The Foreign Murders (Part III)

by Rachelle David

Dr. Brapvy and Mr. Cameroon spent at least five hours in the large and messy room.  The room was a large square with shelves upon shelves of files in it. The shelves were set up in rows and columns. There was no organizational system for the files. The men just had to search through every file and find the one that they were looking for, yet, the room was so disorganized that even this one file was impossible to find. It was a lot like trying to find a black cat in the dead of night, unreasonably difficult and futile.

After the first few hours, Mr. Cameroon grew bored and hopelessness found its place in the man. He expressed his boredom many times to Dr. Brapvy. This only made the doctor dislike him and think that it was time for him to leave the business even more. The Doctor thought that Mr. Cameroon acted like a child and an immature one at that. It took them too many hours to look through every file in the room. When they had looked through the last file, they found nothing about the house. The house seemed to not exist.  Mr. Cameroon was hopeless.

He said, “Dr. Brapvy, what are we going to do?  We cannnot crack this case.”

Dr. Brapvy looked at him with wonder. 

He said, “This is still the beginning of the case. We received this assignment yesterday. If you think that we will solve the mystery in one day, you are going to be out of a job sooner than you can say the word ‘guilty.’ You need to buy some patience really soon, kid.”

“I am sorry, Doctor.  I am just frustrated and upset. We can go and search in the room with the special files. Maybe the government put the file in there?” 

Mr. Cameroon was a little ashamed about his outburst. He knew better than to give up on Dr. Brapvy.

Dr. Brapvy was not yet finished with his yelling. He screamed, “I want you to give me a call when you get your first case that takes ten years to find the criminal.  Promise me that you will do that.”

“I promise.”

“You promise….”

“I promise that I will call you when I get my first case that takes me ten years to find the criminal.”

Dr. Brapvy calmed down a little.

“Very good. Now, let us go and find that receptionist.”

Dr. Brapvy, followed by Mr. Cameroon, confidently left the room and confronted the boy.

Aracelli was so happy that she went on the trip with Colin. They spent some quality time together discussing the mutiny and various other things.  She was still in love with him and thought that he liked her a lot to. If he did not, then why would he approach her? She was still engrossed in the unimportant love life that she had. It was against the house rules to display the love publically. The Heads would have made a law against loving anyone, but they knew that they could not control people’s emotions. Aracelli did not care about the laws of the house. She was an independent woman and deserved freedom. She was very happy that Colin exposed his plans for rebellion to her. She realized that she agreed with him. It was time for action.

Aidan was dozing off in his chair. He loved working in the City Hall. His job was simple: check people’s identifications, make sure that they are going to the right place and sleep the rest of the time. The only problem was the guard. He was rather large and frightening to the young boy. At first, Kyle the guard watched the new receptionist closely. This frightened Aidan even more. After a few weeks, Aidan figured out that if he positioned his chair at the right angle, Kyle would not be able to see him and Aidan could sleep. This went on for some time and since not many people entered the building, it was a very relaxing job. If given the option, anyone would trade for his job, no matter how much they liked theirs.

            Dr. Brapvy walked very carefully on the purple tile floor so that he would not stomp and alert Aidan.  He walked right up to the front desk and he snapped a quick picture of the sleeping receptionist. Mr. Cameroon was waiting on the side, watching. He was excited to see the young receptionist get what he deserved. It was a lot better and more entertaining to see someone else get punished and yelled at. He knew that Dr. Brapvy had a lot of yelling capabilities inside of him. He was watching and waiting for the bright side of working with the Doctor.

Dr. Brapvy stood looking at the receptionist for one full minute. He was deciding how to handle him. He had to keep in mind that he was not his worker. He had no rights over the young man, but he was a guest to the Hall and that gave him some authority. He made up his mind. Dr. Brapvy took a deep breath. He tapped the young boy lightly on the shoulder. 

Aidan’s eyelids fluttered open. He was upset because he was in the middle of a terrific dream. He was running in a cornfield during a bright red sunrise with his best friend, Josie Armstrong. The field was filled with ripe, golden yellow corn. Josie was wearing a bright orange pair of overall shorts with a sunshine yellow T-shirt underneath.  Aidan was wearing the same outfit but in a dark purple overall and a pale green T-shirt.  Josie reached out and grabbed a corn stalk. She ripped it out of the ground and her toned muscles flexed with tiny beads of sweat formed on her perfectly sun-tanned arms. Aidan could not catch his breath. He was so impressed by the gorgeous Josie that he did not care about Josie ripping the t-shirt which was hand-sewn by Aidan. Josie then offered the corn to Aidan. Aidan blushed until his face blended into the sunrise in the background. He accepted the corn stalk gracefully. Josie leaned in so that her face was mere centimeters away from Aidan’s, just as Dr. Brapvy tapped on Aidan’s shoulder. This was not the first dream that he had had featuring a country scene, but it was the first starring his best friend.

He started dreaming about farms right after Melanie dumped him in front of the whole fútbol team. He really liked Melanie. She made him feel like himself all the time and them she left and he faded. He always thought that he felt too comfortable around her. He needed more time to consider all of his emotions. He made a mental note in which he wrote the words ‘Explore heart’s desire at an appropriate time.’

He returned to real life and opened his eyes fully. The man in front of him looked vaguely familiar. Aidan knew that the man’s name was said to him sometime that day.  He remembered it!  He said in a clear, powerful voice, “Hello, Dr. Brapvy. I hope that the services here at the City Hall were to your satisfaction.”

“No, actually we – er… I mean I - could not find what I was looking for. I will need to enter the ‘Special room,’ as you called it,” Dr. Brapvy said gently. He did not want to sound too forceful. 

“Oh, I am so sorry to inconvenience you, sir. If I had known that what you are looking for was not in the first room, then I would not have told you to go in there. Here are the keys to the secret room. The big key is for the top lock and the smaller one is for the bottom lock. I am so sorry. If there is anything that I can do to make it up for you, I would love to, or maybe just enjoy, uh, doing it,” Aidan finished with a smile.

Dr. Brapvy took the keys and thanked Aidan. He walked over to Mr. Cameroon, who was obviously disappointed, and they walked together to the secret room. Dr. Brapvy whispered to Mr. Cameroon, “That boy is very strange.”

Mr. Cameroon responded, “Yes, it seemed as though he is running a high class hotel here, not a Hall. May I ask why you did not yell at him?”

“You may ask all of the questions that you like, Mr. Cameroon.  You should really be asking if you will receive answers for them.”

“That boy, Aidan, he is so friendly all of a sudden.  It is quite odd.”

“Maybe he had a very good dream and thought that he was still in it?”

“Yes, maybe.”

The two men strode to the large door that led to the secret room.  Dr. Brapvy pulled out the keys. He put the larger key in the top lock and the smaller key in the bottom lock.  He turned the keys. Both keys worked, but the door still would not open.  Mr. Cameroon tried to open the door. He, too, could not open the large door. Dr. Brapvy walked loudly back to Aidan. 

He said sternly, “Aidan, I cannot waste my time on practical jokes. Now, open the door for me.”  When Aidan did not move, the Doctor yelled, “Immediately!”

Aidan jumped out of his chair and began to walk quickly to the front exit door.  He heard something odd and suddenly stopped in his tracks. Mr. Cameroon was laughing obnoxiously out loud. Aidan did not understand. What was so funny? He turned around and said as calmly as he could manage, “Sir, what is so funny that you cannot contain your laughter?”

This made Mr. Cameroon laugh even more. He attempted to stop laughing, but he could not. In between laughs, he said, “You – are – going – to – the – wrong – door. Dr. – Brapvy – was – yelling – at- you – instead – of – me.  It – is – hilarious.”  Then, he continued to laugh.

The boy did not know what to make of this laughter. He decided to only use the information that was important to him.

“Wait, this is not the door that you were talking about? Then which is the door that would not open?”

Dr. Brapvy said in a commanding way, “The door that leads to the secret room.”  He had had enough of this time-wasting.

“The door that leads to the secret room? Oh, that door. All you need to do is say the phrase ‘please open’ and it will. Now please, let me get back to my work.” At that, he walked back to his desk and pretended to do work.

Dr. Brapvy looked at Mr. Cameroon. They shared a look of mutual confusion.  Mr. Cameroon was the first to look away. He walked back to the large door.  He knocked on it and said, “Please open.”

The large door opened. Mr. Cameroon looked back at Dr. Brapvy and nodded at him to follow. Dr. Brapvy’s jaw dropped. He shook his head and followed Mr. Cameroon into the room. Mr. Cameroon entered the room and began to explore. The room was so dark that he could not see his hands in front of him. A man stepped out of the darkness within the room and grabbed Mr. Cameroon.

The man said, “Who are you and why are you entering my sanctuary?”  He had a very deep voice that was both gruff and soothing at the same time. Mr. Cameroon felt a furry beard scratching his neck. 

Dr. Brapvy heard the new voice and ran inside the room yelling a medieval war cry and saying, “Who are you?” Then, when he could not see anything, he said, “Where are you? Mr. Cameroon? Are you alright?” When he received no answer from either man, he yelled, “Answer me immediately!”

The man who was in the room said softly, so that only Mr. Cameroon could hear, “Who is that man?  Is he your rescuer?  Is he here to kill me?  I sought out my solitude so that I could leave that world of hatred and now you are bringing it forcefully back into my life. Why are you doing this to me?”

Mr. Cameroon replied to the man in the same soft voice, “He is not here to kill you or anyone. We are investigators and we are researching a certain address to find out more information about a case. The receptionist of this building told us that the file that we are looking for is in this room. He gave us the keys, but the door still would not open.  We went back to the receptionist and he told us to just say ‘please open’ and so we did.  That is it. Now, can you please let me go?”

The man gave the matter some thought. He then tightened his grip on Mr. Cameroon and said, “This man seems to be a little less forgiving than he should be.”

Mr. Cameroon gagged, “He is just cautious. If you give him the chance, then maybe you will see that he will not hurt without reason.”

“I guess I cannot blame him.  It is part of his job to find criminals and not trust anyone. Let us just talk to him from this position and let the chips fall where they may.  We will see how harmless he is and I will keep you like this for I will soon discover how honest you are.” He snarled this and sounded very vicious, almost as if he would rip open the man’s throat with his teeth.

“Fine. But promise not to kill me,” Mr. Cameroon whispered back urgently.

“Kill you? I would never. Now, severe injury is a better idea.”

“Nothing of that sort shall happen, alright?”

The man nodded silently in agreement.

Mr. Cameroon said as loudly as he could so that Dr. Brapvy could hear him through the room, “Dr. Brapvy, I am alright. This man claims that this room belongs to him. There seems to be a slight misunderstanding.” Mr. Cameroon said this as calmly and carefully as he could so that he would not upset the attacker. 

Dr. Brapvy breathed a deep breath and said, once he had relaxed, “Great. All we need to do is sort this thing out, and,” he stopped midsentence and screamed like a frustrated child, “Can someone turn on a light in here!” He even stamped his foot.

The bearded man bellowed loudly, “Well, I have not seen any light in a very long time. If I remember correctly, there should be a light switch on the wall to the left of the door. Mister, if it will aid in your focusing, I am sure you can find it. Then we could discuss our situation.”

Dr. Brapvy walked with his arms out in front of him, trying to find the wall. He did find it and he found the light switch soon after. He flicked it up. The stranger yelled, “Augh” and covered his eyes with his hands, releasing Mr. Cameroon and crouching so that his feet covered his face. Mr. Cameroon ran to and hid beside Dr. Brapvy. They, in unison, looked at the stranger for the first time and then looked around the room. The room was huge. It was nothing like the other file room. This one was white and homey.  It was carpeted with an intricate and ancient looking rug which filled the whole room. It was yellow, red and pale purple. There were also paintings along the wall. The paintings looked like the artist had made them just for that room. They fit perfectly in the theme of the room and were the right size to fill the walls. Four pillars of stone traveled from floor to ceiling forming a perfect square. Directly in the center of the room, a single wire led from the ceiling down exactly one meter and ended with a plate of light. Curious, Mr. Cameroon walked up to the plate of light and touched it with a single finger. He quickly pulled back just as he touched it and put that one finger in his mouth.

“Ouch!” he said, for the plate was just a light bulb and Mr. Cameroon had burned his finger slightly. Both Dr. Brapvy and Mr. Cameroon looked back at the stranger for a second time. The stranger had a scruffy red beard that could only come from years of living without grooming. He was wearing a slightly ripped mellow orange suit with a dull yellow shirt and a tie that matched the rug on the floor. He had a friendly face but naïve grey eyes. His nose was very wide and his skin was a dark brown that combined well with the color of his hair. The hair on his head was thick and curly and stood up in all directions but still had a controlled look to it. He looked as though he was around forty-four years old.

Dr. Brapvy and Mr. Cameroon looked at each other. They did not know what to do. Mr. Cameroon walked up to the strange man and sat down next to him. 

Mr. Cameroon said softly, “What is your name, sir?  I am called Mr. Cameroon and this is my – er – colleague, Dr. Brapvy.” Dr. Brapvy waved his hand and muttered a greeting. He kept his distance from their attacker.

The stranger looked up at Mr. Cameroon.

He said, “I think Bernard is my name, but I am not sure. It has been a very long time since someone spoke to me. I am pleased to meet you both.”

Dr. Brapvy paced across the room. He was deep in thought. Suddenly, he said, “Wait, you don’t happen to be the Bernard Woods, do you?”

Mr. Cameroon said, “Doctor, who is Bernard Woods?  I have never heard that name before.” Mr. Cameroon thought that the Doctor was loosing his marbles and these odd characters that he kept on speaking about only confirmed his fears.

“Mr. Cameroon, you are so young. Let me enlighten you as I always do. When I was younger, I was told about the legend of Bernard Woods. I always thought that it was just some story, but it might be true. This man might be Bernard Woods.” Dr. Brapvy was getting excited. Every person wants his Childhood dreams to come true and Dr. Brapvy felt that he was about to meet Bernard Woods.

The man who was called Bernard said, “If you pardon me for interrupting, I believe that I remember enough to tell you my story.”

To Be Continued…