Read the first part
Read the second part
Suddenly it struck him that they still had not informed Mrs. Smith’s family, did she even have a family.
“Mike, does Mrs Smith’s family know about the murder?” David asked while having their lunch at Cindy’s
“ We did not find records of any of her immediate family , no kids , her husband died nearly twenty years back in a freak accident and since then she has been living alone. Although chief says that she has an estranged step-sister in the town but does not know who she is.”
“Yeh heard of her and her sister’s stories, they haven’t talked since long, although nobody knows who the sister is.” David replied.
“Phew, this sounds like one spooky murder…..
“Did I just hear murder officers? Has someone been murdered?” Cindy had come back with some more juice.
“Yes Cindy, the emergency in the morning was Mrs Smith’s murder” said David .
“What? Mrs Smith has been murdered, granny will be sad to know.”
“Your grandmother knew her, you never told me.”
“Yes they knew each other very well when they were young but they stopped talking to after my grandmother got married.”
“Can we meet her?” Mike asked
“Not so many of you”.
“I will talk to her, where will I find her Cindy.” David said
“She is sleeping right now, tomorrow maybe.”
“That will be too late, can’t I talk to her now? “ David persisted.
“Okay let me check with her.”
After five minutes Cindy came back and told him he could go talk to her but not question her much because that might stress her.
She led him through a door inside the kitchen; they entered into what looked like a living room. So this where Cindy lived thought David. He never knew she lived somewhere inside the café itself.
She took him in a dark room next to the living room, there on a chair sat Cindy’s grandmother. She was old and looked frail.
David greeted her, then he realized he did not know what she was named, that’s when Cindy spoke up.
“Granny this is Officer David he visits the café very often. He is the one who is on grand-aunt Linda’s murder case.”
What did she just call Mrs Smith grand-aunt? Does that mean Mrs. Smith’s step-sister was Cindy’s grandmother? Thought David.
“Oh greetings officer how are you? It’s a pleasure to meet you” she said in a broken voice.
“Pleasure’s mine Mrs. Umm…..”
“Murphy, that’s my mother’s last name. Cindy sweetheart, why don’t you go and take care of the café while I and officer chat about Linda”.
“Okay granny, take care, and call me if you need anything.”
And she left the room.
“She is such a nice girl, does everything, and takes care of me and the café so well. Yesterday she hurt herself when the coffee jar broke, in spite of that she has been working” the old lady told David.
“She indeed is a great girl.”
“So you wanted to talk about Linda. I am saddened to know she was murdered, but not surprised or shocked, she and her ways were funny and probably not accepted by a lot of people . Destiny played its game with her.”
“So you knew her, but how?” David asked, eager to know more.
“Well , it was a deep connection , we had the same father , a wretched man he was. He loved her mother more than mine and eventually started despising me too. Spoilt her but treated me like one of his servants. Even started getting mean, snubbed me , sometimes used to hit me and I could not do anything about it. And when my mother died my father got me married to this waiter and I along with him built this café , we had a son , he died long time back and left behind his daughter Cindy. Linda married the son of a rich landlord and they never had kids. When her husband died she came back to St Petersburg and started living in her father’s house. I thought I could get that property atleast , lead a happy life in my old age but she did not let that happen and now here I am , half blind and unable to walk properly. There is little joy in my life, all I now want is Cindy lives a good life. She is a lovely girl.”
All through this David kept on nodding listening carefully. He pitied Mrs. Murphy, but was shocked to know that she was related to Mrs. Smith , Cindy and he had talked about her so often but she never mentioned that she was her great-aunt. So Cindy and Mrs. Murphy were Mrs. Smith’s mystery relatives, how come nobody knew that? I now had to talk to Cindy, he thought to himself.
“I know I did not really love my sister but please do find her murderer, murdering anybody is a great sin. Thanks a lot officer.”
“Yes Mrs. Murphy , we will breathe only when we find the murderer.”
He then thanked her and left.
He couldn’t find Cindy anywhere in the kitchen and then he spotted her chatting with Mike and Ricky . They had finished their lunch and were the only ones sitting at the café.
“Hey Cindy, can you please come to the kitchen “he said briskly.
“What great guys Ricky and Mike are, you have a nice team” Cindy said as she entered the kitchen.
“Yes they are really cool; hey Cindy you never told Mrs. Smith was your grand-aunt.”
“Well there was nothing there to tell about in that , I never wanted anyone to know I am related to her. Infact I had never met her. She was sinister and it’s because of her, my grandmother has to live here , I am glad she is dead at least my grandmother can live a better life in what is her father’s house. Or we can sell that off.”
“Cindy someone has been murdered and you are happy about that fact , that’s inhuman , even you had grudges you can’t feel happy about it.”
“I don’t want to talk more about it, I have lived my entire life pretending that I didn’t know her and I will continue that.”
“Okay I won’t trouble you more with it now, by the way , take care of your hand , that seems like one nasty cut.”
“Yes officer I will” said Cindy with a tired smile.
After finishing the lunch when the three of them were leaving Mrs. Smith’s maid walked in, she said a hello and went directly in the kitchen, apparently she personally knew Cindy and her grandmother.
“So David what did the old granny tell you?” asked Mike
“She was Mrs. Smith’s step-sister.”
“Seriously? Well does that take us any way forward in the case?” Ricky asked
“ I don’t know , the lady can barely walk and is half blind , she couldn’t have murdered although she had a perfect reason and her granddaughter , well I know her personally , she can’t murder anyone and we don’t even have any evidence against her or anyone else” David said in a very confused state.
They were heading to Dr James laboratory when Ricky’s phone rang. It was Chief on the other end; he wanted to talk to David. He enquired of the progress and was disappointed to know there wasn’t any.
From the lab too they returned dissatisfied, the blood samples of the maid and mail man did not match
Just an hour before his meeting with Chief, David sat thinking the entire turn of events. Mrs. Smith was strangulated to death , the mailman could not have done that , he came seven hours later , there was a possibility the maid could have done it , she had access to the house but her blood samples did not match the ones found on the sheets. If she had done it was with an accomplice. But who? Suddenly his mind drifted to Cindy, poor her, runs a café, takes care of her grandmother so well and keeps her happy , how did she manage all that at the age of twenty-five.
“Hey David, did you see that girl at the café was injured, she had a wound and we are looking for a murderer who is injured, she definitely fits into the puzzle very well.” Suddenly Mike said
“No Mike, not possible, there might be so many injured people we can’t go suspecting everyone and Cindy is the last person to have done it”
. When do I get most of my blogging ideas ? While I am in bed trying to sleep , while taking a shower or in the bus while going to college. And yes sometimes in classrooms too , depends on the quality of lecture being delivered . Like the one I’m typing right now is while I’m having another sleepless night and I’m typing it on my phone.
