It was a rainy day of December in Liverpool and the famous Detective Down was drinking a shot of vodka, as usual, when his phone started ringing. It was his boss from the investigation center.. : "Detective Down... I have bad news for you"
"It's about Daniel, right?"
"Down.. your brother was murdered last night... and who better than you can investigate about that? I want you to take it."
"I feel terrible about it... but if that means punishing the killer with a hefty fine... I'll do that."
"Great! The address is..."
"I already know where my brother lived."
Daniel lived in an old house in Liverpool's suburbs. The Detective and his brother hadn't seen each other for a while, but they were really close and for this reason Down was suffering a lot for his loss...
He arrived in front of the house and ran fast upstairs in his brother's apartment. In the bed there were white blankets that made an impressive contrast with the blood on them. There was little light, and there was a strange floral perfume... clearly it wasn't a Daniel's one.
However, Down started searching for clues and immediately found a really strange thing: books! His brother had always hated books, and now there was a pile of them on his night stand...
He opened one of them and noticed a different grafic from his brother's one and he wondered whose it might be...
When he laid the book on the shelf, a photo of a woman dropped out, and on the other side there was a sign: 'didn't like the joke?'...
Detective Down was terrified, but also angry:
He couldn't understad who might be the woman in the photo: she had blond hair, a pale complexion and full lips, but the rest of the photo showing her face was torn.
***
The investigation couln't go on, and Down went to his favourite bar as usual, and was devastated.
He ordered his usual shot of vodka, and at the same time, he observed a wonderful woman sitting on the bar's sofa, and tried to approach her...
"Emh... good afternoon lady, why are you here alone?"
"Good afternoon Detective Down! I'm Mrs. Margarita and I'm gong to order my cocktail ."
"Oh..wow, but... how can you know who I am?"
"Oh, Detective, your name is famous in Liverpool! From the highest flats of the center, to the darkest sides of the suburbs!"
Some minutes later, the barman came bringing Detective's drink and told Mrs. Margarita:
"Oh Margarita, why are you alone? Normally you come here with your..."
Before Fredrick could finish his sentence, she stopped him:
"Oh yes Fredrick, I'll order a margarita...now you can go away to prepare it."
The barman went away with an annoyed looking...
Down started to explain Margarita about the murder of his brother and she stold him to go on with the investigation and find the killer.
So Down did, and started investigating again.
***
Some days later, Margarita went to Fredrick and gave him a short letter, but she immediately went away.The barman opened the letter and he was amazed: inside the letter there were £10000! He started reading the short letter...
"If you speak about Daniel, I will kill you, too."
He was scared. He didn't know about the murder of Daniel Down! But from that moment he didn't say anything more about him, and, out of fear, throw the letter in the basket.
***
The following day Down and Margarita met at the bar for a date, and ordered their usual drinks.
When Fredrick brought the drinks to them, while drumming it for Margarita's presence, he accidentally knocked everything on the floor.
"Oh don't you worry Friedrick! It doesn't matter. I'll help you to clean up."
Down helped Friedrick with a cloth and went to throw it in the basket. He stopped in front of it and immediately noticed a ripped piece of paper: it was a Margarita's one! He said to himself "Wait. I know this handwriting. It is the same that I found in Daniel's apartment."
He went to speak with Friedrick and asked him how he happened to have that paper in the basket. The barman was hesitant. What would happen if he spoke?
Down thought: "If he is so nervous, it means that he is the murderer!"
And so he said: "How could you do that? I've always been your favourite client! I would never have expected that from you."
Friedrick didn't know what to say; Margarita was watching him with a threatening look.
Down was too shocked, so he told Margarita "I'm so sorry, but it is a delicate situation, I have to go now, but can we meet again?"
"Oh sure Down, it doesn't matter! I'll give you my number, I'll write it on the towel here..."
When Margarita went away, Down took the towel with her number and put it in his pocket. "What were we saying, Friedrick? Oh yes, we were speaking about your murder!" "Please, listen to me. I'm not the killer! Margarita gave me this letter the other day! She gave me £10000 for my silence, She is the killer! She used to come here with Daniel, they were engaged. But the last time I saw them they were arguing. Believe me!" "Impossible. Daniel never said a word to me about their story." "Look at the towel with the Margarita's number: look at the handwriting."
Down took the towel and was speechless: the handwriting was the same of the one on the letter, and the same of the photo of the woman in the Daniel's apartment!
Down immediately understood who the woman in the photo was: Margarita!She had blond hair, full lips and a pale complexion, and he had never realized that!
Everything was clear now.
Down called Margarita and told her: "Can we meet now? I want to see you... I already miss you!"
Margarita, excited, went to the bar some minutes later and was surprised: Down came up to her with a pair of handcuffs.
Finally, the case was solved, and Down went to see Margarita in prison everyday, only to ask her "Hi love, didn't you like the joke?".
