Ghostly (Ian Hecox)

Chapter 7 - Suspect Profiles

A man sat in a wheelchair in front of me. At first he gave me a confused look but I could tell, somehow, he just knew why I was here.

"Please come in my dear." He said and gestured for me to enter. I smiled at him and walked inside. "Please have a seat at the table."

The house was fairly old school and had the appearance that it hadn't been updated in several years. I guess Mr. Padilla was still living in the past.

I took a seat at the table and set my stack of papers in front of me. A few moments later Anthony joined me at the table.

"My dear, I have a good guess as to why you're here but please, do explain." He smiled and waved his hand towards me, urging me to speak.

"I understand that you were the only person who gave an honest effort to solve Ian Hecox's murder." I stated and Anthony lowered his head and nodded. "And I was wondering if I could possibly ask you a few questions about your work and the case?"

"May you tell me about you first my love?" He said kindly and I nodded.

"My name is Eleanor Mackenzie and my Aunty Carol recently purchased the Hecox Manor. I came here for the summer to help renovate the old house. I noticed that there were in fact three floors yet we only had access to two. After a little searching, I achieved access to the third floor where I found all of your work. I've become increasingly interested in the case and I came here to hear your side of the story and why you were never able to solve it Mr. Padilla."

He sighed before speaking. Recalling the events from all those years ago.

"I was 19 years old. It was fall and I was in my second year of university when I received a call in the early morning that Ian had been found lying dead in the kitchen. It had appeared that someone had stabbed him multiple times in his back, going clean through his spinal cord. If he had survived, he would've been paralyzed from the waist down. I immediately quit university in order to be with his family which had grown to be my family too. The police could never figure out who had killed him. There was no solid proof tying anyone to the Manor in the early hours of September 29th. I spent years trying to figure it out but still to this day, I can't surely say who did it."

"Who would you consider the biggest suspect in the case?" I asked and Anthony just half-chuckled.

"As morbid as it seems, Stephan Hecox, Ian's father. I grew up with Ian and I knew all about their relationship. Stephan was very hard on Ian growing up. He wanted him to be perfect since he would eventually inherit the family business. When Ian started to rebel against his father in his late teenage years, Stephan probably would've done anything to stop Ian from inheriting the business. Maybe even murder." I jotted down notes as he spoke so I could go back to Ian and recall what I learnt today.

"And in your theories you said Mr. Hecox had an alibi for that night?" I asked and he nodded.

"Mr and Mrs Hecox were on a business trip in Los Angeles. Ruling out them both as suspects." He said and took a sip of water from a glass on the table.

"Who did you all have as possible suspects?" I asked looking at the papers in front of me.

"Mr and Mrs. Hecox but were later ruled out. I had their housekeeper Ms. Hander but she always chose a day of the week to take off and it just so happened to be Wednesday the 29th that week and her landlord had seen her going into her apartment that night. I had a few of Ian's close friends listed but once again, all of them had alibis." He sighed and sat back further in his chair.

"Was there anything strange about the case or Ian's murder? Anything at all?" I asked, flipping to a new page of paper to write down points on.

"Well, there was no sign of a break in. The police's best guess was that Ian let in his murderer that night and then was quite literally, stabbed in the back." I chuckled slightly and wrote down some points.

"Did they ever find the murder weapon?"

"No, they didn't. The police assumed that the murderer either took it with them or hid it somewhere." He explained and I nodded.

"Did you keep any paperwork or write any more theories about the murder that you didn't leave in the Manor?" I asked and he shook his head.

"After ten years of working non-stop on the case, I decided that it was finally time to go back to university and start my life again." He told me.

"Do you know when all of the suspects of the case passed away or where they are still living?" I asked as I flipped to a new page.

"Yes I do, Stephan passed away in 1967 to a heart attack, Cheryl passed away in 1974 to old age, Ms. Hander passed away in 1981 to old age.." Mr. Padilla continued the list until I had a death date of every suspect.

I looked down at my list of the deceased and cross-checked it with the list of the suspects. "All of the suspects are deceased?"

"Yes ma'am. It's just me left." Anthony half-heartedly smiled but I knew he was hurting inside. Watching everyone you ever knew slowly die around you, sounds worse than actually dying.

"I can't thank you enough Mr. Padilla-" I started but was cut off.

"Please, call me Anthony." He said and I nodded.

"Is there a number I could possibly reach you at if I had any questions?" I asked politely and he nodded, writing down his home phone number on a blank sheet of paper.

"Please call me anytime. I would be pleased to help you with any questions." He smiled and I nodded.

The drive home seemed fairly short. When I finally pulled into the driveway at 9:36 pm, I was overjoyed to see the Manor that I would be spending one hell of a summer at. I grabbed all my papers from the front seat and rushed into the house since it started to pour rain.

"I'm home!" I yelled once I walked in.

"I'm in the library!" I took off my shoes and walked to Aunty Carol. When I walked in, she spoke. "So, what did you find out?" She asked me excitedly.

"I learnt that this is going to be a lot harder than I thought but I will explain everything tomorrow! I'm exhausted but I'm going to go to the third floor and quickly sort through all my papers and then go to bed." I told her and she understood.

"Okay dear, have a good night, get some sleep! Tomorrow we're painting some of the rooms!" She yelled to me as I walked up the stairs.

"Okay! I'll be ready!" I yelled back.

I ran up the stairs and climbed the ladder as fast as I could. Long behold, there was Ian sitting at the desk with his feet on it.

"So how'd it go?" He asked casually but I knew on the inside he was bursting with excitement. He casually stood up and I just smirked at him. "What?"

I ran at nearly full speed towards him and jumped into his arms. I wrapped my legs around his waist and held him as tightly as he held me the first time. I relived the same euphoric feeling and felt a sense of joy. I loosened my grip on him and leaned back a little so I could face and talk to him.

"What's up with you?" He laughed.

"We can do this Ian. We can solve a case that's gone unsolved for nearly 78 years." I smiled at him and he looked almost dreamily at me.

I was determined to do this.

"I know we can."