Chapter 06: All unconscious

There was so much silence for a few moments that the sounds of heartbeats kept echoing in hall. Everyone stood silently staring at each other. Finally Inspector Richard began to speak,

"How long are we going to stand here, we should to walk inside. And we have to listen to Mr. Harry's story about Josh Gordon as well. Maybe we can find a clue in that story."

At last they all came in and sat down. The dagger was saved by Inspector Richard, and he folded the letter and put it in his pocket. At the same time, he had called home so that his wife would not be upset. Shortly afterwards, Judge Harry Wilson resumed the story:

"Three years ago, a case came to my court. A few thugs forcibly seized a piece of land belonging to an old woman. The old woman also had a son. When her son found out, he became angry and went to fight with those thugs. The thugs killed the boy. The case was clear, there was no doubt about who the culprit was. I set the date of the verdict after hearing the statements of the witnesses, and knowing the events. A day before the verdict there was a knock on my door. When my daughter Janet opened the door, there was a man standing there. He told Janet that his name is Josh Gordon and he has an important thing for me. Janet took him to the drawing room and informed me. I didn't know the man named Josh Gordon at that time. When I got to the drawing room, I noticed that, the same man attended all the trials of the old woman's son. But he was not a witness in that case. He didn't look like a good man to me. Well, I asked him what's the matter, and he said he brought something for me. Then I asked what he had brought, so he took out four packets of paper from his coat's pocket and placed them on the table and said that each of these four packets contained twenty five thousand dollars and it belonged can belong to me. When I heard this, I lost my temper. I asked in anger, what do mean by all this? So he replied that if I acquitted those accused tomorrow, he would give me this hundred thousand dollars. I asked, "Who are you?",he replied that he is a close friend of the accused whom I am going to sentence tomorrow. I thought for a second and then said, "That's good, Wait here for a while, I'll go and check their file to see if I can declare them innocent or not." He agreed to it happily and I came to the other room, I made just an excuse to leave that place because I wanted to call Inspector Jordan and tell him the situation. After informing the Inspector I went back to the drawing room and started talking to Josh so that he wouldn't doubt anything. I told Josh that it's hard for me to let his friends go as the case has been settled against them. I told him further that if I make changes than everyone will know that someone has bribed me but if you add some more dollars in this amount I can do whatever you'll say, then he replied that he can only add twenty five thousand dollars. Inspector Jordan was the in charge of our district, so he hardly took ten minutes to reach my house. While I was talking to Josh Gordon, Inspector Jordan quietly sneaked in my house and reached the drawing room. He was wearing his shiny police uniform and had a pistol in his hand. When he entered the room, Josh Gordon's face became pale. I pointed to the packets on the table and said, "Inspector, these are the packets this man was giving me as a bribe!". Josh got up and started running towards the door but was caught by the constables who came with Inspector Jordan. He was charged with bribery and sentenced to one year in prison, while the other four were sentenced to death."

After telling them the whole story judge Harry Wilson stopped, took a deep breath and drank a glass of water. After a few minutes of silence Inspector Richard said,

"So you want to say that Josh Gordon has been released from prison and has now come to you for revenge?"

"Yes! That's correct." Mr. Harry exclaimed.

"Well, I'll check Josh Gordon too. Do not worry. I am leaving Daniel, Aaron and Ella here for your safety. If something bad happens, they will make sure that everything is under control. I'll come back tomorrow morning.",After saying this, Richard Holt got up when suddenly Mr Harry's cousin, Mark Wilson said to Mr Harry,

"My dear brother, I will stay here with you. I Can't even think of going home seeing you in trouble."

"Alright, As you wish.", Mr. Harry replied.

"But I don't think it's necessary. You should go back to your home and have some rest. You came visit the judge tomorrow again." Inspector Richard interrupted.

"I won't listen to you. I'll stay here and it's decided.",Mark Wilson replied.

"Alright, whatever.",After saying this, Inspector Richard gestured to his children to come to a corner. After going there, he said,

"So far I still haven't reached the perfect result, but anyways, first I'll meet Inspector Jordan and ask him to tell me everything about Josh Gordon and then I'll go and meet Josh, maybe I can solve the case like this. I'll be back here if I considered it necessary. You guys keep your eyes and ears wide open. I don't want any more troubles."

"But dad, how can we keep our eyes and ears wide open when we'll sleep?" Aaron asked innocently.

"Well I think I have a perfect solution for your problem." Inspector Richard said with a smile on his face.

"Oh! Then please tell me what is that solution dad?" Aaron asked.

"It's simple. Whenever you feel sleepy just ask Daniel to give you a hard slap on your face your sleep will go away..... Daniel you can slap him, you have my permission." Richard Holt sighed.

"Oh God! No, there's no need for that, I won't feel sleepy anyway." Aaron shivered.

"Very well Dad don't worry, I'll slap him even if he blinks his eyes.", Daniel said with a cruel smile on his face.

Inspector Richard laughed and went out of the house, sat in his Jeep, started it and went on his way to home.

"Look, I'm blinking. See If you can hit me or not." Aaron jokingly challenged Daniel.

"I'm not a psycho like you. I'll only slap you when you'll fall asleep." Daniel smiled.

"Why do we have to wake up all night? After all the judge is inside the house, how can his life be in danger in here?" Ella said as she was feeling sleepy.

"It's our dad's order, we have to stay up and keep our eyes open." Daniel ordered.

When the trio walked towards the drawing room they saw Mark Wilson coming towards them in a rush, he was terrified.

" What happened? Why are you in a rush?" Daniel asked.

"That... My.... My brother... Harry.." Mark said with a speech disorder.

"What happened to him?" Ella worriedly asked.

"I... I don't know..... It seems as if he had fallen into a deep sleep. I shook him a lot but he didn't wake up." Mark said nervously.

"But he was alright a moment ago. He even told us the whole story about Josh Gordon." Ella said with a shock.

"Yeah, but God knows what happened to them. They all are in a deep sleep now."Mark replied.

"What? What did you say? All of them?" Aaron shocked.

Then they rushed to the drawing room and they saw that they were all laid as they were dead.