The Frills of Sanity

CASE 1

They arrived at the Whippleville. AD had tracked the location through satellite connections which was pointing at at the small house at the end of the smallest lanes in Whippleville. They went in through the gates and knocked on the door.

"Mr. Mires..Mr. Mires, open the door." Soltz roared.

The door was opened in a moment with a creek of the hinge. There stood a man in his thirties, white, pale, red eyes, messed hairs, and smelly clothes.

' Signs of a man in deep pain.', thought Hope.

"Are you with the police? What do you want now? She is dead, I am innocent, and the killer is somewhere out celebrating his win." He gulped the drink in his glass.

"Mr. Mires. You might want to put the glass down. Mrs. Garcia, has requested the state to reopen the case. She still thinks you might have killed her." Soltz put forth the reason for their questioning.

"That xxxxx... Why don't you go, run her background instead, eh? I am sure she must have killed my Chloe. I am giving you nothing. Get out of my house." he turned violent. He raised his glass and took a stance to throw it at Soltz.

Hope moved forward and grabbed Mires's hand.

"It is okay Mr. Mires. We do not think you killed your wife." She spoke in her most soothing voice.

The moment went in silence.

"Okay. What you want?" Mr. Mires lowred his glass but did not move.

"Agent Soltz, here-" Hope pointed at Soltz and continued. "-wants to help you find the real killer of your wife. So answer correctly to all the questions he might ask. Do not miss any details. Okay?"

He simply nodded. He sat on his sofa chair, put his empty glass on the table, and asked them all to have seat.

"Nicholas, tell me. Who do you think must have killed her?"

"Not me.. She was a wonderful woman, agent. My woman! But, her mother was always against our marriage. She always thought that I am not the right person for Chloe; that I won't make her happy."

He looked up at Hope and continued.

"The fact is, her mother is rich and has many social contacts in Malone. She made my boss fire me and she made sure that I won't get any good job. So we left Malone and settled here. I got a great job where Chloe didn't have to work at all. We were happy."

His face changed and Hope could see the anger.

"But then, her mother paid us a visit couple of months ago and was not happy with the house. She yelled a lot and made a huge fuss like she always does. Then, she came back five days before the murder. She said she felt sorry for her behaviour and that she wanted us to forgive her and shift back to Malone. She also gifted some plants to Chloe. Chloe loved gardening. So we thought she is really sorry and we forgave her."

Hope observed another change in his expressions. That was misery. She signed Soltz to continue.

"What happened then? How did Chloe die?"

"I was at work when I received a call from the police. Chloe's friend - Linda, visited us frequently. That day, she came by and knocked the door for many times, she called out Chloe for many times. She said, there was no response. Then she called 911 and police broke the door. Also, police found her dead when they got in."

Soltz gave him a moment to calm down and continued. " What did the police say?"

"They said that she killed herself because of me. They said that she was disturbed and was not happy with me." He scoffed. "Of course the words fed by my great mother in law! They could not find anything against me or anybody else. Case was closed!"