Well, it’s done.

…

I changed the order and put the events leading to her death at the start as part one.

Part two is the story from Michael’s perspective, and part three is the detectives on a mission to find the killer.

I’m still not sure if I really do want to kill her, or whether I just make it so that she has to go away and live off the grid somewhere with the love of her life.

Does anyone still believe in happy endings?

Oddly this story has also been an emotional roller coaster though I can’t say why.  Something in it resonates.  Parts of the story brought me to a halt, and though I could feel the pain of Michael’s anguish. Or that helplessness of Howards, I rather think I knew what that was like.

I have been there. And it brought back memories that I thought I had buried.  I guess they do not go away, just lie dormant until another day.

But for the moment, it’s done, and it will go into the basket to be revisited in six months.  Perhaps then I will understand what it is that connects me to this story.

…

Words today, 1,778 for a total of 55,065

A crisis of conscience?

When I started the story, it was the day after Agatha was found dead.  From there it was a story of how her ex-husband charted a path through the tangled web of her life and business.

It was going to be one told through the various people in her life and the effect they had, good and bad.  It was also meant to be a story of taking something good and twisting it, which is not what always happens but can.

I had always believed that being rich is a curse rather than a blessing, because you eventually start worrying about those around you who want to take it away, the fact, in the end, you can’t trust anyone.

I guess that it doesn’t happen a lot in real life.

Or maybe it does.

Is this why we believe rich people are eccentric?

These are only a few questions that are going to get a much bigger airing in the first edit, because at the moment, there are arts I’m not happy with.

I know who is responsible for her death.  Now.  For almost the whole of the story, I was like the reader, waiting to find out, and speculating along the way.  It’s not who you think.

…

Words today, 1,854, for a total of 53,287

Whittling the suspect list

…

It’s not the General

It’s not Adria or her daughter.  No one could be more distressed at the turn of events than both of them.

It’s not Genevieve, though there is a long-standing jealousy that could have been construed as a motive, but there was no means or opportunity.

It’s not either of the personal assistants.

It’s not any of the board of trustees.

It might be one of the workers, but their sentiments were not enough to deem them viable murderers. 

This was a long and calculated attack, aimed at disabling not killing the victim.  This was someone close to her and had been given cause to embark on such an operation.  Or perhaps for some other reason, quite unrelated, on someone else’s behalf.

The police are still chasing the most convenient suspects.

Michael on the other hand was not looking at those close to her.

Howard Joffs, her father, and her personal staff in her London residence, because the only other place the poison could be administered was at home.

…

Words today, 1,920, for a total of 51,433

Round and round and round we go

…

If nothing had happened to Agatha, then the General would have walked away, his reputation and bankability intact.

Perhaps his biggest problem, one of many, was that he was a friend of Agatha’s father.  Perhaps Agatha’s father’s biggest problem was his ego, and the fact his daughter was smarter than he would ever give her credit for.

The General had a secret, and as we all know, secrets are the hardest things to be kept.  Someone knows, someone always knows, and that person cannot be trusted with secrets, cannot trust themselves with secrets.

Have you ever tried to keep a secret?  It’s nigh on impossible.

Some people can.  Unfortunately, none in this story can.  But the problem is they are not willing to share, but will eventually because they have a momentary aberration, or it just comes out in normal conversation.

People can’t hold those sorts of secrets, not when it concerns someone as important as the General/.  Someone else must be told so it doesn’t feel like they’re the only one holding down the most important and incredible fact in the world.

Pity then that Michael knows the friend of a friend of a friend who has a relative, that has that secret.

…

Words today, 1,998, for a total of 49,513

And yet it took so long

…

It might well be the lament of the person who was the principal behind the operation.  It was meant to take a few weeks, then leave as though nothing happened.

That might have happened if the building hadn’t been loaded up with CCTV coverage, most of which only a few knew about, and certainly not those who were in on the operation.

Yes, someone forgot the drug made it’s victim paranoid on top of everything else.

And, taking on someone like Agatha, who had learned from dealing with her father that she always had to be one step ahead of everyone else, was probably a sin in itself.

Never, never, underestimate your enemy.

And yet another slice of what could be called dumb luck, it was not anticipated that Agatha would fall down those stairs and end up in a coma.  Not for long, but just long enough, before succumbing to her injury.

To say that was not supposed to happen was an understatement.

It brought in the police, a very, very close inspection of the people inside the operation, and word, it brought back her husband, Michael, and he was looking for vengeance.

…

Words today, 1,601, for a total of 47,515

Well, that wasn’t what was expecting.

…

There has to be a motive, means and opportunity.

In any investigation, suspects can have the means and the opportunity, but often it’s hard to find a motive.

And until you start scratching below the surface, there can be a point where the perpetrator can begin to believe they’ve got away with it.  Especially when there are so many other convenient suspects.

The first clue, if it could be called that, is that Agatha was slowly poisoned.  It was not something she would be overly aware of, other than the perpetual fatigue, nor was it a poison that would show up in the run-of-the-mill blood tests.

You have to be looking for a very specific substance, and even then, it’s difficult at best, because it is often used for heart troubles.

Fatigue is generally treated as fatigue.  Doctors do not often look beyond the obvious and prescribe something they believe will fix the problem.  That, of course, is rest.

The thing is, what happens to Agatha was not meant to be part of the ‘punishment’.  She was simply supposed to be removed from her position of running her charity, to take time away while others ran it, using the organisation as a cover for another purpose.  Once.

…

Words today, 1,804, for a total of 45,914

And if I didn’t have an alibi…

…

The first meeting with the police on a murder investigation can go well or it can go badly.  Michael’s first meeting with Detective Chief Inspector Davis and Detective Sargeant Bains went badly, but that was more to do with his short temper and the fact they were wasting time on him.

There was no possible way he could have done anything, but the police were more interested in the fact he didn’t show up anywhere in official documentation, and Michael had to admit his passion for staying off the grid, was only going to make matters difficult.

Being escorted to an interview room at the nearby police station was the last thing he expected.  Perhaps it was the sudden discovery that someone had deliberately and callously killed her that made him angry, and it was always going to be directed at someone.

Why not the police.

His friends had said that it might not be a good idea to give them a hard time.

Good advice, given at the wrong time.

…

Words today, 1,671, for a total of 44,110

A rather interesting suspect list

…

Michael had drawn up his suspect list, but he knew that list was not going to be exhaustive.

He would be at the top, the spouse always was, and for extra emphasis, he wrote it in capitals.

Lady Adria would be there, her best friend, it would be easy to slip her the poison, but why?

The General, there was a piece of work, and probably his number one candidate, but again, motive?

Genevieve? He didn’t like her, and the feeling was mutual. The fact Agatha was about to literally pull the rug out from under her was reason enough, but she hadn’t been there long.

The Office PA – She had the means but not the motive, but then, stranger things had happened with people least likely to …

The other PA – Again plenty of opportunity, but why?

All six members of the charity staff. It could be one of them, but it was unlikely. Again opportunity, but no motive.

The board members. No!

Her father. Well, his money was on the old man. She had surpassed him in popularity and in achieving accolades for her work whereas he was constantly beating off the reporters accusing him of all manner of infractions. Motive and means, and one of his businesses dealt in poisons.

The boyfriend who wasn’t. If the boy was as dumb as he tried to make people believe, then maybe, but Agatha had picked him for a reason, and it wasn’t longevity. He had no reason to want her dead, considering he was making the most of her free accommodation.

The children, if only for a moment. They hated her, but that was normal. Neither would want to see her dead. It was a little odd they were not more upset though.

Monte, though only as guilt by association. Definitely no.

The IT expert. She was an enigma wrapped up in a puzzle. She had information and wasn’t going to share it. Yet.

…

There had to be more, people she associated with, friends, and or enemies. The police would add everyone and then remove them one by one.

It was a passing thought, but Michael knew if he could use field interrogation techniques, he could shorten that list dramatically, and very quickly.  Perhaps he still might, if the opportunity arose, depending on the policeman assigned to the case and whether he was willing to share.

He would wait and see what happened.

…

Words today, 1,732, for a total of 42,439

The investigation begins

…

Detective Chief Inspector Davis and Detective Sargeant Bains step into the frame as the investigating officers.  The Chief Inspector had been expecting his last year before retirement to be one of the cases that required more time completing the paperwork than investigating, and Sargeant Bains under his watchful eye because of past misdemeanours that nearly had him sent back to uniform.

Both had read the case notes and the Chief Inspector had queried the delegation of the case to him because it was the sort of case the fast tracker would seize upon.

It got a very severe reprimanding look, along with the statement ‘There are eyes above both our paygrades watching this with very keen interest, so don’t muck it up’.

That, of course, meant there was going to be high-level interference, that it had gone to a fast-track inspector who wisely wanted nothing to do with it.  Maybe his retirement would come early.

Davis may have thought the interference was going to come from the victim’s family, he was well aware of who her father was in the scheme of political and other arenas, but he hadn’t known about or met Michael yet.  That was going to be the highlight of that first day.

For both of them.

…

Words today, 1,867, for a total of 40,407

This was not what I envisioned

…

This story started out intending to have an ex-husband, thinking he had been divorced from his wife many years before, suddenly being informed that his wife had died.

Yes, she was rich, yes it was a marriage of inconvenience, and yes, she was a bratty spiteful child to her parents not above pulling off a stunt to spite her parents, but for however a brief period they were together, there was a very definite thing between them.

Neither was supposed to forget the other, just know they were out there, and a reunion might be possible in the future.

And yes, that trope that the pair had children and he was never told about it was a trite touch, but I liked the idea.  The fact the children were following in the mothers’ footsteps, well that seemed logical, and a bugbear for the father, when he finds out.

I didn’t plan to have her murdered.

That came along when I was reading up on poisons for another story I was writing at the time, the sort that cannot be detected unless the coroner is one of those fastidious types who won’t just call it a simple death.

Yes, he was supposed to slide into her world, and once again thank the lucky stars he had missed all of it. 

He was supposed to accept the invitation to sort out the mess, and somehow dodge the larger responsibility of looking after the children and the estates that might come with an inheritance. 

After all, it was difficult living in her residence, dealing with servants, and not having to do anything because everything was provided.  He could have, perhaps, but that was not his life.  It was just one of many sticking points that broke them up.

But murder?

Now he was going to have to stick around and find out who did it, and why.

…

Words today, 1,407, for a total of 38,840