“So, whose guitar string exactly is that?” I asked Adrian as we walked down the empty footpath.
“I borrowed it from Antei for the time being,” he answered.
“He's not even here. You swiped it. And that red thing, that ketchup?”
“Nah, it's a dye. Ketchup won't work in this thin piece of string you idiot. Neither will red ink.”
“Nice idea making up that fake evidence,” I commented.
“Well, I had to break into Harper's house first and ransack it from top to bottom to see if she had the real piece of string. When I didn't find it, I assumed it had dropped in the garbage dump. Searching for something thin like this in a big dump like that wasn't exactly a bright idea so I made it up.”
“What about those hoops?”
“Oh those were real. And I bet her fingerprints are all over them including mine.”
“Won't they ask you for this string too?”
“I'll say I lost it. Besides, all these are not really necessary now that she has confessed. Boy, I must say, this was one heck of a case. We wouldn't have solved it if you hadn't figured the string part out.”
“It was a fluke,” I said, waving the matter away. “By the way, jumping from that window with nothing but the hoop as support was crazy. Of course, the momentary jerk when the body hit the wall would have provided further deceleration along with the hoop but still the risk of getting killed was too high. Why would he … she do it?”
“I asked her that as the police were escorting her away. She said she was ready to die if the bungee failed as long as Drake was dead.”
“Some crazed woman she is.”
“By the way, what would you have done if she had demanded further evidences in the end?”
“I was well prepared Peter. I told you I ransacked her house. I found a bungee rope that smelled garbage. And a dirty pair of sports clothes that smelled garbage too. She hadn't washed them (I don't know why though. Women are usually so fussy about tidiness).”
I smiled wryly. Human mind fascinated me (though it fascinated Adrian a lot more; that was why he had majored in psychology and it helped him solve crimes). The woman, Jenna, had killed her ex-boyfriend merely because he had cheated on her and showed no regret when she had found out. A stupid reason (revenge is always stupid). Many men and women cheat on their partners but that is no reason to take away their lives and in the process, destroy the lives of others. Drake's parents were aghast when they had found out their son had been killed. His mother had slipped into a coma and had been admitted to a hospital. I was sure Jenna had never thought about them.
We walked in silence for the next few moments until we arrived at a crossing. Adrian was to take a left while I was to proceed straight.
“Well, see you Friday at Black Swan,” Adrian said. Black Swan was the name of the pub me and my five friends, Antei, Adrian, Charlie, Paul and Michael visited every Friday to relax.
“Sure see you then,” I said and walked on. We would have a lot to talk about Friday. And I also had that date on Saturday. The weekdays had been busy with the murder and my conference and all. Now, I realized, the weekdays would be busy too.
But hey! At least it would have nothing to do with a dead person.
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