Voice LISTed

Chapter 1 - The Car boot sale

Pete (a.k.a Peter List), a part-time worker in the telecommunications department of Falcon Telecom, woke up early on this Saturday morning to greet the bright morning sunlight. He prepared a chicken sandwich with some greens and ham-smoked cheese, and a sugar less, dark roast coffee for his breakfast. He then boiled milk, poured it into his expensive Belgian porcelain bowl, added some cereals and fixed his 90-year old grandpa his breakfast.
He dressed himself in a kaki short and a beach shirt, wore his Aviator style Ray-Ban coolers, and got ready for the car boot sale in Elmondsbury.
His Passat started on the first-go as he turned the keys on. He pressed on the accelerator and zoomed past his silent avenue. Enjoying the roadside greenery, he reached the spot, which was already filled with the day’s sellers and buyers. He slowly removed his products and moved to the slot allocated to him.
The sale went on well. In about 2 hours time, he had sold a ‘Sound of Music’ VCD for a pound, an old orange bucket for 75p and a cordless telephone for 80p among other less-than-a-pound items.
So, even the not-so-familiar mortals would’ve now realized that a car boot sale isn’t about real vendors selling their products to make a living. Instead, it’s about normal people selling their unwanted things, which in turn might be wanted by others. Of course, this is one of the summer time hobbies for many.
As the sale end time was fast approaching, Pete was left with only two things – an old Frank Sinatra audiocassette and a multi-purpose repair kit.

Chapter 2 - The Voice

Philip was ecstatic as soon as he bought this Frank Sinatra cassette for a meager 25p.
As soon as he pressed the play button on his Sony cassette player, Frank Sinatra started singing

‘A fine romance, with no kisses
A fine romance, my friend this is
We should be like a couple of hot tomatoes’

Singing stops

Who is that lady?
I thought we were in love. What’s happening to you, why are you doing this to me?

Leave me, please!
Leave me, please!
I won’t ask you anything from now on.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

And Frank Sinatra continued to sing ‘A fine romance, with no kisses’.
Philip was thrown aback upon hearing this.

Chapter 3 – The Sheriff’s office

David Callan, father of Philip Callan, didn’t believe when his son told him about the cassette. But, Dave was shocked when he heard it himself and took the cassette to the nearby Sheriff’s office for investigation.
As the Sheriff started his inquisition ranging from ‘Where they are staying?’ to ‘From whom they bought this cassette from?’ the little boy slowly began to paint the seller’s face in his mind.

Chapter 4 – The Investigation

The Sheriff tracked the address of Pete with the information he got from Philip and did a background check on Pete’s family, friends and occupation.
After a few days, while he was surfing the old records, he found a complaint reported at the Severn Castle police station by one Ms. Jessica James on her daughter, Sara James’ sudden disappearance. The complaint was reported three months after Sara had split her relationship with her ex-boy friend, Peter List.

Chapter 5 – The Fugitive

The Monday morning news of ‘The Daily Telegraph’ read:

Alleged Murderer escapes:
Part time worker Pete, accused of murdering his ex-girl friend, was taken to custody yesterday. On the way to his interrogation cell, he pulled out a daring escape, which has now raised questions on the effectiveness of the local county’s police force.

Pete read this news in a Tesco express shop where he had gone to grab a sandwich. He couldn’t accept the charges but knew that nobody would believe he is innocent.
He had been away from his house for about six days but the only thing that worried him was his grandpa’s loneliness.

Chapter 6 – Sara James and Mitchell Wilcox

As speculations were rife about Sara’s disappearance and alleged murder, the chief at the Severn Castle police station was suddenly under tremendous pressure from his higher officials as well as the media. In fact, the Julian Broadcasting Corporation had already stationed its fourth estate group outside the office to ensure that nothing went unnoticed.
As the chief was preparing his weekly status report, he heard a voice saying
Hello, Sir
The chief, without raising his head, replied
Yea. What do you want? And whatever it is, you’ve just got 2 minutes
The lady replied
I’m Sara James, daughter of Jessica James. Now, how many minutes have I got?
The chief sat eyeing Sara and her friend, Mitchell with his mouth agape.
Then, Sara started explaining her side of the story. She informed that she wasn’t happy with her mother’s attitude towards her and hence had run off to Mitchell’s place in Gladstonebury. She also informed that she had a break up with Pete three months before she disappeared but confirmed that Pete was never a threat to her life and they had split up purely because of some personal issues.
She also apologized for not revealing where she was, despite seeing several advertisements put in the newspapers by the local police and her mother. She never thought the consequences of her actions, rather inactions, would be so dire.

Chapter 8 – The Release

As soon as the Sara James’ news went on air, the police announced that they’ve dropped the case on Pete and asked him to contact the nearby police station immediately.
Pete was happy on hearing this and even happier that Sara was alive.
After all, she was his love lady once.

Chapter 9 – The end of List

Pete thought about his grandpa and rushed home immediately. As he opened the door, he saw the body of his motionless grandfather. He checked his pulse but the result wasn’t convincing.
Tears started rolling from his eyes as he thought about the time he spent with his grandpa. His parents had died in a car accident ten years ago. Since then, the only companion he had at home was his grandpa.

Chapter 10 – The pill

After hearing Sara’s version, the Sheriff was relieved but confused on the path the case had taken. He knew for sure that the voice was real and started to check his old records to find any clues.
Pete neatly arranged everything, dressed up his grandpa, informed the local funeral office and rang the Sheriff.
After about half an hour, the Sheriff applied his car brakes and the tires made a squealing noise as the car came to a grinding halt. He rushed to Pete’s apartment and asked him who John List was.

Pete handed the Sheriff a letter.
The Sheriff resigned to the blue easy chair after reading it.

Hello Pete,

I saw the news today and I believe everyone is curious about the voice in the cassette.
Even I was surprised to hear that voice in the news.
I don’t want you to be charged for a crime that you didn’t commit.
I would like to inform you, and the world, that the voice belongs to Jennie (your grandma).
This has remained a secret for about 45 years.
I would also like to confess that she was killed and I’m the murderer.
It all happened in a hurry when we had a quarrel on my having an extra marital affair.
But, I didn’t have the courage to reveal this neither to our family nor to the police.
I buried her in our garden and removed all the traces that would raise any suspicion. I also made the world believe that she had eloped with her boy friend to an unknown location. The only thing that I didn’t pay attention to was the cassette recorder in her trouser pocket. I just removed and placed it in the draw.
Though I feel that this has to be revealed now, I neither have the age nor the courage to face the world.
Thanks to you for all the help. You have taken good care of me.
And, thanks to the Valium pills that are gonna help me end my life.

Regards,
John List


- Written by Navin Radha a.k.a Aravindhan S