Murder at the Wolds Hotel Page #4

I wrote this story because I love a good mystery and especially like to solve one.

• Mystery

								

“Good,” Robert said. “I’m sure he will be with you soon.”
Jenny eyed the food across the room, “I’m going to eat something.” 
Robert looked at his watch, “Why it’s hardly time. Care to dance while you wait?”
Jenny sighed. “Yes, that would be fine.”
Not long later, Emma returned to the ballroom. Her face was just slightly smiling. 
“Jenny, our parents are alive!” She said.
Jenny smiled half-heartedly and she entered the hallway.
“Hello Jenny. Your parents are currently living in Switzerland. They left you because they wanted you to have better opportunities. They couldn’t afford you. Since then, they have worked hard and made a significant fortune. They have not reached you since in hopes that you two would have settled your differences and made a good living. They were planning to come back soon, but they did not get their money until very recently, and were constantly moving in order to adapt to new jobs. At the orphanage, they were not allowed to see you two because they signed a legal contract to ensure the welfare of you two until you left the orphanage. Additionally, your mother was very sick for some time. Now they finally have the opportunity to meet you. They plan to see you tomorrow at the hotel.”
Jenny smiled. That was all she needed to hear. 
She made her way up to the stairs, and said goodbye to Robert who happened to be on her floor. He went to his door at room 206 and sorted through his key ring of his two keys to find his. 
 “Goodbye Emma,” he said as Emma left for her room, and he twisted his doorknob.



	The hotel was awoken by the sound of a screaming voice and a slam of a door. Arthur rushed out of his room, and saw that the door to Emma and Jenny’s room was slightly ajar. He pushed on the door but it would not open. Peering through the crack, he could see a dead body lying on the ground, and a chair blocking the door from inside. He shoved harder and the door flew open. Jenny had been killed. A knife was stuck down her chest where her heart was.
	Emma was crying over her. Dozens of people from the floor came over to see what had caused the screaming, (including Robert, who happened to be on the same floor). 
	“What happened, Emma?” Robert asked. Emma was in a state of panic, but managed to speak. 
	“We were so tired, we hadn’t even had time to change. We fell asleep, when all of a sudden I heard coughing. I figured it was nothing so I continued to sleep. Then I heard a door slam. I opened my eyes and saw Jenny dead on the floor. She seemed to have been stabbed with a knife while sleeping. She only managed to let out a scream before she collapsed to the floor off the side of the bed.” Tears were dripping down her face. 
“We need to call the police,” someone said.
A man in the back with a large overcoat and greasy black hair shook his head. “The power lines are down and we can’t get out of the building. We’ll have to make due with what we have. I used to be an officer. Maybe that will help.”
Arthur, you were the first here, what did you see?” Robert asked.
	“I heard the door slam too. It woke me up. Then I heard the screaming. I rushed out of my room and found the unlatched door to theirs. Then I found Jenny dead on the floor.”
	“That’s terrible!” Someone said, followed by murmured conversations that constrained the room. 
	Emma had a pale, blank face, while staring at the television in front of her. 
Robert stood by the door and looked at Emma’s bandage on her ear facing him. Tears were still dripping down her face. She brushed her hair aside. 
	“Everyone, move out of the way.” Arthur said. “Let’s look for evidence.” 
	The first thing they checked was the body of Jenny. She looked the same as before, velvet dress, silver earrings. Leading up to her seemed to be a path of footprints. 
	“I found footprints.” Arthur said.
“It’s likely the murderer tip-toed, since only the front part of their footprint is showing, and they wouldn’t want to make noise,” Robert said.
“But they slammed the door!” Arthur said.
	“They must have been in a hurry,”said Robert. 
	“And the floor is covered in a carpet,” said Arthur. “Why would they need to tip-toe?”
	“Good point!” Said someone else. 
	Emma was still staring blankly and directly forward. Robert walked around the room looking for more evidence. He settled by the window and looked back at the half of Emma’s face that was visible.
	“Is there any clothing fabric?” Robert asked.
	“No.” Said someone, who was lying on the ground. 
	“It seems like you’re hiding something.” Robert said, glaring at Arthur. 
	“I most certainly am not. If anything, you’re the murderer.” Arthur replied. 
	“Are you accusing me?” Robert asked.
	“Did you not just accuse me of hiding something?” Arthur asked, “And yes, I am.”
	The sun was shining brighter than ever through the window, reflecting off of the gold frame of the bed, Emma’s black earring, the still, lifeless people that filled the room, and the television.
	Something flashed in Robert’s mind. A thought. All of the sudden, something clicked.
	“I know what happened!” Exclaimed Robert. 
	All eyes turned in silence to the well-dressed man, his face grinning with ecstasy. 
“With a switch of clothes, Jenny and Emma could fool us completely.”
“That’s absurd!” Emma objected. 
“It’s not Jenny who died. Jenny killed Emma and switched clothes. It’s so obvious.” 
The crowd of people gasped.
“Did anyone pay attention? Jenny was wearing high heels and the prints were clearly high heel prints. Emma was wearing espadrilles. Then, the chair was blocking the door from inside the room, which means the killer never left. Jenny also didn’t have time to pay attention to what ear each earring was on. She accidently put the earrings on the wrong ears.”
The officer gasped. “It really is her.” 
Robert pushed back a strand of hair on Emma’s lifeless body and revealed a small cut on her left ear. “Jenny killed her sister. Care to explain, Jenny?”
Jenny showed a look of defeat in her eyes. She paused and drew in a long breath, “I did it. Last night at the ballroom, I found out that my parents were really dead. They had left us an equal fortune. Being the greedy person she is, Emma paid off the historian who was really the executor of the estate and had him secretly give her the inheritance. Now I’m sure he’s off on a plane ticket to paradise. Emma was gonna leave with every penny and leave me with nothing. I had to do something. So I killed her and switched clothes so that I could have the inheritance and because Emma had no motive but I did.
“But you must’ve set me up!” She screamed. “Robert had two keys on his ring. Robert, you must’ve been entering our room and putting pictures in to trigger us to fight. You were the one who led me to the wall to hear the conversation that was blatantly obvious and forced me to kill her? So I asked myself why? What would you gain?”
Robert opened his lips to speak but Jenny cut him off, “Unless you wanted your own cut of the deal. You must’ve met with Emma beforehand and told her to make a deal to steal the inheritance with Easton Fuller. This would lead Emma dead and me ineligible for the inheritance under conviction with you somehow solving an impossible mystery that you really set up.”

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