"Ah! The art of symmetry. Isn't it too fascinating and yet so oblivious at same time. A man can look at a painting and feel nothing than bunch of colours rolled over each other and a man can feel all the vividness he wants to in it . I have always found killers to be very interesting that way . They kill for so many reasons that I can't enumerate but it would be imprudent not to admit that in each of their actions, nontheless is a want that needs to be done . You see they think that now they will get away.  For them , the only satisfaction is in thar precise moment they are doing it and then they are gone realising what they had done, always running, being chased , an unpalpable fear clenching their throats with invisible hands of guilt or end . And yet people continue to do so further and further which makes them one of the most formidable constants in crime world. Just like multitude of interpretations of same thing in a painting" Tricky remarked.

"I...I was just asking if you want to go and see Mona lisa or not?" I sighed.

"Oh ! That no . I am fine here sitting and thinking." He shrugged.

"Very well! In that case , I will get back to my newspaper reading!" I exhaled and opened up the newspaper as Tricky arched back on his chair.

It had been barely five minutes that he arched back up "Anything intersting?"

"I thought you were just fine thinking." I smirked.

"Are you really going to make me ask ?" He raised his eyes as I nodded.

"Fine! It has been 168 hours since I have any new case . You understand that after the case of Emerald Crown , I expected that more people would come to me but no! Just go to police." He sighed.

"Maybe it is for the best. After all you don't want to chase some cat burglar or someone like that ." I said.

"At this point, I might just like it ." He groaned.

"Now! Now! Don't go so down. Let me see." I searched the newspaper and found only one thing of interest to us.

"Hey the "voice snatcher" has struck again. " I showed him the newspaper .

"The voice snatcher has struck again in his continues spree . Last evening  a young lady identified as Adrianna Manfur , a resident of  Blackwater park , North West part of Bristol. This is fifth young lady to be killed this week. The police have found that each girl has been killed exactly at 6 pm and their throats silt before they could scream for help and left with a keychain of cross. As the killings continue without any stoppage , questions are being raised as to security of public in the city. Inspector Saltwater had assured that they have deployed all of their forces in streets and would catch the killer soon but after five continous killings , the words seem less than assuring."

"Oh ! Quite remarkable but what can I do ? It is not like they will allow me to work with them!" Tricky sighed biting his lips.

"Tricky! Are you seriously going to just lay back and let this killer roam free when you know that you have the power to figure out this and stop him for good ." I looked at him.

"Are you proposing that we work on this case without knowledge of police on our own?" He asked.

"Yes! That is exactly what I am saying. " I smirked.

"Well! In that case , let's collect data , shall we. Time for form an connection between victims." He rose up enthusiastically.

"If there is..." I added.

"There is always a pattern with these kinds. You just have to be smart enough to figure it out." He chuckled.

Soon we were ransacking the whole house as Miss Rossarch looked at is disapprovingly. Oh ! I forgot to mention her . She is our housekeeper well Tricky's .

After a while we had collected full five days of papers as we looked at it.

"William! Note down the names. " He said as I started to scribble quickly.

Carolina Ledger
Diana Lang
Emily Crook
Ella Lopez
Adriana Manfur

"Hmm! Carolina , a gynecologist..born in Sussex , about to married.." Tricky said looking at directory of England.

"Diana Lang , ..." He frowned.

"This man couldn't pick more dissimilar victims . All of his victims are not at all in any significant way similar." He sighed.

"So you are giving up ?" I asked.

"Dear god no! This case just became worthy to be solved . Come on ! We gotta hope on to police station, collected some evidence if left by mishandling of police " He put on his coat as I chuckled.

"You know it could be that he just likes to kill young woman . I mean most of the serial killers are a maniac and have literally no direction or pattern." I suggested.

"Well! That could be . And I would have believed as easily as you do that he is just a normal serial killer but why go to trouble to kill at exactly same time when he knows police can predict him more easily even though they still haven't caught him . There are certain things that we are missing. It is staring right at our face but our eyes don't observe it until it too late. So I know that this man has pattern and we are going to find it." He stated.

"How do you know it is a man ?" I asked.

"Just a dialect speech . But ask yourself. Has there been a woman serial killer yet and the one who is so keen on silting throats of her own sex. I just find that possibility to be quite unlikely."  He exhaled.

The carriage stopped and after paying money, we entered the police station.

"Ah! There are my favourite young detectives." One man in constable uniform remarked .

"We are your only young detectives?" Tricky questionned and the man distorted his face in a distasteful manner. Can't blame him. Tricky can be "not so polite" sometimes.

"So which case you are following this time ?" Inspector Saltwater asked us.

"The voice snatcher even though there could be a better name." I answered.

"Oh ! Yes , certainly there could be . But we are more focused on stopping him to kill than giving him a good name. Now as much as I know you like to divulge your attention into this case , I can't allow you to go near any crime scene or body. Laws." Inspector informed us.

"I can give you some information in exchange for that." Tricky crossed his arms.

"Really! And what might your information he concerned with ?" He smirked.

"Well! I don't know if it is a buzz still or not but I might know who is behind the stealing of Torquiose cat missing for past three months." He stated as we both looked at him shocked.

Inspector quickly took us to an isolated room and locked the door.

"You know the culprit and didn't inform us . Do you know that it is against the law to withhold information from it concerning any crime?" He looked at him as I gulped but Tricky looked unaffected

"I know but do you know guessed or conjecture from 12 year old kid doesn't count as valuable information." He smirked.

"You ..Well played. Very well ! Tell me who it is and I will show Adrianna Manfur's body. " He sighed.

"Thanks! It is the gardener." He revealed.

"The gardener. But the man is sick." Inspector asked .

"Yes! Because he used turpentine to hide the scar on cat and then discovered that he is allergic to it by the time, he was quite confined to bed and out of your suspect list. Now please show us the body. Time is of essence." He said .

We entered the morgue and saw that there was a natural smell of decay coming. It was like standing in horror of death itself .

The M.E. uncovered the body as we saw traces of cut exactly at the veins . Besides that , there was no tear in fabric of cloth surrounding her . Tricky gazed intently to see any more sign. He finally withdrew.

"There is nothing specific in that except normal silt in throat . There was also a sign of cross found with her, wasn't it ?" He asked.

"Yes! Here it is ." We both looked at it intently. It seemed nothing more than cross where Jesus was crucified to me .

"Good ! Thank you . Now we will return to Camera lodgings." Tricky replied as we walked out.

"Carriage." He waved his hand as one stopped and he briskly jumped in "I am going to the common library in Bristol."

"But you said we were going home ?" I asked.

"That was because if my father  knew , he would have me followed. Plus! I need to look for something ." He replied as the carriage went away.

"Hey! I don't have any money currently ." I said.

"You can walk." He shouted as I sighed . Great! Now I have to walk all the way back to our lodgings.

"It was around 7 pm that he returned . He was looking quite exhausted and strain on his head was clearly visible helping me to deduce that he had spent all his time reading and researching something.

"I am tired. But William , just as the morning paper arrives tomorrow , before waking me up , do check if the victim murdered's name start with H , will you ." He groaned as he fell asleep on his chair.

"H. What H? Is there a pattern? I can't see it." I thought and thought and yet came with nothing . There was no word forming with any of the letters taken together. There were random numbers if the letters were meant to signify their positions in English alphabet. I fell asleep too soon.

It was quite early when I woke up . Tricky was still sleeping. I opened the door yawning and saw that there was newspaper slided.

"The voice snatcher has struck again in his continues spree . Last evening  a young lady identified as Hilda Baker , a resident of K-211,  Asphalt Street ,Bristol. This is sixth young lady to be killed this week. As usual the police have found that the young lady has been killed exactly at 6 pm and her throats silt before she could scream for help and left with a keychain of cross..." I stopped. Hilda Baker. It starts with H.

"Tricky! Wake up . You were right. It was the H." I shook him up as he widened his eyes.

"Wow ! I am so glad." He jumped up excitedly.

"Yeah ! Me too even though I don't know how you knew that and a lady was murdered." I trailed. Never include 'even though' in sentence . It just keeps on running. Personal note.

"So if my theory is correct, I think we should expect him to kill no one today. " Tricky sighed.

"What ? Kill no one but why would he stop all of sudden after six consecutive killings." I asked confused.

"Because the man is loyal ." He smiled. It proved futile to extract any further information from him as he arched back in his chair and fell asleep for hours as  I sat in the neighbouring chair drinking tea and enjoying a book now. He suddenly sprang up flewing my tea cup away smashed to ground.

"Really? Again..what are the odds of that?" I groaned standing up .

"Sorry William . But I just realised that even if I know my pattern is correct , then that doesn't grant us the means to catch him . Come on ! We have to do a bit of cajoling to press office and I think you are just most fit for it." He looked at me as I sighed "uh-huh"

We were currently sitting in waiting room in the press office.

"I am not sure that it is gonna work." I said looking at him.

"Oh! Come on. Just relax. Believe in your lies and it all becomes truth. Or to be brief, play politician." Tricky said as we both laughed.

"William Ryder and Tricky X. You are up next." A secretary called us as we rose up looking at each other "well! This is it."

"We wanted to advertise about our sister.' I said.

"Our cousin" Tricky said. We both looked at each other glaring.

"Let me handle it , Tricky. Our cousine sister Danielle Watson is very youthful of her age ..." I said.

"So..?" The man looked at us confused.

"We were hoping that you could mention our address with her name under tag of looking for a man of noble background." Tricky saved us.

"Alright! Your adress." He asked.

"Bristol, Flace street, Camera Lodgings." Tricky replied quickly and the man looked at us lowering his glasses.

"I think it is backwards, Tricky." I chuckled . We quickly gave him the information right way and walked out.

"That was .. terrible." I remarked.

"Yeah ! It sucked but they are press. They will publish anything." He chuckled.

"That is true." With that we went to police station. Tricky told me that he is quite sure no one will be killed today and tomorrow, the man will kill someone with name starting from letter D and we have published an ad in newspaper providing a bait for him.

I wouldn't say that the policemen took it very seriously as Tricky X refused to share why he thinks that . Nonetheless for his past findings , Inspector agreed that he will send his men around  Flace street. With that assurance, we returned to our Lodgings.

"Well goodnight mate." He said as he fell asleep on his chair. I started to pull the covers too to sleep in mine . It was not that we didn't have beds or rooms but there was something about sleeping in chair in drawing room that quite fascinated us both as much as this case .

Next morning ,I woke up early as usual and rushed to read the newspaper. I was quite surprised to see that the voice snatcher had struck again but this time , he had killed a man and no sign of cross was left.

I quickly ran with paper and shook Tricky who groaned.

"Tricky! The voice snatcher struck again .." The words were barely out that he quickly rose up and snatched the paper reading it .

"No! No ! No ! That is not supposed to happen. This doesn't make sense. " He shook his head.

"Tricky! Calm down." I told him as he reluctantly sat down.

"Look! It is just like you said. That is not supposed to happen. So maybe the killer killed him accidentally ..now you know the killer can't exactly control when he wants to kill even for a pattern he has adopted so he just did that . Perhaps that is why he didn't leave this usual sign of keychain of cross behind.  So just eliminate this incident and wait for him today." I told him.

"That does seem quite possible.  So you you believe in me?" He asked.

"As long as you believe that you are on right track, yeah sure." I smiled.

"Thanks! You are a good friend, William." He said as we both leaned back on the chair waiting for clock to strike 6 pm which was quite a long time since it was only 7 am now. So we went through daily formalities like brushing and cleaning and eating and reading a bit and then fell back asleep waiting at 3 pm after cook had left.

Tricky shook me up midst of my sleep as I groaned and he quickly covered my groan by his hand.

"Keep quiet. The killer is coming. You can hear him opening the gates. Now he knocks." Tricky remarked as I moved his hand away .

"Fine ! What do we do now?" I asked him.

"Well! We open the gate of course." He said.

"You mean open the gate to a killer who has silted throats of six women and a man ." I raised my eyes.

"Sounds very close to six seasons and a movie reference in future but yeah! Let's do that. Just trust me." He remarked.

"Well! Easy for you to say." I sighed opening the door as I saw a man with blue Nordic eyes and a white tan but not of America. No ! It was quite Swedish . He was tall and very agile man by his stride carrying a stick. The beard on his face made him much more fiercer than he would have been without it not that I have seen him without it. I closed the door as he looked at us intently.

"I am here to answer the prospect of courting Miss Danielle Watson." He said smiling pleasently.

"Ah! We are so glad to have you . Please sit and have a cup of tea , will you ? Our cousin sister is just getting ready in her room." Tricky X remarked smiling .

"Thank you ." He sat down comfortably on chair.

"Sir ! If you would not mind , could you tell us about yourself?" I asked.

"Oh ! About me . No problem. I am Christopher Hitchens , born in Cardiff and raised up in all countries except the one I love most . I have recently returned from my estate in Norway here looking for a girl and then I saw your advertisement in newspaper. I thanked my lucky stars and arrived here." He stated.

"Ah ! You wouldn't think of them as lucky soon. It is a pity that you came here to silt the throat of Danielle Watson but can't do it today." Tricky chuckled as his expressions changed.

"Who are you ?" He rose up pointing his stick.

"Calm down , Mr Ferdinand Magellan. Police are already outside the gates , shall you try to do anything. The game is up ." He said as he sat down

"So it seems !" He sighed..

"William! Meet Mr Ferdinand Magellan , one of the most loyal killer in world of killers. You see when I went to library , I started to think of many patterns to your killings but no matter how hard I tried, it didn't seem to produce anything but then I realised that I was working with half information. So I asked Colonel James Walter to provide me information about what were they doing in the war upcoming immidiaete days . He told me as a personal favour in return for my service to Crown that they were planning to collect oil from a site located in  Centre of Mediterranean exactly. I knew that this had to do with war the minute I learned that a man is killing womens only with same patterns. Yes ! Your leaving of cross symbol. Ah ! It was a clever ingenuity. It worked perfectly as mark of authenticity in these multitude of crimes committed daily which made you quite seperate.

I learned that you were hanged in Germany under rule of Weimar Republic for silting throat of a fellow German. But can't exactly rely on German words, can we ? So I assumed that you were pardoned and sent here to retrieve crucial information should British's plan so that Germany could have a lead in the war by knowing exactly what England was planning to do .

You killed each woman in a systematic manner because every word signified number , didn't it?

3- Carolina ledger
4-Diana lang
5-Emily Crook
5-Ella Lopez

1-Adriana Manfur
8-Hilda Baker
0- Mr Gaper
4-Danielle Watson

Mr Gaper ! Ah he wasn't supposed to be killed , was he ? You were supposed to do nothing to signify zero. But as my friend William suggested quite correctly that it was just an accident. When I connected these numbers , they formed the coordinates of exact location of Mediterranean Sea. Latitude-34.553127, and the longitude is 18.048012. I know this because I had to spend hours reading each location. Well once I figured that out , it was quite clear that how I am going to provide you with a ready bait and you will leap at it readily to complete the set proving your loyalty to German Emperor for sparing your life. But now that will never happen. The Germans will never know the last two degree coordinates for longitude. Oh yes! Since you killed a man , the only thing that will reach there will be G for 7 leading them to wrong direction and England will win this war. You can be sure of that ." Tricky X finished as I looked stupefied.

"You may have thwarted my plans but I can still have my revenge by killing you before I die." He was about to swing his stick that our housekeeper all of sudden threw frying pan at him knocking him out as she clutched herself.

"Brilliant, Miss Rossarch. Quite perfect timing." We both chuckled.

Inspector Saltwater came in soon with his guards as they looked at unconscious Mr Ferdinand and carried him away.

"Are you okay?" He asked us.

"Yes! Thank to Miss Rossarch's frying pan ." I said as we both chuckled.

"Well! I donn't know what that means but  I am glad you two are safe . Thanks to your help, we have caught a serial killer." He said.

"Not just a serial killer .." I was about to say but Tricky gestured me not to.

"Of course..we are glad to be of assistance." I smiled as police went away .

We were now quite alone and Miss Rossarch was upstairs in her quarters.

"Thanks for stopping me . I might have revealed something that would have caused unrest in society that a German killer managed to get hold of secret information and almost convey in most uniquely horrific way." I said.

"It is quite natural in your situation. But something are just better left unsaid. After all Colonel gave me that information in confidence. We must respect that." He said.

"You are right. Well so ends another case." I sighed .

"Yes! It was remarkable case." He remarked.

"You know I still have a doubt in our plan that was laid out. I mean what if a guy had actually come for hand of our not so existing cousin?" I questionned.

"Must you question the circumstances into alternate dimensions when the mystery is already solved?" He raised his eyes.

"Just looking at our adventures through neutral eyes." I chuckled.

"What will you name this one ?" He asked.

"The loyal killer ." I answered.

"I can think of no better title." He smiled.

Recorded on 6 May, 1916