The Murvelli Murder

4. Max Kellington

It was a cold Thursday morning. The rain of the previous night had given Detective Max Kellington a natural dose of sleeping pills that even the 6:00am alarm had failed to arouse him. He had had a long day the day before, and had trouble sleeping until about two in the morning. It was 7:12am when he finally woke up.

"You are giving yourself a public holiday or what?" The roaring voice of Max's wife, Adeyemi, was calling loudly from downstairs.
"You've forgotten you have to take Bright to school this morning, right?"

Max rubbed his eye with a hand and checked the time. His eyes bulged in surprise. Instantly he peeled the duvet off his body, sprang up from the bed and ran to the bathroom. As he hurried along,  he hit his foot against a footstool which his wife had used the previous night. "Oh Christ," he winced in pain.

Detective Max Kole, a fine young man of thirty-seven, with a plain shaven face and long nose, worked at the Local Police department. His fame for solving crimes was well known, and he was respected among his colleagues. But his wife was always a pain in the ass.

He had come late from work the previous night and the wife was waiting for him on the couch.

"How was it?" she had stood up with both hands akimbo and a foot in front of the other, with a grave frown on her face.

"More like, 'oh honey you're back, I missed you'." Replied Max sarcastically in a feminine voice.

"I know she gave you a nice time like I never do, right? So tell me, How was it?"

"Work was fine honey, I missed you," Max said rolling his eyes.

He walked exhaustedly with fallen shoulders toward the room, never minding his wife's arrogance.

"You dare walk out on me? Max?"

"I'm really tired, honey, as you can see I had a very hectic day at work. Is Ian asleep?"

"You should go check him yourself."

"Oh God, fine!"

Even though he got to work late he wouldn't be in a bad spot, but he endeavoured to inculcate punctuality into his eight year old son and so he had to take him to school early.

After taking a quick shower, he dried and combed his ruffled black hair and slipped into a white long-sleeved shirt and black pants. He put on a leathery overcoat after wearing a heavy pair of black boots.

He couldn't have breakfast that morning.

Max arrived at the police department  where he worked at 9:28am. The station was already bustling with activities and he walked towards his desk. As he did so he caught sight of a young boy handcuffed and led towards the cell. Just then the Chief Inspector walked up to him.

"Oh there you are." Said the short pot bellied superior.

"Good morning, Chief," Max replied. "I just came in."

"Your wife giving you more troubles, is she?"

"Uh..." Max said distractedly. "Is that a fresh criminal? He looks pretty good like a young Tv star." the detective continued, pointing in the direction of the young man that was being led to the cell.

"Oh, that. Looks that kills, that one. He's the son of the business tycoon Murvelli. Know him? The bloody murderer. I don't know what these kids are taking these days."

"Did you say murder? Hmm... You were looking for me?"

"Yes indeed I was," said the short man, his face lightening up. You remember the Adewale case?"

Max thought for a moment. "The case of the stolen bracelet?"

"Of course. It was as you surmised. The bracelet wasn't stolen by Jide. In fact it wasn't stolen after all. The owner, Mrs Adewale, reported her expensive bracelet stolen to cast a bad light on the only person present in the house at the time, which was her husband's brother, Jide. This was so that she could get rid of the man and also get compensation on form of insurance as the bracelet was very expensive."

"It was never a guess on my part," said Max with a feeling of boosted ego. "Though the Husband's brother, Jide, looked like the obvious thief, the facts of the crime didn't fit into the initial theory which indicts Jide, as I remember. Jide didn't have the key to the room and the cupboard where the jewelry was kept, and the woman claimed she normally keeps it in the cupboard. She claimed she must have forgotten the emerald necklace on top of the bed-stand that evening before going down for dinner, but the maid claimed never to have seen it at all that whole day even while she cleaned the room that evening. She remembered the cupboard was locked and so, nobody could have unlocked it to steal anything inside besides Mr. And Mrs. Adewela who had the keys. I believed the story of the maid as she had no motive of stealing such a necklace without being a suspect. So I knew the whole affair held more than meets the eye."

"Hmm, I quite see now where the basis of your theory lies," said Mr. Kennedy.

"But come to think of it," Peter said thoughtfully, "how was the truth discovered?"

"The necklace was found on a stranger. Been traced, it was discovered that he had bought it at a retailers shop at a second-hand price. When the dealer was held under questioning, he revealed the truth that it was indeed Mrs. Adewale who had sold it to him."

"Ah, what a quite simple affair." It was simple right from the start. It was all about motive and fitting the facts with the crime. Unfortunately, I was not in charge of the case."

"Well I just came to tell you that your theory was the right one as you have consistently shown."

Just then, a young light skinned slender girl charged into the building crying aloud.

"Oh my God," she wailed, "somebody please tell me it is not true. My boyfriend, Jason, a murderer? No you people are all mistaken, my Jason is not a murderer!"

She kept crying and asking to see the boy that was arrested. She was led towards the cells.

"Jason. Is that the name of the young man I just saw being led into a cell?" the detective asked.

"Yes," the Chief inspector replied. "Jason Murvelli is his name, the son of the sixty-one year old billionaire, Anthony Murvelli. The boy killed his own father late last night."

********************************
Thanks to everyone following this story so far and I hope it's not too boring. Lol. I'll love to have your votes and please I need to know your thoughts as well. Thanks once again