Knife

2

She saw a knife covered with blood near the body. She thought the knife had been used to kill the victim and whoever did this must have built up so much anger for him. She turned to the officers trying to label evidences and said:

“Do we know anyone who is on bad terms with him?”

“We haven’t interrogated the suspects but we assume it’s someone he works with.”

“Does it say where he worked in the documents you provide?”

“Of course.”

She started reading the files till she came across the company he worked for. It was surprisingly a big corporation. He was in the sales department. It seems like he was making a lot of money because of the promotion he got a few months ago.

It involves few people in the same office. It was time to interrogate the coworkers.

“He blamed him for the things he’s done and then acted like a saint. He was money laundering. When he got exposed, he put the whole thing on the poor Todd. To be honest, it was a smart move. He automatically eliminated the only competition he got.”

“Did you know about it?”

“Everybody in the office knew. But we all were so scared to talk about it because now he was our boss and could just fire  us.”

“Thank you for your cooperation Ms. Swynford.”

Detective Wilson left the room and walked to one of the officers to tell them to find some information on Todd Hayes.

…

“Mr. Hayes, do you know why you are here?”

He shrugged but was also intimidated by the woman standing in front of him. She was looking at him right in the eye.

“I don’t know, you tell me. You are the detective, after all.”

“You are unemployed for a while now, right?”

“Yes.”

“Listen here now Mr. Hayes, this is serious. A murder was commided by someone and the information you’re going to give us is high valued. So you better tell me the deal between you two.”

He gave up the careless attitude, noticing the woman’s seriousness.

“Fine. We weren’t too fond of each other. We were competing for the promotion. He got it and  I got fired.”

“Is he the reason that you got fired?”

He thought for a second.

“Yes, he … blamed me for the things he’s done.”

Detective pitied him for a brief moment but then reminded herself of her duty and what the man sitting across from him might have done.

“Are you mad about it?”

“I was but now, why would I care? He’s dead and I don’t have a job anymore, I have nothing to do in my life. My job was the only thing that kept me going, everything has lost meaning for me. I have no family, no friends beside my cowo- ex coworkers. He took the one thing I cared about. He was a murderer too, he killed me on the inside.”

She couldn’t tell if he was really lost or just trying to make her pity him. 

“You say that you’re not mad and you don’t care anymore but your words sound rather bitter.

Maybe him killing you on the inside awakened an urge to kill him as well.”

“What? This is crazy. You know who actually would like to kill him? His wife.”

He said it with urgency in his voice, as if he was trying to distract her.

“Why would his own wife want to kill him? And why are you suddenly blaming her?”

“I’m not blaming anyone. I’m just saying that if my partner cheated on me, I would definitely be mad.”

“So he was cheating on his wife?”

He was definitely putting on more and more people into the investigation.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying and you know what, if I take her for the jealous type even his mistress would actually commit murder.”

“Do you know the girl that he was having an affair with?”

“Oh no, I would not want anything to do with his messy life and complicated relationships.”

With that Detective Wilson decided to go for him and don’t ever let him distract her, she was way more professional for that kind of a thing. 

“Back to you now, Mr. Hayes. Tell me, when did you have your last conversation with Mr. Ross?”

He stopped to think for a while. He was literally a mess right now, with his long beard and overgrown hair. He was looking like someone that has been living in garbage for a while.

“I don’t recall talking to him after the day I got fired.”

“What was this conversation about?”

“I told him that he’s going to pay for what he did… in the afterlife,

of course and he just smugly laughed at my face like I meant nothing, like I’m nobody.”

“That’s all for today, Mr. Hayes. Thank you.”

Who do you think the killer might be?

   A) Todd Hayes          B) His Wife Martha Ross

If you think the murderer is Todd Hayes, you must click this link.

todd hayes

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

His Wife Martha Ross