My Ex's Ex

THREE

James sighed as he lay on his bed. Today was a rush. He had wondered how he would be able to cope with Lily's death and investigating it, but his body had taken it fairly well. The moment he went upstairs, he regretted taking upstairs, he had been curious to see her bedroom. The bedroom portrayed a person's personality, he'd found that out in his few years as a homicide detective and he wanted to feel her, wanted to know what she was, if she was still the same, but when he got upstairs, he regretted it.

Luckily for him, there were other agents in the room, so it wasn't that intense. The stabbing had happened here, so there were a lot more agents here than there were downstairs. He had pictured it in his mind, the killer entering when Lily was about to sleep, she shouting, him stabbing her, she trying to fight for her life and he throwing her down the window. It made his blood boil. He had been even more determined to catch who did it.

He had gone to see the chief police later in the day with Charlotte, and the older man had told them they only needed to interrogate people in the zone. There were approximately twenty houses in each zone. He had assigned 4 detectives to help interrogate those in the zone. Once he had compiled everybody's reports and thoughts, he would go through them and decide who sounded off and go to phase three.

By tomorrow, he and Charlotte would start off on the questioning. He already had the names of each staff member, security men, and neighbours he would talk to. He had sent a notice to the gardener, the maid, and the driver for different times tomorrow.

Newt had helped Charlotte compile a list of friends and relatives of Lily. He was sure she would start her interrogation tomorrow too. He was wrong about her, she was a diligent detective. That was a good thing. He wouldn't have to feel like he needed to do both his and Charlotte's duty.

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When James woke up the next day, he felt refreshed. He got up and ate breakfast, which consisted of a few slices of toast and a cup of tea. He was supposed to work out before eating, but he felt lazy, so he decided to give himself the day off in terms of working out. He got ready and headed to the cafe where he had asked Jamie, Lily's gardener, to meet him. He had told the man 10 o'clock but he was there at 9:40, he wanted to be there earlier to show he had the upper hand.

   He was going through the questions when Jamie arrived, a short man with a bulky appearance that reminds you of a boxer but in a different way for this man did not have muscles.

"Hello, Mr Gerald. I'm glad you could make it, so sorry for the inconvenience."

"Not at all," Jamie replied. He was a quiet man with a calm air around him that made you want to like him.

James smiled and went straight to business.

"How long have you worked for Miss Plugger?"

"I worked for her for 2 years, I am the common gardener in the zone. Miss Plugger lived, so it was inevitable. She just kinda had to employ me."

"How was Miss Plugger to you?"

"Well, she was a nice woman. She didn't live a reckless life like most of them rich people do. Frankly, I've never seen her bring friends home before but yunno I don't work there all the time, Tami would be the one to give you all those info but all I knew was she was very private, didn't have friends."

To say James was surprised by what he heard would be an understatement. The person Jamie just described sounded like a shell of the Lily he used to know. Heavens knew what could have caused such a transformation. He'd only been interested in her dating life and had always been glad to find out that she was still single. He didn't know it ran deeper than that.

"The day of the murder, can you tell me what happened from your point of view. "

"I wasn't there, I was out of town the day of the murder. I had been gone for two days and just returned yesterday. The news of her murder was new to me like it was to everyone. Like I said, "he stopped to sip the tea James had ordered for both of them, "Tami's the best person who can answer your questions. She lives in the house with Miss Plugger, I only entered the house once."

"I understand, Mr Gerald. Is there anything you think you ought to let me know about, though?"

Jamie looked at James for a short while looking like he was struggling on the inside then said, "Mr Fringe, the neighbour next to Miss Plugger's house, the husband of the woman who called 911, he and Miss Plugger had something, I'm sure of it."

James kept looking at him, silently urging him to volunteer more information, but when he noticed it was unlikely, he said, "Why do you think so?"

"Well, they seemed close for a while, then after a month, it was always arguments upon arguments, and suddenly she's murdered. Something's not right, "he said simply.

Jotting all the while, James stood up and shook Jamie's hand, thanking him for his time.

When Jamie was gone, James looked at his book and sighed, even though Jamie had little to nothing to offer on the crime. He was a great resource in the sense that he gave Jamie some kind of help on the questions he'll be asking Tami, the maid and the husband of Mrs Fringe, when he was about to interview them.

Tami, Lily's maid was the next person he was going to interview. He will have to make some adjustments to the questions he had in mind for her.

His stomach suddenly rumbled. But for now, he would have to feed his stomach first, he thought as he gestured for the waiter.

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