Deadly incidents - 11

Read part 10 - here 

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Pavil stood outside the apartment door once again. He noticed for the first time how the door had only the apartment number written on it.

It hadn’t even been a week yet and there was a thin film of dust settling on the furniture that made him feel uneasy. Once it was all over, perhaps Anik would come back to stay here. 

He didn’t know why he was back in this house, not that he had any reason to justify it to himself, but he felt like there was more to this place than he understood and wished Khar had accompanied him, but Khar had his own issues to resolve.

She’d asked Toni to collect his things from her apartment in her absence that morning. What were they? According to Michael, he’d brought back his belongings from this house. Where could he have kept them? 

Pavil found himself in the guest room and though he’d been inside this house more than a few times since the incident, he’d never actually explored around much. It didn’t feel right.

 He felt like he was disrupting some vibrating remnants of domestic harmony, being the outsider in a house that didn’t wholly explain itself much.

The guest room was in conformity with the rest of the place. It was indiscriminating in its esthetics, exuding similar refinement that he’d seen attached to the apartment and the only thing that set it aside from the rest of the house was that it looked in disarray; not that it was messy, but more like someone had been here doing a bit of hectic work, what with the crumpled sheets, half-open drawers and an open almirah which was nearly empty with a few tangled hangers, a bathrobe and a stack of blue shirts still in their transparent packaging with the words ‘Gravity’ printed on the front.

‘Okay!’ Pavil muttered and lifted the entire package and meant to leave, except there was one last thing that remained to be done.

Mr Gor was disinclined to open the door and let Pavil in but he relented, sharing his umbrage in colourful language between fits of coughs and drool.

The creaky man had aged even more in the past few days, if that was even possible and his skin almost seemed to fall off, in fact, the skin on his fingers was beginning to peel and Pavil didn’t much feel like observing the antique.

His wispy beard looked to be growing from everywhere on his face and he was in a vile mood. 

‘I’ll leave immediately, Mr Gor’

‘that’s a bloody relief’ the ancient snarled.

‘I just’ Pavil handed the old man a picture of Toni ‘wanted to confirm with you if this is the man you saw.’

‘When?’

‘Uh, I mean when you mentioned about the lady downstairs. The Hercules.’

Mr Gor stared at the photo and slowly nodded. ‘Looks like him, but then they all look the same.’ 

‘They? Who?’

‘You, him, everybody, all you imbecilic bloody buffoons’ 

Pavil knew it was time to leave before this living death could hurl some more curses at him. ‘I’ll take your leave now’ and he was out of the door within moments stopping only to realize that for all his punctuality the old man hadn’t left for a walk even though it was nearly ten in the morning. He contemplated asking after his health but seeing as he was it wasn’t hard to guess.

Pavil didn’t know what to think of it but Toni had immediately agreed to meet him when he spoke to him over the phone that day after his meeting with Michael and he hoped that Khar would be at the station too, which he was as the spiced incense of morning manna greeted his senses as soon as he stepped in his office.

Khar was sitting in a corner chair, nearly blending with the wall going through Avi’s autopsy report with a styrofoam cup of tea.

‘Nothing out of the extraordinary here.’ 

‘No, except that she was pregnant.’ Pavil spoke sadly.

Khar breathed in deep. ‘Though, I believe that wasn’t the reason behind her death.’

Pavil startled.’You think there was a reason?’

‘Isn’t that what you think? Why else would you keep visiting that house or else?’ Khar smiled.

‘Oh that. I found something.’ Pavil dumped the large stack of blue t-shirts on a table. ‘These were in that house.’

‘Ah, things !’ Khar silently intoned.

'Oh, by the way,' Pavil suddenly looked up from his tea. 'I met the old man today, who near confirmed what we knew. Probably our last meeting because he is soon to be part of a macabre museum. He's almost, well, nearly nearing his expiration date.' 

Toni was almost exactly as Pavil expected. An echo of the burly Michael with softer features and a worried mien.

He was dressed in a shirt two sizes too small for him and his biceps looked about ready to jump out of their confines and strut.

For all his Herculean facade the man looked utterly self-conscious and kept cracking his knuckles and Pavil noticed the huge girth of Toni’s fingers that seemed about the size of a small wrist. 

‘Have a seat’ Khar quietly spoke, startling the colossal Toni who hesitated before pulling a chair and almost collapsed as soon as he sighted the stack of blue t-shirts with the word ‘Gravity’ written in bold across.

Pavil saw Khar’s name display on his phone as he frantically drove. This was his fifth call that Pavil found himself unable to pick. This is not the time to talk.

He was in an urgent rush lest everything fall to pieces. 

Everything was about the time and he had been a fool.