CHAPTER-VI

"So…rest…before…" I could hear some distinct chatter, "Thank you Doctor." I heard heavy footsteps heading towards me. I tried to open my eyes, the footsteps stopped and a person sat beside me.

"Hallucinating again, eh? Glen?" That moment, I thought to myself, "That...That voice! It~ It has to be him!" I raised and turned to see him, slowly the blur picture turned crystal clear; I saw Shawn sitting beside me, with his usual hat on.

"Shawn~" with a tear in my eyes I said, "Shawn… there you are! I was trying to find you all this time! Where have you been? How are you? Where am I?" I tried to smile, "Ouch! Ah! That hurts!"

"Hey-hey, now…" he helped me lay back on the bed. "Welcome back idiot, you were in your world of dreams this whole time. God knows what the hell were you mumbling. Suddenly you woke up and started shouting in great distress and then enjoyed throwing punches on your own face. What the hell were you thinking?"

"Huh? ~ oh, no, it's nothing." Tears dropped from my chin again, but with a smile on my face this time. "I'm ~ I'm so…glad. I'm so glad you are here Shawn. Don't make me worry, you, idiot." I couldn't stop squeaking.

"Me? Where did I went? I was with you the whole time, are you still dreaming? Must have had a nightmare, right?"

"Yeah, my worst nightmare."

"What?"

"Never mind."

"The doctor told you to take rest, you sure can beat yourself good. Look what you have done, you are bruised all over your face!"

"Yeah, sorry about that." I said with my eyes closed and a pleasant little smile on my face.

Shawn chuckled and said, "Rest here. Tonight we have to attend a party, I hope you remember." "What party?" I asked. Shawn sighed and smiled back to me, "Mr. Gilford Buckler has his birthday today, the GB Enterprise. Remember?"

"Oh, yeah." "Will you be able to come? Shall I go without you?" "Hell no! I won't let you go anywhere alone. If you are going, so will I. No matter what!!" I sat upright and exclaimed. "Okay-okay, geez, what was the nightmare mate? Anyway, I'll head to the police station. You rest here, I'll be right back in a couple of hours." he looked at me confused and left closing the door. I read a book by the time he came back.

He came right after two hours, "How are you feeling, Glen?"

"Much better, have a bit of pain in my right cheek though."

"We will be leaving at 7:00 pm. It is 3:10 now, we have time."

"Shawn, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" he sat beside me on a chair.

"Have you got a lead on the case?"

"Well, nothing particular. I went to police station to meet constable Rose. Had something to ask him. And! I almost forgot, Mrs. Annie came to pay me a visit while you were knocked out."

"Mrs. Annie?"

"Annie Perry? Late Mr. Bruce's wife? Oh, sorry, a widow now."

"Oh, yes I remember. Well, what did she say?"

"She was in grief, but she also said that she recently started to hate Mr. Bruce."

"Is that why she left him alone and went to her mother's house in Southampton?"

"No, she went there to pay her a visit. But how did you know she was in Southampton?"

"Oh, yesterday when you ran inside Mr. Perry's house, an old man told me about it. He lives near that house. Mr. Bradley… Bradley Baker, if I remember correct."

"How did he know about it?"

"I… I forgot to ask him, but he said he knew them from a long time. He said that Mrs. Annie helped him at a grocery store with his carry bag. I remember it because he kept repeating this again and again."

"Anything else?"

"He said that after sometime they both went to work at a same house."

"Yes, they did work at House Philips together. Anything else?"

"No."

"Well…"

"What did Mrs. Annie say?"

"Hmm, she said that Mr. Bruce had started to drink recently, however, there were no sign of any other women. He did not create a scene for domestic violence either. But…"

"But? But what?"

"He had developed an odd behaviour."

"Odd behaviour?"

"Yes, he used to punch the door of the room on the first floor, the one we went to investigate with the forensic team."

"Punch the door? Why would one do that?"

"More interestingly, he did it on a regular basis before going to work. After the punches, he unlocked the door and rotated the knob but he never opened it. Also he used to mutter something leaning on the door and then continue with his completely regular day."

"What a weird fellow."

"The only key, that unlocked that door was always with him. He used to lock that door up each time before going to work."

"He did not want his wife to go in that room, right?"

"Possible, but as Mrs. Annie said, he never warned or restricted her from going in the room. Worried by her husband's odd behaviour she gathered her courage one day and after her husband left for work, she called a key maker and made a spare key for that door. The next day, behind Mr. Bruce's back, she unlocked the door and went inside."

"(gulp) What did she see?"

"The same thing that we saw. Those old books, book cabinet, a wooden chair and table, a half melted candle, and the closed window. She too could not bear that uneasy smell and left the room locking the door. Her husband did not get a clue of her going in that room."

"Shawn, I think that the case is directly connected with that room. I bet something is kept hidden there."

"It seems so, Glen, but Mr. Bruce left behind him a hell of a mystery to be solved. And also that amusing will."

"Will? Mr. Bruce's will?"

"Oh, yes. The man left a will, long before he died, he left his will written on a paper."

"Mrs. Annie told you about?"

"No, the paper itself said it. We found it while investigating the room, me and the forensic team."

"What is written on that paper?"

"Everything that I shall leave is what I sowed, what I will reap is everything I will take with me. You cannot take away my reaping; but traces of my sowings is left; more profoundly, left to be searched. I leave this will as an end of the thread, the one to catch it, shall reel it till he finds the other end. Then, the walls will fall no matter who built it, a lie kept hidden will surface, and that lie would be the truth; from then and forever."