Martha Ross

3

Detective Wilson was exhausted, talking to all these suspects and always thinking about the case was taking a lot of effort. She was eating her lunch while talking to another officer.

“I think that it might be his wife. She must be boiling with rage.” 

“What about his ex coworker? I think he has pretty good reasıns to commit a murder as well.”

“Of course, I still have my suspicions about him but I think I might’ve caught a clue that will prove him not guilty.”

The officer’s phone rang and she left the Detective alone. After a few peaceful moments the message she was waiting for came, photos of Todd Hayes at the theater in the city center the night that Jacob Ross was murdered brutally.

Detective Wilson contacted the victim’s wife to interrogate her. With Martha Ross arriving at the police station, she was back on business.

“Mrs. Ross, please accept my sympathy for your loss. It must’ve been really hard for you.”

“Thank you, it actually is so difficult but I’m trying to do as well as I can.”

“You and your husband weren’t on the best terms, right?”

Mrs. Ross denied it directly.

“No, I believe that things were alright between us. Why would you say such a thing like that?”

Detective grinned knowingly and in a mocking way.

“Don’t play the fool now, Mrs. Ross. I know that you have been mad at your husband ever since you found out that he was cheating on you.”

“How do you know that?”

“I have some resources that are called none of your business!”

Martha didn’t say anything.

“Cat got your tongue? Why did you become so quiet suddenly?”

She gulped and opened her mouth to talk but nothing came out. Detective Wilson kept talking. 

“Why did you lie about it?”

Finally breaking her silence, Martha let out a sob. 

“I was just trying to protect my children.” 

She said it with teary eyes, the anti-hero playing the victim. Detective was furious that she brought her children into this to have the upper hand.

“What does it have to do with your children?”

“He was going to hurt them too and I knew it, I couldn’t let him hurt my beautiful children, the only thing I got left. What kind of mother would not do anything in such a situation like this? I had to protect them! I did it for my children!” 

She screamed this to the Detective’s face, confessing in the process. She continued, calming down a little.

“I didn’t want them to be miserable. I grew up in a toxic household, I didn’t want them to go through the same thing that I did. I wanted them to have a better chance. They deserve someone better than him.”

“Is it better for them now that their father is dead and mother in jail, do you think this is the best chance they have?”

She felt sorry for the kids and finished her words.

“Look, Mrs. Ross, I see your motivation but murder mustn’t have been your first choice.

There were a lot of other options, getting a divorce, going to couple’s therapy…”

Martha cut her off.

“I get what you’re saying, Detective. But these weren’t options for me. He was such a terrible person that he couldn’t be fixed.” 

“Martha Ross, you’re under arrest for the murder of Jacob Ross.” 

She started panicking and losing it the moment she heard that sentence.

“No, no, no! You can’t do this. I have kids, I- I have a family! Who’s going to take care of my children? Detective please listen to me, he wasn’t a good guy anyway, is it really that bad that now he’s dead. It’s not like I’m a serial killer who just goes around and kills whoever comes to their way!”

“Mrs. Ross, him being the bad guy or you not being a

serial killer doesn’t change the things you’ve done and you should’ve known that your actions will have consequences. Your kids will be protected and safe, you can be sure of that.”

Detective Wilson called out for some officers to take Martha away finally she was relieved and able to take a breath. There was the Sheriff that assigned her to this case, walking up to her with a proud smile on his face. He slowly approached the detective.

“I knew I did the right thing when I decided that you should investigate the case. You handled it so well. I thought it was going to be his colleague.”

“Thank you, I thought it was him as well but he turned out to be innocent.”

“How did you catch the wife?”

“She simply couldn’t handle the pressure and confessed it was her.”

THE END