THE MURDER SECRET

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It was late in the evening, and I still had much to do at the office. Looking at my watch, it was 10pm. I cringed at how late it was. Alex would probably be wondering why I am not home yet. He may probably come to drag me out of here himself. I thought with a smile. I was just about finishing up, when a phone call came through.

"Hello, hello! Is anyone there?" A voice asked from the other side, sounding uneven and shaky.

"Yes, I'm here. How can I help you?".

"Well I umm, my husband has been murdered" the voice said, crying profusely.

"Okay, I'm going to need you to calm down Ma. Where are you?" I asked, grabbing the nearest book and pen I could find on my desk to write down her location.

"Well, I live at 21 Peterson Avenue at Green Haven estate." She replied.

I could hardly comprehend what she was saying.

"21 Peterson?" I asked, to be sure.

The only people that could possibly live at 21 Peterson Venue were the Almontes. The Almontes were one of the wealthiest and most influential families in the whole of Green haven. Mr Almonte was the mayor of the city and was well known across the town. His influence knew no bounds. Rumor had it that Mrs Almonte was the only heir to the Almontes' fortune and wealth, and so she married Mr Almonte, Ronald, who was much younger than she was, to produce an heir and continue the family bloodline. However, Ronald Almonte was more of a womanizer and couldn't look past anything on a skirt.

It was not hidden news as many of their employees had overheard and caught them arguing over the issue on countless occasions. Even the whole town and the various women he had made a pass at knew the truth regarding this issue.

Now, if the caller was indeed living at 21 Peterson Street, then it should be one of the Almontes.

Dreading the next question, I asked, hoping my suspicions were wrong.

"Please, what's your name, Ma"

"I'm Mrs Regina Almonte," she said.

Dread overwhelmed me at the realization of what was happening. If she was indeed Mrs Almonte, It meant that her husband, who was also the mayor of the city, had been murdered in cold blood. This was a serious murder case. One that could cause a big scandal and problem in the whole of Green haven.

As I kept on talking to her to get more information, I hurriedly put a call through requesting a back-up to the murder site for inspection. After, I hung off the phone, I quickly rushed to the murder site. On reaching there, the local police had already arrived. They had bound the whole place with a keep out sign as it was now a crime scene and advised the occupants to move to a safe place for the time being while they carried out their investigation. I went to the head officer to introduce myself.

"Detective Evans Emily" I said, extending my hands for a handshake.

"I'm taking charge of this case, I'll need you to fill me in on what you've got so far," I said, showing him my card from the city security council.

"Right. So far we've got nothing. Whoever did this, didn't leave any trace. No evidence of any kind, only some broken glass pieces on the floor." The head officer said.

"Broken glass? " I asked.

"Yes, we saw some broken glasses close to the dead body." He said."

"Okay, I'll collect that as some evidence for the case" I said, gesturing for him to give it to me.

He looked at me skeptically, but gave me the evidence either way.

"Okay, I think we should wrap it up for the night. Tomorrow we can continue the investigation" I said, heading to my car.

On reaching there, Alex started calling me.

" Hello" I said.

"Where are you" he asked, sounding angry.

"I'm at your work place but no one's here" he further explained.

"Sorry about that, I'm at a crime scene, the mayor was just murdered". I told him

That seemed to get me off his angry list as his tone changed to that of surprise instead.

"I'll give you the details when I get back, I'm already on my way." I said, hanging off the phone.

Alex was my husband. He was ever so caring and understanding about my work. He also enjoyed listening to some of the cases we investigated, like this murder investigation. He said he loved the mystery and the thrill it offers. He knew me so well just as I knew him. Sometimes he helps me solve some of the mysteries and puzzles associated with most of these cases.

As I got home, we spent our time talking about who could have possibly been the killer. We've been doing some underground investigations before now on the mayor. I explained to Alex. It seemed like he was into drug trafficking. There was one time we got a tip from an unknown source, about the place and time they were to carry out one of their operations. Unfortunately, we were too late when we arrived, and we only got a shot of the plate number of his car. Since then, we've been discreetly investigating him to find out exactly what he is into.

"Wow! Seems like Ronaldo Almonte had more skeletons in his closet than we realized." Alex said, surprised at all the information I told him.

"I guess so, seeing as he had a mistress who he saw consistently and was apparently pregnant at the moment." I said to him.

He looked at me, apparently baffled that indeed all the rumors were true. I went further to explain that we tracked him one certain time to a motel where we saw him arguing with a woman who was threatening him about telling his wife about her and their unborn child.

The night went on, and we talked until we fell asleep. Reaching the next morning, when I got to the office, an investigation team had been fully set up to look into the murder case. We found out that, indeed, Ronaldo Almonte was into drug trafficking. Also, his mistress visited him the night before he died. I was sent to interrogate the occupants of the house to find out exactly what happened.

"Hello, is anyone here" I said, knocking at one of the many buildings of the Almontes in which they were now currently in. The maid opened the door and welcomed me in.

"I'm Detective Evans" I said to the maid, extending my hand for a handshake.

Hesitatingly, she took it, seeming a bit afraid. Probably the events of last night accounted for her timid behavior, after all, her boss had just died.

"Maria"

" Is Mrs Almonte in" I asked her?

" No it's just me, she is in her office" she said.

" Alright, I would like to interrogate you if you don't mind."

"Interrogate me? Why? What did I do," she asked, seemingly panicked.

"It's just for the case, nothing more," I said to her.

Hesitatingly she agreed. After I finished with her, I went to Mrs Almonte's office to interrogate her. I was also asked to interrogate the mistress. We tracked her location through Mr Ronaldo's phone records. Based on the information I gathered on what happened, Mr and Mrs Almonte were arguing in the living room about his mistress. Apparently Mrs Almonte had caught him with a woman and had proof of it on her phone, so she went upstairs to get it. Meanwhile, someone came knocking at that very time which Mr Almonte attended to. Turns out it was his mistress who was threatening to expose him if she was not settled. Mr Almonte quickly sent her off, promising to settle her later as now wasn't a good time. The maid, however, saw both of them when she came to the living room to serve the cup of water Mr Almonte ordered.

After analyzing everything, it turned out something was still missing. Who could have possibly killed Mr Almonte? Luckily for us, there was a CCTV camera installed in the building. The late Mr Almonte thought it wise to install these devices all over his place. We quickly went to the crime scene to retrieve the CCTV footage. Which we later watched.

It turns out, Maria, the maid, was also his mistress and the killer. After catching Mr Almonte and the other woman who claimed to be carrying his child, she became furious and stabbed him with the broken glass pieces on the floor. It looked like Mr Almonte had played one on her too, being the womanizer that he was. According to her, he promised to marry her when he divorces his wife, assuring her that he loved her and that she was the only one.