"Jane Kelley. Age 24. Housewife," Claire scoffed under her breath as she walked down to the room. "This is going to be fun." Her hand hovered over the silver handle. She took a breath before walking in. "Mrs. Kelley. I'm sorry for your loss," Claire said in her most convincing sympathetic voice. She perched herself on a chair across from her.
Mrs. Kelley, the mourning widow, held a tissue up to her running nose. "I've never knew he was like this," she sobbed. The tissue rose to her eyes as the tears began to accumulate into pools. "He was such a nice guy."
Claire settled her elbows on the metal table. Her hands hooked onto each other and she placed her chin on them. "How nice was your husband?" she inquired, already getting to the point. The pen shoved in between sounded a small click from her thumb. "Did he donate to charity, ran 5k's, anything like that?"
Mrs. Kelley looked taken aback as if Claire ate a puppy in front of her. "I'll have you know that he did a lot of good things! He did donate to multiple charities and gives to the homeless. How dare you accuse him of not?"
Claire scribbled down something down on her pad of paper. "If he did all of these things, then why would someone kill him?" she said, her pen still moving across the paper. "Wouldn't they just leave him alone?"
Mrs. Kelley shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Her fingers twitched and fidgeted with each other. "He was a good guy. Had some issues, but now he's fine."
Claire nodded her head as the pen scribbled one word. Lying. Her pumpkin orange eyes glanced back up at Mrs. Kelley. They grazed down Mrs. Kelley's body. Tear drop diamonds earrings glistened through her curls of chocolate hair. Her makeup looked like it was done by a professional that made her cyan blue eyes pop. Her lips were a dark shade of red. The black lace lead down to the cocktail dress showed off her curves of her skinny body. A silver vine ring curled around her right index finger, but no ring sat on her left ring finger.
Claire tapped her pen on the pad of paper. "Were you and your husband very close?"
Mrs. Kelley straightened in her chair to appear taller to Claire. "We've been having a few problems lately, but we are very close with each other."
Claire leaned back in her folding chair, the pad of paper falling into her lap. Her lips withheld the smile growing inside. "Did you tell your husband that you lost your wedding ring?"
Mrs. Kelley's drawn on eyebrows lifted. "My wedding ring?" she demanded, as if Claire was the one to lose it. Claire points the end of her pen to the empty space around the left ring finger. Mrs. Kelley finally put the two together. Her right hand quickly covered up the left hand. "I-I have my wedding ring. I-I just didn't grab it when I was forced to come down here."
Claire noticed the subtle stutter hidden in her words. "Where is it right now?"
Mrs. Kelley's cyan eyes shifted around in her head. Claire's smile broke through her defenses. The dominoes were falling into place. Mrs. Kelley sighed. "I don't know where it is, okay?"
The pen fell back onto the pad of paper. Claire's fingers quickly moved the pen, circling what was written before and writing two words. Knew it. The pen escaped her fingers. Claire leaned forward in her chair. "One more question. Where do you plan to go after this?"
She locked her eyes on Claire's eyes. "I plan to go out. My friend's are planning a dinner to help me forget."
"Obviously," Claire murmured under her breath. She scooped up the pen and her notes after she scribbled some more words down. "We are about done. You'll be contacted when you need to come back." Before Claire opened the door, she turned to her suspect. "Have fun at your dinner."
