Old Ties

“Honey I’m home”

“Great. Will warm up dinner now”

“Can’t wait to try the roast.”

“Just hop on in and it’ll be on the table.”

It had been over fifteen minutes since they’d spoken on the phone. And yet he waited for her to come in. She didn’t.

A couple of hours later the cops were all around the house and the garage. Where her car stood parked. And she lay dead inside. Strangled by his silk tie.

He couldn’t believe this was happening. Just a while ago he was the happiest man in the world waiting for his wife to return home from work. And he had cooked a special meal for the two of them. After all it was their anniversary. And now he was busy answering the cops.

They had been married for 7 years now. He had once been a successful advertising executive and she an equally successful lawyer. Over the course of their marriage their respective lives had had different progress. She had zoomed up the career ladder whilst he sat redundant at home after his firm had shut down thanks to the economic meltdown.

As time went by she went by she began to spend incredibly long hours away from home. “It’s a new case honey”, she told him every time he enquired with her. “My client is accused of murdering his wife and I have to prove his innocence. You know how it is, honey. The husband is always the prime suspect”. The more she spoke about the case the worse he felt for her client. The golden haired man as she referred to him as.

“This doesn’t make sense does it”, the Inspector wondered to himself as he went through the dead woman’s credit card details. Of all the purchases she had made over a period of around a year she had bought double of almost every item she purchased. It didn’t take him long to figure that they were all “male items”.

“She was obviously having an affair. So whenever she bought something for her lover, her guilt would make her buy an identical one for her husband. The unemployed poor soul waiting for her at home.” The Inspector was talking loudly to himself, almost sure he would nab her killer soon.

The golden haired man sat in front of the television watching the news. After all she was a well known defence lawyer and her murder was prime time news. There were different theories coming up about her death. A possible killing due to her coming close to concluding a case was one of the given motives. This suited him fine, he reasoned to himself.

“The husband is always the prime suspect”. The golden haired man laughed as the TV reporter made this comment whilst covering her news. It had been ridiculously easy for him. He was angry when she refused to leave her husband. Worse, she was all set to confess to him about her affair. She wanted forgiveness and go back to him. That loser. That unemployed waster who did nothing but sit at home and cook for her. She was willing to let go of the beautiful one year they had spent and go back to her husband. And the cheek of her to tell him that the baby wasn’t theirs. But a result of her infidelity. Surely it was too much for him to hear. She had to go.

Killing her actually was easier than he had thought it would be. He had managed to sneak in their house in the afternoon when her husband was out to the pub for a pint. Waiting at the garage for her to come and park her car was the plan. Waiting there with the identical tie as his, from her husband’s wardrobe was the master stroke. He waited patiently as she spoke to her husband on the phone. And then he sneaked behind her as his gloved hands strangled her with her husband’s tie. Putting her back on her car seat and closing the door was cakewalk.

A week later, the golden haired man picked up the newspaper as he was having his breakfast. HUSBAND ARRESTED. LAWYER’S MURDER SOLVED screamed the headlines. After all who else could’ve killed a successful young career woman but her useless unemployed husband. And that too with his own tie. It was an open and shut case as the police confirmed.

The man finished his breakfast and headed towards his car. His new lawyer called him on his mobile phone as he was driving. “I have good news from my inside sources. The verdict today will be in our favour”.

The golden haired man stepped up on the accelerator as he began humming an old rock and roll tune. The sun shone brightly as the red sports car found its way through the city traffic that summer morning.

Copyright (c) Pratik Majumdar