Behind The Facade

Investigation begins

Abhishek's pov

Preeti and I went to talk to the servants and the family members.
Joseph's wife, Venessa and his daughter, Maria, were not in the state of talking. So I talked to his son, Peter and Preeti talked to the two servants - the cook, Vinay and the housekeeper, Avnee.

"Sorry about your loss Peter but, I need to ask you a few questions in order to get any possible clues about the murder" I said.

"I understand . I will help you whatever way I can in order to catch my father's murderer and get him justice" Peter replied.

"Any threat or any significant fight he had recently or any enemies?"I enquired.

"He didn't get any threats or anything of that sort. He had many rivals but nothing personal. None that I know about. Although, I would like to bring to your knowledge that he was having considerable conflicts with his business partner, Ashish. It had been bothering him for a couple of weeks" Peter stated.

" Oh I see. Can you tell me more about Ashish?"I asked.

"From what I know of him , he is a short- tempered and cunning person. A manipulative , self - centered businessman who values money the most. He was once a very good friend of my father but things had been tense between them for quite some time" Peter stated.

"Ok. I will do the needfull. Did you notice anything out of the ordinary recently? Anything suspicious?"

" Nothing such."

"Your father was murdered in his room yesterday night. You didn't hear any shouts or anything ?"

" Me and my family had gone to attend a family function yesterday .Dad stayed behind because he wasn't feeling well. We came back very late at night only to find him dead."

"Ohh I see.... thanks, I shall talk to you again if the need be."

"Sure, whenever you need me."

Preeti's Pov

I went to talk to Avnee and Vinay. I talked to them separately.

Vinay seemed to be in his early forties.
I asked him?, " for how many years have you been working here? "

"10 years" he replied.

"Oh! That's quite an amount of time. Do you live in the mansion itself or are you given separate quarters?" I asked.

"We were given separate quarters a few months back" he slipped.

"Oh! I see. How were the relations between the members of Fernandes family?" I enquired.

"Their relationships seemed to be normal, a few arguments now and then , just like most other families " he said.

"Hmm...what kind of a person was Joseph and how was his behaviour with his family?" I asked.

"He sure was not the noble, philanthropic businessman people thought him to be. That was all his facade to maintain his public image. In reality, he considered himself superior to all. He was controlling and strict with his family. His decisions were final, nothing could change it once he made up his mind " he said with contempt.

"Ohh...Did you notice anything out of the ordinary recently? any notable incident?" I further asked.

"Nope. Nothing such. " he said

" uhh...ok thanks . That shall be all for now. I will talk to you again if the need be" I said.

With this I proceeded to talk to Avnee, a pretty lass of about twenty .

"I needed to ask you a few questions" I said.

"Sure do. I shall be glad if I could be of any help" Avnee replied.

"So, how long have you been working here? " I enquired.

"It's about to be an year now" she replied.

"What impression had you formed of Joseph?" I questioned.

An expression of mixed feelings appeared on her face for a split second on hearing his name.

"Uh...umm...he was kinda avaricious and self - centered " she said.

"Ok. Did you notice anything out of the ordinary recently? any notable incident?" I enquired.

"Nothing much but he had a really heated argument with Peter yesterday morning. They were so loud that I could hear them in the servant quarters..." she blurted.

"Vinay didn't mention anything about that..." I said.

"He wasn't in the servant quarters at that time" she replied.

"OH , Do you know what it was about?" I questioned.

"Nope. I could only hear their voices but could not understand their words." Avnee said.

"Ok thanks, that would do" I said.

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