The Mysterious Incident of the Glass Eye - Part 5

Here is part 5 of my story.

The Mysterious Incident of the Glass Eye - Part 5

Two hours later, both men stood outside an impressive four storey town house. They climbed the steps and knocked on the glossy blue front door. A moment later, it swung open and a slender, elegant lady peered out, tucking a smooth blonde curl behind her ear.

“Can I help you?” she asked, confusion lining her pretty face.

“Detective Inspectors Jones and Bailey,” Jones beamed. Bailey elbowed him viciously. He hated it when Jones got all excited over pretty girls. It distracted him from his work.

“May we come in, Madam?” Bailey asked, flashing his badge.

“Can I ask what this is about?”

“We have reason to believe that a Victor Cyclops resides at this address.”

“Yes,” she replied. “He's my brother,” she looked worried. “Is he OK?”

“I think we need to come in,” Bailey said softly. He hated this part of his job.

A few minutes later, the news had been broken, tears had been shed and now, questions were being asked.

“How did he die, Inspector? Can I see him?” This made Bailey's knees itch. He had never before dealt with a situation quite like this. How do you tell a mourning woman that her brother has, quite literally, lost his head? He decided to avoid the issue for the moment.

“Could we have a look around, please, Miss Cyclops?” he replied.

“Kerry,” she corrected him.

“'Scuse me?”

“Miss Kerry,” she clarified. “After he lost his eye, Victor changed his name by deed poll, for a laugh. I never did get it,” tears welled up in her eyes. Taken aback, Bailey glanced at Miss Kerry. Jones, winking, handed her a tissue.

“Look wherever you want,” she murmured miserably. “Find out what happened to poor Victor.”

Jones and Bailey wandered around the house. Everything was in its place. The trail was drying up. As they were about to leave, Miss Kerry approached them.

“Have you checked the attic?” she asked. “Victor spent a lot of time up there.”

“Thanks,” Bailey muttered. He and Jones climbed up through all three upper floors before reaching the loft hatch. He pushed it open, pulling the fixed ladder down. Jones went up first.

“Wow!” he announced. “Cool!” Bailey followed. As he clambered into the attic space, he was astounded. Cyclops had a complete laboratory in his roof! Casting his eye around the room, Bailey was mesmerised by sections of pipe interlinking with beakers and test tubes. Post-it notes were stuck everywhere.

“Look!” yelled Jones. Bailey went over and saw what Jones had found – a leather bound volume. Together, they flicked through it. Neat handwriting was interspersed with well drawn diagrams of various experiments. About halfway through the volume, Bailey noticed an exploded diagram of what looked like an eyeball, only it had various micro circuits within it. He pushed the book into an evidence bag and nodded to Jones. They had what they needed. Now they had to get it back to the lab for analysis. They said their goodbyes to Miss Kelly and left.

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 © Annie Bell 2012