11 Unlikely story

"How do you know she is dead? Did you kill her?" Delion asked in a cold whisper as his dagger dug in Jingo's neck, not enough to kill him but enough to make him heat the cold Iron up with his blood.

"William told me!" Jingo hollered as sweat broke over his forehead even in this freezing november.

Chief Ambers grabbed Delion by the shoulder and demands. "I feel like he is ready to talk, give him some space."

"What did William tell you, explain everything to the last detail." Delion demanded as he kept the dagger firm on his hand.

Jingo held his neck with one hand, ripped part of his clothing with the other and tried to tame the wound. In the meanwhile, he clumsily spoke. "He asked me to hold this information as a grave secret but there are people dying so I have to break my promise to old William."

The two people in front of Jingo didn't reply, with aims to let him speak but it's noticeable on their faces how much they are containing rage for the sake of getting more information.

So Jingo chirped, "He didn't tell me how Selia died, but William was dead sure that this woman was after him. I'm still confused, because if Selia is dead then how did she go after him? Spirits and ghosts are just a joke!."

Delion gave out a sigh, demanding. "Stick to what's important."

"Selia is after a handful of people in this village, my guess is that old William and all these victims had something to do with her death. William was damn sure that Selia will kill everyone, as if she was some overpowered god." Odd choices of words, considering that Jingo doesn't seem to favour anything that's not human.

But adding what raised other thoughts, concerns and primarily puzzles.

Jingo gave in his last portion of information regarding this case. "Old William knew that Selia will kill him so he wanted to take drastic measures, deciding about suicide. Although I didn't know that crazy ass would have dropped from Jack's peek."

"Your story has a few holes in it, how do I know that you didn't push William from Jack's peek?" Furthermore, Delion rushed in mentioning a name Jingo could probably merge into some random story.

"Why would I push William from Jack's peek? I would have no benefit from it because he didn't bring me any trouble." Jingo pointed out the obvious, trying to push suspicion off himself.

Isolating Jingo's choices, Delion chipped in. "How did you know he jumped from Jack's peek if you didn't know he would jump from it to begin with?"

"I tried to stop him from jumping, I arrived too late." A smart answer, at least Jingo here wouldn't dig himself in more trouble.

"Well, William's body has been carried and thrown in the river. I know you couldn't have done that and I know Selia would have no reason to do it if William committed suicide. So my guess Is your story has been made up here." Possibilities considered, Delion is thinking this situation through a little bit longer, trying to make a proper decision about Jingo.

So Delion finally declares, "Jingo, you are under arrest as the prime suspect of William's death. You will be locked here in shackles until I can figure out what the hell happened."

"This is bullshit! You are wasting my time and yours as well. I told everything William told me, what else do you want?!" Jingo is obviously not a fan of this decision, but hey at least he isn't being slaughtered or publicly shamed without the entire truth being discovered.

Overall, this situation makes no sense. It makes no sense, but at least now they've got a lead and I'm not talking about Jingo being put in shackles.

With the name 'Selia' in their minds, they can ask the families of each victim if this name rings a bell. Because if William actually expected Selia to kill him, but poorly explained everything, then Delion could be uncovering something huge here.

If not related to the present dilemma, he would at least puzzle out a murder that could have happened years ago. Why else would two of the victims be scared of their past biting them on the ass?

They will ask the families about this name tomorrow as for tonight Delion has something else in mind.

Don't get him wrong, one lead and one prime suspect is good, they at least have something in their hands compared to a few days earlier when they had no lead whatsoever. But do you know what's better? Developing two leads!

Delion finds it as the best solution to host a stake out tonight, so he and chief Ambers can get a better grasp of who lurks around in this village while everyone else is asleep.

If they actually spot a person walking around at 3am for example, it's almost absolutely certain that person is up to no good. There have been multiple reports of murders with little time in between them, only a complete moron would go out for fun.

Chasing a murderer can be dangerous, but Ambers is huge and strong while Delion isn't such a weakling either.

The biggest risk these two can take now is to wait for more deaths to follow, that would be far more dangerous than chasing a murderer as the village depends on them for protection.

...

Midnight broke barely an hour ago, now throughout the shade of darkness Delion and Chief Ambers are trying to see if there is any human commotion going on in this town.

This is tough work, they can barely see anything and the november cold is punishing enough. Worse for Delion though, he has been walking around since the break of dawn yet he can't sleep.

To make this night more tiring but at the same time interesting, a shout echoed across the nearby houses. "Help, my mother isn't breathing!"