"Stacey, what are you talking about", my best friend Jenny said,, exapariatingly.
"You're not seriously thinking of calling it off, are you?" She said in a serious tone.
I nodded solemnly.
"Look, I know this may seem like a rash decision, but I have thought about it and my mind is made up." I said in a final tone, staring back at her.
I could see her revolve in her attempt to change my mind fall. She knew me so well to know that I wasn't joking this time around. Once my mind was made up, there was no going back except by some miracle. Jenny and I were the best of friends. We've known each other right from college where we first met as roommates. Since then, we have just stuck to each other like magnets. It's been ten years of our friendship and I can say that Jenny knew me well enough just as I knew her like the palm of my hand.
"Common Stacey, You guys have been in this relationship for three years now, and you are just going to throw all that away for some stupid suspicion that has no ground "
"Think about it, I don't want you to do something that you will end up regretting in the end", she said with pleading eyes.
"Jenny, you don't get it, do you? " I asked, beginning to get annoyed with her persistence.
"It's been three years, right? And I thought I knew him well enough, but lately, the things I've been noticing, I'm not so sure anymore. It's better I call off the engagement now, that it's early rather than a divorce later in the future." I said in a final tone.
Lately, George, my fiancée, was acting strange. He was more secretive and reserved. The fact that my brother's killer was yet to be found didn't help my situation at all. I was frantic. I didn't know who I could trust. According to the police investigation, Alexander was murdered. Someone killed my dear brother. They found him lying dead in his apartment, with some signs of struggle. The thought of it pained me to no end. Alexander and I were twins, we always got each other's backs right from when we were kids. My mom used to say that we were inseparable. The night he died, we were all supposed to meet at our family house to celebrate thank-giving. I and my fiancée George, my best friend Jenny, my parents and, of course, Alexander. But it seemed like life had other plans that day.
It's been six months since his death. The pain of losing their first and only son was so much for my parents that they decided to end the police investigation and give him a quiet burial. But I can't come to terms with the fact that Alex was really gone. Not until I find those responsible for his death. I've been secretly working with the leads from the police investigation to unravel and track the killer.
With all this going on, I couldn't help but be suspicious of my fiancée, George. But what could be his motive for killing my brother? I wondered. They weren't at throats with one another. The two of them got along just fine. I decided to call off the engagement. It's better I call it off now, than end up marrying a murderer I'll hate for the rest of my life. I thought to myself.
"Stacey what's this I'm hearing", George barked as he walked angrily into my office.
"What are you talking about" I asked, feigning innocence.
"Your calling off the engagement?" He asked impatiently
"So it's true then. Do you seriously think I would kill your brother? He asked with a bit of hurt in his tone. If I wasn't so bent on finding my brother's killer, I would have believed him.
"How did you know that," I asked. I was sure I told no one of my suspicions except Jenny and there's no way Jenny would have told him.
"I overheard you two talking that day", he admitted.
"Overheard or eaves dropped" I asked angrily.
"You know what! I'm not sure if I can trust you anymore, given your recent behaviour", I said, raising my hands up in the air.
"Don't you find it a bit odd that the night my brother died you claimed you had to go back to get something and only showed up after he was confirmed lifeless in his apartment." I dared to ask, staring at him keenly to see his reaction.
"Oh for God’s sake, I told you I went back to get the cake I already ordered from the restaurant." He answered, seemingly frustrated by my disbelief.
"I would never even think of killing your brother or doing anything that would hurt you, Stacey" he said as he walked closer to me, staring at me with pleading eyes.
I almost did believe him, only that I just couldn't ignore the guilt I sensed in the way he looked at me. We had been in a relationship for three years and I knew him well enough to know that the way he looked at me had changed. There was something he had done that I didn't know about.
" I guess we should let the police do their job then, if your so sure of your innocence," I replied.
"Stacey, if I walk out that door then it's over", he said in a final tone.
His statement was met with silence as I continued typing away on my computer. And then he left. I couldn't hold back the tears any longer as he shut the door. Was three years of what we shared worth losing over this, I asked myself. The thought of being wrong scared me to no end, but my instinct kept on telling me a different thing. As if to crown it all, the private investigator I had secretly hired to investigate the case called to inform me that George was no longer among the suspects as he was in a restaurant at the time of the incident. I was utterly shattered. I stayed unmoving behind my desk. I had failed in finding my brother's killer. I had lost George also. Jenny was the only remaining constant in my life so I decided to go to her house.
"Jenny, are you home?" I shouted, kicking the door open, but was met with silence. I let myself in and headed straight towards the bedroom as I knew that was where she would always be. However, the bedroom was rather empty.
The sound of the shower running in the bathroom made me understand she was taking her bath. I flopped down on the bed feeling so drained emotionally and physically. While waiting for her, I saw a book and pen at the edge of the bed about to fall off. Knowing how messy Jenny usually was, I picked it up to place it properly, but, however, decided to look through it to pass time.
The contents of what was written inside shocked me to no end. Apparently, that was her diary. I couldn't stop the tears that flowed out of me as I kept on reading it.
"How could you?" I asked her as she came out of the bathroom.
"You killed my brother, after you slept with my fiancée. How cruel can you be? And to think I loved and trusted you all these years" I said, with hatred and disgust to her.
She tried denying it, but I just threw the diary at her. When the realization dawned on her that there was no escaping this one, she began begging for forgiveness.
"Stacey,, I'm so sorry, I never wanted it to happen this way" she pleaded with me, but was met with a stone-cold heart. When she realized nothing she was going to say would be of any use, she decided to make a run for it. But it was already late because I had contacted the police since, and they were already outside to arrest her.
