STRANGER (4)
CHAPTER FOUR
Brendan sunk into the seat before him and
sniffed severally. His brother looked up
at him. His expression blank and emotionless as always. “Where have you been Brendan?
The police have been looking all over for you. What happened?”“I got a motel. I didn’t know what to do” he said.
“Your wife was murdered in your home, the police are looking for you and you've been what? drinking? Do you
understand that you could go to jail?” Brendan
stared back at him, it was clear he was finally letting out all the anger he’d
bottled up for years. Morgan was to be his wife after all.
“You think I don't know that?” He shot back.
“What happened?”
“She was having
an affair …with Bradley, my boss.....she was screwing him in our home”.
Larry didn’t flinch, he was knew it would happen sooner,he stared at his brother back intensely. His eyes roamed over his appearance, dressed like a hobo who managed to steal fancy clothes from a store, but forgot to shave and bath. Brendan
looked idly away, out the window at a couple dressed in matching outfits, the man was
helping his pregnant wife into the car before stocking the groceries in the
back and he smiled sadly.
Larry sighed. “Did you do it?” he asked frankly. He had
done this hundreds of times before, interrogate the client, get them to trust
you and find out if they did it. But this wasn’t a client.
Brendan was silent. He hadn't decided that yet.
Whether hitting her head against the hard wall of the bathtub was enough to
kill her. He didn't know that yet. The thought of it sent shivers down his
spine. He swallowed the lump in his throat and opened his mouth to speak.
“Did you kill your wife Brendan? Did you kill Morgan?”
he hit the table, spilling his untouched coffee and causing people around to
turn.
“You never stopped loving her did you?” Brendan folded
his hands in front of him “That’s why you’re asking me this? If I killed my wife? No
Larry, I didn’t kill my wife, you know I loved her” he replied.
“She was having an affair that gives you motive to
kill” ignoring the question he pressed on.
“We had an argument and I hit her but she was okay when
I left the house”
Tell me everything that happened. Larry said calmly. Brendan recounted the painful life changing events of the
previous day.
Larry took a gulp of his coffee and set it down neatly
on the saucer. He was deep in his thoughts. He knew the truth. He still had
friends at the station; Morgan’s autopsy would be rushed because of the
intensity of the case. The department would act fast, it was under investigation for its carelessness in handling previous cases of domestic violence. But he couldn't tell Brendan. He was broken and almost unrecognizable. He needed him to remain that way for fear of
what he would do if he knew the truth since it
wouldn’t be long before Brandon accused him of Morgan’s murder.
“Here's what's going to happen. You will go back to your
motel and do not contact anyone”
“And what are you going to do?” Brendan was confused.
He blinked severally. “I’m going to find your alibi”.
************************************************************
Larry walked up the stairs; a strong pungent smell
greeted him as he walked down the hallway. He looked at the door numbers before finally stopping at
AP56. He formed a fist knocked but the door creaked open.
“Hello?” he called out as he entered and no one answered. “Lydia?”. The apartment was dusty, he heard droplets of water coming from the kitchen area but there was one there. Bits of clothes and
papers littered the apartment and a box of pizza was halfway under the
old patched couch. He glanced with a cringe at the mess and walked into the bedroom, the bed was
undone with some medicine on the bedside table, the room smelt of stale urine.. He walked back to the living room and stared
about him with a sigh. Did he have the wrong address? He asked himself, he dug into
his jacket pocket, dialed the private number he’d given Brendan and waited
for a connection as he stared at the old bookcase. he found a door hidden behind a brown curtain. He tried the door knob and stepped back before kicking it open.
“Brendan there is no one here, are you certain it’s
this address?” he asked angrily. He furrowed his brow and stared behind the door. There was a squeaky spring bed at the corner, Unlike the other this was neatly made. Larry frowned
he was irritated and this was taking too long.
“Yes… AP56 what?
She’s not there? I’ve been calling her phone it switched off”.
Larry turned around, what he saw caught his breath; a wall covered with pictures of Brendan and Morgan stared back at him , his eyes followed a red tread to the newspaper clippings of a plane crash, bank statements and a few pictures of Bradley on the desk, there were dates on each of the pictures. His heart pounded heavily and his hands dropped from his ear.
Brendan wondered why Larry hung up like that, but he didn't give his mind enough time to think. He took another gulp from the brown bottle and jumped immediately his phone buzzed under him. He reached for it and swiped the screen several times.
He
opened the multimedia media message and the screen went dark for a while, then
he saw his bedroom. He watched himself get dressed and Morgan leave for the
bank the previous day, the video fast forwarded itself and when she entered the
room later ....and man followed closely behind. He watched them make love on his
bed several times; he saw the adulterous look on his Morgan’s face that
weakened him. He watched how Bradley dodged the wine bottle he threw, it Hit
Morgan right on her forehead before shattering to the floor. He watched himself
beat Bradley up. He saw the look in Morgan’s eyes again, how he knew
she loved Bradley. He watched himself drag he by her neck into the bathroom
after trying to smother her, and he heard he painful screams and his heart
plunged deeper.
And finally came the realization that someone had been watching him, someone had
planted a camera in his home. Someone else was involved and his head banged
from the realization of whom it might have been.
Comments