Was it a murder?

(Not) giving up

"Good afternoon, sir," Clint greets him.

"Good afternoon to you too, Clint," Alby smiles nicely. But he frowns, as he sees the dead body of a young man. "... well it wasn't good for everyone."

"I agree. As far as I could tell for now, the boy doesn't have any wounds anywhere. No blood, no punch. It's possible that he died in his sleep. Naturally. Probably a cardiac arrest," he explains.

The detective walked over to the corpse and took a closer look.

He looked pretty young. Younger than Alby himself. He was white, unlike Alby, but his skin was even more pale than it should have been. Alby already knew the boy's skin was cold, without any touching. One of the main signs, that he's dead.

Is it really possible, that he died of natural causes? Yes. Yes, it is. But the boy was young. Very young. Would his heart just randomly stopped? Maybe it was really a murder. Maybe ... suicide?  Was he thinking by himself.

"Sir," Teresa called. Alby turned around.

"Yes, Teresa. Tell me what you've got."

"Well, our victim is Thomas Clarkson. He was 29 years old. He lived in LA, but as a child he moved in the Glade City with his parents. There they bought a big house. He studied at the very expensive Glade College. His family was always very rich. He never had children, not even siblings and both of his parents died a few years ago because of incurable disease. He's also married to Ava Paige."

"Hmm..." Alby rubs his chin thoughtfully. "Have you ever interrogated his family and friends?"

"Well the police officers, Aris, Rachel and Harriet did it. No one saw anything suspicious." Teresa reports.

"Nothing? "

If it was a murder, it should be something, right?

Teresa hesitates, when she says, "Mrs. Paige said, that he worked a longer shift than usual, so he came home pretty tired. That happened about 4 hours ago. He came into their bedroom to rest before dinner, Ava then came here 2 hours later and found him dead."

Alby glares at the – so-called – Thomas again. His skin was so intact it was ridiculous. On his face – and arms, legs – there weren't any  wounds.

"Clint?"

The man comes to the detective in a second. "Did you call me?"

"Yes. Take the body to the morgue and examine it in more detail for possible internal bleeding or any heart disease."

Clint nods. "I will, sir."

Alby sighs. His gaze falls on Thomas again. Well... Thomas's body.

Detective had no idea why, but his sixth sense told him, that Thomas' death might not be as innocent as it seems to be.

***

"Alright, who are our suspects?" Alby asked, leaning on his desk.

By that time they were already at the police station. Clint was still busy with the body, so the officers take some time to check the main suspects – people in the house.

Teresa pulled up the board on wheels.

"Well, Thomas was a pretty known guy around here. A lot of people know who he is. As a child he was very popular in school."

Teresa then looks at Alby, who nods, which quietly tells her to continue.

"So, as we already know, Thomas was married. He married Ava Paige 4 years ago." Teresa puts a picture of a blonde girl on the board.