WHY - IV

Michael approached the old man’s house the next morning. The old opened the door after hearing Michael knock. “Guess what?” Michael said. “Tell me” the old man said. “I killed them” Michael said. “Killed who?” the old man asked. “The men who murdered Lina” Michael said. “How did you find him young man?” the old man asked overjoyed. “I checked the vehicle it was clean, I came home after that and found my lock was broken, I went inside my house and found a hotel bill, the hotel had a lodge attached to it and there is a discount for people who stay in the lodge when they come to eat in the hotel, the bill I got comprised two prices, one was the actual price and the other was the discount price, so the guy who broke in must have stayed there” Michael paused. “Why they have to come to your home again?” the old man asked. “Probably to kill me or they must have left something the day they committed the murder” Michael said.

“Okay, but you killed them, how did you know it was them?” the old man asked. “Yeah, I checked the register, they checked in the hotel exactly the day my daughter died and when I broke into their rooms, one of them came to stab me with a knife which was in left hand, which matches what you said, it must be them” Michael said.

“I got to admit, you did a great job” the old man said when his cell phone rang. He spoke for a couple of minutes and hung up. “What’s your blood group, Michael?” the old man said. “B+ve” Michael said. “Great, we gotta move there had been an accident” the old man said.

Michael dropped the old man couple of hours later. “That was the first time I had donated blood” Michael said. “Is it? That’s good” the old man said. “Okay, I got to update in the office, I am leaving, see you” Michael said and took leave.

Michael returned that evening. To his surprise, the lock was broken again. But this time, it had a note attached to it. Michael slowly opened the envelope. “I need you and the old man opposite to your house in the warehouse two miles from here tomorrow” were the words written in it.

Michael hurried to the old man’s house. He handed over the envelope to him. The old man was shocked on reading it. “Looks like we haven’t showed light on the main villain” the old man said. “Yeah, what do we do now?” Michael said. “You are the cop, you have to tell” the old man said. Michael was silent. “Let’s knock him down too” Michael said in confident tone.

They reached the warehouse the next morning. It was deserted. “Okay, you ready?” Michael said loading his pistols. “Yeah” the old man said.

Michael walked into the warehouse followed by the old man. Suddenly Michael found something poke his back. It was a pistol. And it was the old man who was holding the pistol.

“I want you to drop your gun, Michael” the old man said. “What the hell are you doing?” Michael said.

“Just obey my orders” the old man said as Michael dropped his gun.

“What the hell do you want? Why are you doing this?” Michael said. “I want you to answer my questions, Michael” the old man said.

“What? Okay, ask me” Michael said. The old man cleared his throat. “What did you do to your daughter?” the old man asked. “What? I couldn’t understand what you are talking about” Michael said.

“Come on Michael, you killed her, right?” the old man said.

Michael was silent. “Ya, I did it” Michael screamed. “Is that what you want? Now tell me, how did you know it?” Michael asked.

“To begin with, you remember the day I asked you a cigarette and you gave me your wallet?” the old man asked. Michael nodded.

“That was the first mistake you made, I noticed some four to five ATM withdrawal slips, which means that you had taken around 2 lakh bucks in five consecutive days. You started withdrawing a day before the death of your daughter, which made me to suspect you a little, and I found a receipt of two drugs that you have ordered in the internet, I checked with the drugs you ordered, I got to know that one was an anaesthetic and the other was given to prevent the organs from decaying after death, this made me to break in to your house” the old man said.

“So, it was you who broke in, you bastard” Michael said. “Ya, and there was no accident Michael, I wanted to check your blood, the doc confirmed that you are not prone to both of the drugs. You remember that I said one of the two men was left handed? It was a lie, Michael, and remember what you said to me? You said you killed them and one of them was a left hander, I confirmed something was wrong at this point, you withdrawing a huge amount, because I know that you haven’t got anyone as relative or something, you ordering drugs that are not related to you and finally you lying to me, so I left a note” the old man said.

Michael clapped his hands. “Okay, since you know this much, let me clarify some of the errors you have made. To begin with, Lina is not my daughter” Michael said.

The old man was shocked. “You heard anything about eyeballs and the rate it goes for? You must have, Lina had one, a rare one, as she had green eyes, she was costly, you know only 2% of the world population have green eyes, she had one man, I saw it and adopted her when she was 2 years old. I just wanted to sell it when the demand was higher, I saw it coming and I did it. You were right about the drugs, goddamn I forgot to dispose the bills, and you saw the two men right? Actually they were docs, they were not there to kill her, they came there just to give her the drugs, I was the one who slit her throat, you didn’t see me, you were sleeping” Michael said.

“And I was the one who sent people to kill you, you had a fucking pistol, you escaped” Michael added. “Her corpse for sent for the autopsy, the docs must have founded the drugs in her, how did that didn’t happen?” the old man asked.

“Come on, don’t be a kid, I just paid them, at the end of the day all needs money” Michael said. The old man was silent as he couldn’t digest what Michael was saying.

“Okay, what else?” Michael asked. “Nothing, I have just known everything” the old man said. “Okay, it’s better you stay dumb, people believe you are empty at the top so no one is gonna believe what you say, I should have kill you now, but I don’t want to commit another one, so you stay dumb, and when the thought of you explaining this...” Michael was saying when the old man interrupted.

“Why am I gonna say it? I am not going to, if you do what you did to the docs to me” the old man said. “You want money?” Michael asked. “Yeah” the old man said. “Okay, you’ll get it, you naughty old man, now shall I leave” Michael said. “Ya” the old man said and Michael took leave.

The next day morning Michael’s home was packed with cops and reporters. One of the senior cops was answering a reporter, “Michael was a good cop, I don’t why he did this to him, He was terribly depressed after the demise of his daughter, probably that made him to poison himself to death, it seems, we miss him a lot”.

“Hey” the old man who was sitting opposite to Michael’s house called the senior cop. “What?” the cop answered.

“Could I get a cigarette?” the old man asked.

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

                                                                                                           LOHITH

A STORY BY: 

                                                                                                                                                 L. GAUTAM