Mystery: Quest for Justice: (Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Suspense Thriller Mystery) (18 page)

So there I was, deciding to stalk Chloe in order to analyze her behavior, to see if she was behaving inappropriately, considering what had happened earlier that day.

Chloe was standing at the reception, checking in another couple.

"Hello, and welcome to the Sunshine Hotel!" she said, as if she was a broken record. She had carried on as if nothing had happened. She checked in this couple the same way she checked in my family. It was as if she had truly forgotten about the murder!

"Any developments yet?" she asked when she saw me, rubbing her hands together.

"Not quite yet," I said. "But I know I'm getting closer."

"Oh...right," was Chloe's reply. Her head started to shake slightly as if she had been threatened by me or something. Perhaps she had been.

I stayed in the reception room and listened to her enter the kitchen. She started to shout at the cooks in French, and she was very, very aggressive with them.

She came out of the kitchen again, and went into the red seating area where the Miltons were seated.

"Would you like another drink?" she asked them, in an extremely polite and friendly manner.

I continued this for a while, watching and listening to her every move. That suspicion was still there, and it was not going to go anywhere soon. I figured that she would be on to me being on to her if I continued following her, so I decided to give it a rest for a while. Everything that she did for that twenty minutes was completely normal, which in itself would be abnormal considering the circumstances. I would assume that any innocent person would be respectful towards Christopher, but then again, this was Chloe I was thinking about. Perhaps it was Chloe's way – after all, she did have a business to run.

I went out the back, where I found my mother standing, looking at the view.

"Your poor father's sunburned," she said, "so he's just gone to lie down for a while."

"That's a shame," I replied, "but let's not let it ruin our holiday."

"Tammy, if a murder is not going to ruin our holiday, then a little sunburn won't!" my mother said, laughing slightly.

"That's true," I agreed.

"So, are you any further forward?"

"I am still on the first day, remember? These things do take time."

"I know... Who do you have in mind as the killer?"

"Well, I can't help but think it's Chloe."

"Chloe? No. It can't be!"

"Why do you think that?" I asked, inquisitively.

"Because I saw her when the shot was fired."

"You what?!" I cried.

"Joe and I were on the same ledge as Chloe and the Miltons. I saw Chloe standing right next to the ledge when the shot was fired."

"Are you sure?" I said, absolutely astounded.

"I am certain. I don't know where the shot came from, but it could not have been Chloe."

"Why didn't you mention this earlier?"

"Well, I thought I'd save it until you questioned me!"

In all of the drama, I’d forgotten to question my own parents! It would have saved a lot of time, but at least I had that information now.

"Well, this changes everything!" I said, knowing that I would have to start again.

"Yes..." my mother said. "Anyway, how are you and Danny?" she said, trying to change the conversation.

"Still separated," I replied, hinting that I did not want to talk about it through the use of short sentences.

"I was devastated when you broke up with him," my mother said, interfering with my life as usual.

"He's not the one for me," I said. "He stalks me. It's creepy."

"He stalks you because he cares about you –– he made a mistake. Your father and I made mistakes, didn't we? When things got stressful, we separated, and then got back together again."

"But that was different. Your mother had just been murdered."

"And you were moving house. You got involved with that Alesha Christen case, and perhaps he did not like it. It's worth thinking about."

Later that night, after another think about the events of that day, I picked up my phone.

"Danny?" I said "Is that you?"

"Tammy?" Danny said on the other end of the line. "It's been so long. I can't believe I'm hearing your voice again."

"Well, you have. Why don't we meet up next week?"

"I'd love to."

I felt a lot better after that. Perhaps deep down, he was the one, and I did care for him. My life was crushed when he broke up with me, but now, perhaps we were going to pick up the pieces and start afresh. But for now, I still had a case to focus on.

I thought, as usual. I thought and thought. After a long think, I decided that it was no use thinking about the first and second shots, so I decided to focus my attention on the gun that was found on the boat. How did it get there, and was there a link to the murder?

I tried to remember where everyone was, and what they were doing at the time of the murder. I remembered where everyone was sitting: the Sandersons and Brendan were seated behind me, Stephanie was right in front of me taking a photo, Veronica was behind us talking to the Miltons, and Chloe was sitting there, doing whatever she was doing. Then, it came to me. I knew who the murderer was. One person out of that bunch was doing something else, and that person did what they did for a different purpose. I now knew who fired the first shot, and who fired the second shot. The whole thing had come together. This was a very cleverly planned murder, but it still did not defeat me.

I went downstairs to make the announcement that I had solved the murder (I was proud, because it only took me a few hours, which was a new record).

"Hello, Tammy," said Chloe. "How are you getting on with the investigation?"

"I have solved it!" I cried.

"You mean, you know who did it already?" she said with a very puzzled look.

"Oh, yes," I said, rather smug but also very confident.

"Who is it then?" she asked.

"I will explain everything when everyone is gathered together. Could you do that for me?" I asked Chloe nicely.

"Of course. Come on, give me a clue!"

"Alright then. I will give you several. Consider the following things: the structure of the hotel, the structure of the tower, the boat ride, the stairs of the tower, an ice cream, the red seating area, and the swimming pool. Given all of that information, you should be able to link each one together and then work out who killed Christopher Wilson."

Chloe just stared at me blankly. "I think it would be best if you just explained everything to me in a moment," she said, rushing off to get the guests.

As usual, all of the suspects were gathered in the room, waiting for my denouncement.

"Well, then," I said. "It's time a few confessions are made, isn't it?"

I looked around the room, knowing for certain who the killer was. I looked at this person.

"I really don't know where to start on this one, to be honest," I said, looking at the police in the background. "I think I know where to start. I know for a fact that this was indeed a conspiracy!"

A few faces looked around the room, shocked.

"Yes, it was. I had already established where everyone was at the time of the first shooting, and where everyone apparently was at the time of the second shot. This gave me a big hint as to who was involved in this conspiracy. It was funny, really, because these conspirators managed to discuss their crime right under my nose, and I did not bother to notice. When I look back at it, I now realize how stupid I have been. Five conspirators were involved in this, and there were three innocent suspects. Before I announce who the conspirators were, I would like to take you to the night before the shooting, or last night, to the cocktail party. When I went outside for some air, I was quite astounded to hear Christopher Wilson kissing another woman. I automatically assumed he was kissing Shona. However, I now assume that Christopher was kissing Stephanie!"

"What?!" cried a shocked Stephanie. "How did you work that one out?"

"It was easy, Stephanie, although I did not directly see you, I heard the woman say that no-one had seen her. If this had been Shona, or even Chloe, then that would not have been the case, because Shona has informed Alan that she was going out for some air. Therefore, someone had seen her leave the building. You, on the other hand, could have easily left the building, because everyone was so focused on Veronica Wilson, and because Brendan is so sociable and friendly, you would be able to slip out for a few minutes."

"So you think I'm the killer?" she said.

"I did not say that..." I said, unable to finish the sentence appropriately. "But Brendan found out, didn't he?" I said.

"What are you talking about?" she said, looking at Brendan.

"Brendan found out about it. I don't know how, but he did. I assume he did actually see you when you came back in. Anyway, both you and Brendan wanted to save your marriage, and you were determined not to let him wreck your lives. When you went back to the suite that night, you overheard the Sandersons arguing about Shona's affair with Christopher. That was when the light bulb went off in your head. Knowing that Veronica also hated Christopher Wilson, you arranged to meet somewhere to discuss this event, and decided to meet in the morning, because that would be when everyone else was busy trying to get out, so you would not attract any attention. Stephanie invited me up to her room to help her look for some sun cream. However, that was a lie, because the only reason she went up there was to change the red towel from her balcony to a blue towel. Veronica, Brendan and the Sandersons were all sitting in the red seating area. This was represented by a red towel. When Stephanie changed it to a blue towel, they changed to the swimming pool because a swimming pool is blue. This is because my parents and Chloe were all around the reception, which is right next to the red seating area. Stephanie knew that the swimming pool would be more private, so you could all discuss the murder plot there. Oh, and you could see Stephanie's balcony from the red seating area because their apartment was directly above the red seating area."

I took a breather, looking around. I then moved on.

"Now, when you went on the boat ride, you all had a part to play. When I was on the boat ride with my parents, Stephanie offered to take a photograph. This distracted us. The other innocent people, Chloe and the Miltons, were also distracted when Veronica talked to them. This was rather unusual, but Veronica was quite an unusual character. While everyone was distracted, either Alan or Shona slipped the gun next to me. I think this was because I needed something else to focus on, or perhaps it was because Chloe was always getting up, running around everywhere, like she always did. They may have wanted me to think it was her."

I looked around again, waiting for a response.

"Is that all you have on us?" said Stephanie.

"Oh, no," I said. "I haven't even got to the tower part yet. When we got to the tower, Chloe offered the Miltons to stay behind so they could take their time. I stayed behind, too. This gave the rest of the conspirators a chance to quickly dash up the stairs and sort everything out at the last minute, including buying the ice cream. Stephanie bought the ice cream, walked past me to make sure I had seen it, and dropped it over the edge. This allowed her to create a diversion, while also giving an alibi for the four of them. This allowed Veronica to pick up the gun she had concealed in her pocket, and fire it at Christopher. She was able to do this because of the structure of the floor of the tower. When the shot was fired, everyone ran over to him, and Veronica took her time, making sure she was not the first to get there. While everyone was distracted, she handed the gun to Alan, who fired it in the air. The whole purpose of doing this was to give Veronica an alibi. However, I did not see her when the second shot was fired, so this failed slightly, but this did not matter, because three of the conspirators said that they saw her when the shot was fired. In addition, they gave each other alibis, which would push me towards Chloe and the Miltons."

There was silence in the room.

"Well, Tammy, I'm afraid you're wrong. You have no evidence that we did it."

It was true. I had no evidence. My stomach churned. I did not want a repeat of the previous case. However, I was saved.

"Oh, shut up, Veronica!" cried Shona. "We all know you did it!"

"What?!" cried Veronica.

"You're right, Tammy," said Shona. "I admit, I made a terrible, terrible, mistake, and I deserve to be punished. Everything you said there was one hundred percent correct!"

Shona then proceeded to break down.

"How could you?" Alan said, moving away from his wife, feeling deserted.

"And you're not innocent, either! I hate you for forcing me into this! And you Veronica, I don't care if I go to prison for ten years, I hate you. You're an evil bitch!"

"How dare you!" screamed Veronica.

"I know about you and Alan, so there's no point in denying it!"

Brendan and Stephanie just sat there, looking extremely sick, knowing it was over for them.

The police had had enough. All five of them were taken away, never to be seen by me again.

We enjoyed the rest of our holiday, although I felt rather lonely now that almost everyone had gone. Still, we had the Miltons to talk to, and we liked the talks. They were a very nice older couple.

I did receive a shock on the last day, when Chloe said to me, "I've been thinking, Tammy. Since you solved the murder earlier this week, I would like to offer you a free holiday for next year! Oh, and since the Miltons have had to put up with this as well, they can come, too!"

I never thought I would see Chloe this charitable. I accepted the offer. However, the free holiday was not the main reward. The main reward for me was getting back on my feet again. I was now more motivated than ever to get on with my work. I was now more confident than ever to catch killers, and bring murderers down once and for all!

I returned to the USA, where I was happy to see my boss. However, the boss did not look so happy.