Fallen Sparrow

“Where have you been?” Axel, who was investigating my cases with me, questioned as he met me at my desk. “You were down there a while. Couldn’t get Greg to stop talking again?” He chuckled. Usually, he would make a joke about me enjoying being around dead bodies.

“Yeah, you know when he gets going I can’t get him to stop and breath,” I answered with a smile, trying to sound light-hearted and cover the sinking feeling in my stomach that I know was showing on my face. He didn’t look convinced but didn’t push it either.

“Well, I spoke to the wife. She said that he’d been working a lot recently. Coming home late and being called into work on his days off. He was having smoothies as a substitute for meals. That could have been the method of poisoning.” I had messaged Axel on my phone after the morgue about the poisoning and he was just as surprised as I was.

I sat back in my desk chair, “the wife had access. We just need the motive. And evidence.”

“We already know that he was a cheater. It could be a crime of passion. Maybe there’s an insurance policy,” Axel suggested. We had spoken to the assistant, Molly Bennet. She revealed her boss slept with other women outside his marriage.

“How about you go and see if there was any money involved with Holmes’ Death and I will go to his office and see if I can find anything?” Axel agreed and then added.

“I’m taking you out to dinner tonight. No objections.” He slipped away before I could answer.

David Holmes’ office was immaculate. Even the pens and pencils inside his desk drawers were perfectly spaced and in line with each other. He was a real estate agent. The company was based on the 30th floor of a skyscraper in the Viridity City business sector. The view was incredible from this room. With the entire wall transformed into a window, it showed the majority of the north side of the city. In the second draw down in his desk, I found something interesting. Three photographs were placed inside a notebook. It was Molly Bennett. She was completely naked other than a small pair of red, lace underwear. She had smaller breasts than she seemed to in the dress I saw her in. Her body was slim and toned. When I held it up, the light from the window created the shadow of letters. I turned it around. It read: how about I show your wife?

I swung the door shut as I entered the interrogation room, making her jump. “Now, Miss Bennett, I don’t like to be lied to.”

“I-I didn’t l-lie to you,” she whimpered. I slammed a picture down on the table.

“Explain this then,” I’d placed a CCTV still from one of the hotels, that David Holmes stayed at. She was standing at the reception desk with him. “To me, that looks like you, checking into a room with your boss.” I placed my hands on the desk, bending down to look at her closer, “and we checked. There was only one bed.” She looked into her lap with guilt, however, it was as if she’d become a little lighter. It was obviously weighing her down. “And then there’s this,” I revealed the naked photo. “Let me tell you what I think. You were sleeping with your boss. You blackmailed me for a payoff using these photos. And when he didn’t, you killed him so no one would find out. Am I close?”

“No,” she said simply. She took a deep, shaky breath and tears began to fall onto her cheeks. “I didn’t kill him. Yes, I blackmailed him, but only because he threatened me first.” Her guilt had turned sorrow, which made me take a less intimidating position in the seat in front of her.

“What do you mean he threatened you?”

“I broke it off with him. When we first started seeing each other, it was great. We’d go to exotic places for business trips. We’d spend time together like a normal couple. But when we came home and she’d be there. It didn’t matter what time the flight was landing; his wife would be there waiting. I’d watch as they greeted each other lovingly. He would give her the most passionate kiss. I knew I would always be second. I’d tell myself that I wouldn’t give into him, but I always would. I ended up trying to avoid him. I applied for other jobs and was going to transfer out a few weeks before he was killed. He found out and sent me those photos.” I saw a spark of anger in her expression when she looked at me. “On my work email, for god’s sake. I can only access it at work. Anyone at work could have seen. It was humiliating. He said he’d send them to everyone including my next employer if I left. So, I printed them off and sent them to him with the note.”

“Did you send them to his wife?”

“No, but she came to see him a few weeks ago at work. He was in a meeting so I told her she could wait in his office. Twenty minutes later, she came storming out. She looked angry.”

“These photos were in his office. She could have seen them.” I said out loud myself. Miss Bennett nodded. “And you didn’t think to mention this before?”

“I…” she couldn’t finish, only look away.