Human vs. Phantom

Chapter – 9 Episode – 3 The Beauty Next Door

Chapter – 9

Episode – 3

The Beauty Next Door

Jim

Being back, it was still five pm. I decided to walk around the neighborhood and ask around if anyone had seen anything that night or not. I could be pretty helpful.

I walked to the first door I spotted and knocked on the door.

“yes.” The person said. He was an old man, with a shiver in his voice.

“Hii, I am officer Findlay, can I ask you a few questions about the murder next door,” I asked.

“actually, officer I am in a rush so can you make it fast?”

“yes, sure I just need a few minutes.” I fished out my pocket diary.

“Did you see anyone breaking into the house yesterday, or anything suspicious?” I interrogated.

“nothing suspicious in particular, but I think I heard some loud voice from the house. Like someone was fighting or arguing.” He answered.

“did you see anything?”

“no, nothing else.”

“What kind of person your neighbor Mr. Richard was?

“he was a nice man, up until…” he was saying.

“until?” I asked.

“he started having an affair.” He completed.

“he was having affair,” I confirmed.

“yes, have seen him other girls and recently they have been fighting a lot. You know their house is not too far away from ours. The time when I water the plants or just sit on the balcony, I can hear them talk.” He told me.

“they never used to fight but from the last week there have been voices of them fighting a lot.” He spoke.

“do you know the person he was having the affair with?” I asked.

“I've seen a girl coming in and out of the house, but I'm not sure if she is the one or how she looks like.” He answered I can't see at distance clearly.

“thank you for help.” I shook hands and walked ahead.

I walked to the other house in the row.

“Hii, can I ask you a few questions? I am officer Findlay.” I said showing the lady in ID.

“what can I help you with officer?” she asked in a melodious tone.

“It is related to Mr. Richard’s murder last night. I heard from your neighbor that Mr. Richard was having an affair. Do you know anything in that context?”

“I'm not really sure officer about who that girl is but I know he was having an affair. I know that his wife Amanda was very upset over it for a few days. She told me that she is applying for a divorce and she also said that she will take revenge on him for hurting her. That’s all I know.”

I questioned other neighborhoods but the answers were almost the same every time. But few things were pretty clear, Richard was having an affair and his wife was pretty devasted over it.

I was walking back home when I saw a girl lingering around Richard’s house. She was behaving sneaky making me curious to go and ask what she wanted.

“excuse me….” I said getting ahead turn from her.

“yes?” she said and damn, I have never seen anyone like her. Deep blue eyes, dark brown hair.

“There is no one in that house. Actually, it is sealed by police for an ongoing murder investigation. Do you have some business here?” I asked her.

“what? Whose murder? I am here to see my cousin, Amanda.” She said baffled. “she was fine two days ago when it told her that I am coming.”

“no, I think there is some misunderstanding here. You should call her. Her husband was murdered last night.” I told her.

“what? How could that be? Who killed him?” she asked devastated.

“I don’t know but the police are investigating. You can ask them directly if you are the family.” I told her.

In a spur of a moment, she jumped in my arms saying, “thank you so much for your help.” And get off.

“can you give me your number so I can contact you? You can call me if something happens here.” She spoke.

“Okay sure,” I said giving her my card.

“thank you so much.” She said.

I went back to Ethan’s. as I got in, Avery and Cam were already there. She was feeding him while Cam looked more in a playful mode than feeding mode. His mouth was dripping with his mashed food, it was all over his table too.

I smile at the cuteness he has. He looked so adorable.

“How was your day Jim?” Avery asked.

“adventurous.”

“you hungry?” she asked.

“what’s for dinner?” I spoke.

“roast chicken,” she replied. “now don’t say that we only eat chicken dishes. It will be delicious, I promise.”

“I like chicken,” I spoke.

I freshen up after our little chat. And by the time I came down, it was time for dinner. I helped Avery setting up the table. Ethan was home too. we sat at the table to have our food.

“How was your day?” Ethan asked chewing his food.

“it was good. I went to a lot of places, meet many people. Asked them about their life. They were all very nice and friendly.” I told them.

“great.” He replied.

“by the way, I heard your neighbors talking about your immediate neighbor. They said that he was having an affair. Do you know anything about that?” I said slowing chewing the chicken.

“They hired a cleaning girl last week. And soon after she was appointed Richard started cheating with that girl on his wife.” Avery said.

“I saw them together many times. I was the one who told Amanda about it.” She added.

“really? Do you think his wife would have killed him in anger?” I asked.

“Amanda? No freaking ways. She could never do that.” She spoke.

“you look very confident about it? There is a news article almost every day of wives or husbands killing each other because they were caught cheating. How are you so sure? People do crazy things when they are betrayed.” I spoke.

“you seem to be very experienced. But if it is Amanda, I am pretty sure. She is a vegan, she works in a non-profit organization to protect and shelter animals, do you think a person like her can do something as cruel as that. She can't.”

“then anyone else you suspect,” I asked again.

“Okay dude, let’s talk about murders and the bloody stuff after I'm done with my food. My intestines are churning.” Ethan said and we both laughed.

“Okay, okay,” I spoke.

“you haven’t changed a bit. Always talk about that grisly stuff.”

“you haven’t either, you puked every time you saw even a drop of blood.”

We all laughed and that’s how the day finally ended.

I came to this town to escape from all this stuff so I can clearly think about the much important stuff I am going through right now. But that doesn’t seem to happen here. Everywhere I go bad things keep happening. I don’t know if I should run away from it or just stay.

Thinking of it, I think it is my instinct to look to the depths of everything going around.

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“fairy godmother loves children, she will send a fairy to the kid who does well in schools and listens to their parents, so they can play with them.”

“really mom? I will be a good girl from now. I will listen to whatever you say. I won’t even fight with that stupid Andrea at school even if she bullies me.” she said innocently.

“if you do that fairy godmother will send her best fairy to you to be your best friend. And to be a good girl you should sleep early.”

“Okay mom, good night.” She wished her mom.