Dirty dishes in the sink,
Waited as a witness,
To the motionless body on the floor. Nobody knew about George’s death until Tom George’s neighbor reported to police that a foul smell was coming from George’s house and no one was responding from the other side.
The police approached and they broke the door after sometime when no one answered. George’s dead body was found lying on the floor beside the sink. There were no bloodstains found. However, George’s body had turned blue & white foam was coming out of his mouth, which indicated that he was poisoned. But the main question was, Did George poisoned himself? Or someone just poisoned him & left no proof behind?.
The police sent the body for forensic tests and informed George’s family about his death. George had divorced a few months ago. George and Jenny had been a lovely couple but things weren’t right between them both for the past one year & they finally got divorced a few months ago. The custody of their two kids was in Jenny’s hand but they were allowed to stay with George, two days a week and the kids mostly spent their weekend at their dad’s place
Jenny seemed to be broken by the news of George’s death. It seemed like she wanted to cry but she held it back. In fact, all his near & dear ones family, friends seemed to be really sad by the news.
When all the forensic tests were over, George’s dead body was handed back to his family. Police got forensic reports after three days of his funeral. The reports revealed the poison used to kill George was boomslang venom but there were no snake bites anywhere in his whole body & nor the snake is found in California. Moreover, if George wanted to die he might have used poison from which he would die instantly and not a slow-acting poison like boomslang which would take 3-5 days to for a person to die
All the above evidence made police believe that this a murder case. The duty of resolving the case was given to detective Edward Johnson. He prepared a suspect list of all the people who could have possibly murdered George. According to Mr. Johnson the prime suspect was Jenny because she was not in good terms with George for the last one year.
So the detective went to Jenny’s house to interrogate her. She was frightened to see the police at her door at first, but she instantly invited them in when she got to know they wanted to ask her something about George. “How would you describe George as a person?” Asked the detective. “He was a really good person-helpful kind, always ready to help,” she answered with tears in her eyes. “What was the reason behind your divorce?” Detective continued. (Jenny started weeping heavily) Mr. Edward gives her a tissue from the tissue box kept on the table
“What happened baby”? A man came running from the door with grocery bags. It was Ross, (Jenny’s current boyfriend) he saw the detective & became quiet as he got the whole situation. After some time Jenny became normal & answered, “his goodness.” “What!” Mr. Edward exclaimed in Surprise. Jenny continues “Yes! He was really kind-hearted & used to spend his whole salary on donations to poor people and social works & only my salary was not enough to meet the needs of the family. I tried to make George understand this, but.. he never changed & finally I had to divorce him,” (she starts crying again). Ross holds her in his arms & says“A man should take care of his family first & then the society. He is a loser!” Jenny looks at him as if she disagrees but says nothing. Then she asks “What was the cause of his death?” Detective Edward replies “He was poisoned, it was boomslang venom it’s a slow-acting poison & takes 4 -5 days for a person to die. “Do you have any clue about who murdered him?” asks Jenny “I haven’t told you he was murdered, have I??” says the detective with a suspicious look “ I.. there are rumors all around the town that he was murdered.” Mr. Edward says making firm eye contact with her, “no, we haven’t found anything yet but we will find the murderer soon.” Suddenly she seems astonished. She gets herself out of Ross’s hand & says, “ we were celebrating our daughter’s birthday at her dad’s place. We organized a party & invited all our friends for the party a week ago. That day George and Tom both were drunk & had a fight, it was a heated one. Tom commented that George wasn’t financially sound the argument heated to the extent that Mrs. Williams & I had to stop them. Tom had a feeling of revenge in his eyes.” Mr. Edward replied, “Ooh thank you for the information I will leave now & inform you when we get a lead.”
The next day the detective went to Tom’s place for interrogation. Mrs. Williams opened the door. It seemed she knew the reason why police were on the door. “Is Mr. Tom home?” Detective asked “no” replied Mrs. Williams
“ Can you please call him, I have a few questions for him,” said Mr. Edward. Mrs. Williams moved her head back & forth gesturing yes. It took 10- 15 minutes for Tom to arrive. In the meantime he asked Mrs. Williams where was she when George died ( she was not present when George died nor she was present at his funeral) “I was on a 10-day office trip out of the town I had an important meeting” replied Mrs. Williams
“were you present at the party?” asks the detective “Huh? What party?” she replied. You know what party I’m talking about GEORGE’S DAUGHTER’S BIRTHDAY PARTY” Detective says in a firm tone. “Ye.. yess I was there,” Mrs. Williams answered trembling with fear “Was everything good at the party” another question popped
Initially, it was great but..later when George & Tom were drunk & had a fight. It was initiated by Tom but George made it worse both went personal & abusive to the extent that I and Jenny had to interfere in between & stop them.” Mrs. Williams answers, she still feels to be trembling with fear. (Tom enters). Mr. Edward turns toward him & requests him to have a seat. The detective starts with the question “ How was your relationship with him?” “He was a good person although we didn’t used to communicate much due to city life but he was always ready to help when we needed him.” answered Tom. “Have you had a fight with him recently?” Detective questions further, Tom sighs in grief & continues “ yeah I had a fight a week at the party because we both were drunk it was a mistake for which I asked him for an apology next morning, but I didn’t killed him” answers Tom. Detective says with an evil smile “ I didn’t said that you murdered him or didn’t even say he was murdered, Maybe you already know he was murdered and the person who murdered him” and then he leaves.
The next day Mr. Edward visits Ross’s office to interrogate him. He was a writer & had written many famous novels & stories. The detective starts with the question: where did you first met Jenny? To which Ross responds “ In a party at a friend’s place, three months ago” “how was your relation with George” ( Ross laughs) I had no relation with him, he was just my girlfriend’s ex-husband. I don’t talk to him much. The detective leans towards Ross & asks in a low voice “are you jealous of him?” “No! Why would I be jealous of a man who has nothing, in fact, I sometimes feel pity that now I have everything once he had( Ross looks happy)
The detective interrogated some other family members & friends; it took him about a week. After a week Mr. Edward called Mr. William, Jenny & ross one by one to the police station to interrogate them but this time, a video camera was recording their statements
Another week passed by and police were still in search of clues. Jenny wanted to give a sound recording about something related to the case, so she was waiting for the detective to arrive at the station. Detective arrived & too and took the recording. After giving her recording she left.
After half an hour Jenny & Ross were again called to the station but this time only Ross was taken to the interrogation room. Mr. Edward switched on the video cam & started with the question “why you killed George?” Ross was surprised “ what! I didn’t killed him”
He says in a very shocked tone. We have proof that you killed Mr. George( Mr. Edward plays a voice recording in which he is confessing to jenny that he killed George out of anger)
“Yeah, I killed him,” Ross says out of frustration. Ross continues “I should have killed Jenny too! I should have never got caught if I had killed her too!”Why did you killed him?” Questions detective “ because even after divorcing him, leaving him, she still loved him. I loved her so much but she didn’t love me ( starts weeping & narrates)
Last week at the party when I was about to enter the kitchen to get a glass of water I overheard Jenny’s conversation with George. She said it was her biggest mistake that she left him and she still loved him. I got mad when I heard this and made a plot to kill him. The next day when we went back to his house to get her kids back, we had our lunch there itself & I secretly mixed the poison in his food.
After recording his statements, a police officer arrests him. The detective comes out of the room & informs Jenny that Ross has been arrested. Jenny comes out of the station & books a cab to go home
In the cab she feels like she’s the real murderer. she thinks, If she would have never divorced George they might have been living happily now. She could have made George understand that he should donate a little less for his family’s needs should be completed first and family needs should be given priority. She could have worked hard, She should have made some adjustments, as it is said, adjustment is the second name of life. But only if she never left him, he would have been alive and they both might have lived a happy life.