The Apple Never Falls Far From The Tree

Chapter Five: A.A

Chapter Five: A.A

...

The next morning we came back to the mansion hoping to find more answers. Eddie had previously sent the pen to the lab, hoping to find a finger print; luckily we found two sets of fingerprints on it, belonging to Valerie and Dalton Ito.

"But that's not my pen." She cried when we questioned her that morning.

"We know, we are not accusing you of anything, but can you tell us why it was in Mr. Ito's room?"

"This pen is there for everyone to use, I suppose I was the last person to use it, I was using it to sign a release paper for one of my girls. Mr. Ito was looking for a pen that morning so I gave it to him. I suppose that is why you found it in his room."

That makes sense, Valerie used it and gave it to Dalton Ito, which is why we found it at his room, but who does the initials belong to? So far, no one in this house had the initials A. A, the pen belonged to someone, but Valerie and Dalton Ito were the last people to use it.

Valerie volunteered to go get us, William, while we waited patiently.

"Detectives, fine morning isn't it? To what do I owe the pleasure?" William grinned.

"Yes a fine morning it is, we were wondering if we could ask you a few more questions?" I asked ever so smoothly.

William nodded.

"William, Richard told us that the fight that broke out when the officers arrived only happened because you attacked Richard, is this true?" Eddie stated, getting straight to the point.

"True, you see I wanted the officers to know what he was like. Richard wrote so many lies about my company none of which were true, but the people never want the truth, not when the lie is better. So yes, I might have gotten mad but do you blame me? I just found my dear father's body."

"When we asked Sofie for your alibi, luckily she did remember running into you." I said, William has an alibi.

"Yes detective, I know I ran into my sister, I even wished her goodnight. Before I ran into my sister, however, I did take a stroll down the garden I suppose the gardener might have seen something." William smiled.

I nodded. So far, William has his sister for an alibi and gardener.

"That was all William. Thank you for your time." I said. William barely bowed and left the room.

I looked at Eddie and we made eye contact, something wasn't clicking. All the pieces of the puzzle are here but something needs to bring them together, or someone?

William is our main suspect; if we somehow find him a solid alibi then he is off the hook. If Sofie and the gardener both admit to seeing him then I doubt he would have time to kill an old man. Besides police had an eye on him the entire time the body went missing, we, of course, haven't ruled out the possibility of this being a few people involved.

We walked through the greenhouse and into the garden. The sun-kissed my skin and the grass tickled my ankles.

"Oy get off my lawn!"

Eddie and I quickly ran onto the concrete scared. A small man appeared in front of us, he had grey hair, wrinkled skin, and a thin little mouth that looked like it hasn't smiled in decades. He wore purple overalls and a brown sweater under it, his boots were soaked in mud that was still wet and he smelled of wet grass and roses.

"You must be Ross, correct?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, that's me."

If it weren't for that watering can in his hand I would have assumed he was a pirate just by looking at him and hearing a few words come out of his mouth.