'Til Death Do Us Part - Part 23

Sarah's ears perked up at the sound of distant murmurs. She picked up a folder and rose from her seat at the table. “Did you hear that?” she asked.

Roger looked up at her. “Hear what?”

“Voices.”

As Sarah walked toward the door, Jean popped through the doorway, nearly running into her. The two women stood facing each other for a moment. Each took a step backward.

“Excuse me hun, Brady’s back. He wanted me to tell you they’ve got the killer.”

Sarah and Roger followed Jean into the reception area. As they arrived, Sarah caught a glimpse of a woman with her head bowed, her dark hair obscuring her face as she walked, following behind an officer. Brady was standing at the reception table scrawling on a piece of paper.

“Hey Brady,” Sarah called.

Brady looked up from his writing and waved at Sarah. “Hey!”

“So what’s the scoop on the suspect?” she asked.

“It’s a pretty solid case. She hasn’t confessed yet, but we’ve got a lot of evidence and she has no alibi. The pawn shop gave us a call a little earlier. Our suspect pawned off Jack’s watch. We searched her apartment and found his wallet. Like I said, real cut and dry.”

“What about Johnson's murder?”

“That one is a little more sensitive,” he said, lowering his voice. “Being his partner, I have a little inside information. The suspect used to do the occasional housekeeping job for the Johnsons. They let her go last week when they caught her stealing. He never came out and said it, but I suspect that Johnson was fooling around with her. Their marriage has been… rocky at best of late.”

“It doesn’t make any sense. Why would she kill Jack?”

“Well,” Brady said. He cleared his throat. “Let’s just put it this way, Jack was no saint. He had a reputation for taking women to the Chester Inn. My guess is that she is one of his many spurned lovers. I imagine she got fed up with him and took him out, then did the same to Johnson. It’s a real shame.”

“What about the murder weapon?”

“She probably ditched it somewhere. I’m sure we’ll drudge it up eventually.”

“Here’s my guess. You won’t find a murder weapon,” Sarah said. She set a folder down on the table in front of him. “Take a look at these cases we found.”

Officer Brady picked up the folder and began leafing through the pages. “What’s your point? These cases look likely they're all but solved. A clear suspect with a strong motive, like what we now have here.”

“My point is that they all could be the same case. An unfaithful parter has their throat silt by a scorned lover. No murder weapon is ever found. The only difference here is that Jack was robbed.”

Brady sighed. “I appreciate what you are doing here, but I think you’re barking up the wrong tree.” He smiled at her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Relax, it’s over.”

Sarah jerked away and scowled.

“Aw, don’t be like that. If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll look over the files. We still got plenty to do around town if you’re willing, but this case is basically closed.”