Chapter Twelve: Evidence Is In The Eye Of The Beholder



“You said everything I told you?” Catherine inquired, her eyes narrowing in on the stranger on the other side of the table
“I deserved a fucking Oscar for my performance” the early 20’s redhead smiled, holding out her hand “Now hand over the cash” she whispered annoyed, under her breath
Catherine flicked open the roll of cash, and counted it as she handed it over to the awaiting hand.
“There, two hundred dollars and you never met me” Catherine announced standing from the café table in the back corner
“Whatever” the lady shrugged as she eyed over the money
Catherine grabbed her coat around her body and marched out of the café. She smiled proudly to herself, she was smart, smarter than most people gave her credit for, and this was only the beginning.

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

“Can I speak to Mrs. Carmen Bennett please?” the officer inquired as he twisted his finger lazily around the phone cord.
“This is she” the posh, upper class voice responded.
“This is detective Giles, may I ask you a few questions?”
“I don’t see why not” she shrugged
“By any chance were you getting your hair dyed at all today? By a Miss Marie Ryan?”
“No, where on earth did you get that from?”
“We’re just looking over a few records, you name was on the appointment this morning, we’re just confirming it”
“Confirm nothing, I can assure I was definitely not there”
“May I ask what you were doing, this morning around 10am”
“I was in the garden enjoying a late breakfast”
“Is there anyone that can back that up?”
“My husband, the maid. Have I done something wrong?”
“No, not at all, just standard procedure, thank you for your time Mrs. Bennett, we’ll contact you further if we need anything else”

He hung the phone up slowly, everything all pointed to one possible outcome, but surely he was wrong. Been in the business as long as he had, had taught him many things, especially that the ones closest to you are usually the ones responsible.

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

Brian crept quietly around the bedroom. Faith was sprawled casually across the bed, her slender legs tucked into her chest, her eyes closed softly, her arms wrapped around her thin frame in a comforting way. She made no sound, silently she breathed in and out, Brian could only imagine what she was thinking, what she was dreaming. He smiled softly to himself as he reached down and pulled the blanket over her body. She was everything to him, he wouldn’t loose her, not now – not ever.

The phone beside him rung, startling him. He reached down and picked it up, answering it quickly so it didn’t wake Faith.
“Hello?” he answered as he walked quietly out of the door
“This is Doctor Michaels, the vet you bought your dog to” the older graying man answered own the line
“Oh, uh, yeah. What did you find out?” Brian inquired as he walked back and forth along the hallway
“We did, but I'm afraid its not too nice”
“What?”
“Your dog, Marty, was poisoned, it would seem with cyanide”
“Are you sure?” Brian stuttered in disbelief, he was aware what cyanide was, but only through the movies.
“Its hard to trace Mr. Littrell, and it’s not exactly my point of expertise, but all the signs point to that. The frothing in the mouth, the extremely high temperature”
“Oh my god” Brian muttered “ah, thank you”
“No problem. I think perhaps it would be a wise idea to have Marty cremated”
“Yeah, okay, thank you, we’ll be by tomorrow” Brian responded
They said their goodbyes and hung up. Brian tapped the phone against his shoulder, he knew that Marty had been happy and healthy, but he still never really expected to hear what he just did.

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

“We don’t really have much on her” Giles sighed as he rubbed his hand across his forehead
“Mrs Bennett she said she has never met her, we checked out the story verified it, she wasn’t at Miss Ryan’s residence” Martin announced proudly
“Put a tail on her, see where she goes, what she does”
“Do we let them know?”
“Keep it under wraps, we don’t want to turn friends against each other, not yet anyway” Giles said softly as Martin exited his cramped office

~ THE NEXT MORNING ~

Catherine paced anxiously around the living room. She didn’t have long before the wedding, and it didn’t seem like the date was changing, she’d lost her contact with them, and her perfectly plotted out plan was slowly falling apart. Her eyes grew dark as the thought of Faith having the life she was sure SHE deserved was plaguing her mind. Her thin lips curved up into a smirk.
“You may have the perfect life Faith, but I can assure you, you wont have a chance to enjoy it” she hissed grabbing her coat and storming out of the apartment

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

“The dyes match” a young redhead in a white lab coat announced as his eye remained on the microscope
“Are you sure?” Giles inquired tapping the side of the desk subconsciously
“As sure as I can be, they have the same make up, the same amount of chemicals, its mixed the same way” he added matter-of factly as he stood upright “It’s hard to be 100 percent sure with this sort of thing, by the dye on the table and the dye on the skin are the same in my opinion”
“That’s all we need” Giles said thanking him, as he patted him lightly on the back

~ 30 MINUTES LATER ~

Catherine watched behind her tortoise shell glasses, as Marie got into her car and drove down the road. Catherine stepped from the car, and walked briskly across the road, she looked around quickly, to watch for any eyes. There were none, they must have followed Marie, she quickly decided.

She pushed open the apartment doors and walked straight to the staircase. Taking it slowly a step at a time she marched up them, she didn’t need any extra attention and well she was in a hurry she was determined not to make it look like it.

She reached Marie’s apartment, thankfully no one was in the hall, it was quite and silent. She was sure the police had finally put things together, and she was sure they were working on getting a search warrant right now. She slipped the blade of the knife into the lock, a trick she’d learnt from Jason. The door popped open, after only a few seconds of flicking the knife. She walked in and closed the door quietly behind her. She already knew her way around the apartment, she’d been there before. The quaint little two bedroom apartment with pictures hanging on the walls, and what seemed to be her hand at art littered across the place.

“This needs to be perfect” Catherine whispered to herself as she ran over the plan gain in her head

She’d left tiny clues around Brian and Faiths house, ones she was sure the police had picked up on. Like the size 8 shoe print left behind outside the window. Catherine smiled to herself as she remembered on her way out of the house placing the shoe directly into the mud, then returning it to her bag. She placed on a pair of rubber gloves and pulled the pair of size 8 Vans from her bag and opened the wardrobe door, shuffling through the other shoes she gently placed the shoes into the back of the wardrobe, and covered them in another pair.
“Obvious, but not” she snickered

She walked over to the dressing table that sat against the far wall, opening the top draw she rummaged through Marie’s personal effects before taking out a small labels bottle. She smiled wickedly as she placed in into the draw then carefully closed it. She was sure that would be enough to make this plan work, someone else would take the wrap for what happened, and for what was about to. She looked down at her watched, and quickly zipped up the bag she was carrying, she was running late for her appointment, and this was going to be a blast.



Chapter 13
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