'Axl and Nancy: Pacifying Rupert'

 “Hi! I am Nancy. This is my dog Axl. We live in the building just next to your house. We heard some commotion around your house yesterday. We enquired and got to know that somebody died. I am so sorry for your loss.”

The man continued to pet me and said, “Yes. It was my father who passed away. My sister and I are all that is left now. I decided to take a walk around because I cannot be in the house without him. But how do you know that was my house?”

Nancy plainly replied, "I saw you walk out of that house. I have been sitting in the park for quite sometime now."

He had tears but I could sense by petting me his pain was being assuaged and so I did not relent. I sat down with my head on his lap.

Nancy said, “I am truly and deeply sorry for your loss.”

He looked up to her and saw genuineness in her eyes. The quaint garden which was usually lit by the cachinnation of children, now looked sullen to me. The background is morose and this man is just crestfallen.

He said, “I am Rupert.” He extended his hand to shake Nancy’s. Following the social convention, Nancy shook his hand. 

He said, “How am I going to take care of Cynthia? She is only 15 years old.”

Nancy interjected, “I understand. If you don’t mind, how did it all happen?”

He took a deep breath and said, “My father was running some bad gamble in business. He was facing huge losses. He decided to take sleeping pills and end his own life. He took his last breath in my arms.” He looked at his hands and snivelled. He continued, “When he had consumed the pills, we heard the lamp stand next to his bed fall. We all were alarmed. We rushed to his room. We saw him shrivel. I rushed to him and held him in my arms.” He paused to gasp for air. He continued crying and said, “He saw me in the eye and pointed to my sister and then pointed at me and said-Take care. He then almost immediately became unconscious. Our house help and I picked him up immediately and took him to the hospital in our car. The hospital staff couldn’t save him.”

He cried. He buried his head in his palms. I licked his hand and Nancy kept her hand on his shoulder. He controlled his tears and said, “You must be thinking how can a 23 year old man be so distraught? But I am so flummoxed. What can I do? I cannot believe my father would leave me in such a mess. How will I take care of Cynthia? How will we manage business? How will we cope up?”

Nancy said, “I am not judging you at all. I understand it all so well. You surely need answers. Did your father leave a note for you?”

I could sense where Nancy might be steering the conversation. Rupert ran his hand through my hair and disappointingly said, “None that we could find.”

Nancy said, “Do you mind me showing around the room. I am a crime reporter. Well! Honestly! It is more like investigating. Axl has been trained to find out things. He might be able to help you find the letter or note or maybe something that will help you gain some answers. It might sound crazy but maybe we could help. A fresh pair of eyes might help.”

He looked at Nancy and then at me. I woofed. He smiled and said, “I am growing fond of you, Axl. Maybe Cynthia would find a distraction by petting you.”

Nancy, Rupert and I walked into his house. We were greeted by the house help and then Cynthia greeted us by the stairs. I couldn’t smell anything fishy. The smell was normal. No new people have been in the house for sometime now. I also smell sadness. But I smell tension too. Someone is scared. But it was all conducive to the prior event.

We went to the room. I sniffed around. I could smell the usual smells. Nancy also looked around the room. She spotted the pill box. It was still there. She asked me to smell it by bringing it closer to my nose. I sniffed it. She then let me lose and I immediately knew where to go. I tracked the smell to one person in the room. I barked at that person. Nancy then commanded, “Axl! Dear, come back.” I am docile and so I obeyed her. She pinned the leash to my collar again. 

She then told Rupert, “Rupert, please excuse Axl. I am sorry for the behaviour. Would you help us out?”

Rupert said, “Sure! Maybe Axl would like fresh air. Come this way.”

We followed him. On our way out, Nancy told Rupert, “Rupert, we need to talk privately.”

Rupert said, “Sure!”

On reaching out, Nancy said, “We have discovered something. I don’t know how to put it and so I choose to say it plainly- Your father was murdered.”

Rupert got splenetic and said, “What are you talking about? How can you say that? That is so silly.”

Nancy calmly replied, “Why I insisted to bring Axl here is because I couldn’t believe the fact that your father didn’t leave a note behind. Also, why would he consume pills in broad day light and then drop the lamp stand to attract attention? He clearly needed saving.”

She paused noticing that the story is settling well with Rupert and then continued, “Axl didn’t smell a foreign body’s odour. As there were no medical officers on the scene, I assumed any new body odour would point towards our killer who must be an outsider. But Axl didn’t pick any foreign odour. Had he picked it up, he would have barked. He is trained to pick the odd smells. And then, when we went to the room, I saw the pill box. It smelled fruity to me. So I made Axl sniff it and point to the person whose fingers smell fruity- perhaps, some lotion of some sorts, I guess. Since the death was so close, I saw that no one had cleaned the room and only the killer must have touched the bottle. I'm sure that your father would not have applied a hand lotion and then tried to kill himself.” She paused and then said the most crucial part, “Rupert, your dad wasn’t asking you to casually ‘take care’. He was warning you. He wanted you to save yourself. It was more like a dying declaration to you.”

Rupert said, “What are you talking about? Who is the killer? Why would dad warn me?” At this point, I could smell deceit around Rupert.

Nancy said, “You already know it. You were the one who called me as an informant. You wanted me to come have a look but you didn't want me to know about your suspicions."

Rupert now smelled mortified. I know the cat got his tongue. He was tongue-tied. Meanwhile, Nancy continued to establish her point, "Why would anyone let strangers in his home? And when I revealed to you about the death conspiracy, you weren't as cantankerous as usually shocked people are."

Nancy continued after a pause, "Axl, pointed out by barking at the killer. You knew it then. You behaved disturbingly calm. You knew what I was insinuating all along. You just wanted to be sure. You knew Cynthia killed your father. She is suffering from a mental disability. Perhaps, something psychotic. She didn’t blink once when Axl barked at her. She was too fixated on the pill box in my hand. She didn’t flinch at the sudden bark. Her ineptitude when we greeted her initially near the stairs, raised some suspicion in my mind. You knew it too."

Nancy then drew out the pill box she had collusively put in her pocket while leaving the room. She handed it to Rupert and said, "Here is your pill box! If you don’t report to the Police about the murder, Cynthia might come after you. It could be money or maybe her mind is playing tricks on her, I do not know. But, I am certain that you aren’t safe with her. You should report and get her help. If you don’t, tomorrow morning I will publish this in my column and inform the authorities, too.”

Rupert feebly replied, “You are right. I knew it was her when she didn’t shed a tear. She had been weird around dad. I felt like an imbecile to have suspected my own sister, and so I wanted you to come and have a look. I did not want to involve authorities until I was sure it was her. I had read your columns and found your number in the phonebook. I just didn't want you to be biased before you looked into the matter. This is why when I called, posing as an informant, I said that the death 'might' be a murder.”

Nancy said, “Honour your father by getting him justice. He pointed out the killer for a reason. He wanted to save you from Cynthia.” With these words she turned around to walk back to our building.

Nancy turned to me and said, “Axl, we have solved yet another mystery. Let’s go home and give you the treat you deserve.” 

She was not happy. I smelled despondence. No matter how unencumbered you are with your cases, each unearthed truth touches a nerve. But I knew how to cheer her up. I woofed twice and started chasing my tail. Nancy smiled. I was glad to see her smile.

I turned to see Rupert one last time. Rupert was looking at the bottle in his hand. He looked perplexed and I smelled dolefulness. He was sadder than before.