One step ahead - a mystery novel

Chapter 0-The Court's Recap

*narrator PoV*

Stephen Rosswold, 35, white male, 172cm tall, brown hair, green eyes. The court ruled it as a suicide. But it's not. Stephen was brutally murdered in his mother's apartment. And deep down she knows  it's not suicide, but there still isn't enough proof to turn this into a murder case. So there she was, assigned to a crime without anything to lead off on because the victim's mother is certain that his son wouldn't kill himself.

But, of course, you have no idea what I'm talking about. This mess did  happen in 2018. Quite a lot of time has passed. Let's go back to the day of the hearing in court.

*Eris' PoV*

27/07/2018(July 27th), 12:39

"I'm officer Eris Cozbi Halphen, head of the seventh district's department of crime investigation, Texas. University-educated in criminal psychology and law enforcement. I'd like to start by going over some details of the murder. If the court has something to add during my intervention, I invite them to write questions and doubts down as I wish to not be interrupted. First of all, the victim was Stephen Harold Rosswold, a 35 years old male who was born in Virginia. He lived with his mother, had no close friends and barely had a social life. On June 16th Stephen's mother made a call to the police saying that his son wasn't answering her desperate phone calls after he had sent her what she described as a 'heart-wrenching' audio message. It was sent at 11:52am, while  his death was estimated to be complete by 12:13pm. Your Honor, may I play the recording to the court?"

"As you wish, miss Halphen"

-Audio plays- 

*heavy breathing*

"Ma-- I-"

*banging on a door*

"I'm so sorry Ma- she--"

*undistinguishable muffled screams*

"I gotta go, don't come b-"

*"H, WE GOT HIM"*

"Ma don't call th-- POLI-"

-Audio ends-

"... As the court just heard, this was Stephen's last known interaction with someone, other than the people we heard in the background which my technical team defined as 'a group of intruders, likely known by the victim, who made their way into his house'. Now, of course, such a big event would be noticeable by signs of lockpicking, fighting marks, scratches, hair and fingerprints. But none of that was recovered by the scientific team. No signs of breach entry nor genetic leftovers, other than Stephen and his mother of course. The neighbours didn't report seeing any suspicious activity outside or inside the apartment building, nor have they heard screams. I'll now call on the stand one of the neighbours present at the estimated time of the 'suicide' to describe any suspicious activity that went on during the day. May I proceed, Your Honor?"

"Yes, ma'am, proceed."

"Well, then, please bring in the first 'witness'."

*The police escort the woman to the stand and Eris walks towards her to then stop in front of the stand*

"Please identify yourself."

"My name's Julica, Julica Yumeno. I work at the postoffice in Wallace str-"

"No need for you to state anything other than the necessary. How long have you lived in the apartment building?"

"2 years"

"How is your relationship with the other neighbours, especially with the Rosswolds?"

"Oh, it's pretty normal. I don't interact with the neighbours too much, after all we simply share an apartment building, we're not living in the same house. I sometimes visit an old woman who resides at the top floor, I'd say she's the only one I maintain a relationship with. As for the Rosswolds, I only met miss Rosswold on rare occasions, such as leaving the building or entering her apartment. We live right in front of eachother yet never had a real interaction. She's a pretty... interesting person."

"Why do you describe her as 'interesting'?"

"Oh... I said that? I apologise, you misunderstood what I meant. I only said that she looks busy all the time. I don't know what she's like."

"Alright. What were you doing on June, Saturday 16th at around 11:50am?"

"That's really specific... I wasn't really paying attention to the time. I might've been cooking at that time, since I was expecting friends over for lunch. I obviously had to cancel plans with the arrival of the police and-"

"Let's carry on. Were you still cooking around 12:10?"

"...yes. I know for sure that I was because I looked at the clock a few minutes earlier to check how the turkey was cooking."

"And had you seen or heard anything suspicious?"

"No... Nothing suspicious. I was also listening to music with my earphones in, so I wouldn't have heard anything either way. But no screams or anything. Nor did I notice anyone suspicious entering the building. I know this because I went out a couple minutes later to buy a couple ingredients I was missing. And when I came back, police was already investigating the apartment building."

"You haven't seen anything? Not even the apartment door open or footprints?"

"No, none of that."

"Thank you. That's all."

"Can I go now, then?"

"Hold on." said someone.

"...And who might you be to interrupt the court?" I said.

"Justin Triggs. Investigator working for the FBI. I have some more questions for miss Yumeno, if I'm allowed, your Honor."

"I agree with miss Halphen. You are not part of the court. Please do not interrupt this case further."

"But I am part of the court. I am miss Halphen's partner in the investigation."

-writer's space- 

Why hello! Thank you for reading this far! This is my new book and I really, really hope I'll finish this one. I still have some basic stuff to write down so this is the introduction to the story rather than the actual first chapter, but oh well. If you're following me already you know I'm actually italian so forgive the eventual grammar mistakes littered here and there. Also please lemme know what you think about the story! It is quite different from the ones I usually write.