The Apple Never Falls Far From The Tree

Chapter Nine: Its time to close this case

Chapter Nine: Its time to close this case

...

I was still frozen in shock, Eddie called us a cab and we took it back to the mansion, it was noon and but the sun was still in the sky. Eddie didn't ask about what I had seen, or why my face was frozen when I made it out of that room. I and Eddie got out of the cab and went through the iron, tall gates. I knocked on Alexander's door; he opened it and asked, "What happened?"

"Come inside," I said and left it there.

Eddie and I walked towards the house and past the patio where we had the accident this morning; there was still a patch of the grass that was still red from my blood and broken coffee mugs. I saw Ross in the garden pulling weeds, I shouted for him to join us inside. He nodded and followed us in.

"Eddie, call the police," I whispered under my breath so only he could understand what I was saying.

"Why?"

"Because it is time to close this case."

*

I gathered everyone in the living room, including Lilly from the Inn, everyone took a seat, William, Sofie, Ross, Alexander and Charles were seated and I began to talk.

"About a week ago, Eddie came into my apartment asking me to help him with a case that had stunned officers for days. Before, I was also a detective, but I was fired after I took it too far with a certain case that seemed to pop up everywhere I went these days, the case of Jessica Arnold, an innocent girl that was murdered in her home. After hesitating, I agreed. We came here to this beautiful countryside and a really beautiful house, to find who killed Dalton Ito, America's richest man, and to find his body."

I took a deep breath and examined the room. The killer looked nervous, white, and was shaking. Without making a scene, I looked over my shoulder and saw policemen guarding the exits, so the killer doesn't stand a chance. Valerie wasn't here; no one had seen her all day, not since our little incident. I knew where she was but it was too late for me to do anything now. Eddie stood tall and proud in the back of the room, I looked over at him, Eddie smiled.

"But instead of telling you how I figured it out, why not tell you how the crime took place? Dalton Ito, America's richest man, was having a normal dinner with his family, where he revealed he was cutting his only son out of his will. Reason for that? Simple. Because William refused to take over his father's company even after Richard left Williams company in ruins. That gives William the perfect motive to kill his father, but that wasn't the motive. Dalton Ito would return to his room after dinner, this was nothing out of the ordinary according to Valerie, and then the killer struck."

"The killer would have to have already been in the house because there were no signs of forced entry, so it was one of the family members or the staff of the household. The killer left dinner and arranged an alibi; enough to try to convince the police that he or she was innocent. This was no problem because we don't know the exact time the murder took place. Dalton Ito was getting ready for bed when the killer knocked on the door and because it was someone known to him, someone that was close to him, Mr. Ito let the killer in."

"They got into a heated argument which leads the killer to stab Dalton Ito in the leg with a fireplace poker. The killer, terrified of what they had done bolted out the door, Mr. Ito afraid they would come back, he locked the door which is why there was blood on the door and it was locked from the inside. Mr. Ito then bled out and presumably died."

I stopped and looked around once more. Everyone was frozen.

"Which brings us to the next morning, Valerie takes Dalton Ito his breakfast only to find he won't answer the door. She panics and everyone comes to her help, the door is broken down and they find the body. Now according to the lot of you, William checked his pulse and after he realized that his heart had stopped and there was no beat, he announced that his father was dead. So instead of calling an ambulance, you called the police. The police came to the crime scene; keep in mind, no one in the police force took a pulse. The police were to be diverted to a fight that broke out between Richard and William, a fight that William admitted to starting. The police were away from the crime scene for a long time, enough for the killer to move the body, remove fingerprints from the murder weapon and be seen by Ross the gardener, and dropping a number. Now we go back. Who came into Dalton Ito's room?"

I paused and looked over to William. He smiled and looked as relaxed as ever. "I must admit detective, you got every part right except one." He grinned like some evil Disney villain.

I smiled. "I know I am missing the most important piece of the puzzle."

I looked over at Eddie and grinned, I am about to solve this bloody murder.

"Dalton Ito wasn't surprised to see his son in his room that night, but William you did not stab your father because of a will, no. The will was just fuel added to a fire that was already burning."

Eddie made his way up to William and pulled out handcuffs, "William Ito, you are under arrest for murdering-"

"But Dalton Ito isn't dead." I stopped Eddie.

Eddie left the handcuffs on William and looked at me with shock.

"It was for her," William whispered.

I nodded lightly. "Yes, it was. You see while trying to collect the pieces to these puzzles, I was missing a really important piece. And I found it. You tried to kill your father because he was responsible for the killing of your highschool best friend, Jessica Arnold."

I looked at Eddie, his eyes were ten times wider than before.

"And Jessica is the sister of Alexander Arnold and the daughter of Lily Arnold. You couldn't do this on your own William, this wasn't a one person job. I also remember Alexandra telling us his mother died, but he forgot that the police have everything and there was no evidence she had passed away. Lily is still alive."

William shook his head. "No, I could not do it on my own. That is why I reached out to her brother who came home from the military, and to Lily. Jessica meant everything to me, she was with me when Mom passed away, and Dad was too busy to grieve over his love. He was a monster, he had no heart. He killed her for doing nothing! Dad was threatening the Arnolds to shut down their company because they were so close to destroying Dad, but when they refused, he had people kill their only daughter." William started to tear up. "After dinner, I confronted dad about Jessica, he didn't even lie or try to find a way out of this, no he admitted to having her killed. I was so angry I grabbed the closest thing I had and stabbed his leg. I regretted it the minute I did it, so I bolted out the door. I realized he wasn't dead when I took his pulse. Lily, Alexander and I found out my father killed Jessica, so we did her some justice."

Two more Police officers came up and handcuffed Lily and Alexander. "Jessica was my baby girl that man can rot in hell!" Lilly screamed.

I looked over at William. "He won't rot in hell yet, because he isn't dead. Dalton Ito is in a private part of the town hospital. I had to pretend to be Sofie and convince the nurses to see him. William, when you saw your father's body that morning, you knew he wasn't dead, so you had two people move the body, I could not have been Lily or Alexander because they both thought that Dalton Ito was dead. You had people do it for you."

"It was for Jessica, my father was a monster." William cried.

"Ah alas he was. As for Valerie, you can find her at the lake south of the town. William, I noticed that Valerie's' room was down the hall from your fathers so Valerie must have seen something, and she did, which is why you threatened her, threatened to expose her dark past if she ever told the truth."

"Father was a monster," William said with tears filling his eyes.

"Well, the apple never falls far from the tree." I smiled.