Bertelli Investigations Volume 1: Noteworthy Mysteries

Chapter 21

Tuesday, May 2nd,2024 | 10:00am

As it was time for the visitation of Jade's lifeless, young, body, Tony and Tino walked inside the funeral home with a plan.

"Tell me why we're doing this again?", Tony whispered to Tino sarcastically. He hated funerals. As much as he seen dead bodies on a regular basis,funerals weren't the thing either of the boys wanted to attend.

"Because we are out of leads. We're coming here to closely examine every single person."

Tony took a deep breath."Right."

They greeted Jade's sister Hannah near the coffin. "Thank you guys for coming. It means a lot.", she silently sobbed, wiping the running tears away from her face. "Oh,and this is my boyfriend Jacob", she said looking up at the tall, slender, dark haired, man standing with her, holding her hand.

"Nice to meet you", he said with a straight, sullen, face.

They glanced at Jade's cold body lying in the coffin. They had seen her after she was murdered, but seeing her in the coffin gave off a different feeling. She was lying there with her long blond hair neatly combed and her makeup done very light and elegant. She wore a light pink dress, which seemed out of character for her, but gave her a kind of innocence that she never shown to people. It represented the kind of person she was trying to become, the new Jade, as it were, before she got heartlessly killed.

Tino looked at Hannah in her now red, puffy, eyes. "Hannah we are so sorry for your loss. We're going to do everything we can to find her killer."

"I know you will", she said gently gasping.

"I know this isn't a very good time for this, but could you tell me how some of the people here had a connection to Jade?"

Hannah quickly looked around the room."Well, that man over there is our father. I wouldn't speak to him though. He is troubled enough over this. And several cousins are over there in a group talking. The rest are all friends."

"Thank you. We'll leave you so you can talk to others.", Tino said as they walked away, trying to figure out who to talk to first.

"Look who is standing over there. It's Mitch", Tony said. "Let's go see how he's doing. Kind of weird to be at your ex wife's funeral."

"Hello Mr Thompson", Tino said approaching the man.". I don't know if you remember us, but we are the Bertelli brothers."

The man forced a slight grin."Oh yes of course I remember. How are you guys doing?"

"Okay. How are you doing?", Tino asked awkwardly. It's not the kind of thing you ask a man at his ex wife's funeral.

Mitch sighed in grief, tearing up ."You know it's so hard when you love someone but you're not supposed to anymore. I still can't imagine my life without her."

"Excuse me, but you were divorcing right?", Tony asked.

"Yes. But now she is really gone.", Mitch replied, holding back tears. "Now all I have to remember her by is pictures and memories."

Tony discreetly looked at Tony with a 'we better talk now' glare. It was the kind of look that only his twin brother would pick up on."Tino, could I talk to you for a moment?"

Tino wondered what could be going through his brother's mind."Sure."He shook Mitch's hand in a consoling way. " It was nice to see you again. Please excuse us."

Tony made sure that he and Tino were in a small section of the room that was not occupied by anyone around."There's something that just hit me."

"What?", Tino asked curiously.

"Look at her in the coffin again."

"What? Why?",Tino asked in a slightly weirded out way.

"She doesn't have a ring on", Tony pointed out, insisting his brother see for himself.

"So what?", Tino asked confused.

"She had a ring on when she died. It was a wedding ring. Remember?"

"Yeah. Wait a minute." Tino started to think about how little sense it made for a woman to wear a ring when the marriage wasn't salvageable. How could they have missed this before? "Who wears a wedding ring when they're about to get divorced?"

Tony smiled, and his eyes widened."Exactly! Go ask Hannah about the ring. Maybe she knows what happened to it. And while you're over there, look at Jade", Tony demanded." I want you to see that she doesn't have a ring on."

Tino's viewpoint:

As Tino walked back up to Hannah, she was busy talking to a few people. He glanced at Jade's body, confirming for himself that she was not wearing a wedding ring."Hannah, excuse me. Could I take just one more moment of your time?"

"Sure." She nodded at the guests, who went to talk to others.

"I'm sorry for interrupting. But it came to my attention that Jade doesn't have a wedding ring on. But when you saw her shortly after she, uhm, passed, did she have one on?"

"Yes, she did. And I don't have a clue why. She detested wearing a wedding ring. She never wore one. When Mitch saw her and found out she had it on, he said he didn't want to take it from her. But I insisted he did."

'So Mitch has the ring now', Tino thought. 'But why would she have been wearing it when she died?'

"Interesting. Thank you for that information."

Hannah's face became angry. Her dark red lips pursed together as she stared at the entrance to the funeral home."By the way, her boyfriend Malcom just walked in the door. I know you said you cleared him, but please, watch him". Hannah's tone of voice had changed drastically. There was an obvious certain amount of hate she had towards Malcom, and understandably so.

"Don't worry, it looks like Tony's already on it.", he said watching his brother take the golden opportunity to talk to him."

Tony's viewpoint:

Tony was trying to piece it all together in his mind. Why would Jade be wearing a wedding ring? Did she finally see hope in her once-broken marriage? Or did someone put it on her finger after her death? Then he saw Malcom, Jade's ex-boyfriend, walk in the door. Could he still have something to do with her death? Why on earth would he come to the funeral of an ex-girlfriend he absolutely detested? There was only one way to find out: Talk to him.

"Malcolm, I don't know if you remember, but I'm Detective Tino Bertelli.", he said trying to get on Malcom's good side.

Malcom looked Tino up and down ."How could I forget? Look detective, I'm just here to pay my respects and leave."

"To a girl you religiously beat up and called a no-good whore?"

"We had a complicated relationship", Malcom answered so plainly it was pathetic.

"Could I just ask you one question? Did you ever buy her any jewelry?"

"Jewelry?", Malcom asked, looking at Tino with a puzzled look.

"Yeah. A lot of guys buy their lady some jewelry. I just bought my girlfriend a pair of diamond earrings. Just wondering because when we went through her apartment we found a lot of jewelry and I was wondering if there's anything that you might want back if possible?" Tino knew he needed to come up with something. They couldn't chance anyone catching onto anything.

"I did buy her a ring one time. It was a small diamond ring. We weren't getting engaged or any kind of crap like that. But it was something to buy her because she liked diamonds."

'Bingo.', Tony thought to himself. "Did she wear it often?"

"Only when she was around me.", Malcom replied in a detestable tone. "I've heard she was very prompt to take it off any other time. She didn't want anyone to think she was taken."

"Do you happen to own a gun?",Tino asked, thinking that maybe Malcom had something to do with this murder after all.

Malcom wasn't stupid. He knew where Tino was going with that. He smiled mischievously. "Detective,I own a lot of guns. And believe me, I wished I was the one that killed her. But you will never tie me to this murder."