The Sociopath's Daughter

20 Questions

 John gave a sympathetic smile and waved at me. I am so sick of all this sympathy, I don’t even feel sad anymore! I just feel empty. I smiled back and put my hand out for a handshake “It’s very nice to meet you John.” He shook my hand.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” he said slightly nodding his head.

“So you’re a friend of my father?” I asked, just trying to bring up conversation, and to avoid the sorry-about-what-happened-to-your-mother sympathy speech.

“Yes I am,” he said again slightly nodding.

“So, I bet you are the one who can tell me where he is at the moment.” I said with a smile.

“He’s working,” he said smiling back.

“What’s his occupation?” I said, trying to get to know what kind of person he is.

“A detective,” he stated as his face got a bit more serious.

“So is he working on a recent case?”

“Yes.” His face had more sympathy in it.

“My mother’s murder?” After I asked that, it was silent for about a minute until he sighed.

“Yes.” I nodded and looked around. I saw a desk with a computer and papers around it and began walking towards it.

“So, Mr. Watson, I believe she is safe to be left with you?” The policeman asked with his stern serious voice. John turned to him.

“Yeah, she’s fine with me.” He said then looked back at me.

“So my job is done here,” the policeman said. “Have a nice night,” he said before walking out the door and closing it. Ms. Hudson and John looked at each other and started whispering loudly about how they’re going to tell ‘him’, how ‘he’ won’t believe them, and how this can’t be true. As they were doing that, I was looking at the papers on the desk. All of them were about mysteries and murders. One was easy to solve, but some I couldn’t figure out, and some that would probably take me longer to figure out. Soon John turned his head toward me.

“Oh! Cecily don’t touch those!” He exclaimed as he turned his body around as well and started to walk towards me. I picked up the paper of one of the mysteries and turned towards him.

“Were you trying to figure this one out?” I asked showing it to him.

“Yes.” He said sternly, grabbing all the papers on the desk followed by the one in my hand. I turned back and mumbled.

“Well it was the mother in law.” He stopped.

“What?” he asked, obviously very confused.

“I said it was the mother i-” I started, but then he cut me off.

“No, I know what you said. But how could it possibly be the mother in law? The husband was killed by his wife. All the evidence points to the wife.”

“Well, obviously the mother in law was angry at both her daughter and son in law. She was angry at her son in law because she believes that he made her into an alcoholic and white trash mother. She was angry at her daughter because of all the things that she did, so she decided to kill the ‘source’ of her daughter’s problems, and decided to teach her daughter a lesson for actually doing these things.” He put the papers back on the desk

“Well then how come she keeps failing the lie detector tests?” He asked. I picked up the paper that had the daughter’s background and the hypothesis that the police gave.

“Well, as you can see, she has extreme anxiety, and she is probably thinking about everything that is going on, thus increasing her stress. Also, making the police believe that she shot him because of her anxiety. So, it was the mother in law.” I smiled and put the paper back on the pile then went to sit down and read the newspaper again.

“Cecily, how old are you?” He asked, confused, as he turned and walked up to me.

“I’m five, turning six in three months.” I said as I was reading the comics and laughed a little. John sat down and sighed.

“So you’re in primary school?” He asked and I nodded. “Do you have any friends at school?” He asked hesitantly. I thought for a second and nodded.

“Samantha, I call her Sammie, Dusk and Dawn. Sammie is my best friend and Dusk and Dawn are twins.” I whispered, “Their mummy is a bit strange,” and then laughed a bit more at the comics. He nodded and sat back.

“Your father should be home soon. Would you like me to call him to come now? I bet you’re just aching to meet him.” I shrugged.

“Whatever you think is best,” I said as I closed the newspaper and picked up a book which I started reading.

“Okay, I’ll call him then,” he said as he took out his phone and called him. He got up and just stood in front of his chair.

“Can I go outside?” I asked quietly, but all he did was shake his head.

“No, stay in her- hello? Sherlock? Yeah can you come home like, now?” He walked into the kitchen and kept talking. I sighed and walked around the room trying to look for something to do. I soon came across a game of chess and, just as I was about to play, someone knocked on the door.