Twisted for money
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The snow was about one foot high, the most snow seen in decades. You could see the ice crystals forming on the weathered flowers left behind in the grave yard. Under that massive snow laid a tombstone, and underneath that tombstone laid a casket. Inside the casket was a woman, her face had worry lines, and it appeared that not only had she died but that she dragged the last bit of hope she carried. Her hands said otherwise they seemed to be grasping for that small bit of hope.
The woman in the grave was Sarah Stone, and it was my job as New York head Homicide Detective to find out her story. I would have loved to say that there was no story, that Sarah Stones death was just a natural death like the biopsy said, but this was not the case. The new found evidence was just the beginning of finding the real cause of death, and by the looks of the evidence it was far from natural. Sarah had been dead for exactly two years, three months, and twenty one days. Why was this evidence just now bought up? Her only daughter heather was cleaning up the cabin when she eyed the note that seemed to be shoved between two logs. It was as if it was meant to be found by someone she explained to me. The note seemed to be written in chicken scratch and obviously was written in a hurry. The note had “This was no accident, please give me peace” written on it. This is where I come in, Heather contacted me Evelyn, the current head Homicide Detective. I definitely couldn’t refuse this case; for it was my chance to give Sarah back the hope she sadly let go off when se died.
The wind hit me like a ton of bricks, and the fact it was negative two degrees outside didn’t help much either. Finding my way to the cabin was no easy task. Every step I took I sunk deeper and deeper into the snow. It seemed like the distance grew every time I looked at the footprint trail I was leaving behind. I was filled with a gut churning feeling, the one I always seem to get in the pit of my stomach when I’m bound to hit a big case.
“Hey could you bring up the Homicide Crew to the cabin” I told Jim my assistant over the cell phone.
“The conditions are terrible do you really think anyone else but you is crazy enough to climb through snow, the case has waited two years can’t it wait another couple of days” Jim said.
I knew I couldn’t rely on Jim he lacks the passion that got me here in the first place. I was not about to push this to the end of my ongoing to do list, I would go through the ends of the world if it meant giving Sarah the peace she wanted. The peace of knowing that her murderer had been found and punished for what he did.
“Jim you get up here unless you want to find your self filling papers for the rest of your career” I said in a voicemail.
I was looking through the cabin, it was the picture that caught my eye. It was a picture of Sarah and Heather hugging, in the background you could see her husband Ryan. Her husband appeared to be distracted due to the fact he was on a cell phone call. By the looks of it, it was not a very good call he seemed to be upset and angry. BOOM! The picture frame tumbled to the floor. Jim laughed as my heart skipped a beat from the scare.
“A simple knock would have been appreciated” I sarcastically said.
Jim being Jim just smirked, the kind of smirk he gives me when he’s trying to get to me. Obviously he was not too happy about the voicemail. Jim started looking for finger prints or any kind of genetic sample that could be used for this case. It was my job to look for objects that could be tied to this case. Tick Tock Tick Tock the hour hand seemed to be spinning and spinning, yet we had nothing to show for it
“Lets call it a day” Jim said.
Usually I wouldn’t but it seemed to get colder by the second and I swear I could hear hot chocolate calling my name. As I walked to the entrance of the cabin I stumbled, it was then that I found the first peace of evidence, I just didn’t know it at the time. The evidence was a pin that red “Matthew”.
“Come on any longer in here and ill slowly start to break away” Jim complaint.
I was tossing and turning all night long, the image of the Stone family kept appearing to me. The picture I saw was eating me up, I knew something was wrong. Day by day went by and soon the days turned into weeks, I knew that I had to find something to start the case. The image of Sarah stone in her grave would not let me quit, It seemed as if she was reaching for my help.
“Its Evelyn, Do you know anything about a man called Matthew” I asked Heather.
“Umm…I think he was my dads financing advisor, I haven’t heard about him in about two years, ever since that time my father got upset with him. I remember it was during out monthly trip to the cabin.” Heather said.
Aha now I was getting somewhere, the picture where Ryan was upset suddenly appeared but this time I knew that I had to find the reason why. I had to find out how the pin tied Matthew to this case and I knew that I would have to put my mean face on, well my meaner face on. It was time to put Matthew and Ryan into the equation.
Ryan was all alone, the fenced mansion with the cherry red Lamborghini spoke for itself. It was obvious that Ryan was doing just fine without Sarah. I had to think twice about knocking, I felt as if I needed to get some dirt on him or at least something that would help me understand what was going on. It was time I did my research and give this case the push it needed.
There where about 16,200,000 matches for Sarah Stone when I searched her name in Google. It took me hours to find the Sarah Stone laying inside a tombstone in New York. Sarah Stone was brought up in a wealthy privileged family, Sarah was set for life. She was an only child so it was no surprise when they left her two billion dollars. It was obvious why Ryan made sure to have the best life insurance for his family. The next month I took a visit to Ryan’s home.
“So Mr. Stone It appears to me that you have already received quit a bit of money from Sarah’s life insurance, is it enough to get out of that huge debt you were in” I said to him as I was eyeing the check he attempted to hide under his other credit card bills.
I was fighting the urge to smirk as his eyes shifted from mine to the check. He had guilt written all over his face and it was my job to prove it.
“What can you tell me about your financial Advisor Matthew?” I asked Ryan.
“Matthew…. Why he hasn’t worked for me in years, he moved to California. I guess he could handle this weather” Ryan said.
What type of relationship did you have with him, did you ever take him to your cabin?” I asked Jim.
“Just business and No I never took him down there, Why?” he exclaimed.
“Where can I locate Matthew?” I asked.
“Like I said Matthew Hanes moved to California” He said.
Does he think I was born yesterday, his alibi grew by the second. I knew that I had to find Matthew Hanes. Maybe he would bring some clues. I found out that Mr. Stone had lied, Matthew Hanes was still living in New York. I know knew that they were covering up for each other.
I wanted my encounter to be private and personal, well as far as Matthew was concerned. You see I was wired from head to toe just incase he broke down and confessed. I have a tendency to making people break, I honestly get to much credit for that because it’s really there conscious doing all the work for me.
“Hello Matthew, I’m not here to be your friend. I’m here to give you two options. Option number one you make my life easier and tell me all you know or option number two I make your life hell on earth and I still get all the Information that I need” I told Matthew.
You see I had no real evidence that Matthew had anything to do with the murder, but the key was to make him think that I had every little speck of dirt on him. I planned doing that with mind games. You see I stretched all the Information I had on him because we all know I had little information but I was not about to tell Matthew that.
“I know for a fact that you were at the cabin during the time period of Sarah Stones death. Ironically enough she was found dead at that same cabin” I told him. I seemed to be burning lasers through his eyes because he did every thing possible to avoid eye contact with me.
“Don’t think for a second that you will get by with this murder .I found your pin at the crime scene and you can think your friend Ryan for bringing me to you. Don’t even try denying that the pin is yours because it has your name written all over it”
This is what I was telling you about, you know stretching the truth to make the odds on your side. Now that he thought Ryan was against him everything would fall into place for me.
“I had nothing to do with this murder, I merely joked with Mr. Stone to get rid off his wife. He was going through some harsh debt, how was I suppose to know he was really considering killing his wife.” He admitted to everything, and now I knew the real killer.
I firmly said to him “Is that all you’ve got or do I need another threat to make the rest come out.”
“Th…there’s more” he stuttered.
“Sarah Stone suffered from a severe case of asthma, she often relied on an oxygen mask to help here breathe, especially in the cabin due to the high elevation” he confessed.
After this he started braking down like one of those antiques. He confessed all of Mr. Stones’ real intentions and how Mr. Stone planned Sarahs death. The best part of this is that I got every single bit on tape. Mr. Stone had planned a romantic get away for his wife or at least that’s what he made her belief. He planned a nice long hike through the forest, he knew that Mrs. Stone would need her oxygen mask. Of course he lied to her and told her that he had an extra one brought up to the cabin for her, his plan was to kill her slowly, he knew that she would eventually suffocate without any oxygen.
On April seventh, Mr. Stone was arrested for premeditated murder. Mrs. Stones face seemed to appear to me inside the court room, but this time it was filled with peace. At least now she could rest in peace knowing that the real truth was discovered and that her husband was finally paying the price for what he did to her. Mr. Stone went from being a new found billionaire to a prisoner. I must say that the orange suit fits him well.
