Murder In The Old Castle
348. Scorched Man

Reno stood in front of a room that was wide open. In it, he saw a man whose hands were handcuffed, hanging, and whose head was drooping. Meanwhile, blood flowed from his neck, soaking his chest and all over his clothes. Reno did not waste time lingering, he immediately checked the condition of the hanging man. He recognizes the man as Aditya, who is rumored to have disappeared after descending underground with Jeremy. Soon Reno checked Aditya's neck, it turns out there is an incision like a slit. Blood is pouring out nonstop. This man is drooping, dying, like a farm animal just slaughtered.

"Civilized!" reno muttered.

Reno's clothes were also drenched in Aditya's blood. He tried to calm down, because underground he was alone. Time has also moved to the early hours. The only one who can be asked for help is Ammar or Juned, who is still on standby at the top. To save Aditya's life seems impossible, considering that there is already a lot of blood flowing, while this place is very far from the hospital or health center. This man is not moving anymore either. It is certain that Adit's life is no longer helped.

Reno held her breath. He blamed himself for arriving late to the place. However, he did not expect that there was this event at all. He must have heard footsteps away from the hallway. Reno no longer wanted to blame herself too much. Soon he left the room, heading to the top of the castle through the hallway in the reading room, where he had entered earlier. He hoped the secret door would still be open. Don't let him get locked up in the basement. He knew that the killer was currently running upstairs, through a window near the kitchen.

Fortunately, he still saw a beam of light at the end of the hallway. That meant that the secret wall was still open, and was directly connected to the reading room. Half-running he approached the reading room, but as he headed there, suddenly the wall closed slowly.

"They're going!"

Reno spontaneously shouted, because when the wall closed, it would be confined in the basement. That means, it is unlikely that he will come out anytime soon. The basement is not a place frequented by the castle dwellers. Slowly, the wall shifted, so Reno had to spur her pace, in order to catch up to the wall.

Situation's precarious. Soon the wall closed, but Reno had already reached there, and was holding back the pace of the movement of the wall with his body. Now, he was wedged between the walls, but he quickly escaped from the wall clasp by throwing his body to the side, to the floor of the reading room. Sure enough, he had seen a black figure running out of the reading room. Apparently he pulled the lever, so the wall closed.

"Don't run you son of a bitch*at!" peekkik Reno's.

He got up, about to chase the figure, half ran out of the reading room, but when he got to the front door of the reading room, he found the figure already invisible. Reno just sighed. For a while he had to ignore the figure, and focus more on taking care of Aditya who was already in a state of death down there. Searching for that figure in this vast castle certainly took a long time, and he was alone as well.

From the kitchen, he suddenly saw Juned running to Reno. Apparently he had heard Reno scream in the reading room, so he immediately moved there. He seemed surprised to see Reno in front of the reading room with a confused look.

"What's up, sir? I was in the back, suddenly there was a cry for me to come here" asked Juned.

"I saw the black figure running towards the central room, but now it had disappeared. He was going to lock me in the basement. Fortunately, I moved quickly. This secret door must be secured immediately, lest he master it. By the way, we're going to work hard tonight. There's a bad thing down there!" reno.

"God! I don't see if there's anyone else around here, sir. I was on guard outside and saw nothing.  What's in the basement, sir?" ask Juned.

"I can't tell you now, Juned. Now we have to go down and evacuate someone who was injured there. But I'm afraid something bad will happen inside the castle, while we stay down. Well we should ask Bang Ammar first to be on standby at the top, while we go down to take care of who is there!" reno.

"Good, Sir. I am still following you!"

Without wasting time. Reno moved quickly. The first thing he did was inform Ammar of the incident he had just experienced. At that time, Ammar was resting in a room with Mariah. However, as this was urgent, Reno knocked on Reno's room door loudly. He recounts the chronological events, as soon as Ammar came out.

Of course, the shocking news was immediately taken seriously. Ammar went back into the room to prepare his gun and jacket. He will stand guard at the castle, while Reno and Juned will descend into the basement. Mariah looks good asleep. He did not want to wake her up, so he immediately went out and prepared.

Reno and Juned entered into the basement through a secret door in the reading room, as it was indeed closer than that place. To avoid someone closing the secret door, Reno accidentally locked the door of the reading room from the inside, so that no one entered it. Juned looked astonished to see the secret door open, revealing a long dark passageway leading to the basement. He thought, things like this only he found in films, now he feels alone.

"Come on Jun, we need to move the body before morning. It will cause panic!" bring Reno.

"Ready Sir!"

They reached the room where Aditya died. The man was motionless, and it is certain that he was dead. Juned could only hold his breath looking at that terrifying scene. At first they had a little trouble how to move Aditya's body, because Adit's hands were handcuffed, and they had no handcuff keys. However, they saw that the handcuffs were hung on a rope above the ceiling, so they could cut the rope, without the need to unlock the handcuffs.

"We just broke that rope!" reno.

Juned nodded.  He climbed onto a chair in the room, then cut the rope that hooked the handcuffs. Luckily, always have a small knife ready, so that if there is anything he can overcome the problem easily. Now Aditya's body is downstairs, and Reno holds it.

"How is this, sir? Where do we move this body?" ask Juned.

"As always, Jun. For a while we keep it in one of the rooms here, while waiting for paramedics to come from the city. It just so happens that Mariah today plans to go to the city to shop for kitchens, I will ask you to stop by the police and tell you to go to the castle immediately" Reno said.

Juned suddenly felt sad. Either this how many times the paramedics go back and forth to the castle, because there are always dead bodies that have to be evacuated. Juned hoped this was the last corpse to be evacuated. That very minute, they immediately acted quickly, carrying Aditya's body to a room whose door was not locked. Fortunately, not far from that place there was a room whose door was unlocked. They put Aditya's body into the room.

"We mark the room, so it's easy to find!" reno's orders.

"Don't worry, sir, I can remember well" Juned replied.

"Don't take any chances, Juni. Later maybe when the paramedic team came here, we were still looking for his room. We'd better anticipate this by marking the room" Reno suggested.

"Good, Sir!"

"The seventh room sir! The seventh room from the intersection of that passageway. Don't worry, you won't forget!"

To be more convincing, Juned scratched his folding knife on the steel door, forming the number 7. However, the steel door was of course difficult to scratch, so there was no other option, except to calculate the order number of the cubicles from the branching of the hallway. He is sure, will not forget the sequence number of the room.

***

Ammar stood guard inside the castle, pacing from the lower floors to the upper floors, ensuring that the situation was completely safe. Indeed, when viewed, this castle was so quiet, as if nothing had happened. However, this castle actually harbors a crime that may be unimaginable. In this vast castle, it holds many cases of crime, dating back decades, and continues today. Countless number of lives were lost in this old castle, so the aura present in this castle was also always negative.

Ammar walked vigilantly along the second-floor corridor, looking down at the first floor in the dining room. He felt that there was nothing strange that night. Everything is going as it should. The occupants are like sleeping in a dream. Even so, Ammar tried to keep sharpening all the senses he had. The black figure Reno saw disappeared somewhere, and Ammar assumed that the figure had changed roles.

Meanwhile, in Ammar's room, Mariah apparently woke up from her sleep. He was surprised to find Ammar beside him, so he went out of the room to check. He put on his knit jacket, then looked at the situation outside the quiet room.he saw a wall clock with the needle docked at the number 3. She wondered, where is her husband this early?

Mariah walked down the hallway of the rather dark room. His main goal was the kitchen, as he felt a little sultry that night. Although cold air penetrates the skin, it feels very thirsty. He walks a little lazily towards the kitchen, but suddenly he is startled by a strange noise from Lily's room. She guessed that Lily had not slept, so her room sounded a bit noisy. Mariah wants to check if she's okay. He paused his intention to go to the kitchen, and knocked on Lily's door.

"Tok .. tok .. tok!

"Who?" ask Lily from her room.

Mariah clearly heard from Lily's tone of voice, it seemed that the woman was in a state of fear. Mariah was astonished. He thought, there must be a bad thing that happened to Lily. He heard like the sound of heavy objects being dragged in the room.

"Ly, open the door. It's me Mariah. You okay?" ask Mariah.

Lily's room door opened slightly, Lily's face appeared from behind her bedroom door, with a frightened look. He looked left and right to see the situation.

"What's up, Ly? You look really scared" asked Mariah.

"Where is the black figure ... where is it? Did you see too, Mariah? I ... I accidentally saw the figure sitting near the reading room, when I was about to go to the kitchen. Unexpectedly she also saw me .. she .. she ran towards me while holding a knife in her blood-filled hand. I was scared to death, then immediately ran into the room, while I dragged a chair to prop up the door. I'm so scared, Mariah!" lily said with a breath.

"I didn't see anyone, Lily. I haven't seen anyone since. I was going to the kitchen and heard the sound of stuff being dragged into your room. Why didn't you just yell, so we could come and ambush that figure?" ask Lily.

"My mouth was locked, and my tongue was crazily scared of Mariah. I'm so scared!"

"Yes, you're safe now, right? You better go back to the room and sleep so that tomorrow you can wake up in a fresh state. What matters is that you're okay, right? Lock the door yes. Don't open the door if anyone knocks," advises Mariah.

"Yes Mariah. Thank you!"

After Lily calmed down a little, she closed the door and went back inside her room. Mariah was a little anxious to hear Lily's words, She looked to the right and to the left, afraid that the black figure that Lily was referring to would appear suddenly. But he felt all safe. He was somewhat suspicious of Lily. It could have been that the woman was just acting, as if there was a black figure chasing after her. Mariah just sighed, left Lily's room, walked back to the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, Mariah opened the refrigerator door, took a glass of cold water, and downed the water, looking out from the kitchen window into the backyard. Suddenly he saw a man standing restlessly in the dark of the night, under a tree in the backyard. A moment later, that figure was as if he was about to enter the castle through the kitchen door.

"What do nights like this do outside?" ask Mariah in your heart.

Knowing that the figure was about to enter the kitchen, Mariah immediately looked for a place to hide. The only possible place is under a fairly wide table. He could sit crouching there, waiting for the figure to enter. Let alone this figure that Lily saw, Mariah thought.

The figure rushed into the kitchen area, rushing about to enter the inner area of the castle. Mariah immediately came out of her hiding place, immediately reprimanding someone who had just entered the kitchen area.

"Good night in the morning .. "greet Mariah.

***