Murder in Mineral Town
By: Gomamon

Chapter 4 – Gray

There was a mass of grey clouds that blanketed the dusky night sky, covering the stars and moonlight from illuminating the deserted streets. Officer Harris was at least grateful that it had finally stopped raining while he finished the last of his patrol around town tonight. His muscles sore, his head aching and his new raincoat ripped; Harris couldn't remember the last time he had a proper meal or when he had more than three hours of sleep. He had dedicated all of his hours investigating on Anna's murder, but with very little rewarding progress.

It wasn't easy being the sole police officer in the village, especially since the safety of all his villagers relied on his flimsy detective skills. Never had Harris experienced a murder case before, giving him little time to adapt the new and troublesome environment. Somewhere in peaceful Mineral Town, a murderer is on the loose with a weapon. Any minute now, the murderer could strike again…and there was nothing Harris could do about it.

He shook his head forcefully. No, he must not think about that.

Finally returning to his house in the late hours, Harris saw pleasant old Barley and his sweet granddaughter May sitting around the table, enjoying a cup of late night tea with his father. It wasn't surprising to see Barley paying a visit, since he was always an active participant in the town affairs. His father Thomas had a lot of responsibility and pressure being the mayor and sole representative of Mineral Town, so he was thankful for any help that Barley could provide for him at a traumatic time like this.

"It's getting late. May and I must get going," said Barley in a gentle tone of voice.

"Oh yes. Yes, it's getting rather late." Thomas nodded his head, reaching out a short stubby arm to shake Barley's hand. "Thank you so much for dropping by. I assure you everything will clear up soon.

Barley gave Thomas a sceptic glance, but did not say anything as he headed for the door. Passing Harris along the way, Barley acknowledged the dutiful police officer with a small nod of head.

"Goodnight then…" Barley said, hesitating to add. "And good luck."

But when Barley opened the door for a late departure, he realized that his granddaughter May was not following behind him. Turning around in astonishment, he saw that May had remained stationary in her seat, and the only movement she was making were her trembling hands. She gawked frightfully at Harris, her face growing pale and her mouth slightly opened. For a brief moment there, it seemed like May was going to say something to him.

"Is there something wrong, May?" The old man asked, slightly puzzled at his granddaughter's behaviour.

May shook her head, snapping out of her temporary trance. She had a fast recovery and no sooner did she leap out of her seat to join her grandfather, making a hasty leave from the house. Too exhausted and busy to inspect on her strange behaviour, Harris tossed in a box of TV dinner into the microwave and sat down beside his father.

"How is the case going?" Thomas asked nonchalantly, although his eyes were firmly planted on some important documents that he was reading. Much like his son, Thomas' normally jovial appearance looked under the weather with his podgy figure slimming, his posture slouching and his heavy eyelids were drooping almost like he could fall asleep on the spot.

Harris also took out his own reading material. His black notepad lied open on the table, which contained all of the signatures of every villager in town. Right beside it were several of the intriguing love letters, written passionately by a mysterious lover of Anna. Harris looked at the items for a few seconds before sighing exasperatedly. He managed to mumble a feeble response for his father. "Not so good…"

Thomas nodded his head slowly, though his eyes were still focused on the pieces of important papers that he was holding.

"I'm comparing the villagers' writing styles to see if they match the ones used in these love letters." Harris explained. He paused, and then sighed again. "But it's so easy to forge writing differently that this type of evidence is totally unreliable. I don't even know why I'm checking this. I'm just so lost in this case…"

Finally looking up from his papers, Thomas saw that his son had closed his eyes and was slowly shaking his head. Hoping to offer some words of comfort, Thomas said, "The city police will arrive by sea tomorrow, just so you know."

Harris immediately tensed up, throwing a rigid glance at his father.

"I don't like the intimidating city police. You know that, Dad," said Harris, suddenly feeling defensive.

Thomas said, looking sheepish. "I just thought it would ease up your workload by a bit."

"Are you trying to hint that I'm not doing a good enough job?" Harris asked and then dropped his aching head into his arms.

"No, don't take it the wrong way!" Thomas shook his head. After seeing his son's uncomfortable response, he instantly changed the subject at hand. "So, what are the letters for?"

Harris took another deep sigh, this time sounding more like a desperate cry for help.

"They're love letters addressed to Anna, but they aren't written by her husband Basil…which could only mean that Anna has a secret lover somewhere in the village. I'm guessing it's one of the married husbands…most likely Duke, Jeff or even Jack."

Thomas raised an eyebrow in surprise. That captivated his attention.

"It could be anybody, really." Thomas proposed, "I wouldn't rule out some of the bachelors of this town either. Rick looks like he has a psychotic streak to him."

"If only it could be that easy." Harris moaned unresponsively, "All the villagers of this town have a proper alibi and witnesses to confirm that they were not at the scene of death at that time."

Thomas put a stubby little finger on his chin for a while, and then he thoughtfully suggested, "The person Anna was having an affair with may not actually be the murderer, you know."

But Harris wasn't paying any attention to his father anymore. In his muscular hands, he held one of the letters and his notepad very closely together to his face. His alert brown eyes narrowed at the papers, cautiously scanning through all of the words. And slowly, he nodded his head as a small hopeful smile crawled across his face.

"This person's writing is very similar to the ones used in the letters," said Harris at last. "Take a look here, Dad."

Thomas took a while reading both articles of paper, but ultimately came to the same conclusion as his son - they both agreed that the writing on the letter and the writing in the notepad was too similar for it to be a coincidence. Harris read the two papers for confirmation again, this time looking slightly beyond belief. Could this be it? Had they really identified the person who was having an affair with Anna?

"Whose writing is this?" Thomas asked in prompt.

"I'm taking a wild guess that it belongs to the murderer," replied Harris, gazing dejectedly at the microwave.

Before he dashed out of the house to investigate again, Harris wore his jacket, grabbed his black notepad in his hand and brought the most vital possession that he had: his gun. He wouldn't go anywhere without his gun.

- - -

A few hours ago, Harris finally permitted Mary and Basil to return to their house again after a thorough search around their house came empty. Now, they were at their inn room packing their suitcases, ready to return home again. But Mary didn't look forward to go home again, unable to accept the burden of knowing that her mother had been in that house a few hours ago before the 'incident'. If only Mary hadn't gone to work at the library that day and stayed by her side all day! She should've known something would be wrong after that huge argument between her mother and father that night. How could she have been so blind to all these implicit warnings?

It took every last bit of courage in her body for Misty to resist the urge to cry again, especially since there were other visitors in their inn room. Along with her father, several occupants of the inn also paid a special visit to help them pack their bags. Cliff and Doug were here to offer their kind services, but it was Gray who Mary was truly glad to see. He was the only person who could give her strength that she needed right now, the only source of optimism that could plough Mary through the fields of despair.

Of all people, Mary knew she could rely on Gray at the very least. He would always be there for her.

"Frankly, I'm a little frightened to stay in this town," said Doug, attempting to start a casual conversation in the quiet room. "I don't blame Lillia for closing the Poultry Farm and wanting to move away."

"They're overreacting," Cliff quipped, dismissing the idea.

Doug ran his finger playfully through his bushy moustache. "It's a very serious matter, Cliff. Nobody could be in possession of a gun in this village except for Harris!"

"Couldn't they have smuggled it into the village?" Cliff narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Or perhaps someone bought it overseas?"

"No way, Zack checks all the shipping and deliveries made into the village," said Doug in a solemn voice. "It's a given fact that nobody could possibly have a gun here without someone noticing!"

Cliff started to rearrange the pillows on the bed, silently pondering over Doug's words for a few moments. Nearby, Basil pretended to be dusting the table, but Cliff could tell that he was also listening attentively to their conversation.

"What about Harris?" Cliff suddenly asked, dropping the pillow that he was holding onto the bed. "If he is the only person in town with a gun, doesn't that make him the obvious suspect?"

Instantly, a ghostly silence filled the room after his words have been said, and everybody in the room turned their heads incredulously towards Cliff. Several disturbed glances were exchanged amongst each other, but none of them knew how to respond to Cliff. Although his suggestion sounded so ridiculous, there also seemed to be some truth in it as well…

"That's crazy talk, Cliff." Basil said at last in a dismissive tone. "It's preposterous to accuse the man investigating the case, and I don't even like the guy."

"Hear, hear." Doug echoed.

Cliff muttered a hasty and insincere apology, avoiding the wary glances in the room. As Mary stuffed her black notebook inside her suitcase, she caught a short glimpse of Cliff. From that one look, she could tell that he was itching to say something, but somehow, the words couldn't escape from his mouth. Something was definitely out of the ordinary with him though. Unlike his usual quiet self, Cliff seemed to be more secretive and jumpy tonight, almost like…almost like that he had a secret to hide.

Mary always had her doubts about Cliff, the unexplainable enigma – everybody did. There was something very strange about the character, a mysterious traveler who just arrived to Mineral Village one day out of nowhere. Since he was a quiet and guarded person, Cliff never shared much about his past with anybody. None of them knew anything about his background or where he came from. There have been rumours spread about him being an escaped convict from the city a long time ago, but they were just silly rumours, right?

Just who was this Cliff person and what baffling past did he leave behind?

Her thoughts about Cliff were abruptly terminated when Harris suddenly barged into the room without any notice. This must've been the umpteenth time Mary saw the exhausted police officer in the past few days. The last time she saw Harris in this room was when he made that shocking revelation about her mother's love affair. Staring uncertainly at the police officer, Mary wondered if Harris was about to make another shocking revelation…

Harris' muscular hand reached for something in his jacket pocket, a peculiar motion which made both Cliff and Gray very alert. But instead of pulling a gun as they expected, Harris had taken out a scroll of paper. On closer look, Mary could see that it was a search warrant, signed by none other than the mayor himself.

"Gray." Harris finally said, in a loud and authoritative voice. "I believe you are in the possession of carrying a murder weapon. I'll need to search your room."

TO BE CONTINUED

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! Just when you think that everything is calm and peaceful, the surprises will just keep coming. In the next chapter, there will be one final and very shocking revelation! Until then, please continue reviewing! I love hearing what you think about the story. :)