A Mysterious Forbidden Road

Breaking News: "Today around 5:00 am while patrolling, police found 11 dead bodies on the Spring road badly damaged by a landslide. However, police have confirmed that the bodies are that of one of the dangerous gangster groups of the city. Police also found an injured girl near the steep side of the road. She has been sent to the hospital for treatment but still hadn't gained her senses."    

Nathan: Oh Grandpa! I really feel sorry for that lady.

Grandpa: Me too. But finish your breakfast first. We need to go to school.

Nathan: Yes grandpa, coming.

[Nathan was 9 years old & studied in the 4th grade. He only have grandpa in his life as a family. He didn't know his other family members. But they both supported each other & like always Nathan takes a walk to school with his grandpa. After the school got over....]

Noah: Hey Nathan! Are you coming in today's football practice match in the evening?

Nathan: Yes Noah. I'll be right there.

Noah: Be there on time. Today we have a match with those tallboys.

Nathan: Don't worry. I'll be on time. We will meet in the evening. Bye!

Noah: Bye! See you later.

[Noah & Nathan were of the same age & were in the same class. They both were best friends since their first grade & so always shared their secrets & sorrows with each other.]

[After football match]

Noah: Yeah! Victory!! We won the match!!!

Nathan: Yes, I didn't think we could do that.

Noah: As we have won the match, why don't we go to that newly opened small restaurant. I've heard the food there is like heaven.

Nathan: Really!! My mouth is watering. Let's go.

[They both reached the restaurant. At that time 10-12 people were there in it. It had 7 tables each with 4 chairs. The doors were of glass & the tiles were shining. They sat on one of the tables & gave their orders. While having their meal, they accidentally stumbled upon the spring road incident.]

Noah: Nathan, did you watched today's news? That Spring road is so dangerous.

Nathan: Yes, I saw the news. It is dangerous as it is built on a hill & even it hasn't been reconstructed for the last 15 years.

Noah: No, you didn't understand. I meant that that road is haunted by spirits. It is said that some years ago a couple died on that road because of a landslide & their bodies were badly damaged when their bodies were discovered. Since then whosoever passed that road never came back except some.

Nathan: Spring road, Spirits, Hmm...sounds interesting.

[A lady came & interrupted their conversation.]

Lady: Dear, as you both have finished your meals, now it's time to pay the money.

Both: Oh sorry Ma'am! We totally forgot about it. Here's your money.

[That lady was a waitress in that restaurant. She was charming & cheerful & had a warm smile on her face. She looked around 25, had fair skin, red lips, brown hair neatly tied in a bun & was neatly dressed.]

Noah: Nathan, sorry I need to leave right now. My mother has called me urgently at home.

Nathan: It's ok friend. You go. I'll come on my own. Bye!

Noah: Bye!!

[Noah leaves. Nathan followed the lady to the kitchen. He knew he had seen her before but wasn't able to recall.]

Nathan: Are you Miss Adora?

Lady: No, you are mistaken.

Nathan: No, you are Miss Adora! The great karate champion! But why are you here in these clothes? Are you spying on someone?

Lady: Hey! Don't shout. Keep your voice low. There are some bad guys in your city & to catch them I need to disguise myself. Promise me you'll keep it a secret.

Nathan: Yes, I'll. But I also want to help you.

Adora: No, kid. You are too young for this.

Nathan: Ok we will see that later. But do you know any secret about that recent road accident? There are rumors it that the road is haunted. Do you think it was an accident?

"Well Nathan, I don't think so it was an accident." He heard a strange voice.

[A man around 40 fully dressed in black with an overcoat & a hat entered the place. His one eye & one leg were having some injuries. He came & sat down near Nathan.]

Nathan: How do you know my name?!!

Man: You just now told me while talking to Miss Adora.

Adora: Please Mr. Jude, don't take my name or else you will spoil my whole work.

Nathan: Mr. Jude? Adora, do you know him?

Adora: Nathan, he was one of the best detectives in our city, but once got injured while catching a murderer & after that was hit by a serious chronic disease because of which he had to spend many years of his life in a hospital but he has the excellent crime-solving ability. Now as he has recovered he's again on duty.

Nathan: Oh, nice to meet you, Mr. Jude. Are you also working with Miss Adora to catch those bad guys?

Jude: Adora, you shouldn't have told him all these things.

Adora: He's good at catching people. I've been here for so long but no one suspected me except this child & he even knew my name.

Nathan: Well, it only takes once for me to remember someone for years.

Jude: That's good. We need some helping hands in our investigation. Well, Nathan, I think so the Spring road accident wasn't an accident but was a planned murder. As your home is near to that place, you will keep an eye on whatever is going on & will report me if you record any suspicious activity.

Nathan: What?!!! You even know my house!!

Jude: It only takes once for me to remember someone or something for years.

Nathan: Oh please!! Make your own dialogues. Don't copy mine. Fine, I'll keep an eye & will tell you if I find anything & I'll also keep it a secret as Miss Adora said.

Jude: Now go home. Your grandpa must have been preparing supper & will soon call you to buy some ingredients from the market.

Nathan: What?!! You even know this! Ok, I'm leaving, will meet later.

[The next day.]

[Both Adora & Jude went to the hospital to see the post mortem report of the gangsters but didn't found anything. They started searching for similar accidents & then they found the post mortem report of Mr. & Mrs. Brown.]

Doctor: Here's the report of Mr. & Mrs. Brown sir.

Jude: That I can see but where are the other papers. The file is too big but there are only a couple of papers. Where are the others?

Doctor: You are really smart sir. Come with me. (Handing down papers) Here they are. Sorry detective for hiding them but I was continuously receiving threatening letters from someone. I decided to make a police complaint & use them as proof but those letters suddenly disappeared.

Jude: They must have the sender's address. Do you remember it?

Doctor: No sir, they didn't have any.

Jude: It means the threatener knows where you go. Be careful & report me if you again find those letters.

Doctor: Yes sir, but I think so Mr. Yates was behind the accident of Mr. & Mrs. Brown.

Jude: Mr. Yates? 

Doctor: Yes sir, Mr. Yates was once a very rich librarian of this city & had everything but still all the people loved Mr. Brown as he was a good & kind-hearted person. Mrs. Brown was the most beautiful lady in the town. Mr. Yates was jealous of his luck & one day in the absence of Mr. Brown burned down brown's library. When Mr. Brown came to know about this, both librarians had a very bad quarrel & Mr. Yates said that he & his family would have to pay the price. After a month Brown got a well-paid job as an editor & after some time he & his wife were invited to a ceremony held by his office. While returning, in a landslide, they both died on that Spring road. People thought that it was Mr. Yates behind this. But no one was able to find the evidence against him & so the case got closed.

Jude: Thanks doctor for the information. We'll see it. Well, how's the patient?

Doctor: She's still recovering. We'll inform you when she will come to her senses.

Jude: Ok doctor.

[While coming out from the hospital they met Nathan.]

Nathan: Thank God I found you. Last night I saw a suspicious person covered in a shawl carrying something & getting disappear in the bushes. The path where that person disappeared is a shortcut to Spring road.

Jude: Well done Nathan. Come on, let's have a talk with Mr. Yates.

Adora: But why are we going to Mr. Yates's place?

Jude: Our investigation could get spoiled if I'll disclose everything right here.

Nathan: Are you talking about that old rude librarian?

Adora: Yes, it is that same man. But you will go home & will keep an eye on suspicious activities.

Nathan: Fine! You never allow me to come with you.

Jude: Well Adora, Nathan will also come with us. Although Mr. Yates doesn't like children it doesn't matter. Nathan is a brave boy. Even what will happen to us if he got beaten up by Mr. Yates because he was the only one who wanted to come with us. He will be fine, isn't Nathan.

Nathan: No, no I'm comfortable in my place. You go & carry on your investigation.

[Nathan hurried back home & Adora & Jude went to Yates house.]

Adora: Mr. Yates are you there? Mr. Yates, please open the door.

[An old man of an average height having specs opened the gate & asked rudely..]

Old Man: Yes, what do you want?

Adora: Sir is Mr. Yates inside? We need to ask him a few questions.

Old Man: No, he doesn't live here. Now go away! You both wasted so much of my precious time!!

Jude: You are good at pretending but forgot to remove your awards from that glass shelf, Mr. Yates.

Adora: Mr. Yates?

Jude: You could be punished by giving wrong information to us. We are legal people & here's my id. So it would be better if you will co-operate with us.

Yates: Sure sir, can we talk inside?

[They both enter the house & take their respective seats.]

Adora: So where you were the day before yesterday between 10-12 pm? 

Yates: Where will I go? I was at my house.

Jude: Can you prove it?

Yates: No, I live here all alone.

Adora: You must have known Brown's family. So what's your opinion on them?

Yates: Are you both suspecting me as a murderer of those gangsters & browns?! Don't you know who I'm? Do you have any evidence?

Jude: We didn't say that. You are defending yourself. By the way, you always use a special pen for writing. Can we see it?

Yates: Yes sure. (Searching pen) Sir, I kept it right here. Someone stole my precious pen!! Someone is jealous of my work & wealth. Must be you both. Leave my house right now!! (Throwing things at them.) Leave it!!!

Adora: What are you doing?!

Jude: Adora don't, let's go.

[After leaving Yates house.]

Adora: Why you told me to leave? We almost caught him. He is such an arrogant man!

Jude: He isn't arrogant just a bit mentally unstable. He wanted to hide this truth from people to maintain his reputation. So he usually goes out of the city for the treatment. But as his doctor is unwell the clinic is closed.

Adora: So maybe because of this instability he killed the browns & gangsters.

Jude: Well, the doctor called & told me that the patient is fine now & we could carry on our investigation.

Adora: So come on let's go & see the patient.

[They both went to the hospital to see the patient. Enters patient's room.]

Adora: Hi Eddey, how are you doing?

Eddey: Better than before just having some fractures in my legs. But I didn't recognize you.

Adora: Oh don't worry, we are legal people & are here to ask you some questions. Why those gangsters were behind you?

Eddey: I don't know ma'am, but I was receiving threatening letters that suddenly disappeared from my home.

Jude: What did they contain? 

Eddey: Just a message that "you will not be spared."

Adora: What happened on the night of the accident?

Eddey: I was coming back from the office when suddenly something heavy hit my head. The blow was so strong that I nearly fainted, my head was bleeding badly. I could feel someone choking my throat. I threw dust in its eyes & ran away from there as fast as I could. I was able to see the city & the shortest road to reach there was that deserted Spring road. On my way, those gangsters caught me but at that moment the rocks slipped from the hill & those big rocks came rolling over us from the top. I escaped but lost my control & then when I opened my eyes I was in the hospital.

Adora: Do you suspect anyone?

Eddey: While my treatment was going on I saw a strange, tall, fair man, who behaved very weirdly when he saw me.

Adora: Thanks Eddey for your time, now you can take a rest.

Eddey: Thanks Miss Adora & Mr. Jude.

[They both left the patient's room.]

Adora: Mr. Jude, now will you tell me why are we suspecting Mr. Yates & what's the connection between these two cases.

Jude: If you would have seen the dead bodies & the post mortem report of the browns you would have been able to connect the dots. The head of the gang had a deep wound on the left side of his neck. The Browns report also said the same.

Adora: It means the killer is the same.

Jude: At the site, I found Yates special pen but since it's broken we couldn't get the fingerprints. Did you receive any information from Nathan?

Adora: He called & told me that today he didn't observe any suspicious activity.

Jude: We need to be alert.

"Sir! Sir!" [A man running towards Jude entered the scene.]

"Sir my name is James & I know who's the killer."

Adora: What?

James: Yes ma'am. Ah!!! [James got shot.]

Adora: Who's the killer? Tell us James who's the killer?!!!

"Ma'am please get aside. If he continued to bleed he will die." A voice answered from behind.

[They took James to the operation theatre.]

[After 1 hour]

Doctor: He is fine, but don't stress the patient. He needs rest.

Jude: Yes doctor.

[After the doctor left.]

Adora: We can't stay here for long. We need to provide them with security. So should we ask the police to apply for the search warrant? I'm sure we will get something which could prove that he's the murderer.

Jude: Mr. Yates is not the murderer.

Adora: What? How you could say that?! We almost have evidence that could prove he's a murderer.

Jude: You didn't listen carefully to what I said. The murderer is left-handed as the cut was on the left side of the neck in both cases.

Adora: How you could say that with so surety that Yates is right-handed?

Jude: The arrangement of Yates table had books on the left & the pen stand on the right.

[Recieves a call]

Cop: Ma'am we had given security to the patient Miss Eddey as you said.

Adora: What about Mr. James?

Cop: You didn't tell us about him.

Adora: I did tell you.

Jude: Oh no!! We are trapped. Hurry back to the hospital. 

[They both heard firing going on between the killer & the cops when they were on their way. The killer had a gun in his left hand. It was behind James.]

"Don't kill me, please.., don't kill me." he cried. "You were there to disclose my secret. But I won't give you much pain. Just one bullet in your head & you will be at peace." "No" he cried.

A rod appeared from nowhere & hit the killer like thunder on its hand. The killer fell there with pain. 

Adora: Why you did this Eddey? Why you killed them?

Eddey: They deserved to die after what they did & I've no regret for it. That man, Mr. Brown, had already married my mother before going out of town to find a job. But after some years when my mother received the news about his second marriage, she immediately set out for the town to save that girl who didn't even know what is about to happen with her life. He got to know that my mother was there in the city. He immediately reached her place. They both quarreled a lot but when he started losing the fight he took a knife & stabbed my mother. I was a little kid at that time. My eyes were flooding with tears when I saw this. After he left I tried to wake her up but she didn't respond. He killed my mother but he didn't know that he had a child too. I decided to take my mother's message to that bride, but when she got to know about me, she too tried to kill me as she didn't want to spread the news of her groom's past. I somehow escaped from both of them & that's when I decided to take revenge for everything they did to me & to my mother. I succeeded in killing them but after 15 years his gangsters came to know about me & tried to kill me. I wanted to get rid of them so while escaping them I pretended like an injured person & pulled the rope which made the rocks come down.

Adora: And you took advantage of Yates and Brown's relations & used Mr. Yates pen to create evidence against him, & that's how you killed both of them, isn't. Just think, will your mother be happy after seeing you becoming a criminal?

[The case got closed. Several months later.]

Nathan: Mr. Jude is that you? When did you become a beggar?

Jude: Shhh!!! Didn't your grandpa teach you how to speak slowly?

Nathan: Sorry, but why are you like this? You are looking so funny? (Giggles)

Jude: Stop making fun of me or else...

Nathan: I know, I know, I need to keep it a secret until you catch those bad guys, isn't it. Ain't I smart.

Jude: You became smart with me.

Nathan: Oh! stop praising yourself, Mr. Jude.

Jude: Nathan!!!

Nathan: (Laughing while running away) I'm sorry Mr. Beggar.