HE DID IT

6: MR. SMITH

The next morning, I awoke to the buzzing of my front door; I checked the time on the clock on my side bed table and it was already 7:30 a.m.; I got out of bed and dressed before going to the front door; when I opened the door, I assumed it was Devorah because I was expecting her to come over today.

"Good morning, I'm the officer in charge of the investigation into your neighbor Mr. Smith's death," the officer said before I could speak.

"What do you need?" I ask him but before he can respond, a car pulls up in front of my house, and it's Devorah. She parks her car in front of my house, and she emerges and walks over to me.

"What the hell is going on here?" When she observed the police officer talking to me, she inquired with a puzzled expression on her face.

I heard Devorah gasp as the officer stated, "Well, this morning we found a dead person floating on the lake, we found out his identify, and it was Mr. Smith."

"Mr. Smith?" She asks, her tone surprised by what she has just heard.

"Do you know who he is?" The officer asked as he shifted his gaze between us.

She cried in surprise, "He's my brother-in-law; he's my sister's spouse!"

"Actually, my team is just getting started on the investigation, and we're asking all of his neighbors for statements, and we're also looking for possible evidence on his property, so I went over to this guy's door to ask him a few questions," he says, returning my gaze.

"How did you spend yesterday night? " The officer asks.

"Can you tell me why you're asking him that? " Devorah responds with a question to the officer.

"Because, based on my team's findings, we assume the body was dumped in the lake sometime between late night and dawn," the officer replied.

"He was with me last night," she explained. "And where were you two last night?" she wondered. He pursued the matter further.

"We went to the movie theater," I continued, seeing Devorah look up at me with a puzzled expression on her face in my peripheral vision, but I didn't return her gaze.

"Until what time?" the officer asked once more.

"I don't know, perhaps around nine o'clock in the evening; we don't notice the time till we get home," I replied.

"And where did you go after the movie theater?" He asks again.

"We're going our own ways to go home since we're planning on her coming over to my house today, which is why she's here. Is there anything else you want to asks about?" I asks the cop, giving him a drab expression to end the conversation.

"All right, that's it; thank you for your cooperation," he said as he walked away.

I was ready to turn around when I observed Devorah staring in the area where the cops were walking away, astonished.

"Are you not going to come in?" I asked to bring her back to her senses but before she could speak I turned around and left her hanging the door open. I'm about to step into the kitchen when I heard her footsteps from behind and asked me.

"Can you tell me what you did?" She's questioning me, like if she's accusing me or something.

"What exactly do you mean? " I didn't turn back to face her; instead, I walked into the kitchen to get some water.

"We discussed this the last time we met! " She followed me into the kitchen nonetheless.

"What are you talking about?" " I taunted her as I  pretended to be innocent.

"Stop it, I know you know what I'm talking about," she said desperately.

"What are you talking about? Mr. Smith was murdered and his body was dumped in the lake? Isn't it a strange coincidence? We were just there last night," I remarked, attempting to seem amused as I drank my glass of water and exited the kitchen.

She demanded, "Tell me the truth."

"Why would I do that? Are you a cop? If I tell those cops that we were there last night, they'll charge us—" she cut me off to continue talking.

"Not unless you take action!" She yelled and began pacing back and forth in front of me, her face flushed with rage.

"Are you accusing me of something?" In disbelief, I squinted my eyes at her.

"Yes! Because you've been acting strange recently, and the last time you told me you accuse him of murdering Esther and that her husband merely pretended she was missing and you're going to make him pay" she's enraged. I just expressed my impatience.

"I wasn't thinking when I said that, and it was meant to be a joke, so why are you taking it seriously now?" I grumbled, angrily.

"You must be joking, but what if you were serious? " She asked again.

"Not until they could find out," I said quietly enough for her not to hear me, then walked away from the talk to my room.