UP IN FLAMES

“I have no idea,” Vanessa replied, “He didn’t say. Look, if you think that I killed him because he wouldn’t sign the papers, then you’re very wrong indeed. I was pissed that he was delaying things, but I knew he’d have signed it eventually. I wasn’t going to kill him for it or kill anyone for that matter,”

“You could hire someone to do the job for you….” Alaric cut in, “I’ve seen people hire other people to do the job for them,”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

It took a lot of self control for Vanessa’s not to give in and scream like she actually wanted to. An emotional reaction in this situation wasn’t going to do her any good, so she kept her cool and remained in her chair.

“Are you insane?” she asked, “I would never do such a thing,”

He continued like she hadn’t spoken, “I see that you had different surnames too. You never changed yours after you got married. You guys have been married for years and you don’t have any kids. You’ve been separated for a year. You even moved out and rented an apartment. From what I know, the marriage wasn’t a rosy one. Weeks ago, you handed him divorce papers which he refused to sign, and just this afternoon, he made a call to you and hours later, he’s dead. That doesn’t sound like a happy marriage to me. You can’t tell me you don’t see why you’d be questioned,”

Vanessa shook her head. “None of those things you mentioned has anything to do with him getting murdered. I didn’t kill Christopher. We were seperated and I asked for a divorce, but we were not enemies. You’ve got the wrong person, and when you’re here playing ‘macho, hero, cop’, the real killer is out there, probably escaping as we speak,”

Alaric’s eyes remained on her, but Vanessa refused to look away. She held his gaze stubbornly, until he blinked, then withdrew something from his pocket, “Well then, why don’t you explain this,”

It was a recording of her call that afternoon with Christopher:

‘….. “I don’t want to be married to you anymore, Christopher, and having dinner will do nothing to change that. We have been separated for a year already and I think it’s time to put an end to this whole thing. Sign those papers, or you will not like my next move. You have no idea how far I’m willing to go to get this done as soon as possible. Goodbye!”

“What exactly are you going to do Vanessa? Force me? Kill me?”….. ‘

He stopped playing the recording at that moment and said, “That last part…. Care to explain why he’d say that, Mrs Spencer?”

Vanessa’s gaze moved back to Alaric’s and found him still watching her. She took a deep breath. The bastard! She knew how that statement sounded coming from Christopher, and it would be even more difficult to convince them that it meant nothing. Christopher had a way of throwing words around carelessly especially when they argued, but now he wasn’t here to speak for himself, so there was no one to confirm that she was telling the truth.”

“Look,” Paul Forbes cut in, “We just want to get to the bottom of this, Mrs Spencer. You say you had nothing to do with his death, but can you think of anyone who would want your husband dead?”

Vanessa had had enough, “I don’t know!” she replied, “Look, I know what you guys are doing. This good cop…. bad cop shit won’t work with me. I already told you. I didn’t kill Christopher and I don’t know who did. Like you said, we were separated and we’re not even living together. Now, I’m tired and I’d like to go home. I’m done answering your questions. I know my rights and I know you have no concrete evidence to keep me here. I want to leave now and I will not be answering further questions without my lawyer present. I’ve even said too much!”

The two men stared at each other. They knew she was right. Apart from the recording, they had no concrete evidence to keep her at the station.

Alaric stared at her, and like before, she returned his gaze. She looked very angry, but he didn’t care. He shouldn’t care. He was simply doing his job and he had no time for emotions. They could mess with a person’s judgment and so he avoided it at all cost.

“You’re free to go now, Mrs Spencer,” he said finally, “But you should know that we’ll be keeping in touch. Please don’t make any travels because we might need to bring you in for more questioning as the case progresses.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Vanessa retorted.

———–

Vanessa woke up with a terrible headache. The moment she opened her eyes, she remembered that today she had to make arrangements for Christopher’s funeral. His parents had been calling and she knew if she let them, they’d take over all the grim planning, but she felt strongly that, at the very least, she owed Christopher this. She’d realized shortly after they’d married that she hadn’t loved him, probably at the same time that he’d told her he’d married her for political reasons. A man needed a wife and a family if he wanted to have a prayer of becoming governor. They’d slept together exactly once before they were married, and then after the wedding the intimacy had reduced drastically until there was nothing left between them and neither of them tried anymore.

She also had missed calls from her best friend, Anita, but she didn’t want to call back. At least not at the moment, she felt like she still needed more time to process what was going on.

What a mess. She felt horribly guilty. Even though she knew what had happened to Christopher wasn’t her fault, she’d certainly fantasized enough about what her life would be like without him in it. Even though he’d flatly refused her request for a divorce and tried to make things unnecessarily hard for her, she still felt horrible about his death, because at a point in her life, she’d lived with him and cared about him to some extent.