“Alright. What we need to do first is to take down all the information we have now, and add the new information down. Come on, Lillie. Write all the new facts in this note pad. Okay, so it seems that no one knows where she has gone since her graduation, nobody from her family has seen her since she went to out to look for a job. As an architect, she found success. People treated her nicely and her work was praised. The suspected was released as he was unrelated to the case at hand. Huh. Strange…” Syliva wrinkled her nose.
“Huh? What’s wrong?” I wondered, confused.
“Are the police here really that ignorant to arrest a poor visitor because he was the only one related her in just one way and was in the area? I think there is more to this. I’d like to find this Mr. Denale Hait.”
Syliva took me to the police department to find out where this Mr. Hait lived, or rather, stayed. They didn’t know, because that information was not provided to the ones up front and it wasn’t allowed to be distributed to the ones that had just arrived. So, we started to look him up. His last name was the same as mine, so I called my parents to ask if there was anyone in our family named Denale.
Turned out there was one uncle from my father’s side. He had died seven years ago in a motorcycle accident. It was known that he had an estate in the countryside. More like, this village. This estate was located near a bridge. With a bridge in mind, we headed to the only bridge in this village.
“Where is the estate?” Syliva asked looking around the bridge, only to find that there was a large patch of trees were blocking the view to the rest of the village.
“My mother sent me a picture of the main house just now to my Gemphone. Here.” I tapped on the small device’s screen and two large screens were projected into the air. I swiped across the smaller screen and pressed a small picture. On the larger suspended screen, displayed the picture of the estate.
The estate was decorated with a lot of different kinds of flowers of the same horrifying colour. A dark mustard colour.
“We can use this. Let’s go. We have to find this hidden estate.” Syliva handed my Gemphone to me and rushed into the dense forest. I followed promptly, slipping my Gemphone quickly back into my shoulder bag.
We followed a walking trail deep into the forest. We went past many other houses and small neighbourhoods. Soon the sun started to set, and a bell started to ring. That was the warning bell for the curfew in the village. We knew that we had to hurry and find that manor before lights went out. Before we knew it, we began to run, and not too soon after, we found the manor. We walked up the steps to what we believed to be the front door. We looked at each other and nodded. I knocked on the door three times.
Syliva and I waited for what seemed like a million years when the door finally opened. We were met by an elderly woman.
“Excuse me, do you, by any chance, know a man by the name of Denale Hait? We would like to ask him a couple of questions regarding his arrest.” Syliva asked to the frail looking woman in her night gown.
“Ah.” The woman looked at us suspiciously, then said, “What about his arrest?”
“Well, there seems to be something wrong with the records and we want him to help us with what ever he knows about the most recent murder.” Syliva explained. I nodded and started to pull the case file out when, all of a sudden an old man walked out of a room inside to stand beside the woman.
“I’m Denale Hait. What do you want, young ladies?” The man in his dark purple robe rubbed at his eyes and focused on us.
“We’d like to know about your arrest.” Syliva said.
“Oh. Well, it seems like you might need to come inside of our most humble home.”
“First of all, you were accused of murdering Raine Gairle. You were only a client of hers, correct? So, who were you accused by?” I asked as Syliva took a sip from the offered cup of water.
“…I was accused by the police. Well, I was there with Raine because I asked to meet up with her so we could discuss the plans for my son’s house. She offered that we go to her apartment, so I showed up there. When I got there, the room was freezing. She led me to the dining room and spread the plans for the house out on the table. She was interrupted by a Gemphone call. She told me to stay in there for she thought the Gemphone call would be a short one. So, she walked out into the apartment’s hallway, just outside her apartment. That Detective was the one that thought I murdered her.” Denale answered angrily.
“Who was the detective? How come he was there first?” Syliva asked before I could continue my questioning process.
“Some kind of jar… I don’t really know.” Denale thought hard.
“Detective Herold Jarrode! Of course it was him! This is probably why he was recently transferred to be the Head Detective of the case!” I concluded.
“But why was he there without anyone alerting the police? How come he knew something was going on there? It can’t be a coincidence.” Syliva pondered.
“Well, this guy is wrong. The murder didn’t happen when I was there. Because she came back later on.” Denale said, and took a large gulp of tea from his mug.
“What was she like when she came back?” I asked, eager to know. What happens if her emotions have something to contribute to this case?
“Hmm. I believe she was quieter than when we began. She seemed kind of.. disturbed. And she wrapped things up faster. She said we could finish the final plans next week.” Denale sighed, and sat back.
“Maybe the Gemphone call had bad news. Well, thanks for the information. We will clear up your name and find the culprit to ensure no one wants you out.” Syliva promised and stood up.
“It’s alright. We’re fine here.” The old woman from before assured us.
“We’ll investigate more tomorrow. Don’t you worry. Well then! We shall be going. Goodnight, be well!” Syliva and I walked out to find police cars parked outside the home.
“Curfew just started! We will take you to the hotel you will stay at.” Officer Sheor said as he stepped out of his large truck of a police car.
“Thank you!”
