My First Case

~Aurelia~

Location: My office room

14. 5. 2021

09:00 am

I was sweating, not due to the heat. I was shivering not because of the cold. It was all fear...nervousness.

I saw myself in the mirror, my chocolatey brown skin glowed. My face seemed like a scared child.

A woman in her thirties was standing at my door. Her face was pale and her eyes were brimming.

I felt Jack’s presence in my room, so I tried to act normal. He touched my shoulders “Are you sure you can do this?” I took a deep breath “Yes, I can!” But actually, I wasn’t confident...

I let the woman inside my room. She said “My husband, Viktor wasn’t picking up his phone...I checked his lab and...h...he was lying over there with blood all around…Please help me!” I was noting everything in my diary. I looked up at her face again “So what’s your good name?” She whispered “Galina”. I stared at her “So, Ma’am is your husband alive or…”

***

Location: ChemTech Lab 

14. 5. 2021

09:45 am

He was there, lying lifeless on the floor in a pool of blood. We wore our rubber gloves. The lab was such a mess! Whoever did that was clever enough to leave no clue.

Our team examined the body and sent it for postmortem reports. 

Jack stared at me. I got closer to him “I got this note. He had it clutched in his hands.” He patted me “Okay, continue.” 

It wasn’t a note, rather it was a page from some kid’s counting book. There were few numbers circled in it and most of the words he had written on the page were either blotted due to sweat or soaked in blood. There was something scribbled, and next to it was written in a terrible handwriting “FeAl” That did ring a bell!

Jack peeped into the paper “What is it?” I replied, “I guess it is Feal, an archaic word for faithful, or maybe Fe is Iron, Al is Aluminum…” 

Galina interrupted “No, It’s Felix Allen!” I got curious “Who’s that?” She glared outside the window “He’s Viktor’s best friend...colleague...10 years younger to him…”  

Below that there was blood and the only thing I could read in between that was, “nikom” and “ver”

Jack asked, “Aura, What is nikom?” I took my eyes off the paper “Uh...probably it’s a surname...one...of my classmates had it…”

I moved to the surveillance room. Galina followed me “Uh...this room is incomplete. There’s nothing to check here lady. Victor hasn’t installed the cameras yet!” 

After sealing the area, we met the watchman “Sir, you were supposed to be on duty last night...” he nodded his head “Yes ma’am” I walked closer to him “Hmm...so what seemed unusual last night?” He replied “Nothing of that sort ma’am. As usual, Viktor sir and Felix had a terrible fight and yes, he was the only one who came here last night ” He tried to avoid eye contact with me. 

Galina came up “Viktor and Felix fighting with each other doesn’t surprise me.” and she went away. 

***

Location: My office room

14. 5. 2021

3:00 pm

I slowly asked “Jack...how was I doing yesterday?” He chuckled “Like...how beginners do....”

The postmortem report arrived; Jack glanced at me “Aura, what does the report say?” I responded “Nothing unusual...cause of death is hemorrhage…time of death is 02:47 am” 

He sat beside me “What did you derive from the bizarre note??” I took a sip of my coffee “Uh...I’ve given the note to Elena to find out the order of numbers he circled...through the ‘past ink detector...”

Elena entered the room with her usual radiant smile “Here you go Aura!” 

I and Jack peeped into it. The numbers he circled were “66, 57, 7, 8, 74, 68” 

I made funky faces “What is this? Probably this guy went nuts before he died!” Jack stared at me “The only one who’s going nuts is you! Listen, beginner...see there are 10 digits...probably this is a phone number…”

Unable to control my curiosity I dialed the number to check. It said “This is Felix, I’m busy...Leave a voice message.” I felt so embarrassed even though it was my first case...

***

Location: Felix’s house

15. 5. 2021

8:00 am

I knocked at the door. I was nervous, excited, and don’t know what else! The door opened. A man, probably in his fifties stood there. He wore short floral trousers and a white crumpled shirt “May I know who’s this?” I beamed “I’m Aura...Aurelia. Don’t you remember me, uncle? I’m Felix’s college friend.” He smiled back “Yes I do! Look girl, you’ve grown up!” I chuckled. 

Felix was in his room. And what surprised me was, the room consisted of both Achara Nikom and Dylan Ower! I felt like it was turning from an investigation to a reunion party. Felix was too in shock...a positive shock. He hugged me “Oh my god...this day is too good. A few minutes ago I was telling these guys how upset I am for you weren’t here...and…” He asked me to take a seat “I’ll get you something to eat...By the way, Dylan and Achara got married...you know? They’re working with us…”

I reminded myself; I had some work over there! I went inside Felix’s kitchen “Feal, would you mind if I stay here with you tonight? I need to talk something in private” He beamed “Yeah sure!” He got too excited...

Back in his room, I looked all around. Achara said, “Hmm...so how’s life going for you?” I chuckled “Oh...it’s crazy...what about you guys? What are you guys working on?” Achara replied “Uh...This project is supposed to be confidential...I joined this group just last week, as soon as I got married to Dylan. He is the one who introduced this to me. I owe him a lot”

Dylan chuckled “Don’t mention it girl.”

Everybody in the room had wide smiles!

***

Location: Felix’s house

15. 5. 2021

10:00 am

The day was almost over. Dylan and Achara had left. I felt butterflies in my stomach. Felix was so happy. I was afraid what I had in stock for him would blow away his sunshine like a smile. But on the other hand, what if he turns out to be a venomous snake...what if he was the culprit...all such thoughts were passing in my mind. 

He sat close to me “Hey, I too have a lot to talk with you...where should we start from?” I frowned “Why are you whispering?” He looked embarrassed “Uh...I don’t know” and he pulled himself a little bit farther from me. 

We stared at each other for a second and then he started “You used to say you wanted to become a detective...Did that happen?” I sighed “Coming to that point, I am a detective now and I’m extremely sorry to tell you that...that V..vi..ktor is mur...ur...dered!”

He chuckled “Com’on! Your pranks are seriously outdated!! I was gonna say that you’ve changed but you’re still the same…” I showed him my ID “Feal, I’m serious! Your friend died day-before-yesterday!!”

Tears started to drip from his eyes “Are you serious?” I nodded my head. 

A minute later I asked him “How frequently did you and Viktor fight?” he softly said, “I need a break…” and he went off to the balcony and wandered. 

He came back; I repeated the question. He sighed “Every time we met, we used to fight a bit...sometimes for fun and the other times seriously. But the last time wasn’t my fault...he was the one who slashed his knife at me!” He pulled his shirt to show his blood-stained bandage on his stomach “When I started bleeding, I left the room shouting at him…” 

I stared at him “So, you mean to say, you did nothing when he slashed the knife at you.”

He went on weeping “I had stopped talking to him for a week...and then that day I went to sort out our issue and he did this to me…”

I bit my lips “The watchman heard you guys fighting...he said you were the only one who met him last night!”

His eyes reflected fear “I don’t remember seeing any watchman over there…” He shoved his head into his hands and went on weeping. He slowly rubbed his right hand on his old cut mark on his left wrist…

I asked him “I know it hurts a lot...but, what was the fight about?” He was still rubbing the cut “I don’t know...he was hiding something about the project and I almost did everything in the project but he never paid me on time or maybe he never paid me...I was struck in a terrible financial situation…” He went on weeping. 

I thought maybe this played as a motive to kill him…

***

Location: ChemTech Lab 

16. 5. 2021

09:30 am

Back at the lab, I met the watchman “Hey, Good Morning! Uh...What else do you know about Felix’s and Viktor’s fight?”

He waited for a second and said “Well, you know lady, they fight for the silliest thing in the world to the most serious thing in the world! Felix would frequently threaten to quit the project if he wasn’t paid. He never understood that Viktor was too in a financial issue...he wasn’t able to pay his daughter’s fees.”

I asked “Anything else?” He thought for a moment again and said “Few days before they fought. Felix stole the money Viktor had for paying Irina’s fees. He said it was an emergency...Viktor was very upset because they suspended his daughter from school for a month.”

I nodded my head “So was the fight verbal or physical?” He didn’t waste a second “Physical!”

Galina gave me the key to the lab “Hello!” I asked her “If you don’t mind, shall I ask you something?” She nodded her head. I started “What kind of relationship did Felix and Viktor have?” She shifted her hair falling on her face “Viktor used to treat him like his own brother...but suddenly things started to fall apart…”

I then asked her “What about Dylan and Achara?” Galina replied “They’re cool...they’ve joined recently...Viktor told that if the project was compatible with these guys, then he would no longer need Felix!”

I roamed around the lab and started feeling thirsty. So I walked myself to a nearby shop leaving Jack in the lab. I asked for juice. He passed it to me “So, ma’am are you the one investigating Viktor Antonov’s murder case?” I nodded my head “Yes, I am the one!” 

He came near to me “Uh...don’t trust the watchman over there!” I whispered, “Why?” He said “Madam, that fool is a booze head! He drinks every night and goes to the backyard of the lab and lies down there…” I was like okay, what?!

I quietly came back and whispered into Jack’s ears. Now I was very confused about what to trust and what not to! 

I checked the lab for more clues. Galina asked us to join her for lunch. 

***

Location: Viktor’s Home

16. 5. 2021

11:30 am

As Galina was preparing lunch, I roamed around the house. I met his 14-year-old Irina over there. She was in her room...sad. I went to her, “Hey, do you want to paint?” She said “No!” I knew what she was going through. I sat beside her “I know it’s hard…” She turned towards me “I was thrown out of the school! Gradually Felix stopped taking my tuitions and now Dad is gone!!!” She wept. I told her “We’ll find out who did that to your dad and we’ll put him in jail!” 

I asked her “What kind of tutor was Felix?” she blushed “Who? Felix?? He was great! He used to take my math tuitions. I don’t know...the last few days when he took my tuitions, his eyes were red and he was pretty distracted. And in the middle of nowhere, my dad pulled him to his room and smacked him badly...I never knew why…” 

Galina came to the room pulling Irina and whispered “Don’t talk about that idiot in our home!”

There was a strong motive for Felix to murder Viktor. He faced a series of depression during his college day and when he came out of that, he came out violent. 

I found an unposted letter over there. It was from Viktor to Felix. I tried to read it, but due to Galina’s presence, I put it into my pocket.

***

Location: Felix’s house

16. 5. 2021

03:45 pm

His father asked me to wait in Felix’s room while he had gone somewhere out. I found another letter in his home. This was probably two months old. I took both of the letters and read them. It was written in 50% English and 50% Russian. The Russian part was written in English fonts. There was nothing new; While the whole letter said that he was sorry for what he did, there was nothing he could do to help Felix, but the last two lines struck me. It said,

“Ne ver’ nikomu! Mne ochen' zhal'”

“Don’t trust anyone! I’m really sorry”

I tried to match it with the note clutched in his hand. It was never Aachra Nikom or Dylan Ower with only half of the spelling visible. But I felt, if he had mentioned it in this note too, did that mean, Viktor was gonna take revenge for his murder with that note, but that would be really melodramatic to write sorry and all while you die.

I looked at the letter even closely for clues. That’s when I found out, the scribbling before FeAl meant “Ask”

“Ask FeAl” I smiled, I said to myself “Aura, he probably wanted the finder of his body to ask Felix about something...or maybe he wanted us to question him…”

I could hear Felix’s voice and footsteps. I put the letters in my right pocket and the note in my left pocket. 

I already had a note - 2, where I had arranged those numbers in order.

He was still in the same condition. He smiled, but not from his heart. I tried not to waste time “Feal, what are your comments on this note?” He slightly glanced at it “That’s my phone number, but the commas are crazy in between them!”

I sighed “What would it mean with the comas. Suppose you find this number somewhere not related to you?” 

He pulled that note from me and stared at it. He constantly mumbled to himself. After five minutes he said, “If I went by the element’s atomic number, 66, 57, 7, 8, 74, 68 would mean, Dysprosium, Lanthanum, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Tungsten, and Erbium...”

I stared at him “...And if we go by its symbols then, Dy-La-N-O-W-Er” 

His eyes were filled with horror. 

Jack called me “Hey...Aura, Aachara is murdered. She just died a few minutes ago in my arms and told me…” I interrupted “I know the rest. Just come to Felix’s house and give him protection. I’ll catch him…We’ll find out the “WHY???” after that.”

***