Criminal Case: Pacific Bay

Chapter 10: Smoke and Mirrors-Part 3

While Amy and Marie were discussing what they know so far about the case, Harvey Fitchner stumbled into the office all drunk, showed the female officers a pair of human eyes and told Marie to look into them and that caused Amy to let out a shriek and exclaim that the eyes that Harvey had were actual human eyes. Amy then exclaimed, "Don't even tell me that those are Vanessa's eyes?! Cause if they are, I'm gonna faint!"

Marie then glared at Harvey and said to him, "Answer me Harvey! Did you murder Vanessa Kimmel?!"

Harvey was swaying drunkenly and he said while trying to remember, "I don't know. All I can remember is being drawn to a burning building. Such pretty eyes."

Harvey saw the eyes in his hand and then he turned green and exclaimed, "What have I done?! I don't feel too well!" And the two female officers watched as Harvey fainted right in front of them with the eyes still in his hand.

Marie rolled her eyes and said "Harvey's so drunk that he just passed out. We better lock him up in a holding cell and question him once he's sobered up."

Amy then said in frustration, "And now that Harvey's touched the eyes, the evidence is contaminated. We can't do anything with them, which is kind of a relief. But still..."

Marie placed a hand on Amy's shoulder and told her that it will be all right. She then said, "Harvey mentioned a burning building a few minutes ago, so he must have meant the brothel! If he was there that means we've got to check it out!" And Any nodded in agreement with Marie's idea.

After they locked up Harvey in a holding cell so he can sober up, the two female officers headed back to the brother. Once they arrived there, they ran in covering their noses and mouths with their arms to protect their lungs from the smoke. As soon as they were inside, Marie and Amy looked around the boudoir until Marie found a newspaper article that had a headline that said, 'Girl Attacks...' but the rest was faded. Marie also found a torn photo on one of the broken shelves. After she got all the clues she needed, Marie and Amy left the mansion quickly before they could get burned.

The first thing Marie did was put together the torn photo until it was while again. Once that was done, the two female officers looked closely at it and saw that it was a photo of Alec and Vanessa. Amy smiled to herself thinking that they looked so happy together. However on closer inspection, Marie noticed Alec was putting dollar bills into Vanessa's skirt and she knew instantly that he was paying her. After Marie realized that, the two female officers realized that Alec wasn't Vanessa's lover, but her client.

Marie furrowed her eyes while staring at the photo and she said in a stern tone, "Alec had us believe that he and Vanessa were in love."

"But who pays for love?" Amy asked curiously.

Marie looked over at her and said, "The best way to find out is to go and see Alec again. And this time, he better tell us the whole truth!" And Amy agreed with her completely.

Once they were back at Gator Land and in front of Alec Howard, Marie looked the man in the eye, showed him the photo of him and Vanessa and she said, "Mr. Howard, we have just discovered a photo of you in the brothel with Vanessa! Which means that you were client!"

Alec rolled his eyes with a huff and said, "I can't help it! I'm always alone! I'm either with my gators or I'm out fishing! The bayou is a lonely place, so you can't blame me for paying for a bit of company!"

"But what about that baby you and Vanessa were meant to have?" Amy asked in a desperate tone.

Alec put a smirk on his face and said, "Well obviously I didn't want a baby with a prostitute!"

Amy furrowed her eyes and said to the man sternly, "Well that sounds like a pretty strong motive for murder right there Alec. So why don't you spare us the time explaining and confess!"