The Christmas Murder

RING! RING! RING! went the phone. I reached out to grab it. “Detective Aria Brielle speaking. How may I help you?” I said confidently, hoping it isn’t some advertisement.” It’s a TOTAL DISASTER Miss Brielle!” some woman on the other end moaned. Finally, some cases to solve! Trying to hide my paramount excitement, I replied, “And who might you be-” “Impetus Mall. Terrace. Right away!” She said and cut the line. I looked at myself in the mirror. My auburn hair was a mess. And I was still in my PJs. At home. I ran into the bathroom, tied a high ponytail, took out an azure blue dress with a huge coat, put light make-up, wore my black boots, grabbed my mini bag, locked my unusually clean apartment, and left to go to the mall. When I reached that unique mall, I made my way up the staircase till I reached the terrace entrance. I took a deep breath and opened the door. I saw an odd woman in front of me. She wore a black-and-white checkered dress along with a matching coat, with white boots and extremely curly hair. I went up to her and said, “Hey uh, you called me here?” She turned, and I almost fainted as I saw her face…. Various fresh scars and cuts on that pretty face. In her green eyes, I saw utmost fear and I could tell she had gone through something rough. “Evelyn Ensley here, glad you came. We need to talk right away” she said. I nodded. “It all happened a week ago. I just returned from my work at a boutique when I heard some sounds in the nearby warehouse. I went to inspect what was wrong and saw a man in a hoodie giving a woman some drink, like stuffing down her throat. When she drank it, he took a knife and stabbed her all over and stabbed her body. I screamed, and he came running out. He used the knife to scratch me all over my face and I fell down. He burned the warehouse entirely. I was lucky to make it alive.” I was listening carefully. “When did this happen?” “On Christmas” she replied.” A lot of work to do that night…. my boss told me I must clean the boutique for the next day”

“But…..it’s been 2 weeks since Christmas! The chance of getting any evidence is very less!” I said, rather more loudly than I should have. “I hope you realize, Miss Brielle, I was stabbed and scratched on my face! It takes time to recover and not let anyone know about this,” she said. “I understand…..” There was a long awkward silence. Then I added,” Call me Aria please” She smiled and said, “And you, Aria, call me Evelyn.” “Sure will.” I gave her a reassuring smile. Then I came to the point, “Evelyn, could you please take me to the place of the murder?” She nodded. When we reached there, I was astonished. “That’s…. nothing. Its barren land!” I said. “He burned it all,” she said. I went around to find some evidence, but there wasn’t any. “We need to inform the authorities, this is way too serious for me to handle alone.”

Evelyn grimaced at the idea and yelled displaying that she was very annoyed” And then what!? The media spreads the news; the murderer would be enraged...ending me for good... R.I.P Evelyn!”. I assured her that the news would only be told to the Senior Officer who I know very well. “He won’t tell the public, to prevent any unnecessary havoc” she sighed and agreed. The next day, I wore my best outfit and went to the police station. “Good Morning Mr. Alistair” I greeted him as I spotted him. He smiled “Aah Aria! For the sake of old times call me Dylan please!” He was a young man about my age and an absolute gentleman. I went closer to him and whispered, “Dylan, can we talk in your office?”

He led me to his office. I told him everything, from the start and of course about the no- media thing. He listened attentively and stated, “Hmm, this IS serious. Don’t worry. Relax.” I thanked him and left for home. On the way, I dropped Evelyn a message, and she sent me a thumbs-up. The next afternoon, I went for a walk and grabbed the newspaper. I sat down and when I read the headlines, I almost died on the spot. MURDERER ON THE LOOSE. Of course! Spies! I called Evelyn, but she wouldn’t pick up her phone. I called Dylan, and we went to look for her. As we entered her flat, we saw her... Dead. I fell into his arms and burst into tears. He consoled me. “Aria... look at those marks on her body. This can help us find that evil soul.” I looked at his face and smiled. I wiped my tears and went near her corpse, and immediately noticed the wounds, the multiple stabs that covered her. “Poison. On a knife. And guess what - it was a chef’s knife! Rare I tell you.” I noticed. “If you think about it, the murderer couldn’t have escaped town yet, because only we know about this murder and he wouldn’t know that WE know yet,” Dylan concluded. “Well then, let’s go to all the restaurants in town! Ready for hygiene inspections?” 

He smirked, and then we got into my car. “Okay, so there are 6 restaurants in town, and we have these fake IDs,” Dylan said thoughtfully. The first 5 restaurants were a total waste. “Our last hope” I sighed. We went in and started inspecting. “Right…. The utensils, please? We must have a look at everything.” Dylan declared. There I saw it-the knife! “You are under arrest!” I yelled. Dylan quickly took out his handcuffs and dragged him to the police station. He confessed saying he was killing his girlfriend because he thought she was cheating on him. “R.I.P Evelyn…” I mumbled.