Marriage and murder - the story of the respectable Clifford Price

Part 1. Character intro

I try to ignore it, but the headache grows until I can't bear it. As slow as possible, I reach for my pocket. Still, the sudden movement cause all eyes in the room to turn to me. I grimace, and when my search for the pill jar turns up nothing, I stand up from my seat, excusing myself.

I have been assigned a room on the first floor, thank the heavens. My knees complain as I take the first step, but once I get going it is not too challenging. I take a moment to breathe at the top of the case before dawdling on. 

My borrowed bedroom is small but cozy, with a view over part of the garden. After downing pain medication, I sit in the chair by the window,to wait. I am half expecting to see Margaret again, but the wide-spread lawn is deserted. 

The tension back downstairs with the others had been palpable. Terrible as it sounds, it is depressing to be around people in mourning. It's even worse when you're not in good spirits yourself. 

I sip the icy water and pull my cardigan tighter, as the recent events keep playing through my head. It had started so well - a birthday dinner and party with a number of new, interesting individuals. I had been looking forward to celebrating my long-time acquaintance. This was supposed to be a respite for me. Now I wish I could borrow a phone to call a cab. I have to get back to the office tomorrow at the latest. But I decide to wait for now. Accusations had flown after Delilah's still body was discovered, and although everyone had calmed down there were now those who were snooping around, playing detectives. Suddenly taking off would look too suspicious - I might as well ask the cab driver to be dropped off at a police station so I could turn myself in. 

I close my eyes and lean back as the drugs start to do their work. Had it been an ordinary day, I would have drifted into sleep. Instead, I take off my tweed newsboy hat and inspect my head in the glass. I gently touch the gash above my right ear - the ugly dark red has diminished to a lighter hue, next to invisible. 

I had never thought Eleanor would bring me physical harm, but she did. There was no doubt about it. My once-loving wife had wanted to kill me, and probably still did. 

Our marriage had always been the pillar in my often hectic life. She was twentyfive years younger than me and, having been raised in a wealthy family, she was used to a certain lifestyle. I wasn't stupid, I knew she was drawn more to the small fortune I'd amassed than me. I didn't care - she was easy on the eyes, had mastered the art of mingling, and  her love for operas ran deeper than even mine did. We'd gone to the altar within a year after our first meeting.

There had been some setbacks. Her parents had disowned her after she failed out of college three times, and I became her only means of getting all that she wanted without her having to work a day. We never had children, and when I later found out I couldn't, she had a fit. To make amends, I bought a trip to Tokyo - she'd always wanted to visit Japan. She decided to stay with me, but things were never the same between us. She would be away most of the time, and when she was home, she would often find something to yell at me about. Then she started experiencing morning sicknesses. 

I had kept myself engrossed in my work to stay away from her - planning for branching out a women shelter organisation to Pakistan and Afghanistan took most of my time. Months passed before I realised that certain hygiene products in our bathroom had remained unused. One gloomy Sunday, during lunch, I asked her if she was pregnant.

She went pale in an instant, and I knew the answer then. I handed her the divorce papers the next day. Eleanor would get none of my money nor our house. That's when she changed, the dutiful wife was gone. She would scream more, throw plates and create messes everywhere, and destroy the gifts I'd given her. She refused to sign the divorce papers unless I changed the terms. She demanded that I provide for her and the mystery man's baby. Very mature behavior.