Riverside's Perfect Murder

Mrs. Wilkes Lied

Rita did not feel like working today. She felt more like crying, but she had a job to do. Still, she didn't want to face Joe or Frank. Frank was an idiot, but Joe would see through her in an instant. He was sharp. No, she would go see Mrs. Wilkes. Rita started to feel some passion toward someone who lied to her. Yes, she was beginning to feel better already.

Mrs. Wilkes answered the door on the second knock. "Detective Rawlins please come in. I have wanted to talk to you."

As much as Rita wanted to take the offensive, she said, "Alright, what can I do for you."

Rose inhaled deeply and slowly let the air out before continuing. "I am afraid I lied to you, and I am terribly sorry about that. I didn't mean to lie, but I didn't know how or what to tell you."

"Try the truth," Rita said.

"Yes, I suppose that would be good, but I'm afraid it is a long story."

"I have time; go on."

Rose looked up. "Alright. I need to start when I am about three years old. My daddy left my mom and me. He was here and then he wasn't. I guess lots of kids lose their fathers.

"My mom didn't work. I mean, she worked odd jobs, cleaning someone's house, or sewing a dress, walking dogs, little stuff you know. We didn't have much money, but we always had food on the table and the bills paid. It was when I was about eleven or twelve that I discovered a bank envelope with over six hundred dollars in it. I wondered where that much money came from and why in cash? I asked my mother, and she told me this story.

"It was right after my dad left when the money started coming twice a month. In the beginning, there might only be a hundred or so. As I got older, the amounts grew to where there might be a thousand dollars a time. Other times less."

"How did the envelopes come?" Rita asked.

"I asked my mom that, and she said, 'Sometimes in the mail.' Sometimes in the mailbox unstamped, still other times from a delivery man."

"When I was seventeen, Mom got sick. They were treating her at the hospital, but we had no insurance and one day I got a call from this doctor who said he would have to discharge my mother because she couldn't pay and the bill was so large. I didn't know what to do. We all knew Mom was dying and we have no other family, but how could I care for her here and still attend school and with what money?"

"What happened?" Rita asked.

"That night I got a call from the same doctor who said he made a mistake and nothing was due. I asked how and he said the hospital told him the account had a zero balance and that was all he knew. It bothered me all night, and in the morning I went to the hospital and asked them how these bills got paid? The billing people said that the doctor had explained to them that all the bills were paid. They didn't know how, but I could ask the doctor. So I did. All the doctor would say is the hospital would have records and to ask them. I did and got the same story. My mom died four weeks later, and I never got a bill from the hospital, not even for an aspirin."

"How does this apply to me?" Rita wanted to know.

"It's coming, I promise. I told you it was a long story. After my mother died, I was a wreck. I managed to graduate from high school. The envelopes with the money still came twice a month."

"Did you ever find out where the envelopes came from?"

Rose was quiet for a moment. "Oh, you mean from whom. No, I asked my mother once, and she said, 'Don't question it because maybe the envelopes would stop if I did.' I asked her if it was my father, and she burst out laughing and said that would be the day your father ever did anything respectable. After that, I never asked again. I wanted to believe my father loved me, so I would fantasize he was the one sending the money."