The Wedding Project 💍

'And So It Goes' (Part Two)

As a connaisseur of old murder mystery novels Harris was very pleased that Reginald suggested a more suitable room for the final reveal. The sun was already sinking over Gundersson Island, so the fireplace in the very traditional drawing room was lit, making it warm and cozy. The Wallace family and some of their closest friends were present, sitting on vintage furniture that looked like it came straight from the mansion of an English nobleman. Reginald had delivered a round of drinks to everyone - it would help ease the tension a bit. Even Harris took a glass of brandy, though he only took a tiny sip before resting it on a side table in the corner of the room. To his relief Mia Wallace, who was technically still under age, was only drinking ginger ale.

Before he would even begin to speak, he took another look in everyone's face, waiting for them to react to his look, trying to confirm his own feelings about the case. Sometimes the look of a detective can reveal a lot in someone else's face. As usual, Gordon had positioned himself near the door, covering the only exit from this room, just in case things turned ugly. He also didn't drink anything. Reginald stood next to him to be of service if someone needed anything. Harris counted the faces in his head. Callum. Arthur and Marie. Mia. Ocean Creed. Alex Aswell. He hadn't invited the Gilmours to this little meeting, for good reason.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Harris finally spoke. "I thank you all for gathering here. I am aware that this is a difficult time for each and every one of you, so I will try and be brief." During his deliberate pause, he looked at them again, very closely, as he continued: "The good news is that we finally made progress. In fact, we are certain that we have identified the murderer of Anna Wallace."

Those words caused the reaction he had expected. Some of them looked relieved, some of them distrustful. And one of them... exactly the person he was counting on... tried to hide their feelings in that matter.

It would have been a cliché to announce that the murderer was here in this very room, especially with that décor of the drawing room surrounding them and everyone sipping from fancy glasses like it was the 1920s again. Harris fought the urge to do so. Instead he said: "I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but an hour ago we had an incident with one of the hotel staff members..."

"It was that butcher guy, wasn't it?" Alex Aswell readily jumped in. "I knew he was looking suspicious."

Harris turned to him, raising an eyebrow. "Indeed, Mr. Aswell. We identified him as Dustin Hawkins, and he had a history with Mrs. Anna Wallace. Unfortunately... he won't be able to answer to this anymore."

He even could hear Gordon flinch behind him at those words. "So..." Mia spoke up coyly. "He was the killer then?"

Harris shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

There was no point in drawing it out any further. He presented the evidence that they had found so far. The items were put in small seethrough bags. Luckily the hotel staff members who had found them hadn't left any fingerprints themselves. As he dropped the bags onto the table in the middle of the room, he heard a collective gasp.

Ocean Creed had focused on one item in particular. "Is this the murder weapon?" he asked, pointing at the syringe in the bag.

"I think you would know that, sir," Harris suggested with a sharp undertone. "Better than any of us."

A brief moment of dead silence, only interrupted by the crackling of the fireplace. "What is that supposed to mean?" Creed asked with anger in his voice. "What are you implying?"

"We found this in a trash bin in front of your hotel room. In the corridor where the security camera is disabled for some reason. Next to these." Harris pointed at the other bag which had a pair of blue latex gloves in it.