"How - how many bullets were….?" Evelyn took in a deep breath still having a hard time processing it all. She wiped her hands off her coat closely examining the bullet hole embedded inside the wall of the cafe behind the order station.
"It was one straight bullet to the chest" Ethan calmly answered as if none of it mattered to him. All that mattered was who killed him and how the victim was dead. It bothered Evelyn how much this case meant for her and how much William had meant for her but it was all just a case and William was all just a victim for Ethan.
"Then this bullet…?" Evelyn turned around questioning the detective who was clearly more fo an expert in the situation.
"That is the real question isn't it" he nodded acknowledging her statement. He moved around the cafe collecting his thoughts before answering. "The bullet that hit the victim was…"
"William" evelyn intervened before he could finish.
"Pardon?" his brows joined in confusion.
"The victim's name was William Adler" she completed her statement no longer wanting to hear him addressing his friend as just some victim.
"Right" he nodded continuing "Your friend William was targetted clearly. And the thing with target killers is that they never miss. And the same was the case here. But there is another problem. The second bullet. If it was target killing then the second bullet? Where did that come from?" He stood exactly at the foot of the chalk drawing and then moved back aiming at the spot of the bullet himself. "It wasn't just a missed bullet it was panicked one. And that could mean...…."
"There were two killers" she finished his sentence joining the dots.
"Bingo" he exclaimed impressed at her understanding of the interpretation.
"Were they acquaintances?" while he connected one piece of the story to another she suggested.
"I don't think so. Because if they were acquaintences and one of them had missed then there would have been some sort of banter but it was a work of few seconds done in clean swipe. Unless of course the second bullet was for someone else. But there was no one else in the cafe except William and your cousin who claimed to be in the backroom and not at the scene. But you let her flee from the scene" he didn't let go of the fact that she had just snatched a potential suspect from him.
"She was scared" Evelyn pressed annoyed at his grudge. "Do you think the bullet was for her?" She was surprised by his skills but she was too proud to admit to him.
"You tell me you were the witness as well" It was his way of interrogating her.
Evelyn froze on her spot at the question. She knew she would need to be interrogated for being the witness as well. And that meant reminding herself of the horror she witnessed. "I- I don't remember anything" she replied honestly, waiting for him to catch her out. But it wasn't really a lie, it was all a haphazard blur in her head. She once again wiped her hands off her coat, paranoid. All I remember hearing are gunshots.
"Try to remember did you hear them both at once?" he listened closely curious and waiting for her response.
She gulped as her breathing became slower. Seh could hear her own heartbeat increasing erratically. "I-I think so " she remembered the sounds. The terrifying ear piercing sounds. "No" she put up ehr hands in defense slowly thinking back. Remembering WIlliam's voice being cut out by the sound of gunshot and then his screams. Her hands slightly trembled beside her and she turned them in fists. Angered at her own vulnerability. "There was just a slight difference. A very slight difference between the shots." she changed her statement quickly this time sure of her own words.
"Then that means there were two people willing to kill william and they both happened to be at the exact same spot on the same day" he drew his final conclusion from her words.
"Why would anyone really wish to kill him?" It troubled her more than anything. She wasn't questioning him but herself. Deeply troubled.
Ethan knew she wasn't exactly addressing him yet he continued. "You were there at the time of shooting. You are the first suspect"
Mortified by his words she responded with clear anger burning in her eyes. "You really think I would kill my own best friend?"
"That still doesn't prove as an answer"
She scoffed aloud before responding. "I did not kill anyone"
It was a lie. His eyes widened in realization as he repeated. "Miss Dawson did you or did you not kill William directly or indirectly"
"I did not kill William in anyways nor directly or indirectly. If I had killed him I wouldn't be here investigating for his killer" she gritted out, shocked at being the one suspected. He didn't detect anything, no lies but he knew what he heard before and he had no idea how to decipher it.
"There are a few reasons someone kills the other. One to hide some information. Two in enmity. Three, it's a mass killing without a target. Four a homicide due to jealousy. Did you really know your best friend as much as you claim to do?"
"He didn't have any enmity with anyone. He was a good guy. Too good for his ownself."
"And how exactly was your relationship with him?" it was her turn to be interrogated.
"I just told you he was my best friend." she had overlooked one thing before coming here and she was realizing it now. This entire case was a constant reminder to the part of her life she had just lost.
"He was only the son of your workers Miss dawson. Are you sure the friendship was deep at the same level on both sides" he retorted downplaying her statement ina few seconds.
"We gre up together" She sighed truly exasperated from his questioning. He was great at breaking people. "I think that's enough for today" she excused herself walking towards the broken door laced with the police tapes. "I'll contact you once I have the information over who from the company came to contact you. "She didn't wait for his reply before moving over to her own car waiting for her with a driver holding open the door.
Ethan silently observed the girl leave in her car and he knew there was more to her than just a millionaire heir to the city. And it wasn't just her; the entire family was somehow twisted. It wasn't just a gut feeling he was sure of it. And he knew it well as well that uncovering the truth meant diving deep into their tangled mess. In fact he had already surpassed the entrance and the door to the exit was long gone.
Evelyn sat on top of the balcony welcoming the cold winds that enveloped her acting like a shield from the floating wipers that followed her from every direction. Yet peace was far from reaching her for even a a single slipping moment. She stared down at the spreading grassland fields lit up by stadium lights that glew brighter as the moments passed by and the darkness drew closer.
Even after she had arrived at the mansion away from the rush of the world Erthan's words seemed to have become another permanent tattoo on her mind.
"Did you really know your best friend as much as you claim to do?"
The question seemed to have sent her back to existential crisis. She had assumed she knew the people around her perfectly well. But before this she had never imagined William to die from a gunshot. As much as she hate to admit it she knew she wouldn't have been surprised if one of her family members had met the same fate including her. What set her heart more heavy was the feeling in the back of her head that told her it was because of her that William was dragged in such a mess. And now she knew nothing about her best friend as well.
The light glowed on her face as she swiped through the photo album from the New year's ball. She looked like a zombie in all the pictures. The stretched smiles, the dark circles. The slumped shoulders. Regardless of her perfect dress she looked like a nightmare dressed in a daydream.
Her eyes stopped at a particular photo. It was a family photo where her entire family stood posing in front of her parents frame. She couldn't quite figure it out but something was missing. She couldn't again one by one mentally ticking off each one's face until she realized there was someone missing. Not just someone, there were two members of her family absent in the group picture.
"I was at the mansion preparing for the New Year ball" Mal's voice emerged in her head and then Ethan's "It was a lie"