Gun

2

While Detective Wilson looked around the room she saw a slightly open drawer and decided to look into it, found receipties and bills. After digging up some paper she found a specific receipt attached with a note on it. It was for a gun that has been bought in the name of Jacob Ross. Detective Wilson asked one of the officers:

“I found a gun receipt in one of the drawers. The gun had been bought three weeks before he died.” 

She added it to the evidence file and kept looking around the room. There was a family portrait hung on the wall. There were two little kids and a beautiful middle aged woman standing in front of a big mansion with a big smile on their faces.

She turned to the officers trying to label evidences and said:

“Who are these people in the pictures?”

Officer answered, 

“These people are the family of the victim, the woman is his wife, her name is Martha Ross. She is one of our suspects. The little girl is Sarah and the boy is Evan. The mansion in the picture is their old house, the one they used to live in.”

Detective Wilson examined the photo carefully, looking for any clue that could help them. Officer continued,  

“She disappeared for a while but now we finally managed to reach her. She’s waiting for you in the interrogation room.”

The officer left without saying another word and Detective Wilson made her way to the interrogation room to talk to the victim’s wife, Martha Ross.

She sat on the chair in front of her and asked:

“Mrs. Ross, I’m so sorry for your loss. How have you been since?”

“Thank you, I’m… trying to be strong for my kids, you know they’re not taking it well.”

“Well where have you been since your husband passed away? The police couldn’t reach you until now.”

“I took the kids and decided to stay with my parents for moral support.”

“Mrs. Ross, your husband didn’t die of natural causes, he was killed. Didn’t you think it would be a good idea to talk to the police about it?”

“I thought that if I talked to the police right away, you would think of me as a suspect.” she said, sweating from head to toe. Detective observed her moves carefully. 

“Where were you when your husband was murdered?”

“Umm, when exactly?”

“February 10, around 11 p.m.”

“I spent the night at my sister’s house.”

“Can your sister confirm this?”

“Are you accusing me of lying?”

Martha Ross definitely had a short temper, she got defensive so easily. Detective Wilson noted that in her head.

“I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m just asking questions. Now, can your sister confirm this or she can’t?”

“Of course, she can.”

“Well, then I’m going to have to talk with her. Please write her information so we can contact her.”

“Is that really necessary? I don’t want her to get involved in this because of me.”

“We’re just going to ask her some questions. Please write it down.”

Martha wrote her contact information to the paper in front of her.

“Were you on good terms with your husband before he died?”

“Well, we had our issues like every couple. There is no perfection in any relationship after all. right?”

“What kind of issues are we talking about here?”

“He was… Coming home late and has been distant to me and the kids for a while.” 

When Detective Wilson was about to speak she quickly added. 

“But things were going well overall. Things were getting better between us. 

She was talking too fast and she knew it. So she

decided to calm herself down but the detective already noticed that she was acting weird due to nervousness.

“Mrs. Ross, please calm down. I’m just trying to do the best thing for you and your family. Can you tell me how long these issues have been going on?”

“I don’t really know, like… six months dare I say.”

“In these six months, did you know someone he met or became very close with?”

“No, I don’t know that kind of a person.” 

Martha bit her lips. 

“Are you sure?”

“Well, there is this woman she met in a business meeting once but he didn’t mention her name again.”

“Who is this woman he met in a business meeting?”

“I don’t really remember but I think it was Aliso- no

Alice. Yes, that was her name.”

“Thank you Mrs. Ross. That’s all for now.”

…

Detective Wilson started her day with a coffee. Her head was aching because of all the hard work she has been doing lately. Then she got into the interrogation room to talk to Martha’s sister, Eve Miller.

“Ms. Miller, your brother in law has been killed. It must’ve been very hard for you.”

“Yes, thank you. I’m trying to do as well as I can for my sister, she’s devastated.”

“Did you and him get along?”

“We had dinners and spent time together when we both just wanted to get away from everything that’s been going on with our lives. He didn’t talk about himself much. He used to say that it’s not right to share much.”

“Your sister mentioned that Jacob and her have been going through rough times. Do you know anything about it?”

“She told me that Jacob has been distant lately, both to her and the kids like he’s not interested in them anymore.”

“Do you think that there’s a third person in this relationship?” 

“I don’t think there’s a third person in their relationship. I KNOW there’s a third person in their relationship. That woman he met in a business meeting he had a few months ago. But I don’t remember her name.”

“You mean Alice? Blonde hair with green eyes, not so tall, really fit. In her twenties?”

“Yes! Exactly. Have you spoken to her?”

“We do not have the information about her contacts. Can you tell me everything you know about her?”

“Sure. What do you want to know?”

“Let’s start with her and Mr. Ross’ relationship. How long has this thing been going on? When did you learn about this? Why didn’t you tell her?”

“What do you mean? I told her way before the incident. It’s been 4 months or so since I told my sister about it but she denied. After e-”

“Sorry to interrupt but how did you get this information?

“I saw them together. While I was on a date, I saw him with a younger good looking girl. He gave her an expensive necklace. After that, she kissed him. I was shocked. Our eyes met with Jacob and his face turned white. A few minutes later they left.” 

She took a sip from her water and continued.

“Next day I met with my sister to tell her about what happened. At first she didn’t believe me, she thought I was lying to her but in the end she got a little suspicious. But Jacob was being careful since the restaurant.”

“A few days later she told me that she was worried about Jacob’s ‘business trips’ getting more frequent. They got into a terrible fight. She was so hurt by his words that time she moved out with the kids for a week until Jacob apologized.“

She took a deep breath and continued.

“She decided to keep her silence for the kids. We came from a seperated family. I think that she didn’t want her kids to go through the same thing as we did.”

“So you’re saying she had so much anger towards him since then?”

“I believe but she couldn’t go as far as killing him.”

“Can you tell me how I can reach Alice?”

“I believe you can find her from his contacts, my advice to you is looking for hiding places in his house or his car..”

“I’ll note this and again I’m dearly sorry for your loss.”

…

After an officer broke into Mr. Ross’ phone they found Alice quite easily. Alice Laurentis, graduatee from San Francisco Uni, having this kind of a relationship with Jacob Ross made her financially stable enough to pay her debt. She was a charming young girl who looked exactly like Eve Miller described. 

After finding her address, Detective Wilson came up to her door. Detective Wilson knocked at the door, some guy wearing a black hoodie opened the door looking confused. Detective Wilson asked:

“Is Alice Laurentis living here?”

“It depends.”

Detective didn’t say anything, just showed him the batch he looked kinda  frightened but he tried to keep his cool so he pretended this didn’t bother him.

“Yes, you can come inside.”

He showed the living room to the detective. There was hardly any furniture.

“So may I ask why you are in my house?” 

“Is Alice at home?”

“No, she went to run some errands. She shall be back soon.”

“I see. Do you guys live together?”

“Yes, for a few years and dating for 3 years.”

She thought to herself if he knew she cheated on her or these two have a more casual openly relationship.

“I’ll cut to the chase. Do you know who Jacob Ross is?”

“Of course I know.” he said with anger on his face.

“Where did you know him from?” 

“I think you should listen to this from Alice.”

“You know a murder was committed by someone? This don’t look good for you.”

He was clearly uncomfortable. He kept looking at the clock on the wall. 

“So what’s your name?”

“Joe.”

“Okay Joe, was Alice with you on February 10, around 11 p.m?

“Wait, it’s been 4 days since Jacob died and you guys are coming to investigate now? Isn’t it a bit late?”

“Don’t tell m-”

Door cracked open with a young girl holding the key and a bag. 

“I’m home. You are no-“

She stopped talking once she saw the woman sitting on the sofa. Alice looked to Joe and the detective in an awkward silence until the woman got up and introduced herself.

“Hello, I’m Detective Wilson. I’m here to ask you a few questions.”

She tried to act casual but the detective understood that she was uncomfortable.

“You must be Alice, nice to meet you.” 

She put down her keychain and bag.

“I’m sorry, why are you here?”

She was looking directly at Joe but he was clueless as well.

“I’m here because Jacob Ross has been found dead in his house.”

Alice covered her mouth with her hands in shock.

“It can’t be…”

Joe was watching them madly.

“I’m really sorry for your loss. Can you tell me about your relationship with him?”

Appearently Joe knew about the affair.

“So what do you want to know?”

“Let’s start with where do you know him? How did you two meet?”

“Umm… It was a few months ago. I studied economy, I was looking for an internship. The manager of the sales department reached out to me, set a meeting next day. I walked into his office and he in a tuxedo was sitting in front of me.

After the interview he told me that I can start on Monday.”

She took a deep breath.

“At first I didn’t pay attention to him that much. But after a while we got closer. I can’t say I didn’t like it. We were basically he told me, I can not tell this to anyone because we’re colleagues. I did believe him until I learnt the actual reason.”

“Please, continue.”

“Then he asked me out for a dinner. I accepted it. We were on a break at that time.”

“So we went on a few dates. Then I told him that I wasn’t comfortable with hiding this relationship, after a big fight on the topic. We went to more public places. One day when having a nice meal he got frozen and right after we had to change location.”

She pointed at the necklace on her neck.

“He gave me this necklace that day. We were so happy until I found out that he had a wife all alone with two lovely kids. I was devastated.”

“So did you break up with him?”

“Well at first I didn’t know what to do so I just ignored him.”

“Did you confront him about this?”

“No, I played dumb. I didn’t tell his wife because I was scared to destroy a nice family. I regret it now.”

“Where were you on  February 10, around 11 p.m?”

She panicked.

“I was at home packing, I didn’t go out that day “

“Do you have a witness that will prove this?”

“I mean I texted my boyfriend but he wasn’t with me. You can check the location.”

“Okay. Do you want to add anything else?”

“Please find whoever did this to him.”

She said it with teary eyes. Detective felt sorry for this young heartbroken girl.

She sat down at her desk and thought about the suspects: there is his wife who got cheated and Alice who had lied to.

Who do you think the murderer is?

   A) Martha Ross        B) Alice Laurentis

If you think that the murderer is Martha Ross, click to this link.

Martha

If you think that the murderer is Alice Laurentis, click to this link.

Alice