"Mom, I'm home"
Isabella flinged her bag on the sofa went straight to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of milk from the refrigerator. It was strange that her Mom wasn't in the kitchen. She was always in the kitchen or watching TV, she always hated to be by herself in her room. Isabella was way too excited to think about that.
"Mom I'm home"
She said for the second time as she walked into her mother's room and was welcomed by the awful sight of her mother dangling on a rope tied to the ceiling fan. Isabella was shocked at this sight, she couldn't move she just stood there screaming. Next to her was a note that read.
"I am sorry things had to end this way.
I am sorry I didn't get to say goodbye.
But somethings are bigger than us.
I love you Isa."
She cried her heart out, but there's nothing more she could do about it. Suddenly she tore the note and screamed loud.
"Mom I'm not buying this! I know you didn't commit suicide, I'm going to get to the bottom of this and find out who made you do this."
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Few weeks later, the autopsy report was out and it was confirmed that the cause of death was the strangling caused by the rope.
"Maybe you have to accept the fact that your Mom committed suicide."
"No way! she would never do that. Mom would never take her own life."
"She was my wife too you know."
"I know dad, but you are never around. Mom never hid anything from me. She was happy, she had no need to do this."
"Isabella, sometimes people appear happy on the outside, yet behind the smile they go through a lot."
"Not mom. Mom would tell me if anything was wrong..."
She broke down in tears, and her Dad consoled her. When the autopsy got to the police, they concluded that it was suicide and they closed the case. But Isabella couldn't bring herself to accept that her mother committed suicide, therefore she embarked on a mission to solve the case on her own. She went to the grocery store next to her house and begged them for the video clip of the day of her mother's death. The owner of the store was a family friend, it wasn't a problem getting the tape. She played the tape at home, with the position of the camera, you couldn't see the door of her house, you could only see the walkway and you could see when someone diverts and heads towards her house.
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The first person she saw going towards the house was the plumber, who according to the video spent 30 minutes in the house before he was seen walking away. Mom actually had an appointment with the plumber to come fix the leaking sink. She quickly left the house and approached the plumber.
"Did you kill my Mom? Did you try to abuse her and she refused, then you killed her?"
"What! No way. Your mom was one of my favorite customers. I had so much respect for her. I'd never kill her."
"Don't lie to me Mr Plumber!"
"I wouldn't lie to you with that thing you have in your hand pointed at me."
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She went back home to the video and the next person she saw walking towards the direction of the house was their neighbor. He always had a thing for my mom and always tried to get mom leave dad for him.
"Did you do it old man? Did you finally get tried of her always rejecting you?"
"Isabella have you gone crazy? coming into my house with such accusations. I loved your mother, I'd never do anything to hurt her. I always knew she deserved more than a man who is never there for her."
"Or maybe your jealousy got the better of you."
"The only reason I'm not calling the cops on you right now is because of the love I had for your mother. Leave my house before I change my mind."
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It almost seemed like her investigation was leading no where. Then the tape showed the delivery guy. She didn't really pay attention to this, a delivery guy had no reason to kill mom. But then, she didn't see him leave until twenty minutes later.
"I didn't kill the lady I swear."
The delivery guy Pleaded for his life.
"What took you so long to leave then, aren't you supposed to deliver and leave, that shouldn't take more than five minutes."
"She was on call I swear, when she finally came to the door, I couldn't find my pen, she had to go back inside to get a pen to sign with."
"Why should I believe you."
"I have no reason to kill the nice Lady. Please don't kill me, I have a daughter and she is only five."
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After the delivery guy, a car pulled up in front of the house. Switching off the car's headlight, Mrs Elizabeth, her Mom's best friend walked out of the car. Once again, with her weapon in hand, she ran out of the house and went after Mrs Elizabeth.
"Isabella, you know you don't have to come in here with that thing in your hand to get the truth from me."
"I know! I'm so sorry. I don't know what I'm doing. You would never kill mom. I was the one that asked her to call you."
"Come here my child. Your mom actually called me complaining of your dad's recent attitude, but then there was a delivery guy at the door, so she had to end the call. I told her I'd be in her house in the next hour, when I got there she was dead. I should have called the police but I knew if I did that, I'd be the first suspect. What I find strange was that the front door was open. Your mom never leaves her front door open."
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Isabella was at the verge of giving up, all evidence was pointing that her mom actually committed suicide. The next person that Walked towards the house was her, when she returned from school. Whatever happened was between the time the delivery guy left and when Mrs Elizabeth came. She kept replaying the tape within that time frame. Then she realized that she had been concerned with people going towards the house that she didn't notice a man in black hoodie who walked out of that direction with no record of him walking in. She zoomed in on the man and all she could say was "No no no no" as she ran out of the house.
"It was you Dad, your were there that day."
"What are you talking about Isa? I was out of town working.
"Don't lie to me dad. You came in through the backdoor, it's only the three of us that know about the backdoor. Then you walked out the front door without looking suspicious. You knew the position of the grocery store Cctv, so you covered your face with a hoodie, the same hoodie that Mom bought for you on your last birthday "
"Isa, you don't understand. You said she always told you everything, did she tell you that she was pregnant for our neighbor and she was going to leave me for that old fool."
"So you killed her?" Isabella asked with tears rolling down her cheeks.
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At that point her father tried to make a run for it, but Isabella had called the cops earlier who caught and arrested the Murderer.
šDoubleWorld To The Multiverseš