How did you know Mrs. Jones?”, asked Detective Liam.

“We’re friends. Before she died, I even gave her my number on a paper with my name written on the back”, replied John.

“How come you have a knife with some red liquid on it?”, questioned Detective Ryan.

“Well, it was not for murder. We needed to open the ketchup bottle which was tightly packed, so we used it to open it,” said Mrs. Johnson.

“Dosen’t taste like ketchup”, said Detective Ryan, with a frown.

“Thank you for both of your time”, said Detective Ryan as they prepared to leave.

“We need to investigate Juliana”, said Detective Liam, as they went over to her house and rang the doorbell.

“Good morning, detectives! What can I do for you today?” asked Juliana.

“We would like to investigate your house”, said Detective Ryan, as they entered her house.

“Have you seen this kerchief anywhere, miss?”, questioned Detective Liam.

“Sure. I have one like this. Let me show it”, said Juliana, as she entered her room to find her kerchief. She returned back, a few moments later, with her hands empty.

“I’m pretty sure I had them. I don’t know where I’ve put it”, said Juliana.

“Oh well! We would like to get your fingerprint”, said Detective Ryan, as he took got her fingerprints.

“These ones do not match the ones of the murderer”, said Detective Liam.

“We have to work through it”, replied Detective Ryan.

They returned to their office and spent the rest of their day looking for clues, though they found none. The next day, something unexpected showed up at their table:- a note. It read “The murderer isn’t who you think he is. Signed, J R”. The detectives were surprised by this unexpected note.

“At this rate, we have to get the fingerprints of the entire town,” said Detective Ryan, with a yawn.

“I’m guessing you didn’t sleep well last night either?”, questioned Detective Liam.

“Nope”, replied Detective Ryan.

A phone rang, and Detective Ryan picked it up. “A new murder was reported a while ago in the house near the divine gardens. Could you and detective Ryan come to check it out?” asked the caller.

“Of course, right away!”, replied Detective Liam. He then hung up the phone and turned to Detective Ryan.

“We have to go. A new murder was reported”, said Detective Liam, as they started their way to the house near the divine gardens.

“This is the house”, said Detective Ryan, as he saw the cops standing near it.

“Nothing is in there except for the body. Oh, and, we found this note”, said one of the cops, as they handed over the note to the detectives.

“The note reads “I’ll give you a clue on who I am. I am not John or Juliana. Chase me if you can”. The audacity he has!”, exclaimed Detective Ryan, as he read the note.

“Wait. I know the name of the murderer. See, the “Ch” and “s” in “chase” are also re-written as “J” and “c” which reads “Jace”. The name must be Jace. Let’s go over to town council to check the records to spot the name Jace”, said Detective Liam.

They went to the town council, and they began to look through the records to catch Jace.

“Jab, and then Jade. There’s no Jace there!”, exclaimed Detective Ryan.

“Hang on for a second. The killer knows about John and Juliana whom we only know about. I wonder how. Well, at least, we can get the fingerprints from this record,” said Detective Liam.

“Yeah!”

A few moments later, Detective Liam returned with a solemn look on his face.

“I’ve checked the finger prints and none of it matches except for yours!”, exclaimed Detective Liam.

“What? But, I’m not the killer. I’m not stupid enough to reveal that I know about John and Julian”, said Detective Ryan, in shock.

“I know, but we have to keep you in custody”, replied Detective Liam, as he kept Detective Ryan in a room to track his behavior.

It was all normal, until midnight, when Detective Ryan, who was asleep, woke up and walked. It seemed as if he was sleepwalking and he scratched the door. He yelled and he made every effort to get out. The watchman, who was tracking him, called Detective Liam at once, who reported to his office exactly ten minutes later.

“This is not normal. It is not Detective Ryan. Something must have happened to him”, said Detective Liam, as detective Ryan went back to sleep.

The next morning, Detective Liam ordered the doctors to take the blood samples of Detective Ryan to check what was wrong with him. Later that evening, the reports arrived, where, he was tested positive for the dissociative identity disorder, which was a disorder that involves switching to other identities, which feels as if there are two or more people living in one’s head.

“Of course. Each one has their own identity and name”, said Detective Liam. He then ordered the doctors to question Detective Ryan when he was sleepwalking that night.

Like clockwork, at midnight, Detective Ryan started to sleepwalk. The doctors pulled him out, as they started to make conversation with him.

“Who are you?”, questioned a doctor.

“My name is Jace. Jace Rickson. I’m a split-personality of Julian Ryan. I don’t just wander during twilight. I kill. I kill people. I kill those who have hurt Julian in the past. You might not know this, but, Mrs. Nora had a son who was not known. She left him in an orphanage which is now the present Julian Ryan. Yes, he killed his own mother. Ms Penhallow, well, was his mentor who knew the truth but was silent about it. Mrs. Jones ran my orphanage and she was cruel to Julian. Mr. Ramirez and Mr. Brown were also people that Julian hated. Their children bullied Julian. As for the new murder, that was for my pleasure. You see, I had enjoyed killing those who hurt Julian in the past. But, something inside me felt I just couldn’t stop. I murdered all of them and I wanted you to know because now, I am about to murder you too,” said a voice from Detective Ryan’s body, as he took out a knife to murder the doctor.

The doctor moved away, as she locked him into the room again. She nodded to Detective Liam, who took a video of everything.

The next day, Detective Ryan was imprisoned for the murders. Though it was not his fault, Detective Liam didn’t think it would be safe to let him roam freely. He has also been prescribed some pills to control his disorder.

The name of Jace Rickson was not heard again. Detective Liam continued to put his skills to work as he went on to solve more murders. All was well.