by Paul Edwards
"Hope your all feeling better after the other day" Hannah said to them.
"Not bad thank you" Helen replied.
Then came in Andria and John, Alison, the other six brothers, Mr and Mrs Parkinson and many others. The Inspector went over to Mrs Parkinson and had a quiet word with her, before he got ready to speak. Then, they all sat down, and he started slowly walking around the room as he was speaking.
"Alison, I'd like to ask, did you by any chance put poison in those biscuits?"
"What? Don't be ridiculous, why would I? And which biscuits are we talking about? If you mean last time, then I was in here remember? That's impossible."
"Ok, let's start with the first party, am I right that you loved Jack?"
"Yes, so why on earth would I poison him? How does that make any sense whatsoever? I would not benefit one bit!"
The Inspector walked around the room, smiling, as if something were about to roll of his tongue.
"Ok, let's get down to basics. I want you all to be aware, that whoever killed Jack clearly did not intend to kill him. Oh no, oh no, you know what they really intended to do? I am convinced that their intention was to kill Hannah Adersall."
Everyone in the room looked shocked and started mumbling among themselves, as they all thought that Jack was the intended suspect, including the police. Hannah herself started to shake, as she felt targeted, why would someone want to kill her? Would they succeed if not caught? The Inspector would try his best to see to it that this never happened so that Hannah would be safe.
"Ok, Alison, so I think the killer wanted Hannah dead, and unpredictably, Hannah gave that biscuit to Jack, who then shared it with the children. None of this was meant to happen."
"OK," Alison replied, "in that case, surely Hannah would be the one who wanted his death! Seen as it was her who gave him the biscuit."
"Ha-ha, don't you think that would have been a bit too obvious? She had plenty of chance to kill him, without rubbing her name and face all over the situation by offering him the poisoned biscuit in front of everyone. Right, well I am also convinced that the killer on that day was also the killer of Rita and the killer of Jack's sister, Gwendoline. You knew that Hannah would have had the largest biscuit if all went well, and Rita being a new comer and not knowing the tradition, ate it, so you're plan failed again and an innocent lovely African lady died thanks to you, that's what I think."
Alison looked furious, she looked like she was going to rip the Inspectors head of.
"OK, if that's the case, then how on earth did I go into the kitchen whilst I was singing? How can I be in two places at once?"
Richard smiled, as he had a theory up his sleeves which he had devised only recently, and in good timing.
"Well Alison, you didn't add that poison to those biscuits yourself, no, but you got someone else to do it, didn't you? At least on the occasion on which Rita died, anyway. Ok, Samuel, where was you again?"
Samuel looked shocked, then he shouted out.
"I was at the bathroom! As I said? What are you talking about?"
"Well, you wanted rid of Hannah as much as Alison, she was in the way of your inheritance, which you assumed you would get as step children through marriage, assuming the courts had agreed to it. You couldn't stand Hannah any more than Alison, could you?"
"What the hell! Hannah, have I ever shown any contempt for you?"
Hannah thought about it for a moment, struggling for words, this was her 'stepson' and he might have tried to kill her, but he never shown any sign of it.
"No, OK, Samuel never shown any contempt for me, but Alison did, and they were together, or so it seems now, so I don't know what to say."
Samuel looked horrified that Hannah might actually think it was conceivable this concept, and the Inspector started speaking again and broke the silence in the room.
"Ok Alison, you know what I noticed in your house the other day? A thick black pen. Do you use that often?"
"What has that got to do with anything?"
"Alison, you used that pen to write the note on the flowers, didn't you? You wanted to let people think that Hannah was a murderer by nature and to keep her in prison, so you wrote that card and sent it with the flowers. Don't bother denying it, I can easily find out where they were from and start asking questions if needed, after all, the flower box had the company name on. If it wasn’t you, then why did you ask John out of the blue whether or not Hannah knew Gwendoline was back? Why was you suddenly so concerned about whether or not she knew? I know why, it was because, if Hannah knew then she could technically have had a motive for killing her and if Hannah didn’t know then she would have no reason for doing so. So, you made sure you knew for certain that Hannah knew about her being back before you caused Gwendoline’s death, making it look like Hannah attempting to defend her assets. Also, I've spoken to people about you, you don't normally sing at parties, do you? No, this was a distraction, and Samuel went out and into the kitchen to poison those biscuits, and nobody would suspect you because you were in here, and you knew that. Also, isn't it strange that Samuel looked more like Jack than any of his brothers, and maybe that's why you chose him."
Alison was furious this time. She looked at him and gave him a big stair.
"Do you actually have any proof? This is absurd. Watch your step Inspector!"
"Is that a threat Alison?" the inspector smiled as everyone was shocked. But the Inspector could look after himself quite frankly, he was not worried one bit. Then he continued, "don't worry, I won't be drinking anything you've laid your hands on, I didn't drink Samuel's tea the other day either."
"Arrrrrrrrr!!!!!"
Alison ran towards the Inspector as if she were going to attack him, but Kwiatoslaw held her back. He himself wanted to strangle her, as she was now apparently responsible for the death of his children, but he refrained, because he was better than that. Then, Alison tried to shift the blame away from herself.
"Well, those biscuits could’ve been poisoned anytime, why would they have to be in the kitchen when they were poisoned?"
A few minutes later, the Inspector held up a needle.
"Anyone recognise this?"
"Give it back, that's mine!" Alison said, as she tried to grab it. He pulled it away.
"No, no, no, this is going to the police station."
"You stole that from my house!"
"We will see if the courts see it that way, shall we? What's the matter Alison, after all, it's only a needle, right? Or is this the needle you used on the biscuits? Is this another reason why they had to be warm and soft while you injected them, before they went to hard?"
"I HATE YOU!!!" Alison screamed, "You meddling piece of dirt!!! This has nothing to do with you!"
Everyone looked at Alison, shocked, then, suddenly sirens started sounding and the police walked in.
"Any thing you'd like to say, Alison?" the inspector asked.
"Yes, Hannah deserves to die! The gold digging witch! Just wait until I get out!!!"
They put handcuffs on her as well as on Samuel, who whispered something on the way out to Hannah.
"I'm sorry Hannah, please understand."
Alison was taken away and screaming on the way out, whilst Samuel walked away with his head down in shame.
"I think it's time to celebrate, shall we all go out?" Hannah said.
"I think so to, but I'd wait around, because I have a surprise delivery coming for you Hannah, any minute now" the Inspector replied.
A car turned up, one that she recognised very well, it was Jake, she ran up to him and gave him a hug, then she shouted to the Inspector.
"Is this my delivery?"
"Yes, it is."
"You cheeky thing" Jake shouted to his friend Richard, then he apologised to Hannah.
"I'm sorry about what I said the other day, not that it would be inappropriate now anyway. We know who it was now, and the Inspector’s work has ended. Let's stuff professionalism, I love you Hannah Adersall."
"I love you too Jake Percival!"
Epilogue
The culprit had now finally been caught and sentenced to fifty years in prison, for the many attempts at murdering Hannah, for the many acts of manslaughter against Jack, Rita and the two children, for the deliberate murder of Aunt Gwendoline to frame Hannah, meaning she would most likely never get out, justice was served and Hannah was safe at last. Her accomplice in the manslaughter of Rita was sentenced to ten years in prison for assisting her in an attempted murder. She forgave Samuel and went to see him in prison occasionally, but she wouldn't go near Alison as she feared her very much.
Hannah later married Jake and planned to have many children. Helen and Kwiatoslaw conceived another son, which meant Sally would have a sibling once again. Andria and John set a date for their wedding to tie the knot, meaning he was finally happy and had found a suitable companion, and the Inspector finally employed Abdul and paid of his debt of 30K and yet still paid him at least minimum wage, causing his wife and children to reunite with him and forget all about his debt problems.
Erat vitae. Tandem pax.
Per omnia saecula saeculorum!
