Bertelli Investigations Volume 1: Noteworthy Mysteries

Chapter 8

                  Thursday,April 28th,2024 |  8:00am

The Bertelli brothers got a search warrant to search Jade's house. They thought it might give them some clues as to what happened. After all, she might have previously been with her killer in her home before they got to the Bertelli's buisness. It was a bit of a foggy, misty, day, perfect for investigating a murder. It was just as you seen in the movies.

They obtained the key from her landlord, who seemed a bit strange as he kept talking and tried to get them to rent out an apartment. They escaped only by pushing their own way out of his door.

When they walk in her house, it gave off an eerie feeling for a reason they weren't sure about. There was a small living room, accompanied with an even smaller kitchen and a bathroom to the side. It had an upstairs bedroom and guest bedroom. The whole house was emaculate,with not one thing out of place or hardly a speck of dust.

"She sure was a clean woman", Tony said looking around her living room." We would've had a heck of a clean office."

"Yeah. And now we have to find a new secretary."

"I haven't even thought about that.",Tony replied rubbing his hand across his face.

"Okay, this is how we'll do it. You start in the living room and I'll look in the kichen.",Tino ordered. He took out a couple of supplies to dust for fingerprints that he carried in a suitcase and handed some to Tony as well,leaving the suitcase by the front door."

Tino went into the tiny kitchen that was only big enough for cabinets ,a stove,and a refrigerator. He searched through them,putting on white gloves and using a tiny flashlight . Opening the cabinet doors all he found was some apples that were starting to rot,Rice Krispies,and chicken noodle soup.

Meanwhile Tony also put on white gloves. He lifted up the couch cushions,looked around the TV,and checked in the coffee table drawer. Everything seemed perfect and in place. "I'm impressed. Not even a piece of popcorn under the cushions."

"Unlike home.",Tino chuckled.

"Everything is good down here. Let's do the upstairs."
Tony said,straightening up his gloves. They walked up the stairs to find things just as clean.

" You're kidding me right? The bed is made and there's not even any laundry in her hamper.",Tony said folding his arms in disbelief." Why don't we do this room together?"

As they searched the room they came across a shelf with a bunch of small boxes.Tino started searching all of them."This must be her jewelery. ",he said as he checking each box."Wow she kept all of them in the boxes."

"This is strange bro."

"Something definitely feels off. She didn't seem like a slob, but she didn't come across as a neat freak either.", Tino said as he got to the last box of jewelry."Not one piece of jewelry missing. Well atleast we know she wasn't robbed."

Tony opened up her closet door, looking through what clothes were hung up."He-llo! Look at this!"

Tino hurried over to the other side of the room where Tony was in the closet. "What is it?"

Tony pulled out a skimpy piece of lingerie. It was black and had lace underwear and bra that connected by two straps that would go on both sides,with just paddings big enough to barely cover what needed to be covered. "Oohs lala. I knew being a detective would pay off." ,Tony practically drooled.

Tino snapped at him in a playful way. "Antonio Angel Bertelli, put that down and get back to work."

Tony teasingly danced over to Tino with the lingerie in front of him."Oh cmon bro, you know you like it."

"You know what I would like? I would like for you to do your job."

"Fine." ,Tony said pouting as he put the lingerie back."Here's something weird. She has all of clothes washed and cleaned,but some are hung up sloppy , while the rest are hung up okay."

Tino went to the closet to look for himself. "That is strange. It's almost like two different people hung up her clothes."
In the spare room it looked pretty much unused. There was a well made bed and a small dark wood nightstand.

"Nothing in here." ,Tony said opening up the small closet. "And I was hoping for more lingerie."

Tino bluntly ignored Tony's hopes of more lingerie ,and he peeked under the bed then in the drawer of the nightstand. "Nothing here either. Out of everything you've dusted, did you come up with any fingerprints?"

"Nope. Not even fingerprints that might belong to Jade. But we called her sister and nobody has been in this house."

"Which means someone was here sometime after she was murdered.They made sure to clean up everything. So you think she was killed here possibly?"

"It's possible," Tony nodded."But why would they take her to our business to dump off her body? Just to leave that note and make sure to try to scare us into not being investigators?"

"I'm thinking so.The Commissioner was right. Tia's kidnapper is getting scared. " Tino grinned with pride." He knows we're after him."

"Which makes me pretty confident that he won't hurt her. He's just scared of getting caught."

"Now we just have the bathroom to do. If you want to check it out,I'll relook at everything." As Tony walked downstairs he glanced around the bottom rooms one more time. Then all of a sudden he stopped,glarring between the open staircase. He knelt down,walking closer to it."Wait a minute,look at this." As he approached the staircase his jaw dropped slowly...."Hey Tino! Get over here!I think we hit the jackpot."

Tino ran towards the direction of Tony's voice. "What is it?!"

"Give me a plastic bag from the suitcase. And get your phone ready to take a picture ."

Tino hurried and got a bag out of the suitcase and opened it for Tony. As he grabbed his cellphone out of his pocket he tried to see what Tony was seeing. And then there it was. On the carpet behind the staircase, hidden in a tiny ,dark, corner, was a little bullet.

"That makes it official." ,Tony applauded. "She was murdered here in her house."