Author's note : I do thank you whom has commented on my work so far. Feel free to email me with comments if you are uncomfortable with posting them. I answer all emails but will be extremely rude to those who are rude to me. So please be kind in your words, even if you do not like my work. Thanx, tanyalynn

  

Murder in Pink

by TanyaLynn

  

I was now mad as hell and more than ready to kill the person behind all of this mess. If I knew who it was at this point, they would have been dead. Too many dead bodies and I had been sexually assaulted- enough was enough. Steve and I drove out to the victim's mansion to meet with all of the suspects on an individual basis. First up was Diane. Again she reminded us that she had been on a call with Hector at his office at the time of when the murder had to happen for hours. She hated the idea that she gave him an alibi, but that was the fact of it. Hectors story remained essentially the same and backed her up, but called her a bitch and said he wished it weren't that way.

We then talked to Howard Caldwell. As the family lawyer, he made a hell of a suspect, but we had not been able to find any irregularities in the legal dealings he had been involved in. he took great delight in pointing this out to us. I pointed out that he might have done it to truly gain control of the family fortune through his daughter, but even I didn't truly believe it.

his wife, Diane's mother was another story. She was every bit the old woman's daughter and a true bitch. I realized that it was her that we should be worried about controlling things through her daughter. She had no real motive and the more I got to know her the more I thought she could be the one behind the mess. I had to find a connection between her and the renegade faction of the Mexican Mafia.

Even with this, we still decided to Bob Strock. He had to be considered a suspect because he had been stealing from the chili business. Although this seemed like a rather flimsy reason, his hatred for the old lady was well known. But, there was no connection we could find between him and the main fortune that might interest the mob.

When he left the room we were using, I looked at Steve and said "damn, I can't find anything to really isolate one suspect. We need to keep an eye on Diane's mother for sure, though". Before we left we took another look around the house. I love to cook, so the huge kitchen interested me. It had a walk-in refrigerator and freezer. The thought crossed my mind that the old lady could have been frozen in there, but she was found in the panic room solidly locked in. Oh well, there was probably a solution to it somewhere. We went back to my office and agreed to split up surveillance on the mom's house and on Strock. I went and changed into a T-shirt and shorts and set up outside of the mom's house. I had a van I borrowed from a friend than wouldn't attract too much attention and set up just up the street. I pulled out "Exit Wounds" by JA Jance and read with one eye on the gate to the house. At about eight, I saw a car pull up to the gate and press the button for entry. Someone let him in. as he drove under the light that lit the gate area, I knew who the mob renegade was. I recognized Julio, youngest son of the mob boss I had seen yesterday. I could see him go up to the house but couldn't see who let him in. I called Steve and told him what was happening. He sped over and we got ready to bust into the house when Julio came out. I had Steve follow him while I stayed to see what happened. I thought we had at least narrowed down the possible suspects, because Hector wasn't there, but I didn't want to rule him out yet. Steve called and said that he had followed Julio to his house. He came back and we went to the house and confronted all three of the Caldwells and they said they had all been in separate rooms of the house. We got nothing more from them, so we both went home.

I was highly disturbed by all of the things rattling around in my head. There was something bothering me that I had seen that would make everything else hang together if I could remember it. I decided to watch some more of season two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD. I was at the pivotal part of the year when Angel would soon turn evil. I watched as Angel and Buffy were trapped together running from a terrible demon and finally consummated their love. But, this gave Angel his forbidden moment of happiness and he became a demon again. My favorite character, Willow discovered Xander and Cordelia, who were supposed to hate each other kissing and making out. Angel was stopped from destroying the world but escaped. I cried as Buffy's heart was broken by his turning evil. I then read "Exit Wounds" for a while and went to bed. I woke up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. Something that I had just watched had tweaked something in my mind, but it wouldn't quite come. I didn't know how much longer I could stand it.

I finally slept and woke up in the morning still aggravated. It was almost there in my mind. I knew it. what had I seen? What was the key? I laid out my clothes and got dressed. I walked to my office building and ran into some gang members on the way. They tried to hassle me but one look at the gun in my purse and they decided they had other places to be. Damn gangbangers- where did they get off dressing like they did- holy shit- that's it!! I knew it at last. In one flash I knew what I had seen. It took two minutes to figure out the who- but the how? I couldn't go to Steve without the whole thing.

Then, my cell phone rang. It was Steve- one of the construction workers at the site had been killed overnight. But, it happened when we thought we knew the Caldwells were at home. I told him never mind- I almost had it figured out at last. I said I would go to the office and check my messages and get my car and come out. I was glad I did, because there was a message from the dead worker, whom I had given my card to. He called to say he was wondering why there had been a delivery of a steel plate wall for the panic room when it was complete. This was another point that was bothering me, but I couldn't quite put it together.

I called Steve to say I was on the way. He had left the house and was on the way in, so I said I would meet him at his office. I started to go down to the garage and get some papers out of my car. But, as I went to my car, Julio stepped out from behind a van with a silenced gun in hand. He said he guessed I had heard the message and now had to die. I said that if I was going to die anyway, he needed to at least confirm who was behind this mess. He said no, I could die ignorant and raised the gun to fire. Right then, a car came around the corner in the garage. It distracted Julio and I jumped him. We fought for the gun and a bullet grazed my shoulder before I twisted the gun at him and fired it into his head. I called Steve and told him to meet me at the hospital and then had Carol my secretary drive me to the hospital.

After I was patched up, I called Diego Sanchez and told him about his son. He said he would pay me a fortune to find who had turned his son against him. I said to just meet us at the mansion and I could say who and we would see what would happen. I hadn't talked to my girlfriend in a week and decided it was time to call. The question was, how would I tell her about the feelings I was having for Steve while I was a girl? I called and let her know that I was alright. She was glad to hear from me, but had trouble hearing me- she was stuck in traffic because of construction. I could hear the noises in the background of construction going on. Damn that was it!! I now had it all. It was so simple when all of the pieces were there in front of me. I called Steve and said to get all of the suspects together at the panic room and that I would meet him there. I would be right there and would reveal it all.

End of part 5

 

Well, dear readers, I promised I would warn you when the end was near and this is it. all of the clues have been revealed. I will give you a freebee- I borrowed from the first Agatha Christie mystery for the solution as to who the killer is, but will not tell you which one that is. The how is from an obscure mystery by Warren Murphy whose title I have forgotten. If you think you have it figured out and want to guess, feel free to email me and I will confirm or deny your idea. I will send in the final part in about a week.

  

  

  

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