Two

Mauville City has always been quite a quiet town. They rarely have any incidents even worthy to be mentioned. So much so that the police station in town has only one officer/detective who has nothing to do all day so he whiles away his time in his own house doing some farm work.

Perhaps the only incident in recent memory was the car crash of Joanna’s parents and even that was considered to be a case of drunk driving. That was all to change though. In the next couple of weeks, the citizens of this town would be crippled with fear over the unsolvable mysteries that rattled their entire world. But I get ahead of myself.

Everyone in Mauville is up and about by five in the morning. They all depend on each other so it is only natural that all of them wake up at the same time as well. They always have something to do, be it taking care of their animals or crops, delivering their produce to the markets or restaurants, making something to eat themselves, getting ready for a day’s honest work and so on. There is a right mix of farmers, industrialists and even some corporates too. No one here is filthy rich and at the same time no one here is poor either. Sounds communist, but they like it that way and strive for the perfect balance. There aren’t too many children here, the only school around is a bit further away from town and the people felt it best if all of the kids stayed there instead of coming and going every day. Made their life easier as well. Of course, they can come anytime they want to and they’re always here during the holidays so it isn’t all that bad a deal for the kids too.

“All right, Jo?”, a neighbour asks on one such morning.

“All right, Cynthia. I’m sure you had a wonderful time last night? I heard.”, Joanna responds with a sly smile.

“Oh!”, Cynthia blushes, “He was in quite the mood yesterday, I don’t know what came over him.”

“Haha, I adore you two. I don’t mind at all”, she winks and continues, “How are the sheep?”

“They’re almost there, just a couple more days and you’ll be in for a whole lot of noise. There’s around ten of them and each would have twins. That’s some work coming up!”, Cynthia said.

Peter, her husband, joins them right then, “Jo, coming in for breakfast?”

“Not today, Pete. Mayor called me in early today, I have to leave in a bit.”, Joanna said.

“Pity. Come over for dinner then!” Peter replied.

“Definitely. Be seeing you Pete and Cynthia.”, Joanna said and goes back to her house.

‘Now, why would that man want me in early today… I don’t recall anything major coming up.’, she thought.

She has a quick breakfast of bread and eggs and downs a glass of milk before collecting some of the wheat from the field storage and rushes to the bakery.

“Can’t stop today, I’ll come over after work”, Joanna said upon placing the wheat and cycled to her office.

The Mayor, Jack Steffan, was in charge of the town. Elected as the people’s favourite, he wanted the best for his town, like any other being in Mauville. He was in his third year in charge and had brought out the best of the people living here. Huge strides in development and infrastructure, forming an even more cohesive bond with the people and even slowly but steadily building the tourism aspect of Mauville too were some of the accomplishments of the people’s favourite. He knew Joanna from school, he was only a few years older than her. He saw Joanna as his ideal assistant and offered the job as soon as he took office. Joanna was excellent at getting things done, even from a young age at school, and that quality shone throughout her life. Even after her parents died, she was not deterred but in fact, the event made her even stronger and with a better sense of purpose. She liked her job and was fond of her boss as well. She felt he was a nice guy with good intentions for the town without any corrupt ideals.

Joanna cycled through the town on this glorious morning, the sun creeping through the leaves of the trees, the birds singing their morning songs to enlighten the world, the wind flying through her hair, the dogs on the streets playfully fighting with each other to exert their dominance, people opening up their shops and stores with a smile that distinguished them as citizens of Mauville, all in all a delightful morning for Joanna.

She reached the office, locked the cycle on the post, straightened her clothes, adjusted her hair, took a deep breath as she always does before entering office, and walked straight in.

“Ah good morning Joanna, glad you’re here.”, Jack welcomes her in.

“Morning, Jack.”, Joanna replied.

“Right. I called you early because I had a thought last night that we should remodel the school. It hasn’t been renovated in who knows how long and there’s no better time to do it. What say you?”

“I think that’s a fantastic idea. Would be a change for the kids as well after so long.”

They continued on with the specifics for a while, Jack asked her to come up with a revised plan of action and all of the bureaucratic procedures which aren’t worth going into. Halfway through the day however Jack said in a pensive tone, “Somebody has been watching me, Joanna. I haven’t confirmed it yet, but somehow, I feel there is someone who keeps watching me. I feel like something is going to happen to me. It’s been keeping me up at night.”

“Why do you feel that? And what reason would anyone have to harm you, especially in Mauville? You’re everyone’s favourite!”, Joanna exclaims, surprised at his revelation.

“Not everyone….”, Jack mumbled.

Joanna left office that evening quite excited about the plans for renovating the school. So much so that she even forgot to drop by the bakery. She also forgot about her boss’ worries and cheerfully cycled back. She reached home, took a shower, happily went over to Peter and Cynthia’s house, had a hearty dinner and a lovely conversation with the happy couple, came back home, watched some TV and dozed off.

A few kilometres away, Jack Steffan lay dead in his room.

                                                                        **

“You must die for what you did Jack, I see no other punishment for you.”

“Please, forgive me”, Jack begged, “I was young, I didn’t know what I was doing. They forced me into it. I only meant it as a scare tactic, I didn’t know it would turn this way.”

“Shut it, bastard! You killed them. All of you killed them. And I will make every one of you pay.”

The other slit his throat and Jack sat dead on his chair, looking as if he was in a deep sleep. The other never made a mess, left the way one came through, without a sound and laughed at the magnificent creation. A perfect locked room murder.

                                                                         **