Can You Reader Crack This Mystery? Who Is the Culprit?

By: Arushi Neravetla

Hi Readers! This is the second installment in our Murder Mystery series, by Writer Arushi Neravetla! If you haven't read the first installment, make sure you read it before reading this article. The first installment is linked here. Happy Reading!

As I slowly backed away, wincing from the sharp pain that rushed into my ankle, the figure stepped into the light. I couldn’t believe who it was, but it can’t be!

It was Tommy Hardin, wearing a black suit covered in dust as he carried me into the hallway. He set me down on the sofa and I started to get confused as to how Tommy was behind all this?

After all, his family was afflicted with Mad Cow Disease and so was everyone else. A chill went up my spine as Tommy sat at the sofa across from me, holding some books with him.

I sat up in anger and asked, “Tommy, what is the meaning of this?”

Tommy said nothing as he sighed saying, “I’m sorry Detective, but I can’t hide it anymore”.

He stood up and turned around, calling out to the cabinets. The doors were open and out came 3 men, who were dark and broad standing in the moonlight as the night grew close. That is when it hit me!

These three men look quite familiar, the men that Tommy described when he hid in the bathroom stall and his fast-headed chase to the car to get away from them.

Detective June grunted in anger, realizing her foot was now useless to escape and Tommy smirking as the three men joined him on the sofa.

Tommy looked and said softly, “It was really according to plan Detective, at first it was difficult playing this emotional charade of losing my family”.

One of the men handed Tommy the file, and Tommy then flung it at me, as I caught it. I looked at him as he slowly smiled and then I stared at the file, there was a loose paper attached to the last packet, which I never saw.

I looked at it and it seems like a paper from the orphanage, with someone’s full name as Thomas Alfred Junior Hardin. It was Tommy!

As the Detective was reading, she realized that Tommy was adopted… by the same family killed from the disease. I slowly set the file across from him and now the man I was staring at wasn’t the same 18-year old who begged for my help.

Tommy alias Thomas just stared back and sighed saying, “You know, of all the suspects you’ve looked at, you would never have guessed it was me”.

Detective June said nothing as she kept hearing Thomas’s plan and continued, “As you know, that ghastly family was never even one to begin with. I still remember their fake smiles as they took me in and the kind treatment my sister got, while I was stuck as their servant doing their chores and never even once cared that it was my birthday!”

He turned around, his eyes growing cold as he stared in the night and one of the three men pulled out a vial, a dark but liquid substance that looked like Mad Cow Disease. Tommy’s voice, his attire, and personality all seemed to flick like a light switch, for he wasn’t the same teenager I once met.

I tried to get up slowly so he wouldn’t notice, but my hand slipped and the old lamp fell onto the ground, as the light went out and darkness surrounded us. I felt someone grab my hair and pinned me down, but I couldn’t reach for anything. Then, a light turned on and then two men held me down as Tommy stared down at me, clicking his tongue as he sat back down.

The two men threw me on the sofa and my ankle started to swell, but my escape to get help failed. I pleaded with Tommy saying, “Look, Tommy, sorry Thomas…you need help, I’m sorry for what had happened to you…but think rationally…let me help you”.

However, Tommy wasn’t listening as he blatantly ignored my pleas and was talking to the three men, holding a couple of books and briefcases with them. I decided to take the chance to study Tommy or should I say Thomas’s background.

I took the file from the table and started researching his background. It looks like he was diagnosed at a young age with psychopathic disorder, an antisocial behavior characterized by deficits in personality and behavior starting when he was 6 years old, as pushed a young kid from the monkey bars. One of the young nurses happened to ask Tommy why he did it and said, “It was fun watching him in pain”.

The nurse immediately took him to a therapist, who both told the orphanage caretakers about the boy’s diagnosis, suggesting his lack of ability to love or care was associated with lack of remorse. In addition, it looks like his medical history showed him taking mood stabilizers, antipsychotic medications, and antidepressants. It was no wonder how this boy happened to mask himself as an innocent child who played us for fools.

I quickly put the file away and tried to call the chief, but the service had only 1 bar. One of the men came back with more suitcases and looked like they were planning their escape, so I had to make my move fast. I quickly fastened the call and it rang quietly, until I heard a click but put the phone as I whispered, “Help”. The line was silent and I knew the Chief understood the situation, so it was time to hide the phone behind my back.

Despite such circumstances, Chief was slowly listening to the men’s whole escape charade and perhaps also recording it for evidentiary proof. The three men handed Thomas the cast and he came closer to wrap the leg around me.

Then, he stared back at me and said, “Alas, I wish it never came to this, but I must confess that I was poisoning the guests with the vial by secretly asking one of my men to add it as the chef’s assistant”.

He looked back at me and said slowly in a sinister tone, “Thanks for listening Detective, it was great to have someone who really understood my struggle for greatness, for which I deserve!”

He finished wrapping my cast when the loud police sirens started to grow louder. Thomas looked back as he told the men to hustle up and take the baggage, running out the door. The doors opened and the police quickly arrested the four men, taking them to the squad cars. One of the officers radioed for an ambulance as they took me inside and I could see Thomas or should I say Tommy, looking back with his handcuffs, waving a pitiful goodbye.

Nothing was ever the same after the case and one of the doctors finished writing a report. As he was leaving, I quickly stopped him and asked, “Doc, how is…ahem Thomas doing”.

The Doc shrugged as he came closer to pull up a chair and said, “Not that good, he has already been moved to 4 cells because he wouldn’t stop writing your name in blood on the window”.

I gasped as Doc kept explaining how ever since he was receiving treatment for his disorder, it kept on spiraling downwards. I sighed and slowly asked, “So…what will happen now if he keeps this up”.

Doc looked back from the doorway and shrugged, “He is serving the rest of his life manslaughter and 1st degree murder, but eventually were transporting him to Radley’s Sanitarium for special psychotherapy and behavioral skills training”. He continued, “The evidence of him murdering his adopted family and everyone during the dinner party checks out, since fingerprints and autopsies were performed, discovering that the virus has been living in these guests for over months”. I thanked him as he got up and walked out, where my ankle was healing at its level best. Alas, even though Detective June solved the Medical Mystery case, nothing really changed for her. Thomas’s goons were in jail for their work and as far as Tommy, I don’t know if I can think about another second of him.

The clouds were forming and my phone rang, with the Chief on the line saying I’m back in business once I was discharged. After all, another day, another case to solve!

Tune in for future Medical Mystery Case Chronicles by Detective June and be sure to like and comment about what was your favorite part of the case!

Signing off,

Detective June