Chapter 87: I’m a Suspect

Two murders in such a short time. That was strange, no doubt about it. All the staff, who had seemed relaxed before, figuring they were safe because the "annual murder" had already happened, were now scared out of their minds.

Joyce was one of them. She came to my cabin to talk the day the murder happened.

"I can’t believe this," she said, crying as she drank a beer she’d grabbed from my fridge. "Now what? Anyone could end up dead. And we can’t even leave the mansion, we’re trapped here."

And even in a situation like this, the owner of the mansion, my target, was nowhere to be seen. It was like nothing that was happening mattered to him.

A guy named Robert, a butler who was also the one in charge of all the staff, like a head butler or something along those lines, was the one handling everything, investigating the murder and trying to keep everyone calm.

I was waiting inside my cabin for him to come question me.

"Calm down," I said, knowing it wouldn’t make much of a difference. "I’m sure they’ll find out who’s killing people soon, and everything will go back to normal."

"I don’t know about that."

Joyce took another gulp of the beer, practically draining the bottle.

"These murders aren’t new. What guarantees the culprit will be found now when he wasn’t found before?"

She was right, really. And I was absolutely sure the owner of the mansion was involved in these murders.

But I still tried to calm her down, saying things that might put her at ease about the current situation.

"But this is the first time 2 murders have happened, and so close together, right? That changes things."

Joyce lay down on my couch, sighing. "Maybe you’re right."

I definitely wasn’t. Nothing was going to change. The only way the killer would be found was if I went after him myself, and that was exactly what I was going to do. I was convinced the owner of the mansion was behind all this. Why, though? I had no idea.

I heard a knock on the door. I already knew who it was.

Robert was a tall, lean man with graying hair. I’d guess he was around 50. He wore a clean, stylish black suit that fit his body perfectly, definitely tailor-made.

"May I come in?" he said politely. "I’d like to ask you a few questions. You too, Joyce."

"Of course, make yourself at home."

I knew that out of everyone living in the mansion, I was probably among the main suspects. The murder happened inside the mansion, at night, which meant I shouldn’t have been able to get in there, and the place was well guarded. But of course, nothing stopped me from getting in.

On top of that, one of the reasons I was seen as a potential suspect was that I had only just arrived at the mansion. I was the last employee hired.

"Let’s start with you, Mr...."

Robert picked up a piece of paper. "Harry? That’s right, isn’t it?"

Harry was the name they put on the new ID I was using for this mission. Not really the kind of name I liked, but it wasn’t my choice.

"That’s right," I answered.

"So, what were you doing between midnight and 2 in the morning?"

"Sleeping. I woke up to the screams and commotion outside, and went to check what was going on. You know, since the previous gardener was murdered, I’m pretty scared, to be honest with you. That’s when I found everyone outside the mansion, and found out about the murder."

That was exactly what happened. I didn’t have to lie, because I had nothing to do with that murder.

Robert, however, still suspected me, even after checking my story against the other statements.

"One of the guards did see you leaving your cabin at the time you said you did," Robert said, adjusting the glasses sitting at the tip of his nose. "Have you noticed anything strange lately? Anything you can share?"

The only thing I could think of was the guard and the maid who were kissing and who knows what else near my cabin, outside the mansion, which was strictly forbidden.

Under normal circumstances, I might not have shared that. Why would I? It wasn’t any of my business.

But considering Robert was looking at me as a suspect, any useful information could get him off my back, and maybe even show that I was telling the truth.

"You asked where I was between midnight and 2 in the morning, right? By the time I got to the mansion door, it was already past 2, so I’m guessing the murder happened around 2, maybe a little before."

Robert frowned. "Yes, you’re correct. But that isn’t hard to deduce. What are you getting at?"

"A few days ago, I heard footsteps near my cabin, at exactly 2 in the morning. I peeked out the window and saw a guard with a maid, having...relations, hiding among some trees."

"I wasn’t spying on them, of course, and maybe they were just hooking up and it has nothing to do with this murder. But the time is the same. That’s why I decided to share it with you."

Robert stared at me for a few seconds, then wrote some things down in a small notebook. He was noting down any relevant information he’d found by interviewing the people in the mansion.

The guy was like a detective trying to solve a murder. Were his intentions pure? Since he was the one running everything, maybe the owner of the mansion, who I believed was responsible for the murders, was working with him to cover it all up. Or maybe Robert really had no idea about anything, and was genuinely trying to find the culprit.

"Thank you very much for this information. Can you tell me what the people you saw looked like?"

I described them as best I could. The guard was easy, since he had talked to me as soon as I arrived at the mansion, so his face was still fresh in my memory. The maid, well, I’d never seen her in person, up close, and had never talked to her. Describing her was a bit harder.

Still, there were a few details I remembered that helped. The earrings. She wore leaf-shaped earrings, like those autumn leaves, and I figured few maids, or maybe none, wore the same kind of earrings.

When I mentioned the earrings, Robert got visibly nervous.

"Are you sure she was wearing those earrings? Are you sure?" Robert asked, almost grabbing my shirt and forcing me to talk.

"Yes, I’m sure. Why?"

"No reason. Just making sure the information is accurate."

I asked already knowing the answer. For him to get so nervous, without a doubt, the person who’d been murdered inside the mansion, whom I never got the chance to see, was the same maid I saw that night. He knew because of the earrings.

Robert asked Joyce only a few questions before leaving.

"Joyce, you can sleep here tonight. After all, the murder happened very close to your room, and no one can go near it right now."

"Alright..." Joyce replied, still shaken.

I shut the door as soon as Robert left, locking it, and grabbed a glass of wine for myself and another for Joyce.

"So you were the one who found the body?" I asked.

It could only be that, considering the state she was in, and how her room was so close to the crime scene.

"Almost. It was actually another maid. I was the second to see it. And that scene... How terrible, just terrible."

Joyce drank the wine I offered, and it didn’t take long for her to fall asleep on the couch, exhausted from the day before, amplified by the alcohol she’d had. I covered her with a blanket.

I went to my bed, but stayed alert for any strange noise during the night. The last thing I wanted was for Joyce to get killed or something like that...

The next morning, I woke up very early. Joyce was still out cold on the couch, visibly fine, at least physically.

I made her some coffee to drink as soon as she woke up, and fried some eggs with bacon for her. Joyce woke up to the noise, and to the smell of food spreading through the cabin.

"Thanks for the breakfast. That’s very generous of you."

I smiled at her as I handed her the plate of eggs and bacon. "It’s nothing. You can stay here in the cabin as long as you want. If Robert allows it, of course."

Joyce laughed. "He looks mean, but he’s a good guy. Robert takes really good care of us. I think he feels guilty about the maid’s death. And the old gardener’s too, actually."

"How long has he worked here?"

"Years, I think. He already tried to solve last year’s murders, but couldn’t. Poor man. I can see he suffers every day because of it."

Our conversation was going along normally, until several guards came to my cabin. This time they didn’t knock, they kicked the door in. Robert was with the guards.

"Harry, come with us, please. You’ll be held in the dungeon beneath the mansion until this murder is solved."