He never stopped thinking until he reached home and definitely chose shabby looking: broken jeans and an untidy brown shirt. He finally dialled the police number. “Hello. I’m Mark Ward. Is this the police?”
“Yes, it is the police. Tell us.”
“A bad accident happened to me today. When I went to my riding school to prepare myself to work, I found three of my bay horses dead. I am suspicious of a death by poisoning. And what’s worse there was no sign of forcing the lock of the gate. When can you come back and have a look? I give you my address.”
“Stop. We will come later on in the afternoon. At the moment we are too busy. We strongly advise you to change the lock of the gate with one more unsuitable for a universal key. Give us your details and we will be with you very shortly.”
Mark provided the police with all the useful information and the hung up the phone in a very rude way. “I’ll go to Rose just to listen to her opinion. I don’t think it is a murder for revenge. I’m also sure it is not something related to my acquaintance with the mystery of the blood on the pub door. Now there is only one thing I have to think of and this is Rose,” Mark thought.
He arrived quickly at the museum and he entered the atrium with a forlorn appearance and went to Rose’s desk straight away. “Hi Mark. What a surprise to see you. You didn’t go to work?”
“No really. A bad accident happened to me tonight. Three of my bay horses have been killed and I decided to close the school for one week. You were my first thought in my despair.” He started crying. “Sorry, I’m behaving like a baby.”
“Don’t worry. You look lovely when you show to be so vulnerable. Would you like a cup of coffee? I’ll pay it for you. Go, take a seat and wait for me at lunch break. We will have more time to chat.”
“OK. I’m sorry I have disturbed you,” he said and went to the nearest table from where he could see either Rose or the guard officer of the museum. Next to him there were a lady and a boy who laughed at their riddles of which Mark sniggered. He kept quiet by reading the museum newspaper. There was news of a recent exhibition of modern art sponsored by the government. The safety system had been strengthened for the occasion. There had been probably a menace from the right-wing extremists who had broken in the past works of art of immense value. They were the same terrorists who had burnt people alive for the only reason of being Christians and buried children alive into awful coffins as an act of revenge. To take religion too seriously could give vent to fanaticism. Mark close his eyes and reopened it with the Coke and sandwiches on his table. The waitress didn’t used to, Rose in this case, be so fast.
“Here we are,” she said slowly. “I want to offer this healthy lunch to you.”
“You are kind. I was reading the newspaper about a case of extreme zealotry. It wouldn’t appeal you.”
“Really? The truth is that I see you calm and quiet now.”
“It’s your presence. I have to be strong for you.”
“Listen: the other day it happened so quickly. It’s not my custom. I hope that at least you love me.”
“Of course I do. I was thinking of the way we could spend the evening today if that horrible accident hadn’t happened. But I would like to go to the cinema anyway. There is a remake of a John Wayne movie.”
“That’s sounds great. You can come and collect me at half past seven, closing time. But listen to me now: what did the police say concerning the murder of your horses?”
“They simply assured me that they would come at the assassination zone early in the afternoon. They were too busy in the morning.”
“OK. I’ll go to my desk now. It’s such an exhausting job. I will wait for you at the main entrance later on this evening. Bye for now.”
“Bye and don’t forget: I love you. I am not kidding.”
A warm smile enlightened Rose’s face. Mark wanted only now: to sleep. But when he arrived home there was a surprise: two cops were waiting for him.
“You are Mark Ward, aren’t you?”
“Yes indeed!”
“You have to follow us at the police station to answer to some questions about the murder of your horses.”
“I’m ready to come.”
In a few minutes they were in front of the main officer. The constabulary was a depressing place. The officer started to bombard Mark with questions. “Are you suspicious of having rivals in your job?”
“Not really.”
“Have you witnessed, how to say, something suspicious in the recent past?”
“Not at all.”
“Have you any idea why somebody must be so angry with you?”
“I have to think about it.”
“OK. For now it’s enough. You have told us the whole thing. You haven’t realized your fingers were touching the lie detector. We will contact you as soon as we have news. Have a nice day.”
“Thank you. I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon.”
Once at home, Mark rummaged in his wardrobe to pick the most appropriate dress for the evening and he also found pieces of the collection of Nivea for men. He looked after his skin almost with zeal having lived in the streets for so long, which made him look older than his real age. He had a big breath and fell immediately asleep. An interesting day was waiting for him after all.
Mark picked up the bus to reach Rose at the main entrance of the Van Gogh Museum. This was the beginning of a habit he was going to take for the times coming. He was dressed casually. A pair of jeans with a suitable shirt made him feel confident and frugal at the same time. Rose won his heart so quickly. He had in mind the proposals of the day: to go to the movies or to do what was most liked by Rose. When he finally arrived at the museum, he felt he had eaten butterflies. Rose was stunning as ever before. “Nothing to say?” were the first words of Rose.
“I love you. That’s it,” he answered a bit clumsy.
“So let’s go to the movies,” she said so meekly. Mark was sure to have made an impression. The movie was a must see one and that justified the huge crowd at the entrance of the theatre for the purchase of the tickets. At a certain point Mark was frightened that they wouldn’t find a place free for them. He arrived at the desk just on time to pick the two remaining tickets. He invited Rose, who was shining in her pink suit, to have some popcorn and Coke before the beginning of the screening.
“You know grace, I’m still shocked. I don’t know how this tragedy could happen. I have no enemies, I am sure. And it’s beyond dispute that my bays have been killed by one of my jockeys,” he said.
“Try not to think of it. Just say something stupid and your mood will improve,” said Rose nicely.
“You have a turned-up nose. But this is not stupid. I will never find the words to thank you for your beauty. This is not the reason why I love you but it can help a lot.”
They both started laughing. “You see: you are laughing. From now on your mood will improve more and more,” said Rose.
“You are right. But what most troubles me is the attitude of the police. They bombarded me with questions, intimate questions. What a nuisance. But now I’ll stop bothering you with my fuss. I was so sad and happy at the same time before I came to pick you up at work. Mixed feelings are not foreign to me. I was concerned with the fear that going to the movies wouldn’t satisfy you. But here I feel at ease. I see sparkling eyes watching me Yes, your beautiful green eyes witness your state of mind,” said Mark.
At this point the keeper of the cinema approached them to inform them that the screening of the movie was going to start and that they couldn’t stay outside the stall if holding the ticket. Mark and Rose nodded and they finally went to their seats in the front row. Since the first part of the motion picture Rose had fallen asleep on the arm of Mark. Only when the movie finished, he woke her up. “You were sleeping, love?”
“Oh my God. I feel so stupid. The problem is that I had a stressful day at work and the length of the screening soothed me so much that I could not avoid sleeping. I don’t know wh
at to say to apologize.”
“You don’t need to apologize. Anyway, the picture was not that good. You had the nicest day out possible. We will have more occasions to watch movies in the future. Now I take you home. You deserve to sleep.”
The couple seated on the underground train with a ferocious headache and in fifteen minutes they were at Rose’s. Mark kissed Rose with tenderness wishing her a good night and went to his flat all dazed. He didn’t dispute the will of the police who told him they would be at his flat early the following morning.
When the appointment time arrived, they ordered Mark to budge to the riding school. He didn’t want to appear half-shocked to the eyes of the police who were testing him with the opening of the school gate.
“You haven’t changed the lock yet?” said one of the cops almost screaming.
“I have an appointment at half past ten this morning for this. I have contacted Mills agency. I’m sure they will do a great job, “he answered.
“Now show us your three horses. This man with white overalls, is our doctor. He will make the blood analysis to check if there are poisonous substances in the blood of the animals,” the policeman said.
Mark accompanied them to see the beast which upset them a great deal.
“We are not sure about the causes of these deaths but we will work on it. Can we walk around and have a look?” they said.
“Sure. Here you can see my other horses and ponies. As you can see they are very tranquil. This is the place where I make coffee and tea for my jockeys during break time. And what else can I say? I have closed the school for one week for bereavement. They will understand. Some of them are personal friends of mine.”
“Are you sure that they have eaten the right amount of hay?” interrupted the cop. “An overdose could cause death. Did you know it?” he carried on.
“Sure. I check it every day. I make sure that they eat the right daily amount of hay,” said Mark.
“And what’s this?”
“This is the tool for obstacle races.”
“Are you sure it’s not higher than due?”
“Oh yes! Only expert jockeys use it.”
“OK. For now, it’s enough. We will let you know about the result of the blood test in due time and then we will decide how to proceed.”
“Thank you for everything. I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon.” No sooner had he finished talking than the policemen disappeared in the distance.
He had to wait an hour for the appointment to change the lock. Mills agency did a good job. Not only did they arrive on the dot they also did the best job possible. They strongly suggested Mark to put some barbed wire on the walls of the enclosure. It would cost one hundred euros at the very most. Mark made the necessary arrangement for those proceeding and rushed towards home. He couldn’t stop thinking of that calamity. A phone call from the police arrived soon.
“Hey Mark, there is interesting news for you. The bays have been poisoned with polonium. We will keep in touch for further proceedings. Bye for now.”
Mark was astonished. Was there a link with the acrostic L. A. U. R. A.? He knew only a girl called Laura who joined his club. She was a handicapped fifteen-year-old who used horse riding as a form of therapy. One day he eavesdropped on a chat between her and her mum concerning the fact that menses arrived too early for the poor girl when she was just ten-year-old. The stink of the blood he found in the pub door was probably of menses. What a fool! It could be even the blood of an animal even if that was more unlikely. He had thought well to save the handkerchief by which he had cleaned the pub door in a niche of the toilet where neither the police nor Rose could see it. There was not a better place in the flat for that procedure. His imprints in the handkerchief would tamper with evidence after all. But now he had to stop thinking. He was focused on all the beautiful time he would spend with Rose later on in the evening.
For Araon it was definitely a beautiful day. Dozed and drowsy he was enchanted by Jill bringing him breakfast in bed. They were the usual stunning manner of a wife in love. “What happened to you honey? Usually you wake up before me and now you are still in bed. Enjoy your meal and get off the bed.”
“I am back from a long night with a bad dream. Let me stay in bed for another five minutes and I’ll have a shower.”
“Are you going out today? Or maybe you are lazy because of the six months pause from work.?”
“Nothing of all that. I hope you won’t be too busy with the housekeeping. I do not want you to be tired. Don’t forget you have life in your womb. I was considering to take a housekeeper to help you with your daily duties.”
“I would appreciate it. But don’t worry about it. I’m going to the tip tap course later on and I will feel as if I am born again. Now hurry up. It’s nine am.”
“What?”
“Do not pretend you haven’t heard me.”
“I’m still under strain. It never happened to me to get off the bed so late. But I’m sure that within fifteen minutes I will be out in St Luciensteeg Street for my daily stroll.” And he ran away in the road as fast as a lighting.
He needed to contact Van der Baast for the final stage of his confession. He absolutely wanted to give him all the information about the picture of the situation. There was nothing left to add up to that distressful investigation. His heart was open towards the glorious doctor. He also hoped not to annoy him furthermore. “Van der Baast? It’s Araon speaking.”
“Araon. Finally, I hear from you. What wind is bringing you to me?”
“I’m calling because I have my last confession. And now, I swear, it’s the last one.”
“So talk. I’m finally on holidays. Lately I was dealing with a case of a woman with very law value of her haemoglobin. We had to take the sad decision to take away her uterus. She is only twenty-four years old and she had delivered a wonderful baby boy not long ago. But tell me: what is your news?”
“Well I decided only now to reveal the presence of the trace of a hand in the handkerchief soaked and drenched with blood. You have been so kind to test the blood I had brought to you to know about the DNA and I am aware you have done a great job. The handkerchief is secretly hidden in a niche in my cellar. I’m sure that Jill has never seen it. I went to the cellar recently to look for my personal diary and I found it in a different position to where I had left it earlier. It was full with trivial things. I had left it there on purpose to stop Jill looking for other signs. I am so sorry I hadn’t informed you about the whole thing previously. I have my own theory concerning the stuff. The person who was running away from the museum with the corpse had the handkerchief in the briefcase and he lost it while walking away. I am not sure why he didn’t go back to collect it. Obviously, he was wearing gloves to prevent fingerprints being left in the place of the happening and he realized the handkerchief was missing too late to go back and pick it up. He abandoned himself to the destiny with the hope that nobody would find strange the presence of that item. It is difficult to me to understand why nobody confessed to the crime in similar circumstances. I’m still sorry for having told you the entire story only now. I feel I have been so stupid not to have talked earlier. Probably it’s my fault if you have wasted a lot of time,” Araon said.
“Keep calm. I am not angry with you. I was waiting for your confession for a long time. You are still my best friend. But let’s go back to the scene of the crime; have you have considered the fact that the missing body was the one of somebody who had committed suicide and there was a witness who wanted to conceal that news by making the corpse disappear?” said Van der Baast.
“I don’t know. Everything is possible. It’s likely that sooner or later somebody will give himself up. Maybe this is just my whim. But now I need to see you in person. I have to give the handkerchief to you so that you can hide it secretly somewhere in your house. What about Piazza Dam?”
“It’s OK. I’ll be there in half an hour.” Araon got the point.
He took the first bus to
reach his friend in the established place of the meeting. He was all sweating and forlorn. Van der Baast arriving in the distance. He was running and sweating as well. “Hi Araon. I finally see you. I cannot bet this is the right place to hand the handkerchief over to me.”
“Hi my doctor. Just show off an air of nonchalance and nobody will notice us. The handkerchief is all twisted, just take it. Put it in your man’s bag.”
“Dear Araon you’ll never stop surprising me. I have also something new to tell you. My nephew who lives in Britain, phoned me one month ago telling me that he has a secret to confess to me. But he didn’t want to do it on the phone. He assured me that he would come here in the summer to talk about it to me in person. I wonder what amazement will follow!”
“Do you know what I think? It will be about something useful for our investigation. I need to take a pause from our puzzle. Would you like a cup of coffee? There is a bar by the corner of the plaza.”
“That’s fine even it will be the second cup of the day.”
“So, take a seat. The waitress will come soon. I am a nosey person, you know it. Is there any news concerning your private life?”
The Red Box Page 35