A Most Mysterious Murder

It was still too early to start worrying, she knew, and was reassured by the nice policeman who answered her call and said there was no cause for alarm. Most people reported missing were found safe and well in the space of 48 hours.

Nigel had done it a few times, the late homecoming, and always for different reasons. All reasonable and plausible explanations that she accepted at face value.

Having to work overtime to meet a deadline; a colleague's leaving do, involving a prolonged stay in the local pub, where he would play darts with friends, once a week until closing time.

He was usually back by midnight but if occasionally, he returned after that, he would sleep in the spare room where she'd find him the next morning when she brought him a cup of tea.

Now, for two days in succession, he had been absent from his matrimonial bed and the bed in the spare room had not been slept in.

His wife's anxiety became panic and this time she went to the police station personally. 

She spoke to a detective who listened to her concern and asked a lot of pertinent questions, some even too personal, that would facilitate the task of finding her husband.

Was their sex life alright? Might he have a mistress? Gwyneth was vehement that she absolutely trusted him and dismissed as preposterous the suggestion that he might be unfaithful. 

Their lovemaking was passionate and fulfilling, she said without blushing and it sounded like an intentional boast.

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The knock at the door one morning brought the worst possible news. A body of a man, believed to have been murdered, responding to the age and details of her missing husband that she had given the police, had been found.

They needed to identify him and normally they would show a photo of the victim to a relative for confirmation but this time his face was almost unrecognisable having been repeatedly punched and nearly reduced to a pulp so they asked Gwyvneth to view the body to corroborate that he was her husband.

She was horrified and confessed to being squeamish. She said that her sister Carmen was willing to carry out the identification. if allowed. 

“Yes, it's him”, said the distraught woman, sobbing while pointing to the tattoo of a butterfly on the man's right arm.

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In the course of their investigation to find a motive and identity of the killer, the police interviewed friends and colleagues of the dead man and soon it was revealed that a considerable amount had been embezzled from the firm's accounts, supposedly by its accountant, Nigel.

The surprising revelations didn't stop there. Gwyneth and Carmen were re-interviewed and the latter confessed that she and Nigel were lovers and he had been intending to leave his wife.

The motive for the murder now seems clear: Gwyneth, having discovered that she has been betrayed, plans revenge; she pays an assassin to kill her husband with some of the embezzled money that Nigel has secreted in his safe. The balance will enable her to live in luxury.

An easy theory that's difficult to prove as incriminating evidence cannot be found.

The police decide to keep her under observation hoping to gather enough proof to indict her. 

The idea that she had an accomplice is also being considered and the assumption that the two sisters connived in order to share the loot is discussed, even though it may seem outlandish.

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While the police were floundering, Nigel's employers had engaged the firm of private detectives EagleEye to trace the missing money and the two young people, who ran the agency, soon got results.

Will followed Gwyneth's every step and Jessica did likewise with Carmen.

They would have liked to wiretap the suspects' phones and intercept their conversations but could not do it because they didn't have the proper authority.

The idea that communication was conducted via social media struck the young sleuths and they searched possible avenues.

Carmen's Facebook page led them to an unexpected answer to the riddle.

In a comment she made on a reference to the death of Monty Don's golden retriever Nigel. She wrote: 

“My Nigel is alive and well and living in Warferdale.”

This seemingly innocent remark was picked up by Jessica who understood its significance and reported to the police her gut feeling that Nigel's death was bogus.

Carmen was arrested soon after and confessed that the fortuitous find of a corpse had given her the opportunity to fake her lover's death but had no knowledge of who the dead man was or who had killed him.

The only crime committed was siphoning off the firm's funds by Nigel who had transferred the money to the Cayman Islands and was now ensconced in a Yorkshire croft waiting for her to fly to South America but the net was closing fast.

It was still too early to say how long they will spend behind bar; the procedure will take a long time before the judge pronounces the sentences.

© Luigi Pagano 2022