Chapter Two

Ivy & Laurel

{Ivy's POV}

A week has passed since uncle Ben arrived and he has already started creating problems for me. First, he stuck his nose into my private life, then picked on Colin for no good reason and now, he's come to burden me with his problems.

I really don't want to do this but I have no choice.

*

Colin calls me out of the blue to come up to uncle Ben's room after he had his breakfast.

I walk into his room to see his body lying lifelessly on the tiled floor and Colin scared to death, almost crying of guilt. I can only think of one thing.

“What happened?” I ask him.

“I don't know! He just took his coffee and after a while I heard him scream. I hurried back up here and saw him like this.”

I go closer to him and look carefully.

“Is he okay?” Colin asks.

“He's still alive,” I say calmly. I hope not to aggravate his already built up tension.

“Oh, that's a relief. It could have gone much worse.” He changes from his scared self to the normal I-Dont-Care Colin.

“Come help me here.”

Without hesitation, he helps me lift uncle Ben to the car. I rush him to the hospital leaving Colin alone at home since Jane is still stuck in school. The annoying old man, thinking he can just come into my house and ruin my peace of mind. As if his living with us isn't enough, he wants to die on us.

Our family doctor is on duty today thankfully, so I'll just leave him in his care.

“What happened to him?” Dr. Murphy asks.

“I don't know. According to Colin, he just had coffee and after a while, he found him unconscious like this.”

The nurses take uncle Ben to the intensive care unit and as I turn around to leave, I hear my name.

“Ivy, where are you going so soon?” It's definitely Dr Murphy.

“Home.”

“How can you be going home when your uncle is here struggling to stay alive?”

“I know you can take care of everything. I'll come back soon to see how he's doing.”

He gives me that look of a father who is surprised by the actions of his rebellious teenage daughter.

“What?” I ask. His glare start to creep me out. “I'm just going to settle some things at home, I'll be back. I promise.”

Is my indifference that obvious? I don't care though, I've grown passed the stage of being scolded at.

“Just make sure uncle Ben is okay.”

“I'll do just that.”

I form a smile and nod briefly. Other than being our family doctor, he's a family friend to my late parents so I can understand his concerns and sentiments.

I turn away from him to make my exit. I have more important things to do. And just as I walk down to the lobby, Colin arrives at the hospital still wearing that worried face of guilt. Now why would he come here? He sure is the least person I'd expect to even bother about uncle Ben. He ought to be very happy about this.

While I make sure he doesn't see me, I hang around awhile to satisfy my curiosity. He walks straight to Dr. Murphy as if he knew uncle Ben's case would be handled by him and I follow behind.

Trying to listen to their conversation is more difficult than keeping my cool in front of Dr Murphy. I wonder what they could be talking about.

I must find out.

{Laurel's POV}

Days like today are always the worst. I won't be working, nevertheless, loads of chores are waiting for me. All morning, I washed the floor, did the laundry and as I round off with the dishes, I hear a knock on the door. Whosoever he or she is must better have a good reason for visiting. And definitely, must not see my apartment like this.

I get dressed in my bathrobe to see who's at the door. Luckily it's my fiancé.

“Good afternoon baby,” he says lovingly.

I hug him. “Come in.”

“Umm, I came with someone.”

“Huh!” I react. Not so lucky after all.

“You might want to change into something else.”

Before I can even take his advice, a drop-dead gorgeous man, jet black hair, beard neatly carved, looking maybe his early thirties walks towards us.

“Hi.”

I nod at him to regard his greeting. “Err… is he your friend?” I ask Alex.

“Yes. His name is Kelvin Witt.”

My brows knit at the unfamiliarity of that name. “Why did you visit?” I ask, hoping he'll just say it and probably leave.

“Aren't you going to let us in?” Kelvin asks.

I glance from Alex to Kelvin and back to Alex.

“My room is not quite welcoming,” I whisper in his ear.

“It's okay by me,” Kelvin butts in.

“I wasn't expecting visitors today,” I tell them, speaking majorly to Kelvin.

Oh well, here goes nothing. I let them in.

“I just wanted Kelvin to see you. I told him that we'd be getting married soon and he's so down to earth. He offered to help me in whatever way he can, he even offered to be my bestman. How cool is that? We have started making plans, the venue…”

The chatterbox.

Alex keeps blabbering on and about his wedding with me of which I don't know if I'm still part of. How could he make all these plans without consulting me? With a stranger for that matter.

“Stop right there!” I interrupt. I've heard enough. “How could you make all those plans without consulting me first? And with a stranger for that matter.” I voice out my thought.

Before I know it, we start arguing in front of Kelvin, in front of a stranger, and in the middle of the argument, he gets angry and leaves. He just waks away! The nerve!

Greg once told me that we're too different but I've been too busy to actually notice. Now, I do.

“So I didn't get your name,” Kelvin breaks the ice and gets my attention from staring icily at Alex as he leaves. So nice of him to pretend like he didn't just see what happened.

I glare at him and immediately realize how rude that is.

“I get that you're angry but…”

“Don't worry about me,” I interrupt.

He flashes an endearing smile. “So can I know you better?”

I turn to him curtly. I want to be offended but I've already reached my offence limit.

“What else do you want to know about me? Hasn't Alex told you everything?”

“Not exactly.”

“Look, I don't even know you. I can't just tell you anything about me.”

“Well, I've known you well enough to know that you're a very discreet person.”

That was cocky.

“How did you meet Alex?”

I sigh. Well, he's really eager to have a conversation with me. I might as well give him what he wants.

“We've been friends for a long while.”

“I see. I hope Alex loves you as much as he said he does. It didn't take anything before you got into a fight with him.”

Has he always been so shamelessly straightforward?

“I know he loves me and I love him too,” I had to say in case he's getting any ideas.

“Alright fine. I think I should leave now. You must be busy.”

“Yeah, I think you should.” I don't have the patience anymore to be nice. He's overstayed his welcome.

He leaves and I shut the door behind.

{Ivy's POV}

After Colin must have left the hospital, I give it some time first before going back to Dr Murphy's office but he isn't around.

I wait patiently for him while keeping myself busy looking at the charts all around me. One chart catches my attention, advising me to quit smoking and showed some horrific drawing of the effects of excessive smoke in the lungs - if only it was that easy.

Dr Murphy comes in after a while and sees me. He could only guess why I'm here at his office so soon from the looks of surprise and confusion on his face.

“How is uncle Benjamin?”

A excellent question to distract him from thinking too much about my return. He sighs as he settles on his seat, but I am more concerned with the worry that went out with that sigh. I'm sure it's bad news.

“He was poisoned.”

“Poisoned!”

I don't want to put it out to him that I don't care because I actually don't. Still, I just had to give him 'the terrified act.'

“How did it happen?” I ask.

“He drank something along with his coffee this morning.”

And who served him coffee? Of course my boyfriend, Colin. It's mostly believable that he is responsible for this. Coming all the way here should make him more suspicious.

“Who served him coffee?” Dr Murphy asks.

“Collin did,” I reply quickly. “Why? Is there anything you were able to reckon?”

It seems like Dr Murphy already drew his conclusion. “Was that why he came here?” He whispers to himself.

“What's that?” I ask, expecting him to dish out all the details about his conversation with Colin.

He remains silent and lost in thought.

“What was he poisoned with?” I ask again.

He cocks his head a bit with his eyes cast on me so intently. Now I don't know what's calculating in that mind of his but I want to get out of here as quickly as possible.

“I'm trying to understand why your boyfriend showed up here.”

Exactly! That's why I'm here! I must satisfy my curiosity first before I leave.

“Why did Colin see you?” I ask again.

“He wanted to know his condition,” he replies, “which I find strange of him.”

Everyone knows how much Colin and uncle Ben hate each other.

“Did he say anything else?”

“Not really.”

Right.

“Do you?”

“Huh!”

“Do you find it strange?”

“Err…” I don't want to sound suspicious and if this goes on for long, he'll just drill me with more questions, then go all 'Sherlock Holmes' on me.

He knows about my awkward relationship with Colin. He also knows about the awkward relationship between Colin and uncle Ben. So yeah, it's strange but I do feel odd to admit that.

I stand up. “I'll be leaving then. I'm very sure that uncle Ben is in good hands.”

“Yeah sure. We always do our best to take care of our patients. Uncle Ben will be alright in a day or two.”

I leave the hospital, this time for good.

*

Later in the evening, on my way to work, I get a call from Dr Murphy.

“Hello.”

“Ivy, I have some bad news.”

“What is it?”

“Uncle Ben has just been murdered.”

My heart stops.

{Laurel's POV}

As I walk down the corridor to Alex's apartment, I begin to construct my apology speech. I stop at his door because something seems off. There's an extra shoe on the welcome mat. I wonder who's with Alex now?

The room isn't exactly soundproof so I lean against it to eavesdrop and I could hear Alex and some guy talking.

“Can you just swallow that pride of yours and act like a man should?” The other voice says.

“Do you think it's that easy? I've never apologized to a woman before in my life,” Alex replies.

“I could help you,” the voice says.

I'm in love with Stupid and I think I'm gonna get married to him soon. Is someone else seriously convincing my own fiancé to apologize to me?

I still try to wrap my head around this awkward conversation I'm overhearing until Alex says, “thank you.”

“What are friends for?” The voice replies.

“So what do I offer you for this favour?” Alex asks.

I better knock so I can end this madness. I knock and enter the apartment.

We all fall into a shock of a lifetime at what we see. Alex is shocked to see me, the other guy is shocked for the same reason but I am shocked to see that the other guy is Kelvin.

After a few seconds absorbing the shock, Kelvin asks Alex, “do you still need my help?”

What an asshole this guy is!

“Can you please excuse us. I want to talk to my fiancé,” I say rudely.

“Thanks for the offer Kelvin. I'll see you later.”

With that, Kelvin picks up his things and walks out of the apartment. He flashes a sly wink at me on his way out.

My blood starts to boil.

“I…”

“Seriously!” I interrupt. “You are so unbelievable sometimes, you know.”

“I wanted to apologize to you.”

“With the help of that same stranger.”

“Stop calling him a stranger! We've been friends since college. Besides, it's impossible for you to know all my friends since you travel a lot.”

So now it's my fault! I don't want to argue today but Alex is seriously pushing my buttons.

“You of all people should know that it's not in me to apologize, especially to ladies,” he says.

Damn it! He's right and that's painfully true. Ever since I've known Alex, I have never for once see him apologize to a woman before. That's mostly because he hardly communicates with them. It's quite a story how we got to know each other and developed this bond of ours. Except myself and probably his mother, he is never seen with other women, or at least I haven't.

That keeps me rest assured that I won't have to worry about him cheating on me.

“I know you're very proud and I totally understand. But…”

“I'm sorry,” he says abruptly.

My heart melts like butter in the open air. There's quite a lot of work to do on this guy and it'll be risky if I start after we're married. Unfortunately, my job won't let me have time for him.

“We're good, right?” he says.

I can totally see the uneasiness on his face.

“Yeah. I'm off to work now, I'll see you later today.”

“Okay, have fun.”

I walk closer to him and place a kiss on his small thin lips. He tastes my strawberry flavoured lipstick and tries to kiss back but I have to work. So, show's over.

I leave his apartment with a small smile. Mission accomplished.

{Ivy's POV}

My house welcomes friends and distant family members as we mourn the death of uncle Ben. Thankfully, all those formalities go well as planned. After the wake keeping procession, the police comes in with Dr Murphy to interrogate us regarding the murder of my uncle.

“I'd like to speak with Colin Jonas,” Officer Henry demands. His name boldly engraved on a tag attached to his breast pocket.

He stands up from a seat at the far end of the living room. “I'm Colin Jonas.”

“A word with you please.”

Colin approaches the officer, trembling. He could give himself away like that if you ask me.

“I have some questions for you.”

“Can this interrogation wait until everything is over?” I ask unduly. Hopefully, it can help Colin buy some time to collect his lies.

“I'm afraid not Miss Lance,” he answers then faces Colin. “First, are you the one who prepared the coffee for Mr Moore?”

“Y… yes.”

“What did you prepare his coffee with?”

“I… I just used a sachet of his usual black coffee, added some sugar and stirred, that's all.”

“Is that's all you put into his coffee?”

“Yes!” This time, more confident.

“Was anyone in the room with you while you prepared the coffee?”

“At that time, I was the only one. That doesn't mean I killed him,” he quickly adds the last part.

“But he was poisoned, wasn't he?”

Colin tries to defend himself to that but the words get stuck in his mouth.

Ofiicer Henry continues, “and you knew about it, didn't you?”

“I have no idea about any poison in his coffee or whatever. I just prepared his coffee according to…”

“I believe there must be a misunderstanding,” I interrupt.

Officer Henry turns his eyes at me and seals my mouth.

“I was worried because after he had his coffee, he started having stomach aches and before I knew it, he collapsed. I called Ivy and she rushed him to the hospital.”

“And you went there after he was admitted, true?”

“Yes. To see how he was doing.”

Officer Henry sighs and gestures a command to Dr Murphy.

Dr Murphy opens his bag and brings out some documents. “From the autopsy report, Ben was killed with the same poison used in his coffee.”

What a sad but perfect coincidence. Colin is even more distraught than before.

“Traces of the poison was found in the infusion used on him at the hospital,” Dr. Murphy adds.

“I'm sorry Colin but you're coming with us,” Officer Henry declares.

“Hold on!” I shout.

Everything is happening too fast. My uncle was murdered and now, Colin is being arrested for his murder.

“You can't arrest Colin without solid evidence.”

“We're not arresting him, we just want him to come with us for more questioning,” Officer Henry tells me.

That's what they all say. The next thing, Colin will be locked up behind bars and they call it more questioning. I can't do anything now, so I might just have to let the police do their job.

“Take him,” Officer Henry orders his team of two.

Colin cries and I somewhat feel his pain. He's my excuse of a boyfriend but I'm not that evil to be happy seeing him off with the police. He's still too young to experience that kind of life.

{Laurel's POV}

I decide to met up with Ivy at a coffee shop after hearing about the demise of her uncle just to see how she's coping. After losing uncle Ben, her pretend boyfriend is now being questioned for his murder. But she doesn't seem affected at all as I wait for her and watch her walk up to where I sit.

“Are you okay?” I ask while she takes her seat across.

“Never been better,” she smiles. “You look really great, how are you?”

Now doubts start to spring up in my head. How can she be so calm over the situation her boyfriend is in? If at all she's masking her pain with this jovial face, I would know but it seems she's really truly happy.

“What are you thinking?” She asks.

I snap back to reality. “Nothing.”

Should I ask? Should I not ask? The battle keeps going on in my brain. “What's up with you? You seem cool even after the events that has occurred lately,” I finally ask.

I know Ivy. We've been friends for as long as I can remember. As little girls or 'little devils' like my father would call us we did a lot of mischief. More importantly, we knew each other inside out. Being all grown up now, having to cope with work, relationships and staying sane in all the hustle and bustle of Dublin, we haven't been in touch like we supposed to.

“I'm just trying to be okay, you see,” she replies.

I know her better than that. There's more to what meets the eye. She's definitely keeping something from me. Need I mention, we're the best of the best in keeping secrets. We both have our jars of secrets filled up about each other.

“What really happened to uncle Benjamin?” I ask again.

I know from the start that she never liked him so her indifference isn't strange. What's actually strange is that smile on her face singing, ‘I'm happy about the death of my uncle.’

“Let's talk about something else. I heard you got engaged. How come you didn't tell me about it?”

Oops! Guilty as charged. But I'm not falling for that. She can't change the topic just with a drop of a hat. I think I have to be more straightforward.

“Did you have something to do with the death of uncle Benjamin?” I ask again in a more serious tone this time.

Unfortunately, she is sipping her tea as I ask that question. The liquid loses its way and flows into her nostrils. She coughs hard and I try to hide my laugh.

“Are you okay?”

“Why?” She looks up at me to probably see my reaction. “What's funny?”

“Did you do anything to him?” I ask relentlessly.

“God no! How can you even say that?!” She shrieks.

Oh My God!

She actually had something to do with his murder. I can see it in her eyes. The twitching, the nervousness, and definitely that choking cough. She's so not good at lying, especially to me.

I let the topic slide and decide to talk casual stuff. But I'mma find out what it is she's hiding.

# # # # #

Hey readers, I hope you're enjoying the story. I'll drop a question for you to comment, k

Let's go!

Q&A

Who do you think is responsible for the murder of Benjamin Moore?