I froze for a second when he said that. Alessa? Killer? Then I looked at her face, white with fear. She seemed to be on the verge of crying. Seeing a man dead next to you is one thing, being accused of killing that man is another.
I strode to the athlete looking guy and shoved him away.
"Hey watch it!" he exclaimed.
"No you watch it," I shot. "How dare you accuse her of this … this man's death?" I had grabbed his collar in the process. But before I knew it, I was pinned against the wall and this time it was he who was grabbing my collar.
"You should think before you speak, whoever you are. This girl – I don't know who she is to you and I don't care – killed this man. The evidence is right here." He pointed to the glass which the dead man held in his hand on the table. Inside the glass, I could easily discern the remains of a partially dissolved pill. "It's faint but the bitter almond smell is there. I bet that pill there is potassium cyanide. He drank that and died."
I knew what this guy was talking about. Moist potassium cyanide is said to give off a bitter almond smell. When the potassium cyanide reacts with moisture (water), the product is hydrogen cyanide – the main factor that kills you when it enters your body and also the agent that carries the smell.
"Your girl must have slipped that pill into his drink when the lights went out. He drank it and died in seconds," the guy finished.
The moment he brought up Alessa again, I flared up. "That's not for you to decide!" I was almost screaming. I could hear Alessa sobbing besides me. The family, those three couples and the other woman were staring at us two.
"Guys! Guys!" It was the person who was sitting with the family right next to the door. No doubt he was the father. "We have a dead person here. It's best if we calm down. I called the police, they must be arriving any minute now."
…
It took the police about seven minutes to arrive. I couldn't understand what had taken them so long; their station was only a few blocks away. The head was an inspector named Cuthbert. The name struck me as familiar. I'd heard that name before. But where?
"Yup," Cuthbert was saying, "This man seems to have died of cyanide poisoning like Mr. James Ronald said."
James Ronald? I looked at the athlete looking guy once again. Of course! He was the James Ronald. He had won the gold medal for archery three Olympics in a row ten years back. He had retired after that. From the looks of his well toned body, it seems he had kept himself fit all these years. No wonder he still looked like an athlete.
"So, Mr. Ronald. Can you tell us what happened?" Cuthbert asked.
"I was sitting over there in my table–" he pointed to his table "–eating my dinner. I saw Mr. Jones here–" so the dead man's name was Jones "–lift up his glass and take a sip right before the lights went out. It must have been dark for about a minute. Then the lights came on. I noticed Mr. Jones take a sip from his glass again. Immediately, he began to convulse and foam at his mouth. Within seconds, he went limp. That lady–" he glanced accusingly at Alessa; I had to restrain the urge to poke his eyes with the fork that was beside me on the table "–screamed immediately followed by that other woman."
Cuthbert turned to the 'other woman'. She was the one who was sitting alone diagonally across Mr. Jones a table.
"Your name miss?"
"It … it's Selena. My name's Selena," she said. Some color had returned to her face although the shock had not yet passed.
"Give us your account Miss Selena."
"Well, it happened exactly as Mr. Ronald here said although I did not see him drink from his glass because I had my back to Mr. Jones. As soon as the lights came out, I heard Mr. Jones grunt and gasp. I turned around and … and he had white stuff coming out of his mouth. And his face … and his face had this horrible expression. Like he'd seen a ghost. And it was all … ruddy. Seconds later, he collapsed. Then Mr. Ronald rushed over to him. Just then, Mr. Antei here arrived at the door. And then–"
"That'll be enough Miss Selena."
The three couples and the family (the father who had stopped the fight between me and Ronald was Allen Stone) had not much to contribute. Their accounts were pretty much the same as that of Mr. Ronald and Miss Selena.
Cuthbert then turned to me. "Mr. Antei is it? I don't think you'll have anything to contribute since you were not here in the room." He then turned to Alessa. "I'm afraid the circumstances are against you at the moment ma'am. You were the person closest to Mr. Jones when–"
"What about Miss Selena?" I protested.
"Nobody heard anyone move when the lights went out. It would have been pretty audible, having to drag your chair back to get up. And then you'd have to reach Mr. Jones in the dark. On top of that Mr. Jones would have himself heard someone approaching him on foot. I'm sorry Mr. Antei but Alessa is the only person who could've done it. She could easily reach Mr. Jones glass by stretching herself across the gap between the tables and drop the pill in his drink from where she was sitting."
"This is nuts!" I exclaimed. Suddenly I remembered Adrian. He was a close friend of mine and a detective. Why hadn't I thought of that before? He could help. He would help.
"Can you wait a moment sir? I have a friend who's a detective. I know Alessa didn't kill Mr. Jones. I'm sure my friend can prove it."
"A detective friend huh?" Cuthbert scoffed. "And what's your detective friends name?"
"It's Adrian. He–"
"Adrian?" Cuthbert raised an eyebrow. "Adrian McSkay?"
My eyes must have widened. "You know him?" Now I realized why the inspector's name had struck me as familiar. Adrian (and Peter at times) had spoken of him to me whenever we met at the Black Swan. Occasionally, Adrian would recount the cases he had solved for this inspector.
"Know him? He's the best detective I know. He has solved a lot of my cases. Brilliant guy. And his other friend Peter. You know him too?"
I felt some relief. Cuthbert knew Adrian. And Peter too. "Yeah, both of them are my good friends. Look sir, Alessa couldn't have committed the murder! I was the one who chose this particular restaurant and that particular table for tonight! It was pure chance we happened to sit right beside this Mr. Jones! Can I at least call Adrian and see what he has to say about this?"
"Okay okay. Personally, I'm convinced Alessa is the murderer as Mr. Ronald and the other people present here say. But since you're a friend of Adrian's, I think I can give you some benefit of doubt."
That was what I'd hoped for. "Thank you sir," I said and proceeded to dial Adrian. For now, he was my only hope.
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