Marriage Of Secrets

The truth

Sean felt more relieved when the lady was gone, leaving him all by himself again. His head did know how to trick him for sure. What the hell does the eye lock mean and who the hell told him he could admire his best friend's wife? That made no sense. He was a damn detective and all he cared about was the case at the moment. Admiring the wife of his biggest prime suspect ought to be the least of his damn concern. It wasn't right in any way and his conscience would baffle him if things go wrong. What the hell would his boss think of him? Not that Karla was his spec anyway. He had so much to think about and a beautiful lady with a shady personality wasn't one of them.

He uncovered the box and pulled out the old photo album. The picture had some gibberish written on it. Gibberish written by probably a 6 year old who was trying to get his writing straight.

"Must be Anderson," Sean said with a smile. The photo album looked totally normal with nothing suspicious in there. It was just a mere compilation of photoshoots showing Anderson growing all the years to his teen days. Anderson was a fine looking guy no doubt, but Sean's focus wasn't on the young chap. His concern was on the fairly visible marks on Mrs Stone. The marks seemed to be covered up by poor photo editing, but one could tell from the fair pink contrast on her skin that her bruises weren't covered up well.

He took 5 of the photographs and slipped it into his pocket, before shutting the photo album and placing it back.

"What did you find?" Karla asked, standing by the door, and leaned against the frame.

"Well...I do not think I should be sharing that with you," he admitted avoiding an eye contact.

"It's my husband you are investigating here," Karla frowned. "I have every right to know if he is safe or not."

"Anderson has committed no crime, so there is nothing for you to worry about," he said.

"Even though, his family is my family too. I still have every right to know if his father was abusive or not."

"You are one stubborn lady, aren't you?"

Karla said nothing. Her eyes pierced into his as if trying to intimidate him to give an answer. He was a detective, so none of her tactics worked on him. But her twinkling brown eyes, and beautiful lips couldn't be left unnoticed. Damn! Women do have that charm, do they not?

"I could be right about his mother being a victim of abuse. But we do not have to inform him of that now, until we are sure he is open to speak with us about it."

"If you are telling the truth, then he obviously knows of this abuse," Karla explained. "I am sure he would want to talk about it."

"Not every kid likes to talk about the abuse of their parents. We do not know how sensitive that memory is for him."

"He is an adult and not a kid!" 

"An adult who was ones a kid. You shouldn't underestimate that."

"His mother had some bruises all through the photoshoots," Sean explained, walking past her out of the store. "I could be right about his mother being a victim of abuse."

"But this is crazy," Karla scoffed. "The lady wanted to burn down everyone in that house because of what her husband did to her."

"Maybe the servants knew about her abuse but did nothing to help her. This must have gotten her furious. I do not think I will ever understand why she didn't just divorce him though," Sean headed to the door.

"They are both dead so we cannot know the full story," Karla folded her arms.

"Maybe not yet," Sean opened the iron door. "I heard a maid left her job a week before the incident, so maybe she knows a bit about Anderson's childhood. She might be able to tell if his mother was abused or not."

Karla ran her hand down her hair.

"But this makes no sense. My mother never told me anything about Mr Stone abusing his wife. If he did, she would have told me," Karla explained.

"Maybe your mother is just as secretive as any other person in your life," Sean said. "Well, I will take my leave now. If I get any update on your husband, I will let you know."

Karla faked a smile and watched him leave. She shut the door behind her, and leaned against the wall deep in though. Damn! Madness! So Anderson had a clue of his father's abuse. Was that why he resulted to violence in his early adult life or what? There were lots of unanswered questions, and she couldn't help but wonder.

***
Sean placed the photographs before the police inspector as he inspected it. The photographs were interrogated by 5 more officers whose name Sean didn't know, nor had he cared to ask either.

"Shouldn't the case be closed?" One of them asked, yawning lazily. "The prime suspect is dead, and there is no other witness to remove this dead end."

"There is a servant who left her job a week before the incident. I am thinking of questioning her regarding it," Sean said with a smile. "We might be able to understand Anderson's recent aggression."

"And what good will that do for us?" The officer wasn't convinced enough.

"He might need to be recommended to a good therapist. That's probably what he needs since he faced a rough childhood," Sean explained.

The inspector wasn't convinced enough, but he nodded anyway, tapping the large wooden table.

"Do all it takes to solve this case," he ordered. "I do not care if that guy is your friend or not. We need to understand his mother's involvement in his parents death."

"Isn't it ironic that Mrs Stone isn't his real mother, but we call her his real mother anyway? And then we blame his real real mother for the death of his real mother only to discover that his real real mother is the cause of his parent's death," one of the guys said, puffing a smoke.

The inspector gave him an angry look, and slapped the cigarette from his lips.

"Quit smoking! It's rotting your brain," he said with anger. Sean felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He offered it a brief tap before grabbing hold of it. It was his mother probably calling to ask him when he would come home.

"Yes mum," he said with a smile. "Hope you are good."

"Could you come home? There is an issue here," his mother reported with a broken voice.

"Mum, what is wrong?" His mother asked.

"Please come...."