The Heart of the Sphinx

Chapter 14

The phone rang with a shrill noise rousing him from his sleep and Hugh received the call and groggily replied.

“Hello?”

“Wipe that drool off your face now and get dressed,” said Gabriella’s voice from the other side of the phone.

“Huh? What happened? Why are you calling at this ungodly hour Gabby? It is four in the morning!!!” said Hugh exasperatedly as he saw the clock on his nightstand and replied.

“There has been another murder Hugh. That is the reason I am calling. Why do you think at all?” said Gabriella in the same exasperated tone and just at that precise moment all the semblance of sleep that he had in his eyes went off in a snap.

“Another murder means?” asked Hugh as he sat up on bed with rubbing his eyes and could not begin to comprehend what Gabriella was saying.

“The killer has the same MO. I am not really very sure but I am going to say that this feels to me as the beginning of the work of a serial killer. What do you think?” asked Gabriella as Hugh leapt down from the bed and said,” Right now I am not going to be able to say anything at all but once I look at the crime scene and understand the similarities, I am pretty sure I will be able to tell you everything.”

How come that the killer was striking against this poor helpless and old men without any reason? And that too for what purpose? Books? How can that be a reason for murder? If someone only would steal the books then that would be more than enough but this seemed like something else…What on earth could be the motive for murder? He started dressing up as soon as he could and as he was pulling up the socks on his feet his phone rang again. He put it on speaker and said,” Hello?”

“Hugh have you heard? Did someone tell you that you need to be at the crime scene as soon as possible? I mean, you need to get the fresh evidence right?” asked Dr. Skank and Hugh felt that his ears would burst at the volume of his voice.

“Boss….it is four in the morning and definitely an ungodly hour. Then why on earth are you screaming like hell?” asked Hugh as he started pulling his boots over his feet.

“Right right…my wife has been complaining her whole life that my pitch is high but right now you need to go to that crime scene as soon as possible. Chop chop,” said his boss and Hugh rolled his eyes.

“Yes boss I am all decked up and going to sing Deck the Halls on the way to my scene of crime,” said Hugh as he spewed the sarcastic comment out loud before he could think what he was saying,

“Well since it is the dawn and you are up from sleep I am not going to say anything at all to you. I am going to let this comment go and then I need to hear the full report of everything when you are coming to office. I want to know about this entire thing of the archaeological find you have made as well,” said Dr. Skank and Hugh suddenly thought of asking him something but then thought the better of it.

“Ok…you got it…I need to really go now…or Gabriella is going to have my hide. And I mean that literally,” said Hugh as he disconnected the call.

It was really very strange that how his boss got the news of murders even before him. That could mean only one thing that he had a mole in the department or in Gabby’s team and was paying them off in order to stay ahead and abreast of the investigation. He could not think of one reason that why he would be doing such a thing. After all he was the employee of British Museum and it was his responsibility to come to know that whatever it might be, this historical institute could not be thrown away in the drain ever away. There must be something else at play here which he did not know or could not understand. And that meant that he could not trust any one at all. No one…except probably Gabriella.

It was an hour when except the trucks the streets were mostly empty and even the party goers were slumped in some alley way or in some hotel nearby. So he could drive as fast he could and then he reached the crime scene. The moment he parked his car and came out of the vehicle, he recognized the neighbourhood. This was the one where the diplomats and the politicians of the Parliament lived, and this was extremely posh locality which could not be accessed by anyone at all. Then how was it possible that a murder happened in such a place?

“Are you thinking of coming inside or you are going to keep on standing there for as long as possible?” asked Gabriella as her voice came over the cold dawn air.

Hugh moved as soon as possible and found Gabriella standing on the other side of the yellow tapes. She looked at him and nodded.

“What is it this time?” asked Hugh as he took a pair of disposable gloves and put on his hand and a coverall for his shoes as well.

“Who found the murder?” asked Hugh again before Gabriella could answer the previous one.

“It was found by his wife, who had come from some charity auction and then had come to check on him if he had his dinner or not because most of the times he did not,” said Gabriella as Hugh nodded. He could relate to that, fair enough.

“This man was a diplomat of some kind?” asked Hugh and Gabriella smiled at him one of her rare smiles.

“You are close. No, not a diplomat, but he was running for the Senator of this region since his father in law was thinking of retiring from his active career in politics this year,” said Gabriella as they both entered the house and automatically Hugh’s eyes went towards the gorgeous Egyptian mural in the living room along with the hieroglyphs and all. It was probably safe to say that he was a history buff of some kind specializing in Egypt. So as far he could see he could very well understand the connection between two murders.

“Well did you find that the books were stolen from here as well? Or there is something else which makes you think that the killer has the same MO,” said Hugh as Gabriella nodded at one of the guards who threw a certain look at them which could only mean that there was something which was going on between them.

“As far as I could see now, I am being able to understand one thing pretty clearly Hugh, that it is not the books which is the main thing which is being taken. The books are a part sure but along with that some kind of vase has also been stolen. I mean, I don’t know why I think that the killer is trying to mislead us by taking all the books as well which would mean that he did want to take something else and took something else.”

“I can see that why you might be saying that. Obviously both the victims were connected in some way to Egypt but how that is what we need to find. The books are the only one thing and then we need to figure out what this vase was which you are talking about. Have you found some kind of inventory or journal which had helped in making you this conclusion?” asked Hugh as Gabriella nodded at him.

“I will show you why I am thinking like this. Moreover, the murder weapon seems to be the same thing, you know, some kind of razor blade which has been used in slicing his throat in half. I have rarely seen in my life a cut so clean as this, I mean, Hugh, it almost feels that the cut was made by a surgeon,” said Gabriella and Hugh nodded. He also had an uncanny feeling which said that this murder was done by the same person. And the cut was done with surgical precision. How was it possible that if someone had no experience in this kind of killing to make this cut in one shot?

“Do you think that someone has hired some kind of assassin who is an expert in this form of killing?” asked Hugh as he looked at the slumped body of the dead person and the look of horror in his eyes before he died. It could be said that the last few moments of his life were not very painless at all.

“What you are saying has crossed my mind as well Hugh. We might be dealing with someone very powerful here, probably the one who lives in shadows,” said Gabriella, not even knowing how right she was and how she could not be any more wrong that this.