Curiosity Killed the Cat

5

'I wanted to explain it a different way, Mr Bowen. Believe me—I did not foresee that this is how it will all turn out, 'said the old woman, shifting in the chair.

The man looked at her, trying to smile, but his tiredness was so intense that he could not bring himself to any courtesy. He sat down in the other armchair and rubbed his tired face with his hands.

'Will I ever find out what the hell's going on? I guess we're all slowly getting fed up with this night and this whole situation—so either Mrs Jones or you Bowen must start talking—otherwise, I will go crazy—I swear, 'muttered Lieutenant Hart in dismay, throwing them both angry looks.

Rita, meanwhile, leaned against the wall and gazed at Jane. The woman was agitated, and tears flooded her face with tears.

'Mrs Jones turned out to be safe and sound—but who killed Rupert?' She asked, glancing at Simon.

'Curiosity and greed—as well as inability to restrain himself from torturing the poor old woman from whom he wanted to extort more money than he had received so far—but unfortunately he'd chosen the wrong method,' he replied, rising from his chair. 'All four of us have been awake tonight to witness or to take part in—let's call it a trick—or even a performance that turned out to have a slightly different effect than intended.'

'What are you raving about, Bowen? To the point!' Raymond snapped.

'Well, Mrs Jones had planned to talk to me because she knew I was as curious and clever as she was. She knew it perfectly well from my brother's stories about me. So, she decided to use me to help herself get rid of the problem—namely her son-in-law.'

'I didn't want to get rid of anyone,' the old woman interrupted. 'I just wanted to know who sent that damn letter.'

'Well, no, madam. It wasn't like that. You had known from the beginning—or at least you'd guessed it was Rupert. Also, you knew who he really was—didn't you?'

'Leave my mother alone!' Jane cut in, almost screaming.

'I'm sick of it, Jane. Let him speak—his right. I had known about his true identity. I recognised him the first time I saw him after all those years.'

Simon looked at the older woman, who suddenly decided to let go of the denial. As if she was ready to face the consequences and was curious about what the detective had found out.

'Purret Cat—which is one of the most ridiculous aliases you could think of. If anyone wants to find where the name comes from—well, Purret is kind of like an anagram from Rupert. But because I've been tired myself, it took me long enough to figure it out. Could you be less clever than that? Probably not. He could've chosen a more realistic sounding name, but—well.'

'Rupert Dursley was Purret Cat? Sounds like a cat food brand rather than name,' Hart sneered.

'Well, yes,' Simon replied. 'And thanks to the entries in the notebook and the bank statements found in Mrs Jones's night-stand, I discovered the existence of a mysterious Cat person—not a pet—a person with such nickname.'

'This notebook did not belong to me,' Mary interjected again.

'I know—it belonged to your deceased husband. Only did I realise it when Rita found out more about the Dursley's house break-in. And that was when the real Rupert had been killed—and probably a few years later, one of the men that managed to escape, the Cat, stole poor Rupert's name somehow, found a family that got him into prison and begun to pursue his revenge on you. Am I right, Miss Jones?'

The woman looked away, pressing her trembling lips together.

'Your daughter married a man whom your husband put in prison. You met him right away—both you and your husband were teachers at the same school he attended, weren't you?'

'Bowen—do you know this man's real name? We have his body behind the wall, and it would be good if we knew who he really was.'

'Gregory Bell,' Simon handed the man the papers he had received from Rita earlier. 'It's all here—or rather on the internet.'

'Bell has been blackmailing our family since he got out of prison. I was really tired of all of this. My daughter couldn't believe me when I told her who he was.'

'Yes—you couldn't make her believe you, so you decided to involve me in this to prove everything to your daughter and also to get rid of him in one or the other way,' Simon yawned, covering his mouth with his hand. 'You could go to the police and tell the truth. However, you preferred to perform this play late at night, keeping everyone in suspense without sleep. But one may ask why. Because you were afraid of facing the consequences.'

Lieutenant Hart raised his eyebrows in surprise and sighed and grunted, urging the detective.

'The noise we all heard from Mrs Jones' apartment was a trick that took the longest to explain to myself. I only realised that recently.'

'What was that?' Rita asked.

'You,' Simon turned to her. 'You've been extremely helpful since we met. But then I came to thinking that your extraordinary commitment, which I must admit, impressed me, made me then wonder. Mrs Jones needed someone close enough to get to her flat back and forth unnoticed.'

Rita's eyes widened, and her lips parted in amazement.

'How did you—'

'—How did I work it out? Actually, it's simple—even though it wasn't initially. Mrs Jones needed you to carry out her plan. So she confided in you and asked for help. And you, due to your dislike for the police and, knowing that I'd be partaking in it, you agreed because of your strange passion for me.'

'But everyone confirmed that by the time the gunshot was fired, Jane was already outside the door. She would have seen Rita.'

'Yes—and you see, Raymond—Jane saw her mother's neighbour perfectly. But she pretended that she couldn't see anything because she had been involved in it from the very beginning. Although they played out the quarrel in my presence in my brother's kitchen masterfully.'

'You just said Mrs Jones wanted to prove to her daughter—'

'Yes, it was. But Jane knew it then, and despite her lack of conviction, she agreed to participate - and even, I presume, she also saw the documents hidden in her mother's bedside table, which she had come for a while I was snooping around. She didn't want to talk to me because, unfortunately, she is not a good liar, but she did tell me more than she should.'

'But who killed Gregory?'

'Exactly, who killed Gregory?' Simon repeated the lieutenant's question.

'So you don't know this?'

'I didn't say that,' he smiled, barely feeling the muscles in his face anymore. Jane allegedly returned from a night walk and found her husband in a pool of blood in the living room. Judging by her emotions, she must have experienced a shock. I don't look like someone who can play a scene like this since she doesn't know how to lie. We have more than one person left—at all costs wanting to protect our daughter and her family.'

Mary Jones tearfully rose from her chair and crossed her arms in the final act of surrender.

'Yes—I killed him, and I don't regret it. He deserved it. But what you failed to discover, Mr Bowen, was Gregory Bell, who killed Rupert Dursley. He deserved it more than you all think.'

Raymond let two constables into the room to handcuff the old lady and take her away.

'Well done, Bowen. We all deserve to have some sleep now.'

'We? You didn't do anything—as usual,' Simon almost snarled at the man and left, returning to his brother's flat to finally get some rest.