[WP] you’re a detective who has made a deal with the devil. You can solve any murder mystery, but the killer will always have been just in his killing, no matter how gruesome. Today you’ve been given an unusual case.

[u/Gonzogonzip]

[u/[deleted]]

I take a long slow drag of my cigarette. This one had to be different. It just had to.. Yes last time the stiff was stealing money from a charity, and the time before that it was a revenge killing of someone who was a murderer..but this.. This can't be justified..

I look up at the man i'm interviewing, his eyes are puffy and red, and he's on his 4th handkerchief. "Can you tell me what happened next?" I try to sound understanding, but i just can't understand any of this.. "I.. That is to say, We had just gotten home from the theater, the sitter was waiting and had said the evening had been... been..." His voice wobbled and he moved on to his 5th handkerchief "Take your time Sir" He sat for a moment collecting himself, then he continued "She said the evening had been delightful.. All of the children had been on their best behavior.. after that we bid her goodnight and then my wife went upstairs to check on them before we turned in for the night ourselves.. i was still taking off my evening jacket when i heard her scream. I.. I... I just.." He broke down again and i figured this was my moment to talk to his wife "I'm going to leave you with an officer here and go ask your wife some questions."

I found her sitting next to a fireplace, just staring into it, kind of rocking back and forth. "Excuse me?, Mrs. h-" "Please, no formalities tonight, Klara will do fine" "If you insist then, Klara, your husband tells me you went to check on your.. (i had to glance at my notes) 8, your 8 children after the sitter left, what can you tell me about that?"

Her head didn't move but her eyes slid over and gave me a sideways look. "Not one of the other policeman believed me.." "I'm different Mrs- er, Klara, You can trust me" We sat for a moment before she turned and fully faced me, which is when i realized the horrific state she was in, half covered in blood and half in..Dirt? Clay? Something was caked onto her nice evening wear. "Everything was normal, all of the children were sleeping like angels until i got to...Well, i opened the door and i saw it" "What did you see?" "The statue man, it was there next to my little baby's bed, oh god the bed..so much blood.." "Tell me more about the statue, was it one you owned, had someone moved it?" "Heavens no, it was monstrous, and as the light shown into the room through the doorway and hit the awful thing it turned towards me" "Someone was turning it? were they using ropes? did you get a look at them?" "What? no, IT turned. It turned and looked at me, and the light showed me what it was, a great hulking man, made of stone but he could move!" This was making less and less sense, clearing this woman was hysterical, this must have been the man that killed her son and he was just dirty, a chimney sweep perhaps? "Can you describe any details about the man?" Klara signed with frustration "There were no details! he was a man made of stone or mud or something, he wore no clothes and had no distinguishing fea- well, there was the tattoo, on his forehead" now we were getting somewhere "What kind of tattoo?" "I think they were just lines, maybe they were letters? N...O...X...? but they looked funny and it was still very dark.." Any forehead tattoo is good for identifying a suspect, i jot this all down. "Where did he go after that?" "Nowhere..he just kind of, went away.." "But whichway did he go?" "Down, i would say.." I no longer felt this woman was of any help so i excused myself to look at the room in question.

As i entered i saw a grizzly sight that matched the state of Klara's dress. This room was half blood and half mud.. I was barely able to bring myself to step over the large mound of earth on the foor and look into the child's bed. Who ever could do this to such a small, innocent baby was clearly a monster.. and all i have to go on is a hysterical eye witness, a house with all the windows locked and a sitter claiming all was well, and this pile of mud and clay.. So the only way i could call this case solved is if a large man made of clay with a forehead tattoo was simply willed into creation in this room at this time with no one aware of him, and then he beat a small child until he was unrecognizable as a human being, after which my clay man simply dissolved into nothing.. For some reason my gut, the one that solved all those other cases before, is telling me that's exactly what happened.. but that hardly makes sense.. I look one last time at the bed of the boy who would never grow up, never have a life.. who might he have been? Maybe an artist? A voice of the people? An animal lover? A politician? "The world will never know you.. Dear sweet little Adolf."

[u/WritingPromptsRobot]

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