Mortamor

Author: Sofia Bueneventura Fuentes

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The sounds of horses galloping faded out as Victoria and Redmir’s horses slowed down, seeing two people standing outside the village's gates. The two parted from each other's mammals, each a bit tired from the long journey they had taken. After solving cases in Massachusetts, the two could guarantee this is the longest they’ve ever traveled so far for a murder case. “Hello there,” said Redmir, walking up to the rusty gates. “You must be the Mr. Loyde we’ve been sent to.” he said to the man standing next to a woman with bright orange hair. "Yes, and you must be Mr. Varen.” Mr. Loyde replied. He walked up to redmir, putting out his hand. “Please call me William.” he said as Redmir shook his hand, touching his cold palm. “And you are?” He turned his attention to Victoria, who he had never heard of before despite her and Redmir’s partnership. “I’m Victoria, Victoria Ruth.” she answered. “Well, it’s great to meet a beauty like you.” he said, kissing her hand. Willam then wrapped his arm around the woman who was standing right next to him, motioning his hand in front of her as if he was presenting her to a group of bidders in an auction. “This is my fiancé.” he said. “My name is Helena.” the woman said introducing herself. “Welcome to Mortamor.”

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“We’re really grateful you came.” Helena said as they walked up to a big building in the middle of the town, leaves crackling underneath their feet. “None of our men were able to solve this.”

“Thats because murders don’t happen here.” explained Willaim. “Nothing ever happens here.” Victoria and Redmir were led to the front, where a big gold door knocker was attached to the scraped wooden door. William clanged it once, then twice, and in a few seconds the door was opened by a man. “Oh hello Mr. Loyde.” he greeted. “Hello Kallen. Victoria, Redmir, this is Peter Kallen.” William said. Peter turned his head to Victoria, tilting it slightly as Victoria felt his dark eyes penetrate right through her. “So, I guess these are the two who came from Massachusetts.” Victoria felt an odd presence when she met Peter, it was like something was off about him, but she just didn’t know what. “Do mind taking them to the crime scene for me? I hate the smell of rot.” William asked. “Of course. We shouldn’t dawdle.” Peter said. He led them to a wooded area, full of trees with leaves that were becoming orange and brown, the ground nearly desolate as crows barked. "Here he is.” said Peter after a few minutes of walking. On the ground was a man, with a pumpkin on his head. “When did you find him?” asked Redmir, Victoira taking out her notepad and a pencil. “Two days ago. A few kids were playing around back here and came back screeching in terror.”

After Peter showed them the first victim, who was a forty-year-old man with no seen bruises on his corpse he led them to the second victim. He was around the same age and found in the same shape with a pumpkin on his head. Only this time, when Redmir detached the squashy pumpkin off the man's skull it was obvious the man had been killed by blunt force trauma to the head, seeing that he had a grotesque bruise on his forehead. Redmir noticed a shovel only a few feet away from the cadaver, giving him an obvious murder weapon.

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It was the second week, and unlike many other cases, this one stubbed Redmir. This case was so simple and yet there was just something off about it that made it impotent to answer. It was almost like there wasn’t a corporeal culprit to search for, there weren’t even any excavated graves to look for. It was a bright night, hushed with not a single sound besides the wooding of an owl and rustling of trees as the wind blew past them. Victoria was brushing her raven hair when she noticed that the candlelight which came from outside her bedroom hadn’t been blown out yet. She didn’t know if Red was asleep or not, but she felt the urge to make sure he hadn’t fallen into slumber without blowing out his candle. She stood in the doorway of Redmir’s room, where he was slouched over his desk, examining papers of evidence and information. Victoria knocked on the door, making red turn his attention over his shoulder. “It’s late, don’t you need some rest?” she asked, walking into the room. “I can’t rest right now, not with all of this.” he answered. His desk was completely littered with papers that were once organized, it had looked like the wind had blown them all into a messy pile. On top of his desk looking soiled, Red himself looked pressured to the brim. He was practically sweating due to all of the bewilderment this case had been bringing him. His hair was disheveled, and the mixture of moon and candlelight shining on his face showed that he hadn't gotten a proper sleep-in days. “You’ve been working on this case for days; I think you’ve been putting too much pressure on yourself.” Victoria said, walking up behind Redmir and placing her hand on his shoulder. “what's a good detective without some compulsion to find the answer? "He asked. “You’ve only been working on this case for two weeks. Get some rest, I'm sure we’ll find something new in the morning.” she told him. “Well, I can't get sleep either, not enough anyway.” Victoria started to shuffle up all the papers covering his desk, many of them slightly crinkled by excessive grabbing. “My god, how can you even keep track of all this stuff when it's so messy like this?” she asked, putting them in a neat pile, placing them in the corner of his desk. “I could’ve-” she raised a pointed finger up to his lips, cutting him off. “Shush. Get some rest. I am sure we will find something in the morning.” Victoria said, before going back to her room. “And don’t forget to blow out your candle!” she called out. Redmir tiredly got up and blew out his candle, dropping himself in his bed.

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“The little girl approached her grandmother, whose face was covered by her scarf. ‘Here is your treat granny!’ she said. Once she got close enough, she screamed in terror. That wasn’t her grandmother, it was the big bad wolf!” Redmir’s mother said, holding a book in her hand as her eight-year-old son was tucked in bed. “Get away from her you beast! Said the hunter. He chased the bad wolf all around the house, until the wolf leaped out the window, falling into the lake. The end.” Redmir’s mother closed the book and placed it on the table next to his bed. “How could the girl not have known her grandmother was the wolf if he was right in front of her?” the little boy asked quietly. “Oh reddie, sometimes the things that are right in front of us are harder to see than we think.” his mother said, sitting on the edge of his bed. “Really?” asked Redmir. “Yes. We can be blind in even the clearest of places...” his mother said softly with a gentle smile. “Coraline!” Redmir’s father called out from the other room. “It’s time to go to sleep.” she said. She got up from the edge of the bed, placing a kiss on Redmir’s cheek. “Goodnight.”

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Redmir was walking in the woods where the original crime scene took place, trying to look for something and anything that could possibly help him. He just didn’t get it, how could a case so simple be so hard to solve? It just didn’t make sense; it was pretty preposterous in his mind. He walked and walked, examining everything in his path. When his head was turned, he heard leaves crunching from behind him. Before he could turn his head to see who was walking up behind him, he felt a strong force hit his head, and slash his arm. He immediately fell to the ground, his sight becoming blurrier and blurrier until it faded to black. He ended up waking up back in his room, his arm wrapped in a bandage stained by his own blood. “Finally, your awake.” said William. “Went looking for me, did you?” he asked. “Peter did actually.” Willam corrected, motioning his hand at Peter who was standing in the corner of the room. "I'm here!” Victoria shouted from the front door. “Sorry if I’m a bit late, I was having tea with Helena-” just as Victoria walked into the room, her face slightly dropped. “Well, what happened to you?” she asked, jeeringly, wondering what pain was afflicted. “I was hit in the head and cut on the arm.” answered Redmir. Victoria furrowed her eyebrows; it sounded more like an attack than an accident. “By whom?”

“I don’t know.”

“Luckily, he wasn’t bleeding too much. He was only out for thirty minutes at least.” reassured William. “Okay, but somebody must’ve attacked you on purpose.” Victoria said in a serious tone. “Nobody has gone to the woods ever since the first body was found.” Peter said. “How were you even found if you went by yourself?”

“I found him. Quite a coincidence since I only went to find firewood.” Victoria stared at Peter for a moment, a feeling of suspiciousness taking over her by the second, having a sense that Peters reason of going into the woods was anything but a coincidence. “You care a lot for the boy I see.” William jested. “We’ve been friends for a very long time Mr. Loyde.”

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Victoria was in her bed, tucked in with a bear in her hand, kept awake by the voices in her mother's room. “Get out of my house!” Yelled her mother. “Do you think your husband would mourn you?” said a voice. Victoria felt like she had heard that voice before... a voice of a man who only came to her house once before this, but she was too young to remember. “I said get out! I will not let you near our family!” Her mother shouted. Victoria got up and un-wrapped herself from the covers, placing her feet on the cold floor. As she walked up to her mother’s room the voices got louder, and louder, and louder. “I expect you to be out of this room and out of this house by the time I turn around!” her mother demanded. Victoria stood outside the doorway of the room, peaking in through the barley open door as she could not let her curious juvenile mind stay in bed. She could barely see anything but the vanity that her mother would graciously do her hair in-front of. Then, after a few seconds of pure silence, there was a scream. Victoria’s small young mind didn’t know what could make her mother scream so loudly, until talks of her mother lying on the cobble ground dead were heard all around her.

Here are the facts: Victoria’s father was wrongfully convicted of murdering her mother, condemned to life in jail and was released seven years later. He was released when she was fourteen, and was found two weeks later by Victoria herself, on the floor with not a single breath. She spent the rest of her life with her aunt and Uncle, and her parents' murderers were never found.

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“Miss Victoria.” said Peter. “Yes?”

“Do you like to read?” Peter asked. “Yes, I do.” she answered. “Well, I have a pile of books in my place that I’m not going to read anytime soon, perhaps you would like to take a look?” Victoria thought for a moment, something seemed rather odd about this offer, but she didn’t want to seem rude and turn him down. “Yes, I would.” she said reluctantly. “Let me just let Redmir know.” she said. Victoria went to the stables where Redmir was petting his horse's gray mane, keeping her voice down even though no one was around. “Red, I need you to come for me in exactly fifteen minutes at Mr. Kallen's house.” she said, her voice hushed enough for him to hear. Redmir grimaced. “Why are you whispering? Is something wrong?” he asked, slightly worried by her demeanor. “Look, I just don’t want to stay over there that long, and I need to make sure that you’ll come for me in exactly fifteen minutes.” Redmir wanted to ask more but decided not to. “Alright. I promise.” At peters house there were shelves full of books, many laid out on the wooden kitchen table. Victoria flipped through them, all of them having a scarcity of pictures. She picked up another book in the pile, the cover making her smile. “You like that one?” Peter asked. “I’ve already read it. It was my mothers.” Victoria said, brushing her fingers through the familiar pages. “She gave it to you?” Peter questioned. “I took it a few years after she died.” “I apologize. May I ask how she passed?”

“She was pushed off the balcony.” Victoria explained. “Your poor father.” Peter said. “Accused of killing his own wife. Must’ve been so forlorn after that.” Victoria’s heart started to beat faster as she felt her heart slightly drop in her stomach. How on earth did he know that? “Y-yes it was... he was in prison for-”

“Seven years?” Peter interrupted. Victoria’s palms started to get sweatier. Her stomach was getting heavier as he continued talking. “At least you got to spend some time with him once he was released before he was killed as well, don’t you think?” Peter started to approach her, his foots steps sounding louder and louder. Victorias hand shook as she placed the book down. “You see, my sister, she never brought good to the family.”

Sweat dripped off Victorias brow as Peter got closer, her heart pounding as everything felt to get louder. “After she was born, father soon left.” Her skin crawled, she slowly backed away too scared to even breathe properly. “I was really gracious to you, wasn’t I?” he asked, staring right into her eyes. “I had even waited for the moment you were tucked into bed.”

“You’re despicable...” Victoria said, her voice shaking. “Me? Well... those men weren’t going to live very long either way.” Victoria’s heart dropped as if it was dropped from a skyscraper to a cement ground as everything clicked together. “You killed them... you were the one who attacked Redmir, that’s how you found him so quickly!” she said. “You really are a smart woman like your mother, aren’t you?” Peter compared. “We were never sent here to solve a case... we were sent here so you could-” Victoria stopped talking, her body shaking in fear as Peter picked up the book that was once in her hand. “Did anybody notice I was gone after your father died?” he asked. “You bastard...” Victoria started to feel anger and pure hate run through her veins. This man, her uncle, was the reason she didn’t have a mother. He was the reason she didn’t have a father. He was the reason for all the years spent waiting for her father to come home. It was all him. “I mean surely as part of the family they would’ve-”

“You took, everything from me!” Victoria yelled. “Oh Victoria... you didn’t think I just let your father leave jail free, would you?” At that moment, Victoria’s rage burst out. She screamed as she lunged at Peter, making them both fall on the ground. She grabbed his collar, hitting him once, then twice, then a third time till he grabbed her by the hair and pushed her onto the ground off him. When Redmir came to get Victoria, he was astonished to see Peter unconscious, and Victoria writhing in agony with a gash in her leg.

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