Detective Rez Chamba in... The Case of the Restless Shovel

Chapter 4: An Accident or Murder?

"MOTHER was right!" The twin argued. "She is always right, father! And we suspect that the Shadow killed her and we should have informed the authorities about it and maybe, they might do something."

OR he might be a witness while Dr. Caridad was killing his wife, Rez thought.

"Mother said that there are things we don't see but they exist and not all we literally see, are real." The older of the twin followed up. She held her waist with her two hands angrily, in a childish way."

The doctor suddenly stood up and hit the table by his two palms.

"That is enough!" He shouted. "You don't know how evil your mother was! And I was actually glad that she died here, in this house, accidentally, rather than to die in the arms of her secret lover!"

He was pointing at his daughters now and lost all his professional conduct.

"She wanted to leave us and go with her secret boyfriend from their religious group! So, stop acting as if she was a very good mother! That is the reason why I don't want the police to investigate any longer. I wanted to save some dignity of our family!"

Everyone was dumbfounded.
The sisters began to cry and they ran into their room.

"Dr. Caridad,' Rez finally said calmly, "Did you honestly believe that she died accidentally here, in your house, and not murdered?"

Caridad's jaw dropped.
"What? Murdered?"

"Yes. I suspect that she was killed accidentally or intentionally by someone who is angry enough to want her gone and the so-called Shadow might be the culprit, or..."

"...witness to the crime!" Fred continued.

Caridad was rapidly breathing hard now.

"I-I d-didn't really think of that!" He said stutteringly. "But I don't know anyone who might have a grudge against her except...me.."

Caridad's eyes were now moving fast. "But I didn't kill her. I had a solid alibi on my whereabouts at that time. She was alone here in the house. The twin discovered her dead body later below the stairway after school."

She accidentally fell from the stairs or someone pushed her down, Rez imagined.

"What was the weather on that day?" Rez asked suddenly while rubbing his chin by his thumb.

"Weather?" Caridad repeated. "What do you mean?"

"He means if the weather was fine or was it dark on that day," Fred joined as he understood where Rez was leading into.

"Was it raining that day and a perfect time to sneak in your house?" Rez continued.

"W-what? But I was abroad at that time. It is impossible for me to be in two places at the same...."

Rez raised his hand to stop the doctor.
"We are not saying you did it, personally. You might have hired a killer which of course we can't prove unless someone saw the crime."

Rez paused a bit before continuing.

"Yes. Unless there was a witness and perhaps  he is the Shadow you strongly wanted to disregard."

Caridad thought for a moment. "Then we should find a way to catch this Shadow if he really knew something about my wife's death, am I right?"

"Exactly!" Rez affirmed. " And we can start tonight!"