“Please do we have to do this now? He only died last night.” Sniff, the emotions of the girl struggled o stay inside.
“I understand Miss, but it’s easier to get it out of the way. Try and answer what you can and stop when you’ve had enough.” Despite his words being sympathetic his voice didn’t change, it seemed routine, as if he was reciting from a textbook or something.
Sniff “ ok, his name was Doctor Steven Chandler” sniff, her sniffs becoming ever more frequent.
He continued with the interrogation “and what was your relationship to the victim”
“I was his only daughter.”
Oh I see, and where were you last night at about 9:45?” he inquired; his small blue eyes glanced over his notebook to view her reply.
What! Are you suggesting that I had something to do with the murder of my own father?” her mouth exploded releasing fury directed straight towards the detective, he seemed to take it alright, I expect he was used to that sort of reaction. “Sorry miss but it routine.” His pen darted across his pad, scrawling notes quicker than he could think them.
“Well, if you must know I was with my boyfriend, Josh, all night. Now can we finish this some other time?” she didn’t wait for a reply, her emotions getting the best of her as she walked away, tears flooded form her eyes; despite all the mourning and grieving she had been through she still looked amazing, but she always did. Her chestnut hair draped elegantly over her shoulders, her brown eyes were so much like her father’s, and they were dark brown, just like his, though they were unusually different. Her father’s were warm and loving, but Heather’s, they were different, deeper, much colder, there was something about that girl but nobody could put their finger on it.
Everyone was interviewed, well all the employees anyway, some were more revealing than others, some had plausible alibis and were immediately out of the picture, but some didn’t, the chef, Francois, had no alibi, he was in his kitchen cooking as you would expect, but at 9:45 who would’ve wanted food. The gardener was alone in his cottage on the grounds, but he never left it, other than to tend to his duties and he never had visitors. Both men were suspects, but neither had a motive, and nobody would believe it was either of them, they were both very nice people and they owed Dr Chandler alot. George was a disabled orphan, he had brain damage suffered in his mothers womb, but Dr Chandler took him in, gave him the groundskeeping job and treated him like a son. No, neither of them could’ve killed him, they were in debt to him.
The atmosphere of the house in the following weeks became very hostile, the police kept questioning everyone time and time again, they were treating everyone as a suspect. People became edgy, they snaped at each other, accusing anyone they could to shift the attention off themselves, but there was one thing they all agreed on, Heather was most definatly in the spotlight. Recently her and her father weren’t getting on, they bickered and argued about petty things that meant nothing, but everyone knew why they argued, Josh was the reason, but they wouldn’t admitt it, Heather and Josh had been seeing each other for six months and things were getting serious, there was talk of marriage and children, Heather had but one flaw, she was niave, she couldn’t see passed Josh’s outer shell, and look into the deeper, darker inside. She had already changed, he was changing her, she was no longer the angel I remember her to be, his secret passions were rubbing off on her, like a virus, he was attacking her body and making it his own, a mirror image off himself.
“Excellent meal Francois!” praised Josh, he and Heather sat alone in the dinning room, it was a fine room, furnished by Dr Chandlers orders with the best furniture he could afford, it was used only for entertaining but since he died Heather used it as if it meant nothing, it was one of her father’s most treasured rooms but they used it every night, and no matter how hard she tried, Lisa couldn’t get the marks out of the table. Lisa was the cleaner, she idolised Dr Chandler and everything he did, she was a patient of his at one point, family problems and school work got to much for her, her mother was advised to take her to a psychiatrist, and Dr Chandler came highly recommended. She did not need long under the wing of the doctor before she was cured and able to go back to school and control her issues at home, but she never left his side, she applied for the cleaners job as soon as she heard it was available, but she could’ve done better, her G.C.S.E grades weren’t that bad, but the doctor made it worth her while, he made it worth everyone’s while, they were paid much more than they should’ve been, but the doctor enjoyed their company as well as the flawless work they produced for him. Things had changed, the pay was lowered and the friendship wasn’t the same, the doctor would sit down and eat meals with his workers, he treated them like friends and hardly took a thought about their jobs, but now it was different, Heather didn’t sit with them, and she hardly talked to them, they were eating their dinner in the kitchen, while the couple enjoyed the dinning room alone, except for the company of the many bottles of vintage wine which had been saved in the cellar, the oldest dating back to 1924, but that no longest existed, every drop was drunk in merely a few minutes and the bottle lay smashed on the floor.
“Lisa! We’ve smashed a bottle again, bring the dustpan and brush and be quick!”
Josh was sitting at the head of the table in the high backed chair, he flicked his shoes off and rested his feet on the polished surface, Josh had been acting like he owned the house for months now, even when the doctor was alive he strutted around, yelling orders at the staff and doing whatever he wanted. He didn’t show any respect, this had angered everyone around him including the doctor. One member of staff overheard an extremely intense argument between the two of them a few months ago, it was apparently very heated, but the eavesdropper couldn’t make out what the argument was about and only managed to overhear a few words.
