The Three Secret Solvers – Secret Murder
Ridhwanul Haque
Copyright 2013 Ridhwanul Haque
Writer’s Note:
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Chapter 1
Mystery Begins
It was a foggy, cloudy Sunday morning. Mohammadpur was still in its midnight silence. Shabab, a twelve year old boy who studies in class VI of Lakehead Grammar School was up by then to leave for his school. Yawning and stretching the body the young boy lunged toward the balcony of his room where a cold wind hit him and made him embrace himself with both of his hand. He did this to protect himself against the wind. Outside the sky could not be differentiated with the street. They were all colored snowy white.
The street that could be seen from Shabab’s balcony was empty except for one person. That person was quite well known to him. It was the bald headed shopkeeper Mamun with long white beard. He was wearing a white Panjabi which is the attire worn by many Muslims. The e Panjabi reached up to his knees. It had black embroider on it. He was an old person, and to be specific he was a man of sixty.
A moment later, just when the young boy was going to leave his balcony an ugly, scary looking man came up to the shopkeeper, Mamun. The man was wearing a tight vest with spots of red color, which quite looked like blood. The man was the owner of shop near the shopkeeper, Mamun’s shop. He was a butcher.
The butcher came and compelled Mamun to go with him. Shabab, who was viewing the scene from a distance, was aghast by the behavior of the butcher. Mamun went with him as he was forced to, and he was taken into the alley which was between his shop and the butcher’s shop.
The young boy was still in his balcony feeling astounded and curious about why Mamun was forced to go into the alley, which was the way towards the shopkeeper’s house. The place where Mamun lived was not quite big. It was a one storied building where it had double bedroom with a dining room joined to the kitchen. There was a small bathroom in the corner of the house.
It was around ten minutes later; still the boy did not move a bit. He was standing with the curiosity lurking in his mind about what happened to the shopkeeper?
“What might have happened to Mamun Uncle?” he kept on wondering.
Then suddenly the butcher came out with a man, but this time it was not Mamun, it was someone who was much younger than Mamun. He looked like a smart middle aged man, with a mobile earphone attached to his ear.
“Where is Mamun Uncle? Is he killed by these two men? If not then where is he? Oh no!!!” the young boy wondered when he noticed something very suspicious. The butcher was carrying a knife which had blood on it, and in the other hand of the butcher was a sack, which looked full of something. The sack looked big enough to hold a man. “What might have they done to Mamun Uncle?” Shabab wondered and started getting ready for school.
Half an hour later when Shabab left for his school, he went for a check in the alley. As he reached the dark alley, he was so scared that he turned and ran for the school.
Chapter 2
Who is the Detective?
It was 10.40, our break time in school. Adeeb and I were sitting in the playground eating our food for break.
“Man, this Tuesday we are going to have our English Literature test. Have you studied for it?” I asked Adeeb.
“Yeah! I have finished reading the book and I have done the vocab. What about you?” Adeeb asked me.
“I have just done the vocab. I am busy with Sherlock Holmes. I do not feel like reading anything else unless I finish the present one.
“Nerd!” Adeeb exclaimed. As soon we finished eating, Shabab was joined with us. He came and sat beside us. He then started talking.
“Look, Abirul, I want to share something with you and Adeeb. Give me just ten minutes.” Shabab was behaving official and he was also speaking in a very low voice as if he was going to say something very secret.
“What have you murdered someone?” Adeeb joked with Shabab. Then we both started to laugh.
“Not me! The Butcher did.” Shabab said. We were really puzzled by what he said.
“Who is the butcher? What are you even trying to say?” I asked.
“Today was the first time I woke really early in the morning to...”
“Again, he starts his boasting.”Adeeb interrupted
“Off! Let me finish. What I wanted to say was that, when I got up, I went to my balcony to venture the outside. From there I saw the butcher murdering Mamun uncle.”Shabab started telling his story although it did not clear my confusions.
“Man! Who is this Mamun uncle? Where do you even get the butcher? Most important, what do you even mean by the butcher murdered Mamun uncle.” Adeeb was full of questions. The same questions were also lurking in my mind.
“Oh! Mamun Uncle is the shopkeeper of our nearby shop. And you do know the word ‘butcher’. So there is this butcher who has his own shop just exactly beside Mamun uncle’s shop.”Shabab was disappointed by Adeeb’s questions as he could not finish his story.
“Okay but the Murder. Who has been murdered and How?” once again Adeeb interrupted.
“You fool! Will you let me speak? Then only I can say, isn’t it?” Shabab was getting because of the interruptions. “So, today morning I saw Mamun uncle standing on the street while the butcher came up to him and compelled him to go in the alley. Now don’t ask me what is the alley or where is the alley? It is just between the two shops. And that alley leads toward the home of Mamun uncle.”
“Okay! Good, but how can you say that he is murdered. The butcher might have compelled him to get in the alley to help him on something. You may see something wrong. You may see something but you understood something else.” I tried to be sure that the thing Shabab was saying, were right or not.
“If Mamun uncle is not murdered, then from where does the blood come from? And most important that if he is not murdered, then where is he. Did he change his appearance into a middle aged person?” Shabab was really serious about it.
“What? Middle aged man? Blood?” once again Shabab confused us.
“Yes, I saw a knife in the butcher’s hand, which had blood on it. Then in his other hand there was a sack full of something, which looked to me quite big which is enough to hold a man.”
“What about the middle aged man?” Adeeb asked.
“I even don’t know much about the middle aged man. I saw him the first time. He looks quite fanatic toward music as he had a mobile earphone attached to his ear.” Shabab told us about the middle aged man.
“Hmm. So do you think we should inform the police? We do have Shabab as a witness.” Adeeb asked.
“No! Are you a fool? Do you think the police will so easily believe us? The Bangladeshi polices are really lazy enough to collect enough proof. We need to present the proof in front of them and then they will take the action.” Shabab retorted.
Shabab words made me fall in deep thinking. I have been reading detective stories and I do believe that reading them had given me some benefits. So, this is a chance for me to show my skills. This can make me achieve a big thing.
“This is a chance do not miss it.” I whispered to myself.
“So, what should we do?” Adeeb asked.
“Oh! It is just wastage of energy explaining you something.” Shabab ranted Adeeb. “Why do you think I told this to you guys, so that we can get together and solve the crime? Abirul,
are you ready to solve the mystery.”
“Yup!” I quickly answered. “It’s time to do some investigation.”
“Yeah, that is why I came to you. I believe if we get together we will be able to solve the crime.” Shabab was quite happy seeing me agreed with his suggestions.
“So when do we start?” Shabab asked “Today?”
“Yeah, let’s meet in Mohammadpur today at 3.00” I insisted. “Can you come, Adeeb?”
I really wanted Adeeb to come because he was actually a fast thinker and could identify a lot of details. In one word it would be that he is a great analyzer.
Adeeb is really an odd kind of boy in our class. He is good in every side. He prays five times a day, the obligatory work for Muslims, then again he watches movies. And he comes out to be second in our class. Adeeb is really thin as if his bones were coming out. His mother wants him to be fat, for which she gives her a lot of food for the school break. But Adeeb is never interested in food. He is in the list of the best boys in our class, although he is neither a complete nerd nor bad in studies.
“Hmm. I do not think my mother will allow me to go today as you know there is a test in Tuesday. So can you guys go in Tuesday so, that I can go.”
“You fool! Will the clues wait for you to come and be taken by you or you are wishing that the perpetrator would come to you and would divulge his secret crime to you. Hah! If you do not want to come today, then don’t come today, come next day, but do not cancel our fun.” Shabab was getting angry.
“Okay! Okay! Don’t start quarreling.” I tried to stop them from getting started into the quarrel. It was good of Adeeb that he did not say something in return. “It is not a problem Adeeb if you can’t come today. You may join us the next day. We will not be able to solve a murder just in one day.”
“Okay.” Adeeb sighed.
“Okay, now let’s go to the class. It is already 11.10. Jasmine miss is going to be super angry with us. We were not present while the registration time. Let’s go” I pushed the others toward the class.
The rest of the day in the school was not good to me. I could not remove the idea of solving a murder. Continuously my mind was lurking about the mystery.
After the school, Shabab and I got together in the playground to discuss what to do when we reach Mohammadpur. That is when Adeeb came up to us.
“Hey! Can I come with you guys? I have the permission from my mother.”
“So you can change your mind? At least we came to know that you can change your decision.” Shabab started to tease him.
“Of course, you are always welcomed.” I was being gentle. I was happy that Adeeb was coming.
“So, let’s meet in Shabab’s house at 3.00 and start our investigation. Our time limit is 6.00” I announced our decision.
“Yeah, that’s also the time limit my mother fixed for me.” Adeeb said.
“And I believe my mother will also do the same.” I said.
We headed for our own house. We were waiting for 3.00. I was just hoping that my mother allows me to go to Shabab’s house