The KILLER (1)

THOMAS

I got off the car and went right in. Janice was in there, talking to officer Ramanathan. My heart was pounding and my head hurt. My breathing was getting heavier by the minute.

They both stood up instantly at the sight of me entering.

"Mr Richards" He nodded at me.

"I-I needed to tell you the truth. I can't pretend, there is no point. It was me. It was me."

I tried to act as convincing as possible but the tears in my eyes weren't part of the act.

Janice stood there, frozen and pale.

"Mr Richards, please take a seat. Could you explain what happened?"

I needed to make something up.

"It was two nights uh before it happened. I came home drunk. And, and I knew Hillary was uh, um having trouble sleeping." I paused and took a deep breath that came out as a sniffle. "I had come across the dealer on my way home. My uh, um the- my friend purchased drugs from him... so um and then I put it in the box of sleeping pills, because- because I knew she wouldn't realise the difference. I did it. I killed my wife. I'm a horrible person, I deserve worse than this."

Everybody around me was staring at me. They didn't know how to look at me. As if they were confused between looking at me as a murderer or looking at me as I made the worst mistake of my life and was immensely guilty for it.

Janice was still pale. She was shocked. I could tell she didn't expect this to happen. I didn't blame her. We were on the same side from the beginning.

Officer Ramanathan coughed.

"Thank you for confessing. You will need to stay here for a while, till we talk and figure out what should be done. Come this way."

I followed him, knowing everybody's eyes were on me and nothing would ever be the same again.

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