SHORT SUSPENSE STORY

                                                            "THE DEATH NOTE"

Infinite Express
22nd November,
Detective Jordan Rhodes decides to end his ROAD

Infinite city’s famous and controversial detective, Jordan Rhodes is believed to have chosen to end his journey on this planet at the age of 47, he was found dead in his house on the morning of 21st November. Detective Jordan Rhodes is found to have committed suicide by consuming Hydrogen Cyanide.
It is believed that Officer Steven Jones found a death note in his room, which seems to be an encrypted text which the police are trying to decrypt. The handwriting in the death note is of Detective Jordan Rhodes’ himself, which clears the doubt of him being murdered, if there was any. But, the mystery behind the encrypted death note remains to be unraveled

***
23rd November

“He wasn’t one of those cowards who would commit a suicide. I’m quite sure that this death of his, is one mystery which is to be solved.” stated Steven

Detective Suzerki maintained his silence and listened to Officer Steven.

“He was the most courageous Detective I had ever come across. So, I doubt this suicide thing.”

“Courageous or not? Is not our issue right now, I know it seems strange of a person who hardly had any problems in his life, commit a suicide, but every person has a weakness which only he knows and if this weakness reaches the second person, then… You know what I mean..”

“Sir, you being a newbie, can say this, but I’m no Johnny-being-lately to this place nor to Detective Jordan Rhodes, I have been serving this city for about 7 years now, and shared every single day of my span here with your predecessor.” raged Steven clarified with a stuttering voice.

“I had heard that people sacred of something usually tend to stutter while putting forth their opinion. What’s your opinion on that?” asked Suzerki

“What do you mean…. Sir?” questioned quizzed Steven

Detective Suzerki leaped down from the table and stood on his feet and asked, “Well, do we have anybody who can crack this note, I mean does this city has any person who can decrypt this note?”

“We had one sir, but…”

“So, we have to get someone from other place huh?” queried Suzerki interrupting Steven

“I believe so.”

***
“Buddy, I need your help. Can you spare some time of yours and help me out with this case?” requested Suzerki

“Which case? Detective Jordan’s suicide case huh?” asks Andrew Clove

“Yep. There’s a death note which is encrypted using some technique, I mean presumably a death note, which was found in his room, believed to be written by him just before committing suicide, or rather before dying.”

“I..I .. I am not really getting your point. He committed suicide right?” asked perplexed Andrew

“Well, it looks like a suicide, but I highly doubt the possibility of it being a suicide.” expressed Suzerki

“Well then, I will be there by tomorrow evening buddy.”

“Alright, see you tomorrow then. Good night.” greeted Suzerki and disconnected the call

2 minutes later Detective Suzerki’s phone started to buzz, Suzerki who was in the kitchen, trying to find something to silence the rats in his stomach, rushed to pick the call,

“Yeah Andrew?”

“You are in Infinite city. Right?”

“Yeah, you’re right. Any problem?”

“Well, I had heard that the Infinite city is a stay place of a famous cruciverbalist and mathematician, Castro Henderson!”

“Is it so?” asked baffled Suzerki, raged at not being informed by his officers, especially Officer Steven Jones.

“Yeah man, he is one of the most popular and may be the most crafted when it comes to decrypting things.” cleared Andrew

“Well, but I need you nonetheless.”

“Yeah, I will be there, and a good opportunity to meet that guy.”

“Alright then, see you tomorrow.”

Suzerki hangs the call.

***
“Do you have any information about Mr. Castro Henderson?” asked Detective Suzerki kneading his neck with his right hand, with his eyes aligned to the ground and the eyeballs struggling to get the vision of Officer Andrew Jones

“Yes sir, kind of.” replied baffled Andrew, but not so surprised, since he knew that he would get to know about this man sooner or later

“Correct me if I’m wrong. I heard you say, there aren’t any who’s capable of decrypting this note. Right?” said Suzerki letting his eyes come in contact with those of Andrew’s, as he leaped and sat on the table

“Yes sir, you heard it right.”

“So, you mean to say that he cannot decrypt this?” politely questioned Suzerki, giving his eyeballs a bit of exercise by rolling them around to have a glance of the entire room

“He would have done that a month back, but now? I doubt it.”

***
24th November

Detective Suzerki knocked the door as he stood at the door of Mr. Henderson’s house, along with Andrew Clove.

“Yes?” said Mr. Henderson when he saw Suzerki and Andrew standing at the door

“Hello I’m Detective Suzerki and this is…” Suzerki was interrupted as Mr. Henderson closed the door not bothering to listen to them.

“Mr. Henderson, I understand your situation, but we…” shouted Detective, hoping that not only his voice will pierce through the doors guarding the house but also pierce Mr. Henderson’s heart, and that he would open the door.

Mr. Henderson opened the door fiercely, “Understand? What the hell do you understand? Have you ever been in a situation where your daughter commits suicide? Have you ever felt what it feels to be like a father of a daughter who was raped? Have you?” howling mathematician asked the detective.

The detective was baffled when he listened to this, “What?”

“Yeah, you heard it right detective.”

“Was the rapist convicted?”

The mathematician laughed off the question and invited the detective to get in. The house was very neatly maintained with every object placed where they are supposed to be, looked like a house without a woman in it.

“Sit down, please.” said the mathematician pointing to the couch

“Thank you.” said the detective expressing his gratitude

“So…”

“Yeah actually I’m detective Suzerki and this is my friend Andrew Clove, who’s a mathematician himself and also someone who is well known for his book, The Mystery behind creating Puzzles”

“Oh! Pleasure to meet you both. How can I help you?”

The detective took out the note from his pocket and handed it to Mr. Henderson requesting, “I would like you to or rather it will be of great help if you could decrypt the message hidden in that note.”

The mathematician chuckled, “Well, isn’t your mate a ‘Master in solving puzzles’?” asked the mathematician sarcastically

“Well, he is, but…” The detective stopped the flow of words, as soon as the mathematician accepted the note.

He gazed at the note for about 7 minutes and then broke his silence asking, “Presuming this to be the presumed death note of late detective Jordan Rhodes, all I can say is, it’s a strange one. It’s literally impossible to decrypt the message unless you have the key, I mean unless you know the technique of encryption used. Or it can be that there’s no message in this.” briefed the mathematician

“Presuming that he wasn’t a mathematician or he wasn’t someone who was fantasized by puzzles, may be he used one of those encryption methods, which he had come across during his days as a Detective.” Continued the mathematician.

The detective was bewildered when he heard this thought of the mathematician and was left embarrassed that he couldn’t get this thought, but all he could do was to appreciate the old man’s thought process.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, I believe you have worked or rather have helped him in cases, where he would have encountered circumstances like this one. Right?” asked the detective politely

“Yeah, I did. I did help him with some of them, but then again, I am only here from the past 4 years. Sadly this doesn’t fall under those.”

“Is there any way that somebody could be able to decode this? I mean without the key.”

“Well, there are many ways detective, you need to sit and break your head over it, which I can’t do in a state of mind that I’m in.” said the officer shrugging, and continued saying “May be your friend will be of help and may be you can explore the past records, I hope you got what I meant by past records.”

The detective nodded saying yes and stood up greeting the mathematician by shaking his hands and said, “Thank you for your time Mr. Henderson”

“It wasn’t a pleasure, but it was good to have you and your friend.” replied the mathematician in a deadpan manner

There was a knocking at the doors of the mathematician’s house again as he bid farewell to the detective and his friend.

The mathematician opened the door only to have the displeasure of seeing the detective and his friend again
“I’m sorry but it’s raining cats and dogs and our vehicle seems to be in love with the atmosphere and the rain over here.” said the officer with a grin on his face

“Well, come on in.” invited Mr. Henderson rather unwillingly

“If you don’t mind can you ask your wife to feed the guests with some coffee?” requested the detective

“Well, my wife had a better fate than mine, she’s seeing all this live and I’m experiencing it live. But, yeah I can get some coffee for the uninvited guests. I will.” said the sarcastic mathematician and moved to the kitchen room

The detective decided to set his bum free, as he moved towards the wall which was decorated by the photo of a cute girl in a frame, the girl wore a necklace which had a strange pendant, which nearly managed put the detective in a ‘trance’.
“That’s my daughter or rather late daughter.” introduced the mathematician handing him over a cup of coffee

“Oh, a girl any dad would have been proud of having.” the detective said expressing his helplessness

“Hmmmm, yeah”

“If you don’t mind then I would like to know, who assaulted her sexually?” questioned the astute detective

“Well, all I can say is the law didn’t seem to apply to the culprits, and hence they weren’t convicted by the law”

“Plural?”

“Well, if plural is more than one than it is.”

“Can I know who are they?”

“Well, the police didn’t feel it’s worth spending time trying to find the culprits.” replied the mathematician grimly

“Well, let her soul rest in peace, I really wish I would have been here to help you. I mean it. Anyway thank you for the coffee” thanked the detective and left Mr. Henderson’s home.

***
26th November

“I checked with every technique that Mr. Rhodes had encountered, but none seems to give any information hidden within this note, if there’s any.” briefed Mr. Clove

‘Tring Tring’, the detective’s cell phone sounded indicating that he had a call,

“Hello, detective Henderson here?”

“Sir, Officer Steven Jones is found dead and looks like he has committed suicide.” informed the officer on the phone

“What? How? I mean… I mean what’s the reason?” asked the flummoxed detective

“No clue as of now sir, but his family members had called us just now to inform about this.” replied the officer

***
Infinite Express
27th November

Follower follows his Master

“Follower follows the master” certainly looks to be true. Officer Steven Jones was found dead and dead by consuming Hydrogen Cyanide, looks like he has definitely taken a lead out of the late detective’s book, whom he often mentioned as his mentor. Officer Steven Jones has left behind a death note as well, but this time around it’s not an encrypted one, it’s in English and it reads,

“I realize the blunder committed and it is the reason for all this.
– Suicide”

The strange thing is that the officer has mentioned ‘suicide’ instead of his name, which is something that is polemic. But, Infinite city certainly seems to have lost two of its humble servants, may their soul Rest In Peace.

***

“I cracked it. I just did.” exclaimed Mr. Clove

Detective Suzerki leaped to Mr. Clove’s table and asked curiously,

“What’s in it?”

“I’m afraid there’s something fishy, because the death note that late officer Steven Jones left behind is the decrypted version of the encrypted death note of late Detective Rhodes.”

“What? Do you mean the same thing? The exact same thing?” asked the disconcerted detective

“Yeah, exactly the same!”

***
“Mr. Henderson, you there?” the detective said knocking the door The mathematician opened the door,

“Yes?”
“Can we come in?” requested the detective

“Please” invited the mathematician

“Mr. Jones and Mr. Rhodes were the culprits. Right?” questioned the detective.

The mathematician chuckled and said, “May their soul get what they deserve.”

“You could have filed a complaint about this, instead of… I mean..”

“Well, they would have emerged clean.” cleared the mathematician

“It’s the pendant. It’s the pendant, which your daughter wore, that you have used to kill them right?”

“I didn’t kill them.”

“Yeah, you didn’t but you showed them the path. Didn’t you?”

The mathematician chuckled showcasing the pendant, which was worn by him, which was identical to the one worn by his daughter.

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PUBLISHED BY-OURHELLO.COM