Mercy Abbott - The Kiss of Death

The Order of the Rose

Mercy immediately got up from her table and went to speak with her. Rudy never liked talking to people in public places and would walk away if someone tried to talk to her. Fortunately Mercy was one of those people for whom she'd make an exception- Mercy had saved her from some bullies back when she was a freshman and she never forgot about her kindness since then.

"Hey there!", greeted Mercy with a smile.

"Oh! Hi…", replied Rudy nervously. She was always nervous.

"Can I sit with you?" , Mercy asked politely.

"Of course… hehe … please…", Rudy replied holding her coffee.

"How long have you been waiting for me?", she asked.

Mercy was impressed already- Rudy had noticed her as soon as she came in and assumed correctly that she was there to meet her.

"Jusr a few minutes- how did you know?", Mercy asked.

"You never come here this early and also you were staring at me this whole time…" , Rudy replied.

"Huh.. I guess that's right…I just wanna ask you about something..", Mercy said.

"Is it related to the girl that got murdered recently?", Rudy asked.

All these questions made her adrenaline rush. She jumped out of her bed and began to walk up and down her room trying to put the pieces of the mystery together. She looked at her table clock- it was almost 3 in the morning - "the devil's hour"- as they say. Mercy felt like she was possessed by the devil itself- she couldn't sleep anymore. Amy had trusted her as her only reliable friend and here she was thinking that she never thought of as her friend. She felt sorry for her and at th same time - she knew that she had to do something for her- but what could she do?

"Yes! The party! Amy said that she met the guy at some after party- I need to start looking for some names of the people who came to the party….yes… but which party? Probably the one that the boys from the university celebrated after they won the amateur Chess competition…but that would mean that loads of people were invited, it would be like looking for a needle in a bucket of needles! No… I just need to find about a french guy- who's a professional Chef. But what was a french chef doing at a party in our university? He said he was invited? I need to know more about this party….and I think I know exactly whom to ask.",

Mercy thought as she sat on her bed.

It was almost morning and Mercy still didn't feel like sleeping. She went to her kitchen and prepared some tea. She then took out her diary and copied down the key words and phrases from Amy's letter and circled those words. Words like - Chef,Party,French,Stalker,guy disappears,stalker appears…etc made her list. Then she thought about contacting the police and handing the evidence over to them but then they would arouse more suspicions if they started investigating in the boys hostel. She thought it would be best that she'd better find all the evidences on her own and then invite the police to help her.

She looked at her clock again- almost 6 a.m. She thought it would be better for her to take a cold shower. She had her classes at 9 but she thought of skipping class and investigating the case on her own.

An hour later, she got ready to go out and do some investigating. She opened the door of her room and stepped out. As soon as she did , she stepped on something. She looked down and saw a flower- a single hydrangea flower sitting right on her doorstep. Mercy gasped. It was the same type of flower that she saw on Amy's bed. She immediately looked around to see if there was anyone else. But all she saw was an empty hall way and all she heard was the relentless gossiping and laughing coming from the rooms of the other girls in the hostel.

Mercy kneeled down and picked up the flower. What was a flower doing at her doorstep? Does this means that the killer had spotted her? But how?

She stood up and looked at the flower- there was nothing special about it - they were very common and easy to find, nevertheless she put it in her bag and began to walk down the stairs. As she descended downstairs - she began to wonder whether it was a co-incidence that she found a flower on her door step or was it the killer's way of letting her know that he has found her and he knows that she has the letter. Mercy knew that this would mean that the letter holds the key to the killer's identity.

Mercy turned and twisted in her chair as the killer drew closer swinging his axe- whistling playfully- like a predator playing with its prey one last time before it kills it.

She knew it was a do or die situation- she had to put together all the clues to reveal his identity now or he will know that she's bluffing.

"Think Mercy think!!", she said to herself closing her eyes.

"So? Who am I? Tell me!", asked the man pointing an axe to her face.

Mercy felt a spark in her mind- she suddenly knew who he was.

"You are not a chef- nor are you french-you're the one who owns Rotunda!!", she replied.

The killer froze. His cover was blown but he was calm.

"Everyday you watch and stalk pretty women who come to dine at your restaurant with their men and you secretly tape their bedroom affairs and blackmail them- asking them for regular favours- you have everything you need- money,luxury,influence but you can't seem to satisfy your lust for women you can't have- I'd say you had some serious heartbreak in your early years and somehow it turned you into this perverted, sick and disgusting animal that you are now….Shall I continue Mr.Phillip Braugher ?", said Mercy triumphantly.

The killer was shocked. He put down his axes on the ground and took of his mask.

"God Damn it! You're smart!", he said sounding quite impressed.

"it just makes me want to ave you even more…Wow…nobody … nobody knew about me… but you…umh! You're one helluva girl…But how did you find out?", he asked squatting down on the floor.

Mercy was getting scared now. He was behaving like a mad man and she had no other defence to protect her from this craziness- all she could do was stall him with her words.

A day after that curious incident,Henry was flipping through old books and newspaper trying to figure out the meaning of that peculiar phrase he found in the painting.The missing policemen were found unconscious and tied up inside a hidden room and the curator merely survived his injuries.But why did he point at that painting?What was so important in an old painting and how did it related to this case?What was with the flying men stories and that shady figure who spoke in German?...All these questions cluttered in his head and he could hardly find any answers after all he wasn't any detective.

After a nap of an hour and some light lunch he decided to call upon his old friend - Charlie- an retired american professor of archaeology,who stayed a few streets ahead of his house."If anyone can find meaning in these mysterious writings and shed some light upon this case,it is Prof.Charles Houston.",thought Henry ...

"From one source",said Charlie looking at Henry's notebook."It is a Norwegian phrase...But the painting that you found this phrase written upon has nothing to do with the phrase!". "And what does this masked clan has to do with it?"asked Henry. "Ah!Yes, the man...that hooded figure you saw that said those words to you was obviously a German and if I am right then this must be the work of that notorious masked thieve gang that had created a lot of nuisance all over Europe last summer..." said Charlie. "I do remember reading something about them in the papers...So this gang has been stealing all over europe and now they have stolen a Van Gogh from London..That's bad news.."said Henry as he lit a cigar. "It's a good thing you understand German...Here is the butler with the tea...Put it down on that table Jose ...Thank you..", said Charlie. Henry sat down thinking - "a gang of thieves,a stolen painting,a torn piece of paper..Yes but where is it? ...I thought I had brought it with me ...maybe it had fallen on the way here..."

Somewhere in Siberia, far from civilization, by the side of a frozen lake, Yuri placed his tent. It's been a while since Yuri had fresh fish for dinner and the frozen lake had plenty of them underneath that thick layer of snow. Mika, his husky dog, was his only friend and companion in this god forsaken place.

"It is time", said Yuri in his thick Ruski accent, "we need to reach the hunting spots, before the other hunters take the loot... Come Mika!"

And both of them went speeding towards the lake on their snow mobil, the dog on the front sticking out his tongue and his master with his fishing gear driving as fast as he can.

" I wish I see my beautiful Katya today"-

thought Mika as he dreamt of the beautiful female husky who came to the lake for hunting with her mistress Alina. Mika's eyes shined as he thought of her velvet brown fur and dark blue eyes. "But master never allows me to get close to her...but today I shall", Mika almost choked with excitement and desire and also because he swallowed some snow...

"Nyet!"Yuri cried as he stopped his mobil, "that thief has taken our spot".

Mika jumped off the vehicle with his master and saw Alina preparing her fishing gear.

"That's my spot" said Yuri aggressively, "I don't see your name on it!" argued Alina. Yuri hated his competition and the two began arguing while Mika sheepishly tried to approach Katya wagging his tail. "Stay away from me" said Katya proudly. Mika's heart sank. Suddenly he saw something approaching slowly in the snow, the air filled with foul scent. Mika began to growl.Yuri and Alina stopped arguing, their throats dried up as they saw a big ugly wolf slowly walking towards them grinding its teeth,saliva pouring down his scared mouth. "It is the killer wolf of the mountains, be careful!" whispered Alina as Yuri pulled out his hunting knife.

Both of them stepped back as the dogs rounded up the wolf. But the wolf suddenly took a giant leap at Katya trying to choke her neck. Mika's blood boiled as he jumped on the wolf to save his love and bit his back sinking his teeth in deep.

The wolf growled in pain trying to shake the dog off his back. Suddenly a loud bang knocked Mika almost unconscious. Alina shot the wolf in the head and it whimpered and lay still on the snow as Mika still held on to its back. "Let go now Mika, its dead! ", Yuri said. "I will tear it to pieces!" thought Mika before finally letting it go. "You have a brave dog", said Alina "we should have a drink in my tent". Yuri agreed and they both went towards the tent with their sogs behind them. "Thank you for saving me" whispered Katya wagging her tail. Mika's heart pumped with excitement,it was the best day of his life.

The townhall was crowded that day as reporters with their cameramen lined up on one side and protestors holding signs and placards lined up on the other side of the barricade.

"Save our last rainforest!" - "Down with the dirty politics!" the people chanted.

Cars started to line up one by one on the street and a middle-aged man wearing black sun glasses and a black suit with his secretary Clara got out of a limo. Mr Jules Verde was the most hated man in the city, known for his greed and corruption and his pretentious smile and sharp jawline.He smiled and waved to the protestors and went towards the news hungry reporters to deliver his speech.

From another car two scientists got out and were immediately guided by the bodyguards towards the townhall stairs. One of them was Dr. Erik Reichstag,a nervous looking, 45 year old biologist who wore a shabby coat and worn out jeans.The other was a beautiful blonde woman in her early twenties. She was a well known environmentalist and was looking pretty somber today.

Dr. Erik was called out by the mayor who was now answering questions to the media.

"Erik!" he called out, " up here...come!"

"Oh! no ...no..Mr. Verde... I'd rather not," said Erik refusing .

But the mayor insisted and he had to go.The mayor now confidently put his hand on Erik's shoulder and said to the reporters-

"As I was saying, there's nothing to worry, our mining will be a very careful process for a short period of time on a small area of the forest and its biodiversity won't be harmed....and Dr. Erik Reichstag of the Imperial University will confirm my words...Erik?"

Dr Erik leaned towards the mics and said,

"Yes... technically Verde industries have developed superior mining technology that shouldn't disturb the wildlife in our forest ... but..."

The mayor cut him short, "Thank you Doctor... and no more questions for today.. I'd like to reassure the people of my city that everything will be fine...Thank you...''

The mayor quickly waved and smiled at the protestors and whispered to Erik holding his arm tightly,"Just wave and smile pal... wave and smile"

The nervous doctor obliged and they all stepped up the stairs leading to the hall with bodyguards on their sides while the reporters kept begging for one last question and the protestors kept yelling their chants.

Inside the conference room, prominent businessmen and beauraucrats sat around a table.