American Engineering

With that said the detective headed upstairs to prepare himself for the day. He had told the hospital not to release the information because he wanted to tell the four suspects themselves. Their body's reaction and responses would say a lot.

By five am he was at the station. Facebook's reply had come in. Surprisingly, he learned a few things. John Mathews' current partner was part of the woke generation or promoted himself as such. That put a different spin on things. Until then the detective believed that John Mathews might have encouraged his lover to participate in the crime, now it could be the opposite.

What perked his interest was that the partner when not working his full-time position at US Bank had a sideline business that taught women how to defend themselves by using objects readily available in their home. He promoted the fact that even a broomstick could be used as a weapon. It helped to explain why Seth's skull was only cracked and not broken.

Ivy Mathews and June Alfords surprisingly revealed extraordinarily little because of what he already knew. Ivy had spent a fair bit of time reviewing some of those private informal support groups before joining June's group. Thus, further verifying June's conversation with him.

June Alford's Facebook showed her commenting a lot about a woman whose very presence near her was driving her up the wall admitting the lady had her fantasizing about her. Skimming through her timeline he discovered her talking about the romantic weekend in Seattle and her undying love.

The detective and Micah were on the way over to where Ivy and June were staying to break the news that Ivy's husband had passed away when he received the call from the state forensic office. The DNA comparison of the cigarette butts was a perfect match. There was no doubt John Mathews had been at the scene of the crime. It was the breakthrough he had been waiting for.

It was time to take what he knew to the district attorney to see if an arrest warrant could be granted. The only outstanding problem was that they had no print matches but that might be linked through the prints they obtained as they went through the booking process. To get John Mathews' partner they might need to have a full confession.

********

Both Ivy and June took the news of Seth's death hard. It was clear to both men that neither lady had wanted this. When detective Inman asked Mrs. June Alford if she would come back and testify to what she had told him there was no hesitation in her answer. It was a quick and loud yes.

It was interesting watching June explain to Ivy what she had disclosed and why. Ivy saw it as June telling the truth and protecting both their interests.

"I think you both should know," Detective Inman said. "June's honesty and straightforwardness saved the department a lot of man-hours by tightening our area of focus. As a result, we should be making an arrest within a couple of days."

"Do yourselves a favor," Detective Inman added, "Remember always going forward that neither of you was responsible for any of this. The person or people we will be charging took advantage of an opportunity nothing more nothing less. I believe they would have found another time or place because their actions prove it was deliberate."

Later after leaving the ladies Micah asked, "Why did you finish our conversation the way you did?"

"Guilt, second thoughts, emotions, hate, anger, and grief are feelings both ladies will normally be experiencing over the next few days because of what happened," Detective Inman said. "I did not want them affecting their relationship going forward."

"After all, as a detective, you have to understand that with every crime," he said, "there are many different kinds of victims. Ivy and June are two of them. Was it their love for each other that started all of this we will never know? I just hope we stopped it from turning into hate because hate always wins."

Finished