Blood and Motive

6

The media camped outside my building keeps getting worse every day but I can't just sit inside and do nothing.

So our motion to dismiss was denied, so now it's becoming quite clear I can go to prison for this crime even though I didn't do it.

I'm going to go see Cassidy's husband to see if he can tell me anything about Cassidy.

I check my phone for any new messages before I put on my shades and make my way to the train station.

I remember Cassidy showing me pictures of her house, but she told me I could never show up at her house, but I'm here and I need answers.

It's a pretty big house that gives off a modern, chic vibe. It's probably Cassidy who decorated it. I press the doorbell, and after what seems like a minute.

A middle-aged woman dressed in a maid's uniform comes to open the door. I take off my glasses, giving her a small smile, and she returns it.

“I'm looking for Daniel. Is he in?” I asked her

“Mr.Jones isn't receiving visitors at the moment, but I'll let him know that you came. What name should I tell him?” she asks.

"Please ma'am, could you tell him it's urgent? I need to see him," I beg

She gestures for me to come in leads me to the living room and disappears into the house, I assume to get Daniel.

I look around, I look at the pictures of Cassidy and her husband. I pick their wedding picture up and can't help but stare at her. I brush my hand over her picture.

Someone clears his throat. Throat. I turn back and see it's Daniel, so I take off my cap.

"You, You,” he says in a hoarse voice.

“Please don't call the police; I need to ask you a few questions." I pleaded

He walks over to me and punches me straight in the face, I wince

“You have the nerve to come to my house after what you did,” he yells, his face reddening.

"Please, I can explain. I'm sorry about your wife, but I didn't kill her." her." I apologize

Holding my face where he hit me.

“Get out of my house,” he orders. He grabs ahold of my hand I can see his nose flare.

I have about 2 minutes before he throws me out. I have to think of something fast.

“She said you were getting a divorce,” he lets me go.

I look back at him. Sadness clouded his features, his eyes glistening. He was fighting back tears.

He enters back into the living room, takes out a glass from the corner table, and pours himself a glass of what seems to be whisky. He takes a big gulp, finishing the whole glass and pouring another.

“Cassidy was the love of my life,” he began.

“I met her when I was 28; she was 26 at the time. She was working in a restaurant I always used to go to.” He takes a sip of his drink and I take a seat on the nearest chair.

“I was just starting my company, so I didn't really have a lot of free time, but I'd always go to the restaurant to eat, and she would always wait at my table. She always smiled at me and gave me ideas if I was having any trouble. She came up with the name Jonzing World.” His mouth twitched.

“I didn't start anything with her, but we were friends. We went out for drinks once, and then I never saw her again. I asked her coworkers, and they said she moved. A year later, I met her in a bar with her friends. She was celebrating her first big client; she said she was an interior decorator.” He paused, getting up to refill his glass and offering me one, which I accepted.

“We went out for a while; my company was doing well; it had picked up fast, so I had time to spare. 6 months in, I asked her to marry me; everyone thought it was too fast, and she was probably after my money, but I didn't care.”

“But Cassidy did; she wasn't the confident woman you know back then; she was shy around new people. We got married, and she proposed a prenup, but I didn't agree and told her my money was hers to spend; everything was fine until we started trying for kids.”

“She was so excited to be a mother, but it wasn't easy for us; she was always disappointed when her period came every month, so we tried IVF, and after 3 failed rounds, she was done.

“She threw herself into her work, and I supported her all the way, and she finally got pregnant. She was 30 at the time, so it was a high-risk pregnancy, but she didn't care. She was so determined and happy, and I was happy seeing her that way, you know.” He looks at me, tears streaming down his face.

“So we did everything to make her pregnancy smooth and beautiful. The company was doing great, so I was at home with her most time. We shopped and shopped. She didn't want to know the gender, so we were shopping blind, and by her last month, it was like we owned a baby store. We had everything, and then our baby girl was born. She was beautiful,” he smiled.

“We brought her home from the hospital; she was so precious she had her mother's eyes, but then she started to get sick a lot,” he sniffled.

“She was in and out of the hospital for 3 years, and then she gave up. Cassidy was devastated when she died, she wouldn't get out of bed, she wouldn't go to work, she wouldn't eat, she'd just cry and cry, and she wouldn't let me in, so I put more effort into my company and started signing more artists and started traveling a lot. I was never home.”

“Cassidy was drowning, and I threw her a lifeline; she wouldn't take it. I didn't want to drown with her.”

“Then she slit her wrist In the bathtub and took a bunch of pills, our housekeeper found her, I rushed back home to be with her”

“I told her I didn't want to lose her, that she shouldn't leave me that I'll do anything she wants I'll be here for her, she should please get better that I missed the woman she used to be and she listened” he smiled

“She started going to therapy, going to the gym, we started traveling, our sex life was the best It'd been in years. It was like she was a whole new person until she got pregnant again. She didn't know how to feel about it she was scared and excited the whole time.

“She didn't want to have the baby in the house our daughter died so we moved and came here” he gestured to the house.

“But our baby never made it home” he sobbed.

“The doctor said it was a placenta abruption or something I don't remember that it was a miracle Cassidy carried the baby to term she was 35 at that time” he explained

“But she took the news better that time around, she said she was done having kids. So she dyed her hair, started experimenting with clothes and makeup, she decided to have her breasts done. She looked so different she was happy, stable”

“I started traveling again, I was always away but we were okay, if she didn't have any clients she'd come with me till she met Jeanine,” he says, the last part bitterly