Murder in Mineral Town
By: Gomamon
Chapter 1 – Anna
There was an air of eerie silence that filled every corner of the library, a sound that Mary was used to hearing in her everyday routine. She didn't seem to mind the lack of companionship around her. Unaccompanied by those meddlesome villagers who was feverishly fascinated with drivel gossips that heavily polluted the town, Mary enjoyed being in the library all by herself. Most of the uneducated villagers would feel lonely, or even helplessly trapped if they had to spend more than an hour inside the library. But Mary was different; she had always been a different girl.
A black notebook rested lifelessly on her desk, as Mary stared vacantly at its blank pages. She held a blue ink in her hand, uncertain what words to put on the ivory paper. It wasn't because she lacked the poetic words or the creative imagination, but there were just too many thoughts in her head that Mary didn't know where to begin.
Finally, she wrote:
A tender heart is only meant to be broken,
I pity the fools who believe in eternal love…
Mary sighed, slowly closing her notebook. She couldn't do this right now, for it was too depressing to reflect her feelings in these insolent words. Taking a brief glance at the brown wooden clock on the wall, she realized that Gray would soon be arriving. Mary smiled softly at the thought, appreciating the loyal companionship that Gray provided everyday after work. The shy, bumbling yet awkwardly cute blonde shared the same rare enjoyment for books as Mary did, but it was tricky to discuss what exactly their complex relationship was like. They didn't go out or date, like many of the other couples did. Gray and Mary just liked hanging around with each other, in the library, with a good book.
"He is a nice boy, Mary." Her mother had told her yesterday night, running a hand through her daughter's braided hair. "Don't lose him before it's too late."
She then took a long drag of her cigarette, exhaling a foggy ring of smoke right in front of Mary's face.
"Mother, you haven't smoked for years…"
"I need something to make me feel good about myself because nothing around here does!" Her tone of voice suddenly grew very sharp and unnaturally harsh. Seconds later, Mary saw tears running down her mother's weathered and once-beautiful face.
"Oh Mother…please don't cry...Mother, please don't cry again…"
Mary woke up from her thoughts when a sound of the library door opening alarmed her. She smiled softly, expecting to meet Gray, so she was surprised and slightly puzzled when she saw Mayor Thomas at the door instead.
But something was wrong. The normally jovial face of Thomas was nowhere to be seen. His nose was redder than usual, and behind his tiny glasses, Mary could see that his beady black eyes were wet and teary. Has he been crying?
"Mary…your m-mother is…d-dead…s-somebody found her b-body at the Town Square. We think she was m-murdered…"
- - -
Anna was dead.
Her body was found lying lifelessly on the pavement of the Town Square. A fatal bullet wound was found in the left side of her chest, causing her to die instantly on the spot when the bullet penetrated through her heart organ. Strangely enough, they couldn't find any trace of blood anywhere in the Town Square at all. Somebody had treated and cleaned her gun wound so that it would stop bleeding, shortly before this person carried her body all the way to the Town Square. Evidently, it was not her original scene of death.
She must have died for several hours before her body was found. At exactly two o'clock, a terrified Sasha discovered the lifeless body of her best friend in the Town Square. She had been anxiously expecting to gossip with Anna about the latest conversation she overheard between Lillia and Zack, just like every other Saturday afternoon that they shared. Imagine her horror to stumble onto the scene of a ruthless murder…
Who the murderer is, nobody knows. The killer could be any villager in Mineral Town unless they've got a proper alibi. Until then, everybody is a suspect.
News traveled fast in tiny Mineral Town, especially with a nosy gossip butterfly named Manna around, flapping her imaginary wings to every house in town and spreading the news. It didn't take long before all the villagers were informed of Anna's murder. Some found it fascinating, while others thought it was terrifying, but no matter what they felt, there was definitely a huge stir of reactions about the death. As the pastor of this town, Carter felt obligated to at least pay Mary a visit in the clinic. It was rumoured that the poor girl had fainted at the sight of her mother's dead body several hours ago. But more interestingly enough, her sleazy father Basil was nowhere to be seen.
Illuminated by a set of weak fluorescent lights, the clinic felt more or less like an abandoned cemetery. Carter absolutely dreaded coming here on any occasion, but the circumstances were different this time. He could imagine how devastated Mary was, to be leading a perfectly normal life until everything was turned upside down in mere seconds. What she needed most now was a comforting voice of guidance and a crying shoulder, and Carter was there to provide it for her.
"Carter. You came," said Elli the nurse, snivelling softly. "The Doctor and Harris are asking some questions right now."
Carter sat down on a yellow sofa, spacing himself beside Elli. Slowly, he turned his head towards her, carrying a mildly concerned expression. "Are you feeling alright?"
Elli dabbed her eyes with a white handkerchief, while Carter reached out his hand to pat her on the back.
"Yes, thank you." Elli responded dully. She took a deep long sigh. "I just can't believe that Anna is dead. It's awful, Carter. It's so awful."
"It is very sad. Nobody wanted it to happen," said Carter earnestly.
"Well, somebody must have," said Elli, sounding slightly defiant in her tone of voice. "She was murdered, brutally murdered."
Carter closed his eyes, mumbling in agreement.
The white clinic doors slammed open unexpectedly, crashing into the walls. Standing at the doorway was a bearded madman, whose fists were clenched so tightly and angrily that he almost looked like he was about to attack the nearest thing in sight. Elli's first reaction was to run far and away, but it took her a second and much more watchful look before she vaguely recognized the strange lunatic man as Basil, the loving father of Mary and husband of Anna.
"WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?" Basil screamed hysterically, not acknowledging the presence of Elli or Carter at all. "WHERE IS MARY?"
"Calm down, Basil! She's fine! Mary is fine!" Carter replied, struggling to restrain Basil as he tried to barge inside one of the clinic rooms.
Never having seen Basil in this distressed state before, Elli was quite surprised that she almost didn't recognize the suave and handsome botanist who normally looked very composed. With his raven brown hair scruffy, his chin unshaven, his fingernails dirty and his best clothes ragged, this man resembled nothing like the once and mighty Basil that could have women swooning over him at the snap of a finger. This was also the first time that Elli noticed the spidery wrinkles near the corners of his dark brown eyes. It was the first time she had seen Basil without him keeping up a false appearance.
Elli wrinkled her nose at the strong smell of alcohol that she highly detested. Has Basil been drinking? Drinking in the middle of the day?
She could still remember when Basil's family first arrived to Mineral Town. The three of them resembled the perfect loving family that was the golden envy all across town. Everybody had high hopes for their gifted daughter Mary, who was predicted to soar high and achieve an unbelievably bright future ahead. It also seemed like that Basil and Anna defined what a happy marriage should look like, with their constant signs of affection for each other. In the early ears, the loving couple could hardly be seen around town without holding hands or constantly kissing each other. Everybody could see it in their eyes that they were genuinely in love.
But as most marriages commonly went, their love for each other gradually wore down over the next several years. Much like his workaholic daughter Mary, Basil trapped himself inside a burdened cage of endless work. He spent days locked inside his house to work on a bestseller novel, while sneaking off at nights to socialize with the men in the pub. His wife also shaped her schedule without her husband, finding other sources of entertainment for fulfillment and joy. Seldom could anybody see Basil around town anymore, and even rarer to see Basil and Anna together. And now, Elli could see just how much emptiness and heartlessness there were in Basil's eyes. It was almost as if all the love he had for Anna had been drained away…
"What the hell is going on?" Harris asked gruffly, emerging from one of the rooms. He pointed his humungous nose disapprovingly at Basil's presence. Now that a murderer was on the loose, Harris was no longer the jolly policeman that everybody was so used to knowing. Since he was the only law enforcement officer in town, it was solely his responsibility to capture the killer until the city police arrived for investigation.
Basil charged towards the police officer at the end of the hallway, shouting something illegible to the common ear. Harris reacted quickly, drawing his gun from his belt. At the sight of the policeman's deadly weapon, the wise Basil cautiously slowed down his pace.
"Basil." Harris said, nodding his head slowly. The tip of his gun was only inches away from Basil's forehead. "Just the man I was looking for."
"Put that gun down! What's the meaning of this, Harris?"
"You're under arrest for suspicion of murder," said Harris in a calm and clear voice. His hand held the gun firmly, fingers lingering dangerously around the trigger. Just one pull and Basil could drop dead to the floor.
Basil looked and sounded flabbergasted. Failing to find the right words to defend himself, the botanist frantically gestured 'no' with both of his hands.
"Mary, your daughter, had told me that you and your wife had an argument last night. I believe that led to you storming out of the house in rage, leaving Anna in tears. You haven't returned to the house since," Harris continued.
"How could you accuse me for killing my own wife? Anna was my wife! She-"
Harris abruptly interrupted the botanist's emotional slur of words. "Mary also said that this was the fifth argument you had this week with your wife. Anna even threatened you with divorce, didn't she?"
"This is a misunderstanding! She just didn't want me to go to the bar yesterday night! I would've never killed my own wife!" Basil angrily shouted. "I…I…I loved Anna!"
"Let's have a talk, Basil." Harris said, slowly pulling his gun away. "Let's have a serious talk at my house."
Reluctantly, Basil dragged his feet across the floor towards the exit. Harris followed closely behind him, grasping tightly over Basil's arm with one hand and a tighter grip around his gun in the other. As they leave the clinic, a long uncomfortable moment of silence filled the room, when nobody dared to speak another word. Besides the dull mechanical buzzing of the ceiling fan, Elli could hear the faint miserable sobs coming from Mary's room.
Collapsing onto the sofa beside Carter, Elli looked very dumbfounded at the sudden turn of events. Hours ago, Mary was leading a perfectly normal, if somewhat unhappy life. But a fierce tornado of misery struck, leaving her with a dead mother and a father who was accused of being the murderer. Right in front of her helpless weeping eyes, her once-perfect family was shattered forever.
Elli suddenly wanted nothing more but to run home and tell her family how much she loved them.
To Be Continued
Author's Note: Thanks for reading the first part of this six-part mystery! Many new suspects and seemingly unsolvable mysteries to come! As for the story itself, I hope the tone isn't too dark and the plot isn't too confusing. I've been working this story bit by bit ever since I started watching Veronica Mars. Blame them!