Chapter 3

Valerie was mortified to see the state the body was in. From the body's orientation, she could tell it was a man. But who? 

His clothes were torn and coated in his own blood. She strained to see his face amidst the burns he had suffered. He was absolutely unrecognizable and Valerie could smell the acid that oozed from his remains. 

Suddenly, the man's lips moved, the words wheezing out of his lungs. “Please, help me.” He struggled to say, raising his frail hand but Valerie stepped back, scared to make contact with him. 

She could not utter a word and just stood there, frozen to the spot. Slowly, the man's hand fell to the ground and whatever life was left in him, was gone in that moment.

It was her first time witnessing someone die before her eyes and it hit her hard. But soon enough, she pulled herself together and reached into her pocket for her phone to call the police but she had left it in her car.

Valerie moved to go to her car and call for help when her eyes caught sight of his wallet on the floor and his ID card sticking out of it. The person in the photo looked shockingly familiar, giving her an ugly feeling in the pit of her stomach.  

Throwing caution to the wind, she lowered herself to the ground, reaching for the wallet. With trembling hands, she pulled out the photo and the moment she confirmed her suspicion, she threw the wallet away from her and fell to the ground, hands trembling as the pacing of her heart increased.

“No, no.” She muttered repeatedly, moving further away from the now dead man. She got on her feet and raced to her car, frantically searching for her phone.

The blaring of police vans in the distance caught her off guard and before Valerie could process what was going on, they had her in handcuffs, everything else becoming nothing but muffled sounds that echoed louder and louder in her ears.

“You better tell us the truth, Mrs Rodriguez.” The police officer said, leaning on the table, glaring into Valerie's eyes.

“We have more than enough evidence to prove that you had a motive to murder the victim. To top it all, your DNA was found on the corpse.” He added.

Valerie's brows creased together, confusion settling in as she stared back at him. It had been over an hour now since the interrogation began and despite all her claim of innocence, she stood no chance against the police and what they believed. 

“What evidence do you speak of? I have told you countless times already that I did not kill him and the only thing I did was reach for his wallet because I needed to identify the victim.” She insisted but it was clear that he did not believe her.

“Fine.” He said, pulling back the chair to sit on it. “Let's begin like this.” He continued, knotting his fingers together and placing them on the table as he leaned toward her.

“Do you admit that you know the victim?” He asked.

“Of course. He was a defendant in a case I recently worked on.” She replied. 

“Were you in communication with him even after the case was closed or not?” He asked, gaze fixed intently on her.

“Not really.” She shrugged and the officer raised a brow. “I mean he would call once in a while and sometimes show up at my office but we never really had a one on one interaction.” She explained.

The officer chuckled, eyes narrowed as he observed her body language and choice of words. Valerie knew what every gesture and look he made meant but she was determined to prove her innocence.

The room fell quiet for a brief moment until the officer brought out a mobile phone, placed it on the table, playing a recording for Valerie to hear.

Valerie's eyes widened in shock as she resonated with the voice that sounded from the recorded audio. It was her voice and she was sure of it. With it, was a man's voice also. 

“You are a smart woman, Mrs Rodriguez, a lawyer too.” The officer began, pausing the recording. “I'm sure you know what this means.” He said, referring to the audio they had just heard.

“That was clearly your voice in the audio, threatening to kill the deceased if he ever did anything to bother you. And it just so happened that the next day, he visited you at your office and you both had a big quarrel. Now that seems like a good enough motive to have him killed right? Especially because he felt unjustly treated after your firm won a case against him in court.”

“I….” Valerie wanted to respond but she was lost for words. She never recalled receiving such a phone call or making such harsh threats. She would never do a thing like that.

It was true that the victim once showed up at her office and they got into a fit as he would not stop harassing her but that was all there was to it. 

The officer reached for a brown envelope that had been on the table, brought out some pictures, and laid them out on the table for her to see. Truly, it was photos of them arguing. She and the deceased.

Everything was happening so fast, Valerie was starting to lose track of it all. She had a thousand and one questions in her mind but there were no plausible answers to them.

“My lawyer. I will not speak on this further until he gets here.” She insisted. 

“Just so you know, we can rule this out as a case of self-defense if you tell us the truth.”

“I am innocent. Call my lawyer.

Seeing how disoriented she was pleased the officer. He had her pinned to the wall but that was the least of Valerie's concerns. The officer however agreed to continue with the interrogation after the arrival of her lawyer.

Hours had passed and her lawyer was still a no-show. Frustrated, Valerie requested that a call be put through to her husband. She had tried to reach out to him since the inception of the entire issue but he was out of reach.

Fortunately, the police were able to contact Carlos and handed her the phone. “Carlos, I need your help. I don't know what's happening right now but I'm at the police station. I'm being accused of murder and I cannot seem to convince them that I'm innocent. I need you to please contact my lawyer and….”

“There is no need for that.” Carlos cut her off before she could finish her sentence. 

“Wha…what do you mean?” She stuttered.

“No one is coming to save you, my darling wife.” she heard him snickering over the phone. 

“I believe this is a small sacrifice you have to pay for all the years I've had to put up with you and your nonsense.”

Valerie's heartbeat tripled, cold sweat covering her skin as she felt her insides turn at the sound of contempt in his voice. She could sense the pleasure he was deriving from her pain and it pricked her heart greatly.

“Don’t…don't tell me you… it can't be.” She muttered in disbelief, her breath quivering as she struggled hard to not entertain the possibility of his betrayal.

“The lawyer will be there soon with the divorce papers and you had better sign them. I do not want to have a murderer for a wife. So, just see this as me taking back my freedom.” Carlos casually said and dropped the call before she could respond.

Carlos had not given her a direct response but Valerie was smart enough to understand the hidden meaning behind his words. It was then she began to piece the puzzle together.

Carlos had called her out to meet up and it just so happened that she stumbled upon the victim during her time there. It was all starting to make sense to her. “No, Carlos would not do such a thing to me.” She fell to the ground in despair, weeping profusely as she struggled to accept the harsh reality before her.

True to Carlos’ words, an hour later, the lawyer paid her a visit, urging her to sign the divorce papers. By this time, Valerie was already locked in a prison cell.

“Did you plan all of this with Carlos? How could you only show up just now and with divorce papers.” Valerie asked calmly, trying her hardest to suppress the emotions riling up within her.

“I'm only following instructions.” He simply replied.

Life with Carlos had been nothing but a torment anyway and regardless of how torn she felt, there was no point trying to salvage something that wasn't there. Without reading through the document, Valerie penned down her signature. “Tell Carlos that he can go to hell for all I care.” She said defiantly, rising to her feet as she left the visitation room.