The Madness Behind the Door

Senoni opened her eyes. The ticking sound of the clock on the back wall became clearer and clearer in her fuzzy mind. She tried to get up, but a sharp pain in her back made her stop; her hands were tied so high that her back was forced against the bed headboard. She turned her left leg slightly, and the rough rope covered with thorns rubbed her ankles and bled.

There were no other sounds around. It was almost dark, only a window on the left wall let in dim light through the thick dark curtains. Over the past few hours, tears and sweat had messed up her makeup. She hadn't eaten or drunk for over a day.

The more awake she became, the more frightened she felt. As if the darkness itself was part of the air, invading her body with each breath, leaving her inescapable. She couldn't see her own body, only the dim light illuminating part of her right thigh.

"Help!" She couldn't help crying out. "Help. Is anyone there?"

No echo. Only the clock kept ticking.

"Help -"

Suddenly, even the only light source disappeared, as if a giant palm was pressed over it. But Senoni immediately realized that it was a man's back blocking the light. The man had been sitting beside the bed like a corpse, without a sound; now he stood up and began to breathe heavily, as if the darkness had condensed into human form, swallowing the last ray of light.

Senoni stared in terror with wide eyes. She couldn't move.

The man spoke. His muttering was like winding poisonous snakes crawling all over the room.

"Another day gone. Tired..."

"Do you know, sister? I'm not afraid of anything anymore. Because I hid Dad's cane. Even when Mom's not around, he can't beat us now."

"Cold, sister. Can I make you a fire?"

"Sister, I'm not afraid of Dad anymore. He can't get the cane."

"Because I hung him up."

Suddenly Senoni felt the bed sink sharply on one side. The man crawled onto the bed, kneeling on the edge with his hands on either side of her head. The man's face was only three inches from hers. Even so close, she still couldn't see his features clearly, only the outline of his face, like wearing a black mask without a face.

As Senoni bit her lower lip and trembled, the man kissed her. It was a powerful kiss, full of the taste of blood. Senoni never knew a kiss could be so terrifying; nor did she know how many deadly toxins were transmitted to her body through this kiss.

Five seconds later, the man got up, and Senoni heard a mechanical clanking sound. Then a cold metal block was pressed against her forehead.

"Don't betray me. Never." The man said.

This time, when Jorgen and Elin entered Jacobson's office, they didn't give him a chance to pretend. Jorgen swept the pile of documents and ink bottles off Jacobson's desk with a slap, then said, "Where's Lemenito?"

"What's the meaning of this? You're too rude... Guards! Guards!"

Jacobson lifted his bulky body from the chair, his robe tangled in the chair legs, and didn't fall to the ground just because Jorgen grabbed his collar.

A guard rushed in and stabbed Jorgen in the shoulder with a spear from behind. Elin grabbed the spear shaft with his left hand halfway through, then hit the guard on the neck with the hilt of his dagger, knocking the guard to the ground. Elin picked up the long spear, closed the door and braced the long spear under the handle to bolt it.

"What are you going to do to me?"

"Nothing," Jorgen said. "Just tell us where Lemenito is. We didn't mean to disturb you, but we couldn't find the boy anywhere we could think of. This may seem a little rude, but we're in a hurry. Where is he?"

"I don't know...you can't..."

Jorgen grabbed Jacobson's collar and threw him down on the table back first, then looked down at him and said, "Quickly, Jacobson. You've caused enough trouble already, you shouldn't risk a life."

"Risk a life? What's wrong with Lemenito?"

"Answer me!" Jorgen slammed his fist on the table, an inch from Jacobson's face. "I don't want to ask a third time. You won't like how I ask the third time."

Jacobson's whole body trembled. The left side of the priest's robe was torn open a large slit.

"You...have you been to his office? Home? Not there either? Okay, okay...I know one more place, I'll take you there...but please tell me what happened..."

"I'm afraid that's for Lemenito to tell us."

After yesterday's interrogation of Jito, Jorgen and Elin immediately decided to re-interrogate Senoni to find out the origin of the ruby necklace. But this morning, after going to the theater group, they were told Senoni had not shown up. "Actually, no one has seen her since the show ended yesterday afternoon," Katrina said. It was after Jorgen and Lemenito's meeting ended.

Jorgen regretted not taking measures to protect Senoni. Although she had obviously lied about the origin of the necklace out of self-protection, it was not a lie that would harm others; if anyone was harmed, it would be herself. Also, for Lemenito, Jorgen did not have enough vigilance. Upon learning that Lemenito was also missing, he and Elin stormed into Jacobson's office.

Jacobson led them to an old barn not far from the manor.

"There's another room inside," Jacobson said, "his own. I've never been in."

The door was locked tight. Elin tried to push it but it didn't budge.

"Locked from the inside," he said.

"That's not a problem," Jorgen said. Jacobson was the most powerful man here, and now he was being escorted trembling by two detectives, attracting a large crowd of farmers around him. Jorgen took an ax from one of the farmers and began chopping at the door. After chopping seven or eight times and kicking it a few times, a hole opened in the door big enough to bend over and get through.

The air in the barn was suffocating, filled with musty powdery dust, and Jacobson started coughing incessantly. Usually aloof and pretending to treat everyone with insincerity, he was now hunched over, not daring to take a step beyond Jorgen, his eyes full of fear.

Jorgen knew what Jacobson was afraid of. Although he was a scumbag, he also had things he feared.

Behind a large pile of old farm tools and rotten straw in the back of the barn, a small room was separated off that looked like just an ordinary storeroom from the outside.

"Maybe, maybe he's in there." Jacobson said. "That's the only hiding place I know of, really."

"Follow us. And don't think of running away." Jorgen said, then reached out to push open the door.

Before he could open it, Jorgen heard a loud bang. A large hole appeared in the door panel, and splinters of wood scraped across his face. He turned to see Jacobson fall to the ground, hands folded over the right side of his head, blood pouring out between his fingers.

"His ear was hit," Elin said, dragging Jacobson into a safe corner and bandaging his wound with gauze.

"He's in there, oh, he shot me..." Jacobson began to wail.

It was a shotgun, Jorgen thought. The one weapon he never used well and hated trying the most. He pulled out throwing daggers from his waist, considering what to do next. He didn't want to kill Lemenito. He hid beside the wall, peering into the room with the corner of his eye but with very limited vision.

What changed the situation was a cry of "Help, help me!" followed by Lemenito shouting "Shut up!" Jorgen immediately entered the room, and as soon as he spotted the figure, he threw out his dagger, piercing Lemenito's right shoulder. He had intended to seize the opportunity to rush up and subdue him, but Lemenito immediately pointed the gun at Senoni, tied to the bed.

"Don't come any closer." He said.

Jorgen recognized that Senoni was still dressed in a soiled stage costume, her limbs tied up and her makeup so messy she was almost unrecognizable. "Don't let him kill me," came her faint, hoarse voice from her mouth, as if she had been thrown into the middle of the desert without water for a long time.

At that moment, Jorgen saw complete insanity in Lemenito's eyes. Those once bright blue eyes had now become murky glass beads. This was not the first time, nor the last, that Jorgen had seen such eyes.

"Put down the gun," Jorgen said. "You don't have to hurt anyone. Give me the gun."

Lemenito suddenly pointed the gun at Jorgen, then lowered it again and pointed it at Senoni's forehead. He repeated this several times, his arm trembling all the while.

Jorgen looked around and found that the room was as shabby and pale inside as it looked from the outside. Apart from a bed, a clock and an oil lamp, there was nothing else.

"I will," Lemenito said, "I will kill. I hung up Dad...you all saw it. But he didn't deserve to live. He betrayed us."

"You're making things worse. You don't deserve this. Put down the gun, don't make another mistake. Do you want this?" Jorgen took out the ruby necklace from his pocket, "It belongs to you. Now leave the poor girl and come to me. I'll give it back to you."

Lemenito's eyes regained some life for a moment, but soon darkened again. "No," he said, "I don't need it anymore. It doesn't matter anymore."

As the stalemate continued, Jacobson, half of whose right ear had been blown off, stumbled in. His hands seemed to be holding something important in midair, trembling constantly.

"Lemenito, my dear boy," he said, "please, please put down that dangerous thing. I don't want to see you hurt yourself."

"I'm not your boy. And my name is not...Lemenito."

"Don't say that,..."

"My name is..." Lemenito mumbled vaguely in his mouth, then looked at Jacobson again. "...why did you bring them here? Didn't I tell you...not to tell anyone?"

"I thought you were going to do something terrible."

"Are you going to betray me too? Why does everyone...haven't I ever done anything right? ...Sister, I've disappointed you..."

Jorgen wanted to rush forward, but it was too late. He watched as Lemenito put the gun in his own mouth and pulled the trigger. An explosion that seemed to shake the whole room erupted, and his face immediately lost all color as his whole body collapsed to the ground. The back wall was splattered with blood and brains, and Senoni's right arm was spotted with black. She screamed.

Before Jorgen and Elin could react, Jacobson had already knelt down in front of Lemenito's corpse and held him in his lap. He stroked his face and pressed his own face against it. "No, no, no, no..." Tears fell from his wrinkled face.

Jorgen knew. Jacobson was a hypocritical priest. Greedy for money. Usurious. Liked women. Arrogant and domineering. Exploited the poor. Framed opponents.

But this was what Jacobson feared.

"Did we mess up? Is this case closed?" Elin sighed.

Jorgen did not answer.