The landlady - a different ending

It had been over a week and the Branch Manager in Bath still had not heard from the so called Billy Weaver… Therefore, he decided to report the situation to Mr. Greenslade at the Head Office in London. Once Billy’s disappearance news reached the capital, a selected team of investigators were called to check which of them were available to go to Bath.

            It turned out that a police detective overheard the story and volunteered to take on the mission. The reason for him to be so interested in this case was that, two years before, his friend Gregory Temple had also gone missing on a holiday trip to that same exact city! In fact, he was on the headlines of “The Guardian” along with a teenager called Christopher Mulholland.

            How strange… Why would such a peaceful city be home to the disappearance of young men in the past three years? What could have been happening over there? And there he went. He walked from door to door of hotels, motels, bed and breakfast houses and so on. He asked for their guest-books to see if there were any Billy Weavers, Christopher Mulhollands or Gregory Temples in any of them.

            As it was commonly done in his practice as a detective, he would not show his credentials right away. His strategy was to pretend he was just another guest. He introduced himself as Mr. Walker and went along to sign the guest-book. He carefully sneak-peaked over the other names written above his, but the research was of no use since he found no proof whatsoever. He was about to lose all his hope when…

            When he saw a simple, yet cozy house with a sign that read “Bed and Breakfast,” which he had not noticed before. So, he knocked on its door and a nice old lady answered it in a bright smile. She was wearing a pink robe with abstract red drawings (which actually looked like stains) and bunny slippers. She said: ‘come in dear, you look like you need a cup of hot tea, it’s cold outside.’ He replied: ‘do not worry about me, I am used to this weather condition, for my family lives in the mountains.’ She insisted on her offer, but he refused to accept it (good for him).

            Then, as she was walking down the entrance hall, he looked around the place, noticing the place was very calm and noise free. He saw two animals in the living room, but they were both sleeping, or so he thought. He felt an unsettling vibe inside that house, but he could not identify what made it that way. However, he could not help that feeling, which is something good detectives have after years of experience.

            He followed his heart and kept an open eye for any clues he could find there, because he wanted to get to the bottom of that case, now more than ever. In fact, it seemed like he was about to find out the truth, as if it was getting warmer to reach his goal in a hide and seek game.

            So, he sat on the sofa, where the old lady anxiously waited for him, almost with her arms open. He asked her for the guest-book, when he opened it he saw all the names he had been looking for… He calmly sat down on the couch again, this time to interrogate the landlady. She realized that there was nothing more to do to hide her true identity. She confessed to him that she had poisoned the three gentlemen with her tea. Then, she said that she had stuffed them just as she did all her previous pets. She continued telling him about her murders… not one single tear dropped from her eyes… He was terrified by the story, for he had never seen such cold words come out an old lady’s mouth before…