Thy Kingdom Fall

The following is a small glimpse from my upcoming and yet to be untitled book particularly from the last chapter. Please try to enjoy because writing them is a huge pain in the ass both literally and figuratively.

"There has to be one and one killer only" exclaims the retired detective.

"Why? How do you assume that there is only one killer? Don't you remember that the two murders happened at the same time and in consecutive rooms?" asked Shekhar.

"No, my dear boy, an earthquake is always measured on magnitude and not on what it has destroyed"

“So, what are you to trying to imply?”

“My experience working at the grass root of the criminal underworld has made me to master a certain art of deduction and elimination”

“So that is the reason you have called us all here?”

“Spot on, my boy. As you recall, there are certain facts linking every murder that has happened in this property. THEY ALL ARE NOT SIMILAR, BUT NOT THE SAME”

“Please spare the chit chat, and get a move on” exclaimed one of the guests.

“Oh sorry, like all geniuses, I like to brag, but assuming the current situation, I do not seem it appropriate. Listen and listen carefully, because I think I can say this only once and I might not to be alive before I finish this or to remark this a second time. If you have any doubts, please keep it till the end. And if I shout or ask someone something don’t hesitate to reply”

The wise old man continued,

“Okay first and foremost, What do you think is the most important relation between all the victims? Shekhar?”

“I don’t know, they were all killed with a fire pole?”

“Interesting hypothesis, none the less. But the most important factor here is that they all were men between the ages of 30-35”

He continued, “So, I naturally assumed, since they were men of good stature, someone who was jealous killed them off. But I was wrong, when Narain died a week ago.”

Shankar intervened, “But it could have been anyone, how could you assume like that?”

He replies, “Please don’t interrupt. As you said Shekhar, the next thing that was common was the fire pole. If you have a deep look at it, it’s hook mark has a pattern which are not very common nor found easily in modern day fire poles.”

Shekhar asked, “What did you find from that?”

The reply came, “The murder weapon had once decorated the mantel of Maharaja of Sailkot”

Shekhar replies, “Excuse me”

“Sailkot was a luxurious city which is currently destroyed in time due to wars and riots. It once housed the richest royal family with ancestral property worth millions of dollars even today”

“Sorry to interrupt once again, but what does it have to do the murder that’s happening here today.”

“It has everything to do with the mystery currently at hand”

“Okay, please continue”

“The next clue was that all of them were from well-established centers of the modern society”

“What does their economic conditions has to do with their murders?”

“I’ll get to that in a minute”

“Please could you spare the hocus pocus and go directly to your magic trick” asked the Innkeeper

“The last and most important piece of the puzzle, my dear chaps, is that their deaths took place in this sequential order, they take a picture of themselves, a selfie as the modern people call them, turns around, see a large shadow figure and die”

“Yes, what are you trying to imply?”

“Nothing, I just want to get my facts straight here”

“Please for the love of god!”

“What I’m saying is that these murders were not committed by a ghost or an entity as proven by our paranormal investigating friends here and the killer is among us right as I speak”

“Okay, I’m not going to dispose your theory, which is pretty absurd by the way. But why do you propose this took place?” asks Varshini.

“These killings took place because they were the right people at the right time but at the wrong place”

“Okay, now you went from absurd to stupid”

“I know. But me being this way, makes me right for this job”

“Please guys, can we stick to the topic at hand” shouts Shekhar as he tries to clear the cloud between his newly wed wife and the mysterious old man whose name hasn’t been revealed yet.

“How can we trust him? For all we know we don’t even know his name”

The old man replied, “Names are for friends, which I am not”

Shekhar shouts, “Please can we stop the anarchy and continue”

“These murders are taking place because the victims are or were the heirs to the treasures and all earthly pleasures of the Royal family of Sailkot”

“What?” shouts everyone

“How would you possibly know that?” asks Varshini.

“Because my dear girl, I’m one of them!”

“What?”

“Yes. They all were distant relatives, some of them my nephews and cousins. And I know the person responsible for their murder who incidentally is both my closest living relative and the closest heir and direct bloodline to the property.”

“Then who is it?”

“I know for certain that he or she will kill me if I reveal them, I will drop dead the next moment”

“Then hat have you gathered us here for?”

“As you know, the storm is getting worse and it will be weeks to clear out. If I die, most certainly will, I have carefully a planned a scheme to trap that certain mass murders which I have confined with the very last person who I would speak with imaginable. I gathered all of you, to give a warning to that individual.”

Shekhar intervened, “I don’t know what to say. Who is that person to whom knows the plan?”

“When the time comes, he or she will reveal the plan. Meanwhile, Live long and Prosper”

The Old man got up from his chair, sipped a cup of tea and shouted,

“THE KILLER IS…………………………………..”

Before he could finish his sentence, he dropped dead.

For more insight and depth into this story, please stay tuned for my upcoming novel patiently as I’m hopelessly trying to perfect it. Kudos, Karthik Sreeram Kannan.
*NOTE* IF YOU FIND THIS PART ALTERED OR MISSING IN THE BOOK< IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL FROM MY POINT.