Murder Mystery 7 Codes
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In the small and dark room, with an unlighted candle sitting on a table nearby, two people were talking. There was only one way in or out of this place—a single window covered by heavy curtains—and it faced away from the road, which made escape impossible in case of fire or another emergency.
The room itself held nothing but some simple furniture such as a bed, dresser, desk, and chair. It felt like a place where someone who couldn’t afford to rent an apartment would live, but there was something else that was unusual about this house.
As if to accentuate the darkness and gloominess of the space, even the night sky above had been obscured by clouds—it seemed as if all hope for light was lost here.
But there was no reason why this should have bothered the people inside the house. They knew their location well enough already: they were in a small town called St. Paul’s, located near Mount Pleasant, just south of Boston.
It wasn’t a large place, and even though there were many houses around them, each was isolated from its neighbors by a good distance, making them feel very secure within this community. But when the owner of this place, John Taggert, went missing without anyone knowing exactly what happened to him, his wife Anne found herself alone and afraid.
She didn’t know what would happen next—but she did know that something bad was going to happen. And so she decided that she had no choice but to do whatever it took to stay alive. Because she knew what it meant to be alone…
“Anne.” A woman’s voice came into Anne’s mind. “Are you awake?”
Anne looked at the clock—just after three o’clock. It was a strange sensation: the voices in her head weren’t hers—they belonged to someone else, although she wasn’t sure who.
“I’m awake,” Anne said back, trying to figure out whether or not these voices were real.
The voices in Anne’s head continued to speak softly and carefully.
“We’ve come here tonight because we want you to help us.” One of the voices sounded like a young girl’s; another, much older. Both were beautiful and soft-spoken, and there was a hint of sadness about them—as if they really cared about something that needed solving, and could understand how hard it was to deal with.
“You see…” the first voice began again, sounding sad and thoughtful. “Mr. Taggert hasn’t been seen since last night, and there are several things happening here lately. You’re going through a difficult time right now—”
“Yes!” Anne interrupted. “There’s a lot going on.”
“So don’t hesitate to talk about it. We can help you.”
The second voice added to the conversation: “This is not a joke. Your husband disappeared, and you shouldn’t let anything distract you from finding him. I’m sorry, but your marriage troubles must take a back seat for now. Don’t lose yourself in despair. You need to stay focused. Remember Mr. Taggert.”
“…yes, yes.” Anne agreed, feeling as if the words had been pulled straight from her heart. This was what she needed to hear at this moment in time. After all, it had been a while since she’d talked to anyone outside this house.
It felt good to share her feelings with someone else. The voices were like the comforting arms of a friend. “What do you want me to do? How do you think I can help you?”
Both voices replied: “You see…” The younger one paused for a few moments before continuing. “Our group doesn’t have any money, and we don’t have anywhere to go, so we decided to ask for a favor from you. We want you to look for Mr. Taggert for us until we find him.”
That caught Anne off guard. When she heard those words, she suddenly became more alert. She had been too distracted by all the things happening in her life recently. Now she realized she was lucky to have someone helping her, but she wondered how they knew where she lived, and what they wanted.
The second voice added: “It’s very simple. Just tell us whatever you remember about where he might have gone, and we’ll use the information to narrow down our search.”
Anne thought for a minute. She wasn’t exactly sure what kind of help she could offer. But when she tried to talk through things with the voices, she finally understood what she could do: “We don’t have any idea where Mr. Taggert could possibly go,” she said. “He knows every inch of this house, so I don’t think we could ever guess where he’s hiding.”
The younger girl laughed. “That’s okay! We don’t expect you to give us exact directions.”
They asked: “Do you remember anything about Mr. Taggert’s whereabouts last night? If you do, you may be able to narrow down our search quite a bit.”
She told them: “Actually, I do.”
The girl in the voice continued to speak. “Remember how Mr. Taggert went out yesterday morning?”
Anne replied: “Yes, of course—he was taking care of some business.”
“And what did he say when you asked him to leave the house?”
Anne answered, puzzled: “Why would I ask him to go somewhere?”
“Well…” the voice trailed off. “Just forget about it for now. Let’s stick with what happened this morning.”
Anne took a moment to recall what she could, and then she replied: “After Mr. Taggert left, I made breakfast—and afterward, I tidied up the kitchen for him.”
“That’s nice.” The voices sounded impressed.
“Then we had a cup of coffee together.” Anne paused for a moment. “And he left for work shortly afterward. That’s all.”
“Good.” The second voice spoke again. “We’ll start there.”
Anne sat down next to the fireplace, thinking. Then she said, “I know something important, but I don’t want to mention it.”
“Don’t worry.” The two voices seemed reassuring. “If you’re not sure what we should do with the information, we won’t pressure you.” They waited patiently for Anne’s answer.
Anne said: “My brother is having an affair, and he’s living with his girlfriend in a trailer park outside town. Mr. Taggert was angry when he found out that Mr. Taggert was leaving me for someone else.”
She paused for a moment to see how the voices would react, but they didn’t respond immediately. Then Anne continued: “Mr. Taggert has always been very private about these kinds of things, but I suppose he was upset enough to tell me everything this morning.
He said he couldn’t live with my husband anymore because he didn’t love me anymore. And he promised that he wouldn’t be back home again. Mr. Taggert was very clear about all this.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Lomax!” the second voice exclaimed, and Anne realized the voice belonged to a female. “Now we can begin looking.”
Anne looked around her house. “But I don’t really believe my brother would betray Mr. Taggert.”
The younger voice replied: “Your opinion matters less than ours. You don’t even know your brother as well as we do.”
“I’m just telling you what Mr. Taggert said.” Anne sighed. She hated being talked to like that, especially since she didn’t want to be involved in the search. “So please… if you don’t need anything else—”
“Of course not.” The girl cut her off. “Please stay inside while we search outside.”
Anne said: “Oh, no…”
The younger voice interrupted: “Mrs. Lomax, I think we’ll take good care of you. Please trust us.”
Anne looked at the clock. She had to get ready for school. So she got up from the sofa and walked toward the door.
“We’ll call if we have further questions,” the young woman told her before Anne reached the hallway. Then they both hung up. Anne felt numb, and confused. How could she go to school now? What would everyone say if she showed up?
But after walking through the living room and into the entryway, she realized there was nothing she could do. So she went upstairs and changed into the clothes she’d laid out. When she came downstairs, the front door was already unlocked. A few moments later, the two girls entered the house.
“Sorry for the wait,” said the younger voice. “Where do you usually hang your coat?”
Anne pointed to a closet on the right side of the foyer. “Right there,” she said. She followed them to the closet, and then she noticed something peculiar about their manner of searching the house.
They were taking things out of cabinets. Not opening drawers. And when they opened doors and cupboards, they weren’t careful about looking inside the contents. It didn’t make any sense.
But Anne decided to keep her mouth shut. After all, maybe they had more experience than she did; perhaps they knew what to look for and where it would be.
She tried to relax as the younger girl took a box of tissues out of one of the lower shelves in the bathroom cabinet and placed it on the counter next to the sink. “It looks like you’ve used this already,” she remarked, and Anne nodded as if she understood exactly what the older girl meant.
Then Anne watched silently as the younger girl pulled a bottle of shampoo out of another cabinet, and as she held it in both hands, the label revealed itself: “Tranquility Shampoo.” Anne smiled to herself as the girl examined the bottle more closely.
The older girl asked: “Is this yours?”
Anne said nothing, so the younger voice continued: “Do you mind if we search the rest of your medicine cabinet?”
Anne hesitated, but she wasn’t sure why. She felt uncomfortable, but the young woman sounded friendly enough, and Anne had little choice except to comply. So she agreed as politely as possible. But then she thought better of it, deciding instead to ask a question of her own: “What will you do with the things you find here? Will you destroy them or give them back?”
Anne expected a negative reply, but the girl said: “No, we won’t destroy anything.”
As they continued to walk around the house, Anne wondered whether they would stop searching in each room soon. They seemed to be moving quickly, and Anne hoped they would finish the search within an hour.
She still planned to go to school afterward, although her head hurt from worrying about how her mother would react if she found out Anne had gone missing during school hours. She also hoped they wouldn’t call Mr. Taggert before she returned.
If they did, she might have to explain to him that she hadn’t been abducted, as if such a thing was even possible. She had never met a single person who didn’t think it was impossible for someone to disappear without anyone noticing.
When the younger girl opened the door to the linen closet, Anne saw a familiar face peering from behind the towels on the shelf. The image of her son flashed through Anne’s mind again. He was only six years old, but he’d become a friend and companion to her since his father died several months ago.
Now that her husband had been taken away, Tommy had become more of a child to Anne than ever, helping her by running errands for her, or doing little jobs around the house whenever she needed help.
“Tommy?” Anne whispered. She leaned down to try to catch his attention, but the boy remained silent. He must not have heard her over the noise of their voices.
“Mrs. Lomax, are you in here?” The girl’s tone indicated annoyance.
Anne stood up, realizing that Tommy was safe, at least for now. The girl said something else, but Anne couldn’t hear her over the noise of the television show she and Tommy were watching.
“I’m sorry,” Anne told her in response. She turned off the television and led them back into the living room.
After the girls finished searching, they made tea and sandwiches on the kitchen table. Anne sat across from them, feeling awkward and uncomfortable, wondering if they were really as nice as they sounded on the phone.
Finally, when it felt like they were ready to leave, Anne asked: “If I want to talk to you again about Tommy—”
“Yes,” said the older girl. “Please call us first.” They thanked Anne, and once they left, she went upstairs and closed her bedroom door. As she sat down on her bed, Anne realized that she’d forgotten to put Tommy to bed after she’d finished making dinner earlier in the evening.
But it didn’t matter. He could probably sleep for another couple of hours, especially with that new horror movie playing on HBO. When Anne checked in on him a few minutes later, Tommy wasn’t sleeping soundly—instead, he was staring at a corner of the ceiling, his eyes wide open. His face wore a look of concern as he stared at whatever lay hidden above the wooden slats.
The End