A House on Fire (Part 2)

‘You’re quite right’
When we reached three servants were inside surrounded by the police. The first floor where we reached was untouched by the fire except the stairs and some of its surrounded area. The servants took us to the lounge which was filled with beautiful and expensive furniture.
‘Now, let’s start our investigation’ said Martin confidently.
‘Where were you at the time of incident?’ I asked sitting on the sofa and taking out my usual notebook.
‘I was in the kitchen when I heard Mr. Jones shout’ said the first maid servant.
‘I was coming down the stairs to set the table for dinner’ said the second servant who was tall and had hair up to his shoulder.

‘And where were you?’ I asked the third servant. His hairs were tied to a small ponytail.
‘I was outside’
‘What were you doing outside?’ I asked.
‘I was bringing tobacco for Mr. Jones’
‘Ok, now, let’s talk about Mr. Jones. What kind of person was he’ I asked.
‘He was a kind of solitary person’ said the maid servant.
‘What did he usually do?’ He usually sat in his small library. He was very fond of reading books’
‘How many people died?’
‘Just him’ said the servant with a ponytail.
‘Where do you think the fire erupted?’
‘May be from the room beside the library’ said the maid servant.
‘How do you know this?’
‘Be-because the room beside the library is right above the kitchen and the sound of Mr. Jones cries seemed to come from it’
‘But it’s only a guess’

Murderer ‘Are you the only one in this house’ asked Martin.
‘Yes’ said the servant with a pony tail.
‘Where is his family and have there been other servants’ I asked.
‘Mr. Jones did not have any family. And for twenty years we are the only servants here’
There was something strange in the servants because none of them gave me satisfactory answers and they all seemed to lie. He said that they were working here for twenty years but their age seemed to be close to twenties.
‘Do you know Henry Watson?’
‘Yes. He is Mr. Jones' closest friend’

‘Were there other friends of Mr. Jones, other than Henry?’
‘Yes, but not as mush sincere as him’
‘When did last time Henry Watson came to meet him’
‘About seven o' clock this evening’
‘When did he leave?’
‘After about half an hour’
‘Do you know what did they talk about?’
‘No’
‘Ok, now, let’s move to the library for some investigation’
I went upstairs with Martin, servants and two policemen. The door of the library was tightly shut although it was burnt. The policemen thrust opened the door after considerable struggle. It wasn’t a huge library. There was a book shelf on each four walls of the room. And in the middle of the room there was a study table with some books and a jug. Mr. Jones body was still on the chair in the sitting poster with his head on the table. I went close to the table and took some books to have a clue what type of books he liked to read. As I lifted the books there was an ashtray underneath it. I smelt a faint smell of petrol from the ashtray.

‘The jug has a smell like petrol’ said Martin.
‘The fire had begun from this room but-’
‘The fire hasn’t burnt the room into ash’ interrupted Martin.
‘Yes, these things can’t give us enough clues. Let’s go to the next room’ said I.
The room beside the library was more burnt than the library. The sofas and the wooden chairs and tables were completely burnt. I examined the whole room but nothing was found to be of special interest to me. I was suspicious about the jug and the ash tray. First, I thought that Henry Watson (whom I thought to be the criminal) must had put a little petrol so that when Mr. Jones would put his pipe in the astray it would burn and the fire would catch the jug filled with petrol and then it would burn the papers and books. Thus the fire would spread easily. But by seeing the second room it became clear that the fire had emanated from this room. As I came to the window which was all burnt, I had another idea.

‘I’ll go outside for some investigation, you can stay inside’ I said to Martin and went outside.
Let’s say that Henry has plotted all this but then why wasn’t he around the house to get rid of the clues left behind. And why didn’t Jones smell the petrol in the library and how did Henry Watson get enough time to put the petrol in the ashtray and how was he sure that he would put the cigarette in the ashtray before the petrol evaporated. If Henry had really plotted this he should be around the house even if he had time to escape immediately after the plot. Why didn’t Mr. Jones yell or shout. How could he be sitting reading the books without noticing the fire? I was thinking about the matter when I came to the backside of the library where there was a small window. I noticed a huge tree in front of the window of the room beside the library. I went close to the tree and found a watch on the ground. It was unburnt and was broken by its strap and looked very precious made of gold and expensive metal. I placed the watch carefully in my pocket and climbed the tree and reached the window from where I jumped in. No one was here. So I went to the library beside it but no one was there too. I went near the burnt body of Mr. Jones and saw two dark holes in his head. At last I had found out the murderer. I went downstairs quickly. Martin and the rest were in the lounge discussing something.
‘Did you get to something?’ asked Martin as I stepped in.

‘Yes’
‘Is this an incident or a plot’ he asked.
‘Of course not an incident’ I smiled.
‘Who is the culprit?’ he asked at once.
‘I’ll tell you later’ said I.
At that moment a policeman arrived.
‘Henry Watson wants to come in’ said the policeman.
‘What does he want’ I asked.
‘He says it is his friend's house and he has the right to come in’
‘Well, shall we let him in?’ asked Martin.
‘Yes, he has some explanations to do’
‘Ok, bring him in here’ Martin said to the policeman.
‘And be sure he is well protected’ I said.

After a few minutes Henry came in accompanied by two policemen.
‘Hallow, everyone’ he said as he stepped inside.
‘You have come in because it’s your friend house?’ said I.
‘Yes, and I want to see him. Where is he now?’ he said forcefully.
‘If you would have been much worried about your friend you wouldn’t have gone after the arrival of the police’ I said.
‘I didn’t go after the arrival of the police’ he said.
‘Ok, let’s forget about this. Where did you go when the fire was extinguished?’
‘How do you know I wasn’t there after the fire was out’ he asked.
‘Because I saw you going to the back of the house’
‘Do you know what I did there’ he asked.
‘No, there wasn’t any light’

‘Then you must have misunderstood me. May be it was one of the servants’
‘How do you know that the servants went out from the back door?’
‘Aren’t you a detective to work that out by yourself?’
‘My simple question was how did you worked it out’
‘The policemen weren’t allowing me to go inside so I went in through the back door’
‘So you went in when there was still fire in the house’
‘No, I mean I saw the servants coming out when I came’
‘What did you do when the fire was out?

‘I wasn’t there at the time they extinguished it?’
‘Where were you at that time?’
‘My mobile was out of charge so I went to the car to call my assistance’
‘Why did you come here before the incident?’
‘I came to visit Jones for sometime. When I went back I remembered that I had forgotten my file in his house. When I was returning I saw the smoke his house in a distance. So I stopped the car and came running where I met you. And you know what happened after that’.