Mystery: Quest for Justice: (Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Suspense Thriller Mystery) (17 page)

"Well, I'd best get this over with, and I'll enjoy the rest of my vacation," she replied, still not looking at me.

That shocked me, what she had just said there. She showed no sympathy or concern whatsoever about what had happened.

"I'm sorry, do you remember what happened today?" I asked her.

"Yes. My husband was murdered. Next question?" was Veronica's reply.

"You don't seem to care," I said, diving right into the investigation.

"Well, my husband was a horrible man. I'm glad he's dead," she said, still gazing at the distant countryside.

"That makes me suspicious, you know," I added.

"I don't care if you think I did it or not. You have no authority to be questioning any of us! I did not shoot Christopher, so I have nothing to worry about."

"You might know that, but I don't, so I still need to speak to you," I said, getting rather frustrated with this mad woman. "I need to establish exactly where you were at the time of the first shot."

"I was standing on one side of the tower, looking out of it. That's what you do when you go up the Eiffel Tower, isn't it?" she said, getting more and more arrogant by the minute.

"Did anyone see you at this time?"

"No. Nobody likes me. I tried socializing with the rest of them earlier on, but it didn't work well. I don't mix with people, and they don't mix with me, so no. Nobody else was on that side of the tower at the time of the shooting."

"And what side of the tower was this?"

"Well, it was directly opposite the bunch of you when that stupid girl screamed about dropping her ice cream, so it was at a right angle to Christopher. It's funny, isn't it? The four sides of the tower symbolize society. The side that I was on represents the lonely old women, the side that Christopher was on represents the lonely old men, the side that all of you were on represents the happy people who have not a care in the world, and the other side represents the rest of us."

That made me think. My parents were on “the other side”. I wondered what she meant by that. Perhaps she was being cryptic.

"You didn't see the Miltons, or Chloe?" I asked her.

"No. I am assuming they were on the other side."

That assumption was for me to make. I left it there, since at this stage in the investigation, I had nothing else to ask her. She took one big gulp out of her glass, finishing it off, and then went and dived into the swimming pool, creating one big splash.

I then found the Miltons. I was somewhat looking forward to talking with them – they seemed like such a nice couple.

"Hello, dear," said Doreen, as I approached them. "How's the investigation coming along?"

"I'm just establishing exactly where everyone was at the time of the shooting," I said.

"Terrible business, isn't it?" said Frank, looking rather intrigued by the whole thing.

"Yes. So, would you mind telling me where the pair of you were when you heard the first shot?" I asked them.

"Well," said Doreen, "we had just gotten to the top of the last flight of stairs, and Chloe offered us a drink. She had several bottles, just in case anyone wanted any. She had forgotten to tell all of us about it."

I sighed in my head.
Silly Chloe
, I thought.

"Anyway," Doreen continued, "we accepted her offer of a drink, so there was no need to stand in the long line. We walked around for about thirty seconds, and then we heard a woman screaming. I think it was that young Stephanie. Anyway, we looked around the corner to see what was going on, and that was when we heard the shot, so we rushed over to the opposite side of the tower, and there he was – dead as a doornail!"

"Did you see Chloe, by any chance, when the shot was fired?" I asked them both.

Both of them replied by shaking their heads.

"We did not see her when the shot was fired, but she was with us when it was fired. She was standing next to us. One second later, we saw her rush over there with us."

"That's interesting," I said, nodding my head slightly.

"So, did you know the Wilsons well?" I asked them.

Again, both Frank and Doreen shook their heads. "We only met them yesterday," he said. "And I hope we don't see that woman again! She sounds insane!"

"You're not the only one who thinks that," I laughed.

I stopped the interview there, because I was quite eager to move on to Chloe. Chloe interested me – she seemed perfectly capable of committing a murder, and she certainly had the motive and opportunity, so she was probably at the top of my list of suspects. It would not be fair to assume that she was indeed the murderer, because I had no proof of that, but something about her just struck me as odd.

I found her, and, as usual, she was rushed off her feet.

"Hello," Chloe said. "Are you any closer to finding the person who did this ghastly thing?"

"I'm taking baby steps," I said, careful not to give any information away. "I need to talk to you next."

"Alright," replied Chloe, "but please make it quick. I have a business to run."

"So, where were you at the time of the first shooting?" I asked her.

"Well, I was on the opposite side of the tower from Christopher," was her quick reply.

"Did anyone else see you there?"

"No. I don't think so, anyway. Everyone was too busy with the distraction of the shooting, including me. I can't really remember much, actually." As she was speaking, Chloe was writing things down, doing calculations on a piece of paper.

"Did you see anything else that we can regard as suspicious?"

"No," said Chloe, who only seemed half-interested by what I had to say.

"Did you see the Miltons when you heard the shot?"

"No...wait. Yes, I did. I was with them, and they were standing right next to me, so they could not have done it. Anyway, they wouldn't do such a thing anyway."

"I think it's fair to say you had it in for Veronica and Christopher?"

Chloe just looked at me.

"I did not do this, you know," said Chloe.

"I am not assuming anything at the moment," I said, trying to reassure her, "but it seems to me that you are one of the few suspects who did not have a valid alibi."

"What? There were plenty of people on the same side as me! How could I have done it when everyone was surrounding me?!"

"The same way in which the person with the gun placed it under my seat while I, and everyone else, was distracted. I am not saying you are the murderer, and I am not accusing you of anything, but I cannot rule you out!"

"So, who do you think did it, then?" Chloe asked, apparently much calmer now.

"I don't know for certain, like I just said," I replied.

"Well, if there is anything..."

"Yeah. I'll ask."

"And don't forget to enjoy your vacation!" Chloe said with a smile. "You have to remember, you're still on holiday. You need to relax!"

Although it seemed like Chloe was trying to drive me away from investigating the murder, what she was saying was true. I did need to relax, although that was not going to happen now. I needed to regain my energy before going back to work. In fact, I had not thought of work once since the day before, because I was having so much fun and I was so distracted. I just wanted to get the murder solved and over with before moving on with my life back at home.

I decided to relax for a while, to see if that got me anywhere. Having established where everyone was at the time of the murder, I decided to think back to the events of the day. It had been one of the most dramatic days of my life, because so much had happened in the space of twenty-four hours. I thought and thought, just like I always did when it came to solving a case. Soon, I realized that it was not going to get me anywhere, so I wrote down names of all the suspects, and crossed out the people who could not have fired the first shot. I knew that Stephanie could not have fired the first shot, because she was physically there when I heard it fired. Chloe had excluded the Miltons from the investigation by what she had said, so it was certainly not them. That left me with five potential murderers, and any one of them could have done it. It did cross my mind that this was some sort of conspiracy between two people, although I was not certain which two. Indeed, it could have just been one person, because in most cases, the murderer only turns out to be one person.

I then sat back and thought about the nature of the crime. Perhaps the tower itself symbolized something? I thought, out of all the places in the world, why pick the Eiffel Tower to murder someone? In my mind, the Eiffel Tower represented love, and it probably did to most people. At the heart of Paris, I viewed the Eiffel Tower as the most romantic place in the world, so I decided that love was most probably involved in the killing. That gave a big hint as to who the murderer was, although it still could have been several people. Although I did not want to cross them out just yet, I could not help but think that Alan and Shona were indeed innocent. Although they were behind me when the shot was fired, I did not see them at the time the shot was fired, so they could have done it. However, the shot seemed quite distant. It was a huge shame that I could not tell exactly where the shot had come from.

I then moved on to the second shot, and why it might have been fired. There were a number of reasons why that second shot may have been fired. First, it could have been fired to kill someone, so this may have been planned to be a double murder. It could have also been fired as a distraction technique – was I made to think that this was planned as a double killing? And then, there was the possibility that it simply could have been fired by accident – it was possible.

Sticking to the subject of the second shot, I thought more about who could have done it. Again, I wrote down all of the suspects who were in my sight when the second shot was fired. I then went around to each guest and asked them one question each: who did you see when the second shot was fired?
      
I wrote down everything that was told to me:

Frank saw Shona because she was standing right next to him. He also saw Doreen because she stood next to him. Doreen saw Frank and Brendan. Brendan saw Veronica, Stephanie, Shona and Alan. Stephanie saw Brendan, Shona, Veronica and Alan. Shona saw Alan and Veronica. Alan saw Shona, Stephanie and Veronica. Chloe saw Shona, Stephanie and Brendan. Veronica saw no-one: she was simply lost in staring at her dead husband.

As I analyzed these findings, I came to the conclusion through witness statements that the potential murderers were Chloe, Frank and Doreen. However, as I thought more about it, this might not have necessarily been true, because some people may have been mistaken and some may have even been lying. Assuming that everyone was telling the truth, Veronica, Shona, Alan, Stephanie and Brendan were seen by at least three different people, so it was likely they did not fire the second shot. This was getting more and more puzzling by the minute, but I knew that I could solve it, so I continued.

As I was lost in my trail of thought, Chloe approached me, telling me that the police wanted to see me.

Fortunately, they spoke English, so I did not need Chloe to translate everything for me.

"We understand that you are investigating the murder that was committed on the Eiffel Tower earlier today?" one of the policemen asked.

"Yes, I am," I replied. I identified myself and showed my detective’s badge. For a few moments we discussed what the limits of my jurisdiction would be. I was pleasantly surprised to find they used their authority in a constructive manner. One of the investigators filled me in on what they’d found out so far.

"Well, we would just like to inform you that the gun used to murder Christopher Dewell has been found, and there were no fingerprints on it."

"Where was it?" I asked.

"It was lodged in between two iron bars, so it must have been thrown out somehow."

I thanked the police, and sat back down. Chloe offered me another ‘Death in the Afternoon’, but I just asked for some orange juice. With that new information, I decided to think just a little bit more.

I could not help but think that Chloe was the one who did this. I was never one to be judgmental of another, and I never, ever assumed anything in this job, but I just had that feeling that she was the murderer. I had to admit that although I had solved perhaps some of the most complex cases in the country, I was still an inexperienced amateur. Before I went to France, I had solved only four cases (excluding the one that I solved but justice was not brought to the murderer), so I had little experience in these types of cases. Of course, I had solved countless gang killings, which helped me some, but it was rare that I had come across a case where ordinary people were the murderers. I knew that the murderer was under the very same roof I was under, but I just could not see it. Other detectives work in such a way that they look at someone and suspect them, and then start to follow them and gather evidence on them, but I did not like to work in that way. My method of solving murders is to suspect everyone, and only assume who the murderer is when there is no doubt whatsoever that they did it.

Then, a dark thought came into my mind:
will the murderer strike again?
It was possible, since there could have been a targeted second victim, so it was a possibility (if not a probability) that the murderer would strike again. And then I thought, anybody could be in danger! Perhaps everyone else was thinking the same thing, but perhaps not.

For now, I decided to watch Chloe very carefully, despite my opinions of this technique. I knew it was the only way to move further forward for now. Chloe was the usual business woman – she was stressed, trying to be kind, well organized, professionally dressed, and tough on the inside and out. If she was indeed the killer, she would be a tough nut to crack. I wished there would be some sort of evidence to exclude her from the enquiries, but unfortunately, I did not think that it could happen. Chloe could easily have committed the murder – she had the motive, because she absolutely despised the Wilsons – perhaps she was hoping to get Veronica sent away for the crime? She also had the opportunity to murder Christopher – she knew the Eiffel Tower extremely well, so it was fair to say that she knew where every iron bar was, and at what angle she could shoot Christopher from. She also had the means to do it – she was both physically and mentally capable of firing a gun at someone and killing them. In a court of law, you need a motive, opportunity and means. Chloe had all three. That is why I deeply suspected her.