If She Knew

Chapter-1

"Miss Amyra Valdez, I asked you a question," he threw the statement more like a warning than a reminder.

I involuntarily closed my eyes and hovered over those unpleasant recollections again. Uncle Dave's corpse shrouded under a white veil, revealing only his swollen up pale face. His Audi A7 brutally dented at the front, with its windscreen slashed into pieces. A quick swirl of the flashbacks in my head and then- My father's body lying motionless on his bed, making no sign of response as I kept checking his pulse hoping to hear one more beat.

I forced my eyelids open, not being able to take in further.

"It wasn't an accident, it was a murder," I blurted almost instantly.

"Miss Valdez, how can you be so sure-"

Before he could finish his question, Aunt Lucy interrupted and slid in between us, acting as a shield between him and me.

"Will you stop bothering my poor little girl, she just lost her father yesterday!" she demanded.

"Mrs. Valdez, I'm just doing my job," he replied calmly. "If you would please be kind enough not to interrupt in between-"

"And may I know who are you to barge into our house, and interrogate us like this?"

The young man made a swift jerk and tugged out something from the right pocket of his pants which looked very similar to a passport. Nevertheless, it had the letters PI inscribed on it in bold letters and a symbol I recognized to have seen before.

"Private Investigator Kelvin Xaviers," -he took a short pause- "Detective department of Rome."

He made the introduction as nonchalantly as if he was bored of repeating the same line every time.

"I'm working on the case of Mr. David and Mr. Arnold Valdez," he answered, reading the question on Aunt Lucy's face.

"I called him, Lucy," Uncle Josh added from the back.

After swiveling her head towards her husband, Aunt Lucy began, "Josh, why did you-" but he cut her out in the middle.

"It's a sensitive issue, Lucy, we can't involve the cops here. Let Mr. Xaviers handle this matter privately."

They both exchanged a kind of mutual nod, the meaning of which I could not interpret.

"Mr. Joseph and Mr. Nicholas, could we have a conversation?" asked the man called Xaviers.

"Alone," he added as all the eyes in the room focused on him at the sudden question.

"The adjacent room is empty," Uncle Nick replied, viewing the study room.

"Jonas, keep a watch over here," the detective suggested to another man whom I had not previously noticed to be present in the room.

He then strode towards the study room after both my uncles until the three of them disappeared out of our sight.

A dense fog of tension swaddled the hall room as minutes passed by. I finally got up from the three-legged high-backed chair and faltered towards Aunt Kylie and Brian.

He was Uncle Dave's son.

"Amy, do you really think it was a murder?" Brian asked.

"All evidence suggests that Papa died in a car crash, and Uncle Arn died after a heart attack at the shock of his closest brother's death," he gasped, clearly not convinced by what he just said.

"I don't know," I murmured. "Maybe I shouldn't have said it like that in front of everyone."

Aunt Kylie placed a hand on my shoulder as I hung my head low.