Velvet Curtain [Fiction]

The loud thud in the busy office stopped the officers in their tracks. They glanced at Detective Jeffrey who rolled his eyes at them and began massaging his temples. The quiet chatter and activity picked up again.

The tension in the office was palpable. Jeffrey desperately needed a breakthrough in the Edgewood murder.

Victoria Edgewood. The beloved wife of their mayor, Cole Edgewood.

The mayor was inconsolable, distraught even. He took a month's leave to mourn her death while his deputy handled the town's affair.

But it was no real leave. The mayor was constantly on Jeffrey's neck. After all the middle-aged detective was the town's best.

Jeffrey groaned in frustration, wiping his oily face and stroking his trimmed beard in contemplation. It felt as though the clue his team needed was right in front of them yet somehow out of reach.

The only person who might have witnessed the crime, a cleaning maid, was out of the ICU but unable to speak. The killer's blow to her head affected her brain, leaving her incoherent. She blabbed only two words over and over, “velvet curtain”.

Just then, their youngest forensic analyst burst into the office. “Jeff! I got it,” Raven gasped, out of breath.

Jeff was on his feet in an instant. “Talk to me, Raven.” He watched her pause to catch her breath and wished he had the power to pull the info out of her head. He clenched his fists to stay calm. “Well?”

“Yeah,” she said with a quick smile. “Sorry. Remember the sheen fibers we took out from under the victim's nails?”

“Uh-huh. What about it?”

“I went to the mayor's office on a hunch and took sample fibers from each office.”

“Get to the point, Raven,” Jeffrey growled.

Raven gulped. “Yeah. Only the mayor and deputy mayor's office have velvet curtains. The sample from the deputy mayor's office matches the fiber from the victim's nails.”

The forensic analyst froze in shock as Jeffrey grabbed her and pecked her cheek. “You just cracked the case! That's the clue we've been after!”

Within the hour, the town was buzzing with the news: the deputy mayor had been arrested for the murder of Victoria Edgewood.

I hope you enjoyed reading this short piece. It's inspired by the Freewrite #dailyprompt phrase "velvet curtain".

Thank you for visiting my blog.

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