Copyright Notice:This story is an original work by Muntasib_Ihshan789. All rights reserved. Do not copy or redistribute without permission.
Utaro took out all of the books carefully which were of the same novel.
Shuhi noticed the books were more clean than other books on the shelf which had dust on them.
Utaro stared at the books for a little time.
He checked each one carefully, flipping through them one by one and then he took a photo of the books with his phone.
"The volume numbers are 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 5," he said aloud.
"356895… Is this some kind of code? It doesn't match with any normal code I know. Not phone number, car number, It's not even Morse co—"
Before he could finish, Shuhi grabbed the first book.
"Look here. There are more numbers on the back side of the volume number," she said.
Utaro picked up the other books again. This time, he looked closely and saw it. There were small numbers written on the back of the volume numbers.
He looked confused.
"What? More numbers? Now it's 13, 9, 6, 9, 1, 7. Is this an address or something?"
Shuhi shook her head.
"It's a coordinate," she said, clearly.
"Wait... what? A coordinate?" Utaro asked, surprised.
Shuhi quickly asked him, "Where did the second murder happen?"
He told her the place.
"Can you kindly open Google maps?"
Shuhi asked.
"Oh sure."
Utaro replied.
Utaro did as Shuhi told him.
"Let's try something," she said.
She typed the first set of numbers: 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 5 as 35.6895° N. Then the second set: 13, 9, 6, 9, 1, 7 as 139.6917° S.
By adding the coordinates, she tried to pinpoint the location.
"It's not matching. Maybe one more try."
Shuhi said with a sad voice.
This time she changed sides and wrote 35.6895° S and 139.6917° N.
"Another failure!"
Shuhi said.
"Just what are you trying to accomplish? Tell me."
Utaro asked with an impatient tone.
"I know what I'm doing. Please be patient!"
Shuhi replied.
Because coordinates sometimes flip in different regions, Shuhi was struggling finding the right one.
This time she entered 35.6895° N and 139.6917° E.
When the map zoomed in, they both stared at it in shock.
It showed the exact place where the second murder happened.
"This… this can't be a coincidence," Utaro said, shocked.
"No, it's not. Someone planned this," Shuhi replied.
This is no random clue. It means somebody is leading us… step by step!" Utaro said, shocked.
"How did you figure it out so fast?" he asked.
"That's not important now. What matters is that someone is playing with us…. A mastermind!"
A tense silence followed afterwards in the air.
Shuhi broke the silence by asking the thing she came here for,
"Give me detailed info on this case. Everything that you have. I need to know." Shuhi asked with a serious tone.
Utaro saved all the information related to the case in his notepad and some photos in his phone.
"Here, all the details are in this folder. Actually, I still haven't seen the details fully yet. " Utaro said, showing Shuhi his phone.
Shuhi opened the file and started scrolling the documents while eyes moving left to right.
After viewing all the details, she figured out the clues from them. Two broken clocks. First one is an analog type. Hour hand is colored red and it is on 5. Other hands were missing. The second clock was a digital clock. Hour shows 16, minute shows 10 and second was 00.
She also saw a note written using cutted newspaper letters.
...….
"Listen to what the days whisper,
Don't forget to add half.
When hour becomes day,
Your end will come.
Look at what the clock shows,
Are you the killer?
Counting deaths with a calculator?
Your answer is hidden here.
Says the clock."
A cold shiver ran down Shuhi's back while reading it.
Shuhi showed it to Utaro.
Utaro nodded and said, "Hmm, maybe I missed reading this note. Too much info actually."
Shuhi then saw some dates marked using blood and knife scratches.
"And that….first the police thought that more murders would happen which soon proved to be wrong."
Utaro said as Shuhi showed him the images.
"Now what could this mean? Any connection to the murder? What even is this poem like note? It's sure that someone is behind all of it but…..now what?"
Too many thoughts started spinning in her mind. Trying to find the killer's message. Constantly failing.
"Why shouldn't we go to the second spot?"
Utaro suddenly asked.
A quick thought just popped in her head.
"Yes, that's right. There have been four murders. It's not important to have all the clues in one spot. This won't be fun for the killer. Whoever is behind this, wants us to circle around in his created maze"
"Oh sure. No point in wasting time. I think we should go right now!" Shuhi replied.
Till the next hour, they searched for clues in the room and the entire house in case they were missing something.
So far they haven't found anything special. Just old documents, business reports, victim's clothes etc. The victim was a businessman after all.
When looking at the victim's old clothes, Shuhi felt a tightness in her heart.
"How pitiful! He lived alone, worked so hard... and now this empty house is all that's left."
Shuhi thought with a sad face.
Later they arrived at the second spot. Not far away, a short bus drive was enough. No talking between them throughout the bus ride.
When they reached the second victim's house, the same scenery could be seen. Completely sealed by police.
Due to lack of evidence and with the case getting cold, the police had removed the guards weeks ago, leaving only the warning seals.
Utaro, being a detective working in this case, still had access to the spare keys the police used.
Ignoring the seals, Utaro started unlocking the door.
"Time to see what the killer has set up here"
Shuhi muttered under her breath.
Dead Logic © 2025 by Muntasib_Ihshan789 is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International