Thriller Short Story – The Weigel dilemma
Photo credit: nasirkhan from morguefile.com
The suns rays slanted into Robert’s room and deep within Robert was going through his list “Men I Wanna Meet in my lifetime.” The top 10th name slowly dragged his attention, as it read
09)George Chesterfield
10)Thomas Weigel.
11)Jim Aurora
A German man with an English accent , Thomas Weigel was a professor of mathematics and physics .A great admirer of Newton himself, his book “Miracle Of Newton’s laws” won great acclaim from great men for its clear explanation. Two days ago Robert, his friends Cooper & Luke had come across Sir Thomas in library moving through section 6 where he used to spend his entire time. Section 6 contained books about physics and maths. Yesterday the professor was murdered by someone. Mr Thomas was from a wealthy family. Speculations were that he was very wealthy.
“Thomas Weigel born in 1955……………” began Cooper. Luke barked in “Oh! Shut up will ya, just tell us about the treasure.”
Cooper grumbled “All right, from the information I received, Thomas had wealthy parents and he is the protector of their wealth. But recently he began acting strange, selling all of his property and getting money instead. No one knows where he hoards his wealth. This is also considered as a prime reason for his murder.” Cooper finished his part, feeling proud for his toil. Luke presented a copy of Thomas’s diary.”This my friends, is his dying note.” All of them concentrated on that sheet of paper as it read
“Dear, Daisy I love you….”
“Who is Daisy??,” interrupted Cooper. Robert signalled him to be quiet by saying “Coop, daisy is his late wife, and if you won’t be quiet, I will tear you apart, understood salamander.”
Cooper gave a nod. They continued to read,
“Dear , Daisy I love you and all the people who are running like dogs back of my treasure, I despise you a lot. Still, if all of you want my family’s treasure, I will tell you scumbags.
‘ The map to my family’s wealth is buried in the greatest treasure of my life. ‘
‘ The map to my treasure is
high up the wall,beneath Daisy.
Go get it, its in my house . All locks are open for you with no guards. Your welcome to search before my family takes it over.
ALL THE BEST
BYE DAISY ”
“Where did you get it from, Luke??” enquired Cooper.
“From net, it has become viral now.”
“So the Weigel mansion is full of treasure hunting idiots like us,” asked Robert. Luke with a smile, answered “From my information, not till now.”
“Boys pack your bags, let’s see what this guy Has got for us,” suggested Robert. The boys prepared for what may be an adventurous journey for Thomas was a willy fox.
The Weigel mansion was a big one storey building with a huge lake right behind it. As they wandered inside they were amused that not even a single photo of late Mrs Weigel was spared. All were introduced to the greediness of some stupid treasure hunters. “Lets look there,its his study room,” said Luke signalling to an underground room to his dejected friends. As they climbed down the stairs they were relieved to find that there was no broken glasses, frames …….but they were shocked, there was not even a photo of his late wife in his own study room!! The room was full of science, the walls were decorated with photos of newton and cartoon. His shelf was stacked with newtons books, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Arithmetica Universalis, Method of Fluxions………… and other Latin names. Table was neatly arranged with geometrical instruments.
Cooper kept focusing on a photo of a duck like cartoon. “Can you fools, guess what it is?”
“Yup, a duck like creature called……..what was it Rob???” Luke asked a confused Robert. “Something like ……..dai……sy…….Daisy!!!!” he replied. Luke’s eyes burnt with enthusiasm “That is the Daisy we were searching for.”
Rob remarked “Cooper, you brainless genius!!!!!!!” Coop thanked them. The Daisy meant by Thomas was not his wife but a cartoon character!!. Cooper took the photo from its place. Beneath it lie some words, it read,
S,NO is 90° to M3N
*I grap 1 pin on pic – 6
—- —- —-
“What the hell nonsense is this?” shouted Coop.”I know what it is ?” said Luke. Coop and Rob gave a confused look. “If words are between the asters, it means they are clues, and the lines below the clues are actually underlining.”
Rob enquired “Then whats the first clue?.” “We’ll have to find it out,” he replied. All sat thinking for an hour, at last, “Since its 90° I think he is taking about Pythagoras theorem,” said Coop. It did make some sense. “Luke, how do represent ‘ is 90° to ‘ ?” asked Rob “Perpendicular,” he replied. His eyes shone with the answer . Rob called everyone near and wrote the 1st clue again.
S,NO is 90° to M3N
Robert began “Lets leave the lines, tell me how you represent a perpendicular.”
Luke drew the symbol
‘ | ‘
“Something like this.” “Yes, Luke now lets write it in the clue.”
- S,NO | M3N *
” Now for greatest trick of all, a reason why it was written high up.” Rob turned the paper 180°. Luke and Cooper couldn’t believe their eyes. When turned 180° ,this sentence simply read
“NEWTON’S ”
“Rob, you senseless brilliant.” “What about next one?”, Luke asked. They read it again
I grap 1 pin on pic-6
After some deep thinking Cooper spoke up,”It’s definitely connected with Newton so, I think it refers to one of his pictures,” signalling to 7 photos of Sir Isaac Newton on wood-paneled wall. The first and second one had a portrait of Newton, third and fourth had pictures of with his pet cat,fifth and sixth had Newton carrying his famous books while seventh ,a weird cartoon type had Newton carrying his best book Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica in his one hand and other one touching his hip. Cooper and Robert moved towards the sixth picture while Luke sat gazing at his shelf. “Bro!!!!” Luke called out. They turned back” What?” “What is Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica better known as?,” questioned Luke. “Principia,” answered Cooper. “Then come over here I know the answer,” called Luke. Both of them came to him. Luke rewrote the clue,
*I grap 1 pin on pic-6 *
“This is an anagram,” explained Luke. “Something like a jumbled words.” “Yup, Rob and its real version would be..” Luke wrote the answer,
“Principia Pg No-16″
Luke and Robert couldn’t believe they failed to see through this simple thing. ” Luke ,you intelligent monkey!! ” both of them screamed. Luke took the book which was in Thomas’s shelf and opened page number -16. The three were dejected when they say another clue. Near the page no, it was written as
25.9 ÷ 16 = __ i __
“Come on , not again, but it still feels easy,” saying this Cooper began calculating. “The answer is ‘ 1.61875 ‘ ,” he said. All of them saw each others face with the thought of ‘ how can you represent the number in 3 letters ‘. Time went by, still they had no clue until Cooper’s golden ring slipped by. Three of them stared at it for a moment when they exclaimed to each other ” That’s it ,its phi !!!!!!! ” The golden number is approximately equal to 1.618 , which is also represented by ‘ phi ‘. “But there should be ‘ i ‘ in the middle,” asked Cooper. Luke answered “Buddy, what about ‘ hip ‘ ?” “Perfect” He wrote all the clues again
- S,NO is 90° to M3N *
- I grap 1 pin on pic-6 *
“Lets write the answers,” said Coop.
*NEWTON’S *
- Principia Pg no – 16 *
- HIP *
“Lets remove the words which are not underlined and the word’s underlinings, ” suggested Luke . Coop did as he said. It read,
- NEWTON ‘ *
-
Principia Pg no – 1 *
-
HIP *
“I think I know, what it is?” exclaimed Cooper.
” Coop !!, do you have in your head, Einstein’s brain or what??,” questioned Rob.
“Who do you think I’m,huh??, I’m a descendent of Leonardo da Vinci.” “Coop keep your fairy tales in your pocket and tell us what you know?” said Luke angrily. “All right I know jealousy don’t have any medicine, anyway this clue is pointing to Newton’s seventh picture.” “What !!, but how.” “It is simple bro, in that photo Newton is holding his book ‘ Principia ‘ and his ‘ hip ‘ !!” Now that made sense. Luke gave a convincing look, but Robert didn’t look convinced. Cooper was damn sure he was right. He had began arguing with Robert.
Suddenly a gun shot sound arose from behind. They were shocked to see behind, a young man in a black tuxedo with a revolver in his hand pointing at them with a familiar face they recognised . ” Stephen!!!!!!” They also shouted in shock . Stephen was their regular librarian. Four men in black suit came at front and caught the boys. The strong, six packs, muscled men effortlessly carried them near the stairs and made them kneel down within seconds.
” Stephen, what in heaven’s sake is going on ?” asked Luke. ” Boys thanks for finding the treasure, even when I killed that old man, he didn’t even utter a word. For years I have chased my family’s treasure and today it will fall in hand’s.”
“Thomas Weigel was your family.”
” Grandfather to be precise.”
” You killed your own grandfather.”
“YES,” said Stephen without a change in his emotion. The extent to which a man can be heartless was shown here. The man killed his own grandfather , and still don’t regret it. Luke and Cooper stopped moving, while Robert’s eyes was fixed on the picture. Luke whispered to Robert’s ear, “Are you thinking about that unwanted punctuation mark?.”
Robert’s eyes gleamed with joy. He spoke up loudly, “Stephen , now that you know where the treasure is, leave us.”
“Pretty smart chimps, huh. Do you think you can outwit me, still I will grant your last wish,” he replied. Stephen ordered one of his men, “Lovell, take these boys up and kill them.” Two men carried the boys to the ground floor effortlessly as if carrying a baby of 5 kg. There too, they were made to kneel down in the same way with Lovell pointing his pistol to their head’s. Down under, Stephen had gone near the seventh paining. Stephen didn’t get anything , dejected he began tapping on the wood panels, the picture was placed on.
Suddenly one wood panel sounded different, it felt as if there was gap behind. A punch from the muscle man was enough to break it. Stephen took the broken pieces and threw it out, as he had expected there was a small gap beneath it. There was some sort of lever, smiling as if he got the treasure, Stephen slid the lever downwards. Everyone heard the sound of the opening of a vault. Water drops began arising from beneath the picture and suddenly, a wave of water came piercing through the picture. Up, Luke began negotiating with Lovell. “Why do you work for that freak?.”
Lovell became real mad and annoyed . He raised his gun to kill them, but suddenly water came gushing out of the stairs and the floor. Lovell lost his balance and fell down, whereas the thin boys managed to slip through the entrance. The entire mansion was flooded with water. Only two men escaped barely with many injuries while the other two men and Stephen was consumed by the water current. The boys ran out to safety and slowly began inhaling and exhaling. Bewildered Cooper asked Rob who was smiling now.
” Rob, tell me what the hell is going on here?” Luke too looked at him.
Robert said ” It was a trap.”
“A Trap!!!!!, but by whom,” exclaimed Luke.
“Thomas Weigel himself “. “What.” “Yes, it was a method through which he could destroy the clues and anyone who comes in search of it.”
“But how Rob.”
“The clues led us to a picture, which might be connected through a tunnel to the lake which is behind the mansion.” Now that made sense to Luke and Cooper. “So what Stephen did was actually opening a passage between the room and the lake,” enquired Luke. “Exactly! That old man was a true genius indeed.” Cooper gave a confused look, “If that’s the case, the dying note was fake.” “No, it is not the truth, actually the mistake we all do is considering the underlined words” replied Rob. They were amused. Rob continued, “It came to me when Luke mentioned about that punctuation mark.” The boys still couldn’t believe this. He again continued “When considering part of a word, we never take the punctuation marks. ” “So, Rob you’re saying that ,we should consider the words which were not underlined,” questioned Luke. “Then the words would read as ,
- S5 *
what does it mean?” asked Cooper. “Okay tell me where Mr Thomas Weigel spends his entire day,” asked Robert. “In the library, of course,” replied Cooper.
“Tell me the precise location.”
This time Luke gave him the answer, “In the 6th section.”
Cooper raised his eyebrows in happiness, “That’s it bro, section 6 or ‘ S6 ‘.” They knew their body was dead tired yet they ran vigorously to the 1km away library. They slowly sneaked into the 6th section . To their astonishment the 6th section was actually a row of tables with a small shelf in between. The shelf was to be touched by none other than the authors whose books were present in it. There were famous books on physics like Newton’s books. In between their was a copy of Thomas’s book too. Luke spoke up “I get it, so the book was his greatest treasure.”
Robert and Cooper agreed with him. They could hear the footsteps of the librarian. “Go stop her, I’ll get what we are searching for,” said Cooper. Robert and Luke went for it .Cooper slowly went through the book, At a page he found a paper slip. Cooper kept the book back in its place and fled from there. At the entrance of section 5, Robert and Luke were trying their best to stop the librarian ,Lily. Cooper arrived at the spot and signalled them to go. The three moved out as Cooper asked Lily, “Lily, what will happen to Mr Thomas’s books?”
“As per his last wish burn them without allowing others to touch it.” The three fled from the library. “Cooper what have you got?” asked Luke. Cooper presented them the paper slip. They read the slip. There were a couple of orphanages name and money donated near it. “So this is, where his family’s wealth is,” said Luke. The man had donated all his wealth to charity.
“He did leave some money,” said Cooper displaying ₹100 note.
“Worth three burgers,” said Luke. All were equally convinced.
“But what about the slip?” asked Cooper. Robert took the slip, tore it and threw it .
“Now, who wants burger?” he asked. Luke and Cooper happily followed him. The Weigel dilemma was over. The treasure was buried forever…..
–END–
