"Why did you lie to us?"
Christina and Davis stood in the living room of Jones's residence.

"About what?" Maya asked, completely oblivious.

"About your phone calls with Mr.Matt Johnson, your ex-husband. We have phone records.

Maya slouched, clenching her jaw and bowing her head, she rested her forehead against her fists.
"Yes, I lied. Matty has been calling me but I swear I have nothing to do with this! You have to believe me!" Maya drew her eyebrows together, her eyes full of conviction, red and swollen from crying the entire day.

"Why did he call you?" Davis questioned.

"He-he wanted to come back. He wanted me to end my relationship with Josh. He was apologizing. He wanted to see the kids. He said he didn't like Josh as a person. And that he had changed-"

"And?"

Maya closed her eyes, "Josh found out about it. We fought last night." She clasped her mouth to prevent herself from crying again

"Can you tell us the nature of the fight?"

"Josh saw the messages Matty had sent me. He was constantly calling me. He called last night too. He was truly mad. Josh saw me talking to him and things didn't end well."

"What happened after that?"

"I-I took my meds. And we got in bed. I tried to assure him but he turned the lights off and said we would talk about this in the morning. He fell asleep and I did too. Only if I had known-" her voice broke off as she tried to speak through her misery.

Christina looked at her and shook her head, "Take her in." Davis ordered.

"What-no! I didn't do anything! I swear on my children! I am innocent-" she began yelling and throwing her legs around.

"We are only going to take you in our custody, Ma'am. If you have not done anything, nothing will happen to you." Christina added.

"Matt Johnson is our prime suspect now." Davis exhaled and his gaze fell on the terrified children standing in the hallway, watching the scene before them.

"Shit," Christina whispered trying to think of something and began walking to talk to them.

Mrs. Jones pulled them in while Nora held Emma who had turned pale.

"Christina." Davis stopped her.

"Sir?"

"If you solve this case within an hour, I will put in a good word for you." Davis offered.

"Sir?" Christina was taken aback.

"Let's be a real, officer. You have that caliber. You would make a good detective."

"That would mean I will be the most favorable candidate!" Christina's eyes widened and Davis shrugged.

"I am going to grab some lunch. One hour." He winked at her, raising his index finger and Christina's heart lurched to her throat.

"But-" before she could say something Davis exited the house.

She turned around and her mind begins to buzz with the rush.

She closed her eyes and everything she has heard about the case till now begin to roll in her mind at an unbelievably quick pace that would have rendered her with a headache but all the cared was about information.

Something inside her ticked as she tried to look at the case with a different perspective.

Things didn't look right in her theory. If Maya and the ex-husband were still lovers then why kill Josh inside the house? They could have just done it somewhere else or why kill him at all? Just file for divorce. It wasn't as if he was rich or anything...

Could it be that Maya wasn't involved at all? Just the ex. He somehow got inside the house and killed Josh. That seemed more likely. But how downstairs?
They were sleeping upstairs and the body was in the living area.
What was Josh doing in the living area at midnight?
He might have heard someone get in and got up to check it.
Or, somehow the window got broken, intentionally or unintentionally.
That woke Josh up he came down to inspect the noise and then got killed!
She just needed to find how they got in.

Holy fuck! She could be a detective!

She just needed the evidence. Whatever they gathered from the search wasn't enough. She needed something more solid.

She should start with the Miller house.

Christina began walking towards the house and roamed in at the entrance, the street, the main door, the porch, the lawn, and then back to the street again. She turned to the front of the house and gazed at the window at the left.

She saw a giant tree and advanced towards it. There was a shed beneath the window. She peered inside the shed through the slit offered by a broken metal door and sneezed at the dust, cursing her allergies.
Her nose began to itch and she backed off.
"Jesus..." She wiped her face vigorously with her sleeves and suddenly things made sense.

Anybody could have easily climbed the tree and reached the shed top. From there, it was easy to get in through the window.
She backed off looked at the window again, "Yes!"

Bolting into the house, she climbed the stairs and according to the front part of the house, the hallway led her to Emma's room.

Unconsciously, she began analyzing standing back at the threshold. Adjacent to this room was Nora's nursery but it lacked any opening.

Inside, there was a bed, against the left wall of the room.
A dresser on the left and a cabinet on the right.
A dressing table stood at the right side adjacent to a study table.
There wasn't anything below the window even though it would make a great place to keep the dressing table.

Why?

Christina went to the window and her head begin to throb with a rush.
The window was locked from the inside.
She unlocked it and found the windowsill clean. A band of dust had been cleared with one swipe.
There was a thick tree outside with large spreading branches that needed to be cut down if they didn't want it to fall on the shed below.
Christina grinned as she noticed dirt around the edges of the wooden window frame.
She looked closely and took a piece of it between her fingers and rubbed it.
It was a garden soil.
Craning her neck she peered below the window, she unbelievably found a light shoe mark on the white wall. As if somebody was tried to jump in.
She quickly clicked a picture of it backed off from the room.

It was possibly a male shoe, sports kind, with a great amount of grip.

"He got in through here..." She whispered.

Just then she received a call from Walters, "Matthew Johnson is in this state. He came back a few months ago. He currently works for someone at Phoenix Club. It's local. I am going there." He told her and Christina revealed to him what she had just found, "I think Maya and her ex-husband planned it. He is in the state. He possibly roamed around the house too. Maya let him, he finished Josh and then she let him out. Maya is too dumb or too smart. Either way, she can say she was sleeping and didn't know anything about it. It's our word against her's. One thing, I don't understand though? Why? Was she still in love with her ex-husband? They always are in most cases plus she is not stable..." She told him upon being questioned.

"Well, we will found out now." Walters cut the call.

How didn't she wake her daughter, Emma up though?
Unless it was Emma who let him in... That explained her cold behavior.

Christina called Davis immediately and told him to return back as she made her way to the Jones house to have a word with Emma.

Davis, who was sitting in her car, having his sandwich, began following her as she explained to him what she had discovered.
© Samiksha Kemwal