STICKS, MAYBE STONES TOO

Greed

Elvis

At first he had been against murder, it was a capital offence and the punishment was death. A life for a life, there was no in between. No one wanted to die but Janet, Janet had all the plans. It was very convincing, foolproof! They had covered  all their bases, the only witness was the victim and he was already dead, cremate and ashes spread. 

Before the summon for investigation Elvis had racked his brain trying to figure out if back then they had missed something but it had already been six years. The memory of that night was a light blurry but he could clearly see the look of despair in Tony's face, the glimmer of hope fading just when the last strike was about to land.

He had broken and eventually killed the man that loved him the most. Tony had treated him really well without expecting much in return, all he had wanted was to be loved and accepted. It was not a big request but he had gotten killed for it. The broken look Tony spotted had been haunting Elvis for years now, the first year after Tony did he could barely sleep, Tony would always haunt his dreams. He could see him in the streets during the day, he lost so much weight and was always tired. Experts attributed it to grief, he had lost someone he love and was finding it hard to cope.

All that had played into his narrative of being in so much pain, except it was a guilty conscience that was eating him up. He was not grieving, he was having frequent hallucinations but he could not mention it to anyone so he had let the general public think that he was a heartbroken mess. That strategy had proved to be great for business as people had felt pity for him and invested in the The James Holdings but was also a great alibi as no one had suspected Tony's death to be anything but an accident.

He had played the whole country like fiddle, soon Janet had started appearing with him on official functions making the public used to seeing them together that when they finally announced that they were getting married no one was shocked. Imagine the shock everyone felt when a couple that gotten married for just three years was tied to a murder that took place six years ago! Just how long had they been together? This was one of the reasons why no one had come to their defense, the whole thing was a little too coincidental. Where there was smoke there was fire.

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As Elvis sat alone in the question room he tried to call his wife Janet for the nth time. He had not seen her when he got back into Country T for business. Janet had not even given him a heads up on the things going on hence he had gotten cornered buy paparazzi at the airport when he landed, she was not at home either when he finally managed to get there.

"Where is this woman?" he thought to himself in the cold room. It had all been her dear but when s**t had hit the fan she was nowhere to be found. She was the master mind but now her underling was alone in trouble with the law. For the first time ever Elvis felt like he had been used, the disappointment came rushing in with with a side of regret.

His reputation that he had struggled so hard to build in six years had gone down the drain in less than month. Company shares had dropped in value, his business colleagues had blacklisted him. Everything was going to s**t and all he could do was sit in the sidelines and watch all of it happen, Morrison Holdings was coming to an end all thanks to a few internet posts.

No matter how had he tried to think he just could not figure out who could have told  on them, the whole thing was too mysterious. Sitting their lost in thought the detectives where standing outside observing him, some through the two way mirror and others through the surveillance camera. Everything he did was up for scrutiny, the had even let him go in with his phone to take note on any calls he made. It was very interesting to note that he had called Janet over five times since he got there.

Elvis was giving himself away without even knowing it, a first time offender was bound to be careless but it could also be that he was just too scared of being held up at the station and was just reaching out for comfort from a loved one, everyone knew he was married to Janet but she could also be his partner in crime. Just observation could not hold water in court as evidence but apart from the internet post the police had no reason to make him stay at the investigations office. So with a promise to summon him one more time they had let him go.

In fact had it not been for the citizens demanding it in Elvis would not have had to go to the police station in the first place but the masses were getting restless and demanding for justice and this was just a way to calm everybody down.

"I am not guilty, I did not kill my fiance. I loved him too much to him like that. To the person stirring rumors on the internet, I am not scared of you. The truth will be revealed soon and I will prove to everyone that I have been wrongfully accused." Elvis had said righteously outside the police station, he looked very wronged. Being let go without questioning has boosted his confidence and therefore he had quickly accepted an interview.

"So the post was from a malicious source trying to tarnish your name?" a reporter had questioned.

"Yes! My innocence will be proved, I trust in our legal system." he had concluded the interview and walked away in confidence. 

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"INNOCENT?" late at night the account with accusation wrote just one word. It seems there was more to come, but what?