Fallen Sparrow

Leaning against the side of my desk, I looked over the evidence pinned to our ‘murder board’. Most of the other detectives wanted the high-tech gadgets that the federal agencies had, but I was old-fashioned and preferred our old corkboard.

“Hey,” Axel’s soft tone broke me away from my thoughts and his wide smile lifted my mood.

“Whatcha thinking about?” he asked, sliding onto my desk next to me. The skin of his arm brushed mine unintentionally.

“Our next move,” I answered, “we have two suspects with motivations, but no definitive evidence that points to either.”

We sat in comfortable silence until I heard the elevator ding. I usually wouldn’t notice but it agitated me when I was frustrated with a case. It was followed by heavy, running footsteps. They were getting louder. I turned to see Tim running with a file in his hand. Tim stands at 6ft 6 and resembled a bull racing down the street. Everyone moved out of his way and I’m pretty sure he cracked a few of floorboards.

“Detectives,” he wheezed out, trying to catch his breath, “I found something we missed,” he paused, “well, I missed it.” He gained his regular breathing pattern before he began to explain, “I was looking through the photos for something, anything and I saw this.” Inside the file, he retrieved a photo of the scene. It showed the space between the door and the body. It was very small but you could see it. It was a triangle shaped print of blood.

“That’s a strange shape,” Axel commented, turning his head sideways.

“I had it analysed and there was a very specific pattern,” he showed us a sketch. It was a triangle with S6 in the centre. Both Axel and I were stumped and after a few moments of confusion, Tim added, “it’s a print from a high heel. A pair from Stefan’s boutique specifically. The thing about Stefan’s is: they are very expensive and each version of shoes have a number, hence the S6. So, the pair of shoes we are looking for, look like this.” He shifted me out of the way and started to type on my computer. Tim turned the monitor so we could see. Axel shot up and ran over to his desk.

The shoes were pale pink with rhinestones and small, red jewels arranged into dainty flowers. Definitely not my style, but if the stones were real, they would be worth a fortune.

“Hey, you know I always get the rookies to take pictures of the crowds and they think it’s a waste of time.” I nodded. “I’ve got something to throw in their faces now,” he said smugly. He showed us Mrs Holmes being interviewed by Axel.

“What if she went in to see what was wrong?” I questioned.

Axel smirked confidently, “she told me that she opened the door, saw the body and couldn’t go in. She said she would vomit. She doesn’t deal with blood.”

I entered the room, pretending to read a report. Mrs Holmes was sat very delicately at the table in the interrogation room. “Hello, Bella.” She seemed taken back for a moment by my audacity of me calling her by her first name.

“I prefer Mrs Holmes please,” she spoke very proudly. When I sat opposite her, I could see that she held her chin up slightly as if to make herself taller than me. I’m 5ft 8 so she had no chance at her short height.

“Okay. We just need to go over a few details about when you found the body.”

“Does that mean you caught her?” she fired out. I shot my eyes to hers. For a second, I saw the flinch when she realised when she’d let slip, but the blonde recovered and composed herself again.

“Her?” I enquired, “what makes you think the culprit is a woman, Mrs Holmes?” She opened and closed her mouth a few times trying to form an answer.

“Well, I didn’t want to say anything but I knew about the affair between Melissa and David. When I found out, we discussed it and he agreed to end it. She didn’t take it very well. She was angry. I jumped to conclusions.” I watched as she realised how cold she sounded and began to blink as if she was about to cry/. I didn’t react. I simply looked down at her witness statement.

“So, in your witness statement, you stated that you didn’t enter any further than just inside the door?”

She nodded, continuing to blink down fake tears, “it was horrible.”

“Okay. Well, do you recognise these?” I showed her a picture of the shoes, which she obviously denied owning until I showed her a picture of her wearing them. She visually stiffens. I held back a triumphant smirk. I had found the crack I needed.

“What do my shoes have to do with anything?”

“So, they are your shoes?” She just repeated her question in response with a frown. “Mrs Holmes, we found a heel print at the scene, identical to the ones we recovered from your sister’s apartment.” Bella sat up ready to argue, but I silenced her, “they also had blood on them. Your HUSBAND’S BLOOD!” I paused to let the realisation hit her, “you were poisoning him. You were watching him die every day.”

“He hit his head. I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“You see Mrs Holmes, cyanide causes dizziness. He lost his balance and fell. You caused it! You are responsible! You killed him! You killed your husband!” I raised my voice. “Look at him in this photo,” I slammed the hotel picture onto the table. I could feel the tension building in her. I needed to push the pressure further. “He’s so relaxed. Not a care in the world. He’s not thinking about you His wife. The love of his life. He is thinking about her. His assistant. His mistress. A woman who hasn’t committed to him as you have. You were oblivious to all of it and the way he wanted it. He thought you were that stupid-”

“HE WAS THE STUPID ONE! HE WAS A LIAR! AND A CHEAT!” She shot up from her chair with her hand landing hard on the table with a band, “I WORKED MY ASS OFF TO GET WHERE I AM AND HE THOUGHT I WAS STUPID ENOUGH NOT TO KNOW! HE WAS THE STUPID ONE! HE NEVER SAW IT COMING! I KILLED THAT STUPID BASTARD!” She sat down with a sigh. “I wanted him to suffer the way I have. Long-term. Like an illness that destroys your body.”

I left her with a notepad and pen to write her confession. I had some sympathy for her. She’d been driven to it by a rotten man that betrayed her over and over again. No one wants a toxic relationship, but she could have just divorced him.