Private Investigation

While he's gone

Sophie combed back some stray hairs before spraying another coat of hair lacquer to hold it in place. Behind her Tedros coughed as he inhaled the overpowering spray, which made him realise why Agatha had elected to lean on the dresser rather than sit on the bed next to him. 

"It just doesn't make any sense. Kei loved Rhian, far more than I ever did, he wouldn't kill him." Sophie sighed turning to the others in her room. 

"Who's to say he wasn't telling the truth?" Tedros offered going to stand by the open window taking deep breaths of the fresh, chemical free air. 

"Even if he is they wont believe him." Hort said entering the room with four hot mugs of coffee which he placed on Sophie's dresser, earning him a scowl. 

As the other three continued to speculate Agatha found herself staring out of the window onto the driveway. Sophie was right, it didn't make sense for Kei to kill Rhian, it didn't make sense for anyone to kill Rhian. Sure he was an ass but she knew people that were a lot worse. How did she end up here, caught up in a murder investigation? All she wanted to do was go home and pretend none of this had happened. To hide away from all the unwanted attention.

As her eyes drifted towards Tedros' car, inaculate as always without a single scratch or splash of mud. Then she noticed fresh grooves in the gravel and then something occurred to her.  "Where's Japeth?"  

"He left about an hour ago mumbling something about business." Hort replied.  

Agatha merely nodded and turned back to Sophie, who had frozen. Slowly she  turned to the door. "I'll be back in a moment." 

Before anyone could ask any questions, Sophie had disappeared out of the room.  

*** 

"So, next we have Tedros." Dot clarified, as she filed the notes from Kei's  interview. 

On the couch across from her Anadil was reading through the autopsy results while Hester tried to make sense of their suspect board. Her finger would follow a piece of string from a portrait to a scrap of paper then over to a newspaper clipping or a picture of evidence before cursing, storming around the room and then starting again.

Suddenly the door swung open and Sophie ran in, closely followed by Agatha and Hort. 

"By all means, come in." groaned Hester. 

Agatha and Hort both turned to one another, considering if  it was worth stopping Sophie but at the same time they wanted to know where she was heading with this. 

"Kei didn't kill Rhian!" Sophie declared doing her best to ignore the disconcerting expressions of all the detectives around her. 

"Do enlighten us, my Lady." 

Sophie's eyes drifted to to a pile of folders near the desk, on top if which was the magazine Dot showed her during her interrogation. That Sophie wouldn't freeze up like this, that Sophie was good. That Sophie was innocent. She had nothing to hide and would gladly speak to anyone for hours. Now though? Now she was terrified. 

But that wasn't going to stop her. 

"You searched Rhian's room, after- after he was taken out." 

Hester was already bored and tried to get the three of them to leave. "Look I don't have time for this. Could you-"

"You found a gun." 

Hester stopped dead and turned to the widow. She tried to hide her shock but Dot's gaping mouth gave away their surprise. All three of the detectives were speechless, Agatha and Hort were both equally shocked as well.