A Victim Without a Tongue by Regina Avakyan

I hate mornings, especially when someone

knocks on my door within 15 minutes. Here, for example, like today. And how do they all know that I'm at home? I pulled something on and went to open it. I stopped in front of the door and said, "Woman." And then he opened the door. And there really was a woman standing at the door. How did I guess? It was simple. Only a woman will knock on the door so persistently. Here even deductive methods are not needed.

- Finally! she shouted.

- Good morning to you too.

- Excuse me?

- Have you seen how long it is now?

- Yes, it's been 3 pm.

- All the more, it's a bad morning if I overslept.

The woman was dressed expensively. I noticed new things but crumpled as if she hadn't changed them since yesterday, and the diamonds in her ears and on her finger. Single, but engaged. Her face spoke of fear, but not for someone, but for herself. Her inability to choose good clothes spoke for itself—the girl was poor, but suddenly money appeared, and she enjoys spending it, but taste in clothes should be instilled from childhood.

- Let me guess, your fiancé is accused of things that could deprive him of all his money and put him in prison?

- How did you find out?

- That's why I'm a detective.

- Of course. My name is Catherine Paz. And my fiancé is accused of murdering my sister.

- Somehow you don't look as if your sister was killed. - And she really didn't look like it.

- I am stressed, everything is happening at once, I don't know whether to prepare for the funeral or to look for a lawyer, so I decided to come to you, Mr. Adam. Help save my fiance.

Miss Paz told me briefly about the situation that her sister was found dead in their house by a cleaning lady. She was speechless. And the experts determined that she was killed in the morning because even the body was not cold. The suspect is Miss Paz's fiance because he was the only one who had a motive, a few days before the murder they had an argument. Catherine didn't know what, but the servants said that Miss Paz's late sister had said that her fiancé was cheating on her and should call off the wedding. But my client found out about this conversation only today.

I decided to take on this case, but I already knew what I would find out in the end, but I needed to check a few facts. The first thing to do was to talk to the maids and see the house.

I noted that the house where the sisters lived was very luxurious, and there must be cameras. But as it turned out, all records were destroyed. It was not surprising. So, the killer was in this house for a long time, because it took a lot of time to kill a person, cut off his tongue, and delete the recordings from the surveillance cameras, and you need to know the house so that no one hears a single sound.

I already understood what was happening and who killed the younger Miss Paz. But I decided to check a few more things. So I decided to take a walk around the house of Mr. Ednrews, my client's fiancé. Next, I went to The Poison Garden in Northumberland. After driving all day, I put everything in a pile.

The next day, I called Ms. Paz and offered to meet at the police station, where after our conversation, all charges would be dropped.

- Good afternoon, Mr. Adam. I hope I will hear good news and my fiancé will be released.

- Of course, now we will wait for Detective Huckins, who is handling your fiancé's case, and we will begin.

But the detective did not make us wait long. And here we are in the interrogation room.

- First, I want to tell you, Miss Paz, that you are not a very good murderer, of course, you fooled the head of the police, but not me. You are a very mercantile woman. You just killed your sister for the sake of living in abundance. You have learned that Mr. Andrews has fallen in love with your sister, who has come to visit you. A relationship began to develop between them and you learned about it. On the day of the murder, you went to The Poison Garden in Northumberland. A wonderful garden. A bunch of poisonous plants, take as much as you need. Only one twig was enough for your sister. Wormwood is a beautiful plant, isn't it? You mixed this wonderful plant into your food. The maids have never seen you in the kitchen before. Also, I think you will be seen perfectly on the cameras. I would also like to note that it was imprudent to come to the detective in the dress you were wearing in that garden, even the small plant that was on your dress was already a big proof of your guilt.

- Why was the tongue cut off?

- Oh, sorry, I forgot about this fact. So, this plant contains the alkaloid aconitine, which causes the heart and breathing to stop. Also, a small fact about this magical plant: if you cook this plant at a high temperature, there will be small tumours on the tongue and therefore every medical examiner will know what the victim was killed with.

Miss Catherine sat pale and could not even say anything.

- The case is solved. I will send the invoice to your ex-fiancé.