An Old Enemy Chapter 4 I woke up next morning. My head ached like hell. I had sinusitis since I was 6 , so I guess I'll just have to live with it. Just when I finished breakfast , the phone rang. I answered. "Hello?" said I. "Hey Sophie!" said John , my friend. "Hey John! Long time no see." said I "Yeah. How are you?" "I'm fine" I lied. "What about you?" "Stuck up in a case. Need you're help." John works for Scotland yard. He gives me cases to solve even though I'm not working with him. "Whats it this time?" "A murder. Its the strangest case I've ever seen!" "How strange?" "Stacy Stapelson , died today morning at 9 , 2 blocks down from you're house.There's no wound but there's a note written in blood. Care to come?" "I'm on my way" said I and hung up. I walked 2 blocks down. I reached and the whole place was crowded by police officers. I saw John talking to another police officer. I came up to him "Hey. Fancy taking me to the Crime scene?" "Follow me" said he. We entered a tall, old brick building . I can't believe I never noticed it. We went up the wooden spiral staircase until we reached the top floor. There was only one door and engraved upon it , was the number '214'. I opened the door, It was empty , completely empty except for the note and Stacy's dead body lying on the cold floor. "See?No wound" said John I examined the victim. She was in her mid 30's , happily married. No kids. There was fur on her sleeve , clearly She had a dog. I smelled her lips. I got up an studied the note. It was 6 feet above the ground. "Any clue?" said John. "5 , so far. Firstly , she was in her mid 30's , happily married. Second , she had no kids. Third , she had a dog. Fourth , she was poisoned. Fifth , the murder was 6 feet tall." "How could you possibly know the murderer's height and she was poisoned?" said John. "Simple. The murderer wrote according to his eye level and when I smelled Stacy's lips , you could smell poison , deadly enough to kill you" He nodded. You could tell he was slightly confused. "And what about the note?' asked John. I looked at the note again. It was written: "ETNS ENZS ETNS EZNS." Hmm...strange message. I wonder what he meant. "it might be a cipher" Said I. "A what?" asked John. "A cipher. Do you have a paper and pen?" "Yeah" said John. He took out a paper and pen from his pocket. It took me a lot of time to decipher it. "Aha!" I said at last. "It was a Ceaser Shift Cipher!" I exclaimed. "Hmm.. Strange.. I can't seem to comprehend the message." "What is it?" said John "It says ,'Tick Tock Tick Tock'." "What does it mean?" "No idea" "You better go now before my boss notices you" "What?! your boss is here?! I thought she never came to any cases!" I exclaimed. John's boss and I , never got along. We HATE each other. John boss's name is Amelia Riddle. God , I loath her. "She doesn't. Only the interesting ones" I nodded and we went down the spiral staircase. We reached outside. There were less officer's now and luckily John's boss wasn't there. "Can I offer you a lift?" said John , Smiling. "No. I'll walk." I said , smiling back at him. "Can I call you when I need you?" asked John. "Are you sure Amelia won't mind?" I said. "She doesn't have to know." he said with a mere grin. "Alright then. Goodbye" said I and left. While I was walking , I thought about the note. "Tick Tock Tick Tock" I murmured along the way. I reached home and just when I took my key out , I noticed my door was slightly opened. I took my gun out and opened the door as it creaked.My house had been robbed! I heard someone...moaning...no....crying. It was coming from the hall. I tiptoed my way , getting closer to the cry and i noticed that Mrs. Monkford was sitting on the couch with her hands buried in her face. "Mrs. Monkford! Who did this?!" I exclaimed. "He-He-He" she stammered. "What happened?!" She took a few deep breathes as I held her hand. I got her a glass of water.She didn't drink it.I saw her hand tremble in fear as she held the glass. "What happened , Mrs. Monkford?" I said calmly , for I didn't care if my house was robbed. "I came here to see you. You're door was open. I assumed you had left it open , by mistake. I entered and there was a man , looking for something. I don't know what it was though. He noticed me and he - " She burst into tears. I put my hand on her shoulder While she put her head on my shoulder. "It's alright Mrs. Monkford" I consoled her. She kept sobbing. I heard the doorbell ring. I went and opened it. "Hey. I heard what happened. Is everything alright?" said John. "Yes. Mrs. Monkford saw the person who broke in" We went to Mrs. Monkford , who was still sobbing. "Mrs. Monkford , could you tell us what he looked like?" I said , calmly. "He was a tall , scrawny , strange looking bloke. He had light brown hair and he was wearing a long light brown coat and he had a walkie-talkie in his hand. Luckily , I heard the other person on the walkie-talkie say , "Daniel"." Mrs. Monkford had explained. "Daniel Clarke" I recalled. "Isn't he?" John said "The second most dangerous man in London" "But he hasn't done anything in years. Why strike now?" "Someone's caught his attention. This has to be connected with Stacy's death. He could be the murderer." "Could be. We have to talk to Stacy's sister , get information." said he. "Let's go then." "Okay. I'll drop Mrs. Monkford. You wait by the car" "Alright" We dropped Mrs. Monkford home. She was better now. We went to Stacy's sister house. I tried to open the door. It was locked. "Bad time. She must've gone somewhere" said John I looked down for clues. I saw a small book in the corner. It was wet. "Look at that. That book is wet and it hasn't rained since 3 days."said I. "Must've gone for a holiday then" said John. I looked up. "Do you leave your windows open when you go for a holiday , John?" I took a bob pin and a safety pin and started unlocking the door. It unlocked and we entered. "You go look for clues in the bedroom while I search in the hall" I whispered to John. He nodded and went into the bedroom. I tried to search in the bedroom but there wasn't any clue.I took the photo frame which had been placed on a small wooden table. Luckily , he had left his Fingerprints. Suddenly , out of nowhere , somebody started choking me. "Long time no see" the person whispered in my ear. I knew it was Clarke. "John" I cried , hoping he would come. "Yeah. What is it ? Found anything?" he said. I could hear his footsteps and so could Daniel. Daniel made a run for it. I kept coughing. John entered the room , surprised when he looked at me "Go after him" said I. John saw Daniel and started running after him. I sighed and got up. I came out of the hall and saw John walking towards me with Daniel. "Hallo Daniel" said I. "Hallo." he said , smiling. "Why did you kill Stacy?" "I was hired to" "So , who hired you?" He didn't answer. He kept smiling. I frowned. "Something's wrong" said John. "One push of a button and the whole Scotland Yard goes boom" he said , smiling. "Fine. We'll let you go" said I. "We've finally caught him and you're letting him go?"said John. "Think about it , John. It's either letting him go or the whole Scotland yard in pieces." I said. He nodded and let go of Daniel. "Thats better" said Daniel and started walking towards the door. Then , I realised.How could've I been so stupid?! Obviously , He couldn't blow up Scotland yard! He didn't have time to plant the bomb because he and the person who hired him didn't know I was going to be here! Now , I know all of you have one question in your mind , "How did I know that?". It's obvious because he didn't have that button to blow Scotland yard neither did he have a walkie-talkie or anything to communicate to anybody to press that button. Daniel was about to turn the doorknob. Just to see if I was right , I quietly said to John , "He lied" and I made sure I was audible to Daniel. I was right , Daniel made a run for it , again. "After him!" I shouted. John and I started chasing him. We finally caught him after tripping over garbage cans and running through alleys. "Caught you" said I. "It was worth a try" he said , grinning. "Who hired you?" I asked. "You know exactly who." "What did that message mean?" I asked. "You know" Yes , I did know I also knew who hired him but I didn't want John to know that I knew. "I called the police , they're on their way" said John Daniel laughed. The police took him and put him to jail. "Finally. The second most dangerous man in London , caught!" said John , smiling. "Yeah. It was quite simple , though" I said. "Simple!" he ejaculated. "Of course. All of it was obvious" said I. He nodded. "Hungry?" he said. "Starving!" said I. "I know just the place" he said and smiled. We went to eat. I couldn't eat properly at all because I recalled what James had said when I last met him. 'Tick tock goes the clock the games begin. Tick tock goes the clock whose gonna win?' And I feared , he might win.