Overwhelmed, she sat on one corner of the bed, permitting herself to grab her phone and out came a little hum from a face like a wet weekend. February 28, 2019, it is. Martha Gray, a quiet girl from the village of Bakesnaught, is a sophomore of the Orient College of Science and Arts, majoring in Chemistry; she lives down the road with her grandmother near a plonk market in a small somewhat dilapidated building. Its coloring had turned into a messy black, blotched with mosses, and windows are like from those old houses having half-broken handcrafted kaleidoscopic glasses. Martha is a generally self-effacing, gracious and, polite girl with a blunt spark in her brown beady eyes. Her hair runs down above her hip giving her an outfit of a black Softshell cloth covering her back. She had all the good qualities a girl should have but was impetuous.
A vivid memory of thirteen years back had broken into her head today. Karl Gray, father of Martha had just returned from his job. He used to work in a small glass manufacturing factory two miles from a big playground from the house. “Martha!” shouted he in a mild tone, “Have you watered the plants?”. A little girl came running to her dad and hugged him tightly.” yes! I have watered them,” replied her. He picked her up and kissed her, saying, “let’s go to the fair; I will buy you some candies”. Martha giggled and asked in an innocent tone, “can I also have some coated sugar pecans?”Karl replied, “I will buy a pack for you the next week on your birthday.” Little Martha was only five years old and at that age, she had a fascination with the Ferris wheel ride. Once she had ridden that but afterward got nauseated and later that night she felt sick. Karl hadn’t slept that night. He sat and took care of his young daughter. Today one such small Ferris wheel ride had catered its place in the ongoing fair at the playground. And it didn’t fail to get caught in Martha’s eyes.
“FERRIE FERRIE FERRIER !” shouted Martha with an utter sense of enjoyment on cloud nine. Karl huffed with a sigh as he had remembered what happened to her last time. To distract her, he bought her a tricycle from the fair. It fairly did cost him much, but when he looked at her smiling face, he felt like a dog with two tails. Karl’s small factory did not use to pay him much, so he struggled with finance for his family of four. His mother also used to stay with them. During winters, to save money she used to knit woolen items for the family as well as she used to bake cupcakes for selling. With a little income from her side, it used to cover up the daily bread and butter of the family.
Thirteen years had passed by, little Martha has turned nineteen today, but in the morning a deep ghastly shadow had fallen over her like an eclipse of the sun. She got out of the bed and sauntered towards the living room, sat near the window looking at a Dove sitting on the olive tree. A hand fell on her back followed by a deep broken voice, “Happy birthday, my love.”Martha stood up with her gloomy eyes and hugged her grandmother, Mrs. Gray, tightly.”I have made some chocolate cookies and pancakes for you; come to the table and eat it as you also have someone to meet today,” responded Mrs. Gray. Martha’s father was getting paroled today. She glanced towards the old shiny silver puffy parka coat with faux fur trim around the hood. It is her father’s coat that he used to wear during winters. He had got it as a gift from Martha’s mother Emily Gray on his thirtieth birthday. Martha without any further rumination ambled towards the table and began to eat. “mm, these cookies are great, I love them,” exclaimed Martha.”I wonder, sometimes those cooking shows could put you up on their show for giving special instructions on baking cakes and cookies.”Mrs. Gray chuckled and replied, “huh! They only allow their connections having some contracts for doing those shows.”Martha finished her breakfast and folded her father’s coat. The temperature was quite a low, surfacing ten degrees. She donned her white leather jacket and set off on the journey with a satchel towards the jail.
A tall, burly man with the buzz cut hair came out from the jail and waved gently towards Martha. She hadn’t met her father since he got into jail; for the murder of his wife, Emily Gray. Only Mrs. Gray sometimes used to visit him. Karl padded towards Emily with a pinch of a smile on his face; tried to hug her. But Emily didn’t respond to it well. She took out the old coat and handed it over to him. Karl had guessed this previously that his returning to the family won’t change anything; “well, after all, what I have done does not ascertain any kind of reconciliation,” thought Karl. On their way home, Karl tried to talk with her, but in vain. Martha sat quietly and didn’t respond to anything. Later that night they had some special dinner and then went to their respective beds. Martha stayed awake till late, thinking about her mother and a little glimpse of that night she had remembered being a six years old child. It made her more vulnerable and agitated. All she could remember is a few conversations and loud noises. It wasn’t the first time her parents fought against each other but that night, Feb 28, 2006, something different happened. Her grandmother used to tell her that Karl used to drink a lot those days to lift his daily job vexation of getting less paid and more work. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but her mind began to waver deep into the woods along with the soft giggling voices of her parents constantly reverberating all over her head. Down, she saw a lake, padded towards it. She felt like she has become that six-year-old child again so she wanted to play in the lake; but as soon as she touched it with her chubby hands, the water turned all red and there was darkness everywhere and a little light peeked through the keyhole. She glided towards it and saw her dad holding mom in one arm with a room full of blood. Loud sounds began to beat her ears, the sound of a thunderstorm followed by a shrill voice “you are a drunkard!”. Martha woke up hastily from sleep and heaved a sigh, murmuring, “the Konsik lake, where they used to take me sometimes for boating.”It was midnight at 3 am, she went to the rooftop and then something caught her eyes; a slender man wearing a single-breasted overcoat in black, tailored from heavy wool cloth, peaked lapels, and black velvet collars, flounced towards the main road. “why is he in such a hurry at midnight 3 am,” wondered Martha, “might be he is late, reaching home from work.” The man disappeared in the darkness; to see him Martha dangled on the parapet and then something struck her eyes was that her apartment’s gates were wide open. In shock, she climbed down the stairs thinking there might be a robbery but found a piece of paper smeared in blood lying near the gates. She looked at the locks and murmured, “someone with the key has opened the gate.”The paper reads “to my foe and confidant – the seal has been broken ~ (Robert A Gilligan).” For a while, Martha tried to remember the name because she felt like the name was redolent. “oh the plonk market belongs to him, but why is his name written on this piece of paper?” Robert used to be a friend of Emily since her school days and some say that he used to like her a lot. Martha remembered that her grandmother used to tell her about this man; he used to visit their apartment sometime and also spent time with Karl, and they both used to get drunk badly. Emily doesn’t quite seem to like their companies because she used to hate Robert for making Karl get drunk and also local’s speaking out of turn. Many a time Karl had borrowed money from him but he was unable to pay them back, and Robert did not use to care about them much. Karl was an honest and bona fide man so he used to feel guilty for not paying them at all. Even once in a while, he used to ask Robert that if any day he could do some favor to him.
The next morning she woke up and saw that her dad was missing.
She got bewildered and asked her grandmother, “have you seen dad?”
Mrs. Gray replied, “he told me that he is gonna get some baby corns from the nearby market, he has not eaten them for many years and the food provided there used to be a little tacky and stale.”It has been more than four hours that Karl was gone.
“I am going to the market to check up on him,” said Martha to her grandmother.
On her way, she met her old friend Andrea. “Hi there, how are you?” asked Andrea.
“I am fine, just headed to the market,” Martha responded, “What about you? You look so pale.”
“Nothing much, just I am not able to eat a lot these days so the doctor recommended eating some Oyster mushrooms. So I have come to the market to get those. But I just met your dad and…,” Martha interrupting her in the middle, “Is he still inside there?”
“Well, I guess no because it’s been two hours since I saw him going out of the market towards the right,” responded Andrea looking confused after seeing Martha amped.
“Okay so I will talk to you later, I need to get …” Without finishing the conversation, Martha flounced towards the opposite of the street and kept on moving towards the plonk market. It was 12:30 pm and there was a lot of hub-bub near the plonk market. Martha sniffed because of the air which smelled like citrus thrown on burning rubber. She made her way to the main office of Robert. He was not there so she met with his assistant, “Mr. Gilligan would be out of town for some days, so if you have something important to tell, I will pass it on; Your name?”
Martha kept quiet and didn’t respond but kept on staring at the wall as well on the table. There was a portrait embedded in gold frame vector design, hanging.”Is that the picture of Mr.Robert?” asked Martha.
“yes?” responded the assistant.
“Okay, I will talk to him later,” said Martha. She parted away from there but a deep thought had been now pinned into her mind. It was the portrait; the man which she had seen yesterday night from behind, resembles exactly like Robert in that frame, where he is smoking his cigar turning his back. Also, she noticed a note lying on the table which she could barely read “MD..M.. (METHYLENEDIO…..)”. “MDMA,” whispered Martha. It is a synthetic drug that alters mood and perception; chemically similar to both stimulants and hallucinogens, producing feelings of increased energy, pleasure, emotional warmth.
“This drug is illegal, but what is with it, Robert has to do. Oh..oh. Might be he is taking that drug. I must report it to the police but before that, I need to talk to him, of what is the reason behind taking this drug and also ask him about that piece of paper.”
By the time she reached home, Karl had already returned. “I went out to look for you since you were not returning; thought that might be you have got into some trouble”, said Martha.
“Oh no no, actually aftermarket I went to a tattoo parlor and got my self a tattoo of Slow Loris on the neck. Also, your grandmother won’t be returning for a couple of days from your Uncle’s house because your aunt is sick and she has to look after her,” he replied, gliding to his room.
(February 25, 2006) Karl was in his room cleaning the almirah. He had found an old picture of Emily standing with Robert. He glanced at the picture twice and felt something different; Robert was looking a bit different, a bit thinner and pale. Behind the picture was written “28 Foxtrof street, Huyan palace-74″. “Oh well, I guess this is where he lives. I should go and meet him as he hasn’t responded for three days; will tell that pansy spiv that I won’t be working for his dirty little business,” murmured him.
The next day Karl went to the post office to send a letter to that same address. After that, he came back and was looking very happy.
To which Emily replied, “so what’s the big news that I don’t know yet”.
Karl chuckled, “Being poor and astute is worth living than being rich and goofy.”
(Present-day ~ March 2, 2019) Karl was in his room doing some stuff and his door was half-opened. Martha was cleaning the apartment when she peeped through the door and was shocked to see that Karl had again started drinking. He was holding a stubby on which it was written “Skol” in bold, but to her surprise, he wasn’t drinking at that time rather inspecting and marking on it. Beside him was kept a Ligne 2 Champagne gold and diamond lighter. It caused resentment in Martha so she stormed into the room.
“So, you have again started drinking. People like you should stay in jail and rot. Why?? Why do you need to… Was killing mom isn’t enough for you? And now you are planning to kill me also. Fine, if so, you are okay to do that; all these thirteen years you have left us with no money at all. We have somehow survived.”
Karl in a blue funk kept on staring at her and muttered: “… actually….”. She ran out of the apartment without even letting him finish. It was the evening at 8 pm and Martha was still out. She had kept on walking and somehow reached an unknown place far away from her apartment. She sat on one side of the road feeling blue and disconsolate. Just then she averted her head towards her right and something caught her eyes. It was the same person whom she saw that night flouncing towards dark.
“That’s Robert, He is back from work. I guess this might be a good opportunity to interact with him and ask him about that piece of paper and also about that drug stuff.” Martha glided towards him; (from distant), “Hello Mr. Robert, I am Martha, daughter of Karl.”
Robert balked for a moment and again started to move on.
This made her touchy so she bellowed, “I have found a piece of paper on which your name was written and it says some stuff about the seal. And if you refuse to speak now, I will reveal your secret of drugs dealing.”
Robert started to hurtle towards the nearby slum. The place was very dark and Martha couldn’t see properly due to less light on the street but was able to follow him until a flexure came. Martha stopped and started panting as she did run a little. The place was so dark now that she could barely see her hands; she completely got lost in the dark. Then something wafted in front of her and the air stroke her nose. And the next second she felt like a warm liquid flowing from the chest like a hot liquor being poured on her; became unconscious and fell with a heavy thud.
Two days later(March 4, 2019), three bodies were found and Robert A. Gilligan was arrested and taken into custody. “May I know why am I here OFFICER?” Robert bellowed to the Officer in charge.
Sarcastically the officer replied, “Why do wealthy people need to murder and stay on drugs?”
“Murder?Drugs?” whispered Gilligan looking confused.
“Now don’t be a sheep in the lion’s den! Tell us what happened, we need to record your statement while making this case easy for us. Its march, so you know… I have to take my family for a vacation,” huffed the officer.
In a soft low frightening voice, Robert replied, “Well, officer may I please know what murder are you talking about?”
“Huh, you are arrested in charge of murdering your twin brother Michael A. Gilligan and also for running illegal drug business.
Now I guess your memories are back,” responded the officer.
In awe, Robert looked at the officer, muttered, “Michael was murdered!! I don’t know what to say but trust me I have not met him for thirteen years after an event that had occurred between us.”
“Event? What could have possibly gone wrong that you have to murder your brother after thirteen years? … mm, interesting I think I know the reason. Your brother Michael was planning to murder you to get your property. We have searched his house and got a lot of evidence about that. It seems like the poor guy didn’t know that his elder brother was always one step ahead of him.” said the officer.
“No no… let me explain everything. Thirteen years back I had a friend named Karl Gray who used to work in a small glass manufacturing factory. He used to live with his only daughter Martha, wife Emily, and his mom. I used to be a school friend of Emily and that’s how I met with Karl later. Then we became good partners so we used to get drunk a lot. I convinced Karl to leave his job and join me as my partner in my new business of Drugs. At first, he refused to do such illegal work but later on, he agreed because of his pathetic financial condition of his family. After working few weeks he complained to me of getting threat calls but I ignored his words and kept on pushing him. One day he came to me and said that he wants to quit his role in my business. At that time my forty percent profit was coming from that business so if Karl leaves I won’t be able to handle by myself and also it is very rare to find someone trusted. So I started to blackmail him, threatening him that I will expose his family and they might get killed. Two days after it was February 28, 2006, I was there at Karl’s house with Emily, and Karl was out for some business. I got into a fight with Emily because she was asking me to stop this illegal business or let Karl leave. And then she started howling madly that I am a drunkard. Little did I know that my brother Michael was planning to kill me, so he banged into the house and tried to stab me but unfortunately I slipped and fell in the action so the knife went straight into Emily’s left chest. My brother escaped and I didn’t know what to do so I ran away from there. Later Karl was arrested for the charge of his wife’s murder and he went to jail for thirteen years.” explained Robert and heaved a sigh.
The officer responded, “how inhuman you are that you let someone go to jail for doing nothing? And the girl you mentioned, Martha, her body was found near a midden today, murdered by your brother Michael and Karl had also been found dead near a tower. We have found a letter at your brother’s home dated February 26, 2006, which came by post. It was a letter from Karl Gray which interprets that Karl knew your brother wanted to kill you to get your property, so he made a deal with your brother of giving him your drug business’s ten percent profit for murdering you. But due to some circumstances, things backfired on him and the plan never worked helping you to make a lucky escape.”
“so cheap Karl was, I never knew. That moron just got his karma. I even kept him my partner when he was in jail”, resented Robert.
“If he had been alive he would have been charged with an attempt to murder. So now I would like to ask you a few questions. What were you doing on March 2, 2019?” asked the officer.
Robert replied, “I went to a tattoo shop and got my self a tattoo.”
The officer opens the drawer and took out a transparent packet that contained a Ligne 2 Champagne gold and diamond lighter.
“There’s my lighter which was stolen from me in that tattoo shop,” shouted Robert.
“It was found from the murder site of your brother; also we have got your fingerprints on a stubby(beer bottle) of the company “Skol”. You have mixed some poisonous drugs in that beer and poisoned your brother to death. So, Mr. Robert, the story is now clear and we have every inch of the evidence which states that you are the prime murderer of your brother,” responded the officer. Robert didn’t know what to say but sat still moaning and breathing heavily.
The officer went out of the room and strode towards the other officer. “There’s something I had found out from the dead girl’s pocket,” said Officer 2. Takes out a small piece of paper smeared in blood and reads aloud “to my foe and confidant – the seal has been broken ~ (Robert A Gilligan).”
Officer 1 smiling, said, “there’s our final piece of evidence. It seems like Michael was quite unhappy about the deal so he wanted to create a false enmity between Robert and Karl that Robert is closing his partnership with Karl so that he murders Robert himself and gets a death sentence. And the whole property will be then left to Michael only. All fuss for a property!”
On the other hand, Mrs. Falcon Gray was called to identify the body of Karl. The body was mangled badly as it had fallen from a great height, so she couldn’t recognize it well but she did burst into tears after losing her granddaughter and son. The authorities had to take control of the situation.
“I am sorry, Mrs. Gray for your loss. One thing you must know that your son Karl once held guilty for murdering his wife, was not the murderer.” said the officer.
“Oh Lord, all these years he suffered for no reason and now he is no more,” said Mrs. Gray(tears rolling down her eyes).
“To compensate with your loss, the ownership of the plonk market has been transferred to you forfeiting the illegal drug business. You may hire someone to work as in charge of the market or sell the business.”
Finally, Mrs.Gray decided to sell the plonk market and go back to Martha’s Uncle’s house permanently. The market was sold to a man of middle age.
(February 28, 2020) A year had passed by and Mrs. White had visited the crematory today, was standing beside the grave of her granddaughter and son. There was a light snowfall going on.
A middle-aged tall burly man with a tattoo of a Slow Loris on the neck and Hipster beard wearing a cowboy hat covering his eyes, came and stood beside her, whispered, “Life is an irony and Death is a fallacy.”
Mrs. Gray looking at the grave replied, “That’s what life is, we live to die one day.”
Before she has completed the man was already gone. Mrs. Gray felt very strange. The temperature was so cold that she had to put her hands into her coat. Just as she did that, she found a small note which reads: “Look down at the grave”.
She gazed for a while at the grave and read the epitaph on Karl’s grave: “The seal has been closed“.
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