The Charm of the Westbury
A story of love, obsession and enmity
It was a dull morning in December, the sun had not been seen in the last two days and the city was covered in a white blanket of snow, Christmas was a week away but there was an unusual quietness, and not even a chirp could be heard.
Cold wind flowed through the velvet curtains of Birchwood, the largest mansion of the Westbury, blowing out the crackling coals, while Roger snored on his sofa among the empty whisky bottles and smoked cigarettes scattered around. It was the sixth doorbell that Roger woke up to, dragging himself towards the gate, still in the hangover of last night. He opened the gate and struggled to see through the obscure view of his half-asleep eyes. Before he could react, a team of five police officers rushed inside and started to investigate the house thoroughly, two of them stood on each side holding Roger, not leaving a chance for him to escape. While he in a confused and shrill voice kept asking “can anyone tell me, what’s the matter?”
Soon a voice came from the bedroom, “Here it is,” and the rest of the officers who were in different corners of the house rushed upstairs towards the room.
“What the hell, You can’t enter my wife’s room like that, ugh… leave me.”
One of the officers came down and asked the personnel to take Roger in custody.
“Leave me, I’m not going anywhere, my wife needs me here. Rachel…” he screamed and then all was dark and silent.
Roger slowly opened his eyes, all he could see was a grey rough floor- placed upon it black leather boots tapping impatiently, carrying in them a tall dark man, twirling his waxed handlebar mustache.
Roger was half-unconsciously lying on a chair, his head hanging down which he raised slowly and the pain on the back of his head made him realize that he was hit there, his handcuffed hands were lying dead on his thighs.
“If you are in your senses now, can I ask you a few questions?” Said Mr. Willard in a heavy powerful voice.
“What is going on? Why am I here in this dungeon?”
“Seems like your drug dose was too high to remember anything from last night.”
“What do you mean?”
“You killed your wife Mr. Smith, we rushed as soon as we received her voice note.”
The officer plays Rachel’s note, “Hello, it’s R…Rachel Roger Smith, I’m calling for help from the Birchwood Cottage, 6th Avenue, Westbury. He… he’ll kill me, I don’t want to die, please reach soon..[crying]”.
“Rach… no officer no this can’t be true.”
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t reach on time.”
“But I… I was there in the living room, how could I not hear anything… Why did she not wake me up…”
“We have checked the CCTV footage of the last 24 hours, and nobody was found entering or leaving the house. Divorce papers found from her wardrobe reveal the tension that was going on between you.”
[silence]
“We had a small argument after that she went to her room and I was there in the living room- I lay dead on the sofa when the bell rang and you arrived.”
“Did you lose your temper during the argument Mr. Smith?”
“Yes! No! Yes…I was already down in the dumps sir, things were not going right since my business suffered a huge loss but divorce was not a solution. My problems had nothing to do with her, I just needed time alone to sort things out. She was acting immaturely. I wanted her to understand me and not nag around day and night. How do you think a stressed-out person would behave if someone gets on his nerves? He would surely lose his temper.
However, it doesn’t make me any less loving or caring. I loved her with all my heart, I still do.” [sobs]
“So, what did you do when you lost your temper?”
“I was too drunk to remember anything.”
“Well let me tell you what happened. You pushed her so hard that she fell on the floor then you picked up the whisky bottle to kill her, she got up and ran towards the room, you followed her. This was the time when she tried to call us and left a note behind. You caught her, choked her breath, and then threw her in the bathtub filled with water, to make it appear as an accident or a suicide.”
“No this is not true. Stop this rubbish.”
“Mr. Smith, all the evidence solely points towards you, until any other evidence is found which proves your innocence, you will stay here.”
After losing his business and wife the only thing that vulnerable Roger was left with were the golden memories he could look back to…
It all started the day he met his beautiful wife at a success party of his thriving business firm. She was standing in a fuchsia silk gown, just next to a cherry blossom tree upon shiny green grass in his lawn, her caramel hair resting upon her narrow shoulders, her crystal blue eyes twinkling in the sunlight. For Roger, it was love at first sight as he was immediately taken away by her undeniable beauty.
Even Rachel couldn’t defy her feelings for him as he too was a man of an irresistible, he was tall, dusky with an athletic physique and intoxicating hazel eyes. A flourishing entrepreneur, in his early thirties who has been living in every luxury that people could only dream of. Besides, it was his kind, generous heart that Rachel drew towards.
Their romance soon started to bloom and every eye was on this mesmerizing chemistry stealing the admiration of every person who saw them.
Unfortunately, the happiness of this couple didn’t last long, as it had caught the attention of an evil eye.
It was their sixth wedding anniversary when a storm broke into their life, the project Roger had invested in turned out to be a scam, causing a huge loss to his business.
Roger’s gentle personality failed to stand up to such a failure and found an escape in alcohol and drugs- piece by piece he started to fall apart and so did his marriage. Mostly he remained away from home to avoid quarrels that became common, as his quick temperament had gradually started to annoy Rachel.
It was the night when she approached him with divorce papers and Roger went crazy…
Roger was trying to recall the events that took place before he drugged out, he lay flat on the floor gazing at the cobwebs in the ceiling trying to release the truth that seemed restrained in some invisible fetters. Though he was miserable and had no desire for freedom since nothing was left outside for him as his world had already ended. However, he had to resist and stay strong as a mystery he got trapped in had to unravel, he had to find out if he indeed was responsible for Rachel’s death or was there something else hiding behind this veil of darkness.
Olivia stood in pride watching him from a distance under a dimly lit bulb without a sign of pity, perhaps she had come to comfort her grief-stricken boss. However, a sense of schadenfreude was in the air.
She walked towards him, her Prada echoed in that silence. Whereas Roger was lost in his thoughts. “There lies a doomed man.” Olivia invited his attention. He struggled to get up, and in a surprised tone said, “Olivia?”
“I should have never let my friend marry you.”
“No, I did not kill her.”
“Enough! Roger Smith, repeating a lie won’t change the truth.”
“Just once, Olive… Rachel’s killer is still free, we need to find him.”
“Why shall I believe you?”
“Olive, the note, that voice note, I am sure that is not her.”
“What nonsense!! It was her voice and it was sent from her number. Stop this madness now.”
“For a moment I too was fooled, but after listening to it repeatedly I figured out that it is not her.”
“Anything else that you feel?”
“I also sense that the killer is a woman.”
[Squeaky noise from another prison cell gets louder, seeming like someone was scratching his handcuffs against the iron bars.]
“You sound farcical. Anyways, I must leave, got an appointment.” Said Olivia in an uncomfortable tone and left.
“Olivia, listen…please…take me out from here, Olive…” Sank to his knees begging for help.
A week had passed and Mr. Willard arrived to continue his session with Roger. He was surprised to see him as it was told that the investigation was over. He comforted Roger saying that this case had been too easy to solve that now he feels something was escaping from his eyes as he had been used to deal with complex murder cases and thought of looking through it again. Roger’s sunken face gleamed with hope. He explained to him how the voice in that note is not of Rachel and every detail that he could recall of that day he explained it all, while Mr. Willard connected the dots.
He now decided to investigate all the ladies who were close to Rachel, starting with Olivia, her closest friend.
Mr. Willard disguised as William, a wealthy bachelor businessman approached Olivia while she was chilling with her friends in a club.
Olivia Johnson a prominent and reckless woman, with a driven personality who knew how to play her cards right. She was the center of admiration for every man and the life of every social gathering. However, her flirtatious nature and being easily get wooed by men turned out to be an advantage for Willard. For him to beguile her was like shooting a fish in a barrel. She was immediately taken away by his charm and he adroitly played his game. Within a week she started to confide in him. One night, on being asked about Roger she confessed while boozing, that how she was betrayed by him when he married Rachel. “You know Will, he was the only man I had ever loved… He broke my heart, he broke Olivia’s heart, he had to bear the consequences.”
“What? But if he left you for Rachel then why did he kill her?
“Yes, indeed he loved that… witch!!”
“You mean, your best friend?”
“I should have never introduced her to Roger.”
“She was your friend, are you not saddened by her tragic death?”
“Will please make me a drink, then I’ll doze off.”
“First, I need an answer.”
“Stop it, Will.”
“Did you kill her?”
[ Mr. Willard’s phone rings…]
“George, I told you not to call me until it’s done.”
“Sir, it’s urgent. Rachel’s body is missing from the postmortem room.”
“What? How could this be possible?”
“I don’t know Sir, we have checked all over and spoken to the guards, nobody has any clue about it.”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“Olivia, I have some urgent work. Got to go, see you tomorrow.”
Mr. Willard was sure that he had almost caught the killer while investigating Olivia, now there was another twist in the tale. Which has put him in a state of bewilderment. Throughout his way, he kept thinking.
Among the two major suspects, Roger is in custody, Olivia has been with me since yesterday. Then who messed up with the dead body? Who could be this third-person escaping my eyes?
On arriving at the hospital, Mr. Willard rushes to see George and finds out he’s not there. Rachel’s body was in the mortuary, under examination. He immediately calls George and gets to know he has been at work for the past three hours and his phone was at home.
Mr. Willard’s phone beeps, it’s a message. “She was a threat, she had to die.” An image is attached with it of dead Olivia.
Mr. Willard froze for a moment and the ground slipped beneath his feet.
Meanwhile, the postmortem reports have come which state that Rachel died by drowning in the bathtub as a post effect of a drug found in her body that might have had made her unconscious. In his mind sharp as a steel trap, Mr. Willard started to analyze.
The killer had replaced opioids with her medicinal drugs that she had been taking for a while. So it was a slow death that didn’t require gunshots or knives, not even the presence of a killer.
26 hours before her death Rachel went to a drugstore along with Olivia, this is when the plan was commenced. Rachel’s medicines were exchanged with intoxicants. The phones were exchanged as well, and then on the night of her death, a voice note was sent to the police from Rachel’s number.
Rachel was already dealing with mental exhaustion due to her disturbed married life to have paid attention to anything happening around her.
That night after a heated argument with Roger she went to cool down herself and lay in the bathtub. The effect of those drugs got so high that she fainted and drowned in the water.
“Whoever this person is behind Rachel’s death is not far away from my eyes. The fake call made from George’s phone would lead me to this anonymous criminal.”
He immediately got inside his car and drove on towards the final destination.
No matter how smart a killer might act, he in the end falls into his trap.
Mr. Willard reached the office and called out George.
“Yes Sir, is everything alright?”
“George, who was the last person you met today before entering the office and the last time you used your phone?”
“My driver, he dropped me here today. Later, my wife called and informed me that I had forgotten my phone in the car which the driver had brought back home and given to her.”
“What’s his name?”
“Sam I guess, he’s new. I hired him yesterday.”
“Hurry up! Get inside the car we need to catch him.”
“Can you tell me what’s going on?”
“All you need to know right now is that Sam has something to do with Rachel’s death. He disguised himself as a driver and made a phone call from your number while I was interrogating Olivia. There must be something that she knew about this person which was a threat to him hence, he killed her.”
“What? Olivia died?”
“Yes George, this man Sam has thrown dust in our eyes.”
“Where are we going to find him now?”
“The place where it all started, Birchwood. The only reason a person like Roger Smith could have an enemy is his riches and the killer won’t go anywhere without it.”
On reaching the Birchwood Cottage, Mr. Willard and George were taken aback, on seeing Olivia alive right in front of their eyes. She and Sam were escaping with all the money. They too were thunderstruck on seeing Mr. Willard.
“Everything was well planned I must say. I almost believed it, that fake call and then the fake message. Would you like to say anything, Miss Olivia?”
In her final statement, everything Olivia had to say was, “Yes, Yes, Yes… I killed Rachel. The day they both married, revenge became my only obsession. I destroyed Roger’s business, I created the differences, I convinced Rachel for divorce, I sent the voice note from her number. I created all these pieces of evidence to prove Roger the culprit and Sam have helped me get through it. We would have already escaped to Florence with all this money if you had not come into my life playing William. Sam had been stalking you and when he got to know you were not William but detective Willard who was half close to the truth. He started to distract you.
We thought you’ll never be able to find any evidence to find Sam and believing that I am dead you’ll close the case.”
Mr. Willard smirked, curling up his mustache, and broadening his chest, said in an uplifted voice, “it’s just your idiocy that made you believe so, Miss Olivia. No criminal has ever escaped from my eyes. You shall take note of it.”
“Officer, I request you to let Sam go, as he has only been trying to protect me and has nothing to do with Rachel’s murder. He is not a criminal.”
“It is not your duty to decide who is a criminal and who is not. Sam has tried to help you in a crime, which makes him equally responsible for it. Moreover, he has been dealing drugs and has tried to fool a police officer and a detective to cover a crime. Sam Miller and Olivia Jones it’s time to surrender.”
Roger was released and Olivia along with Sam was taken into custody. He was shocked to know the truth. Though he knew that she was never happy seeing Rachel and him together but never had imagined that she would cross every limit to destroy them.
Roger Smith was back to work rebuilding his business. But he wasn’t the same cheerful person. He knew he could compensate through every loss and get his business going on the success track again. But one loss he could never overcome was the love of his life.
However, he was not that alone as the symbol of their love Rhea has now grown up. She was taken away by her grandparents when problems between Roger and Rachel started, she was 3 then, and now has come back to stay with her father.
Dear Rachel,
Rhea has turned 18 today. She looks so grown-up and can’t believe that time has passed too soon.
She is wearing your fuchsia silk gown and you would be glad to know that she looks exactly like you, her eyes, smile, hair, the way she moves around and talks.
I can see her from my window right now standing under the same cherry blossom with her boyfriend.
Yes, she has a boyfriend. Our little girl has indeed grown up. She introduced me to him today, he is a nice gentleman.
Now, I’ll take a leave. She must be waiting for me to cut her birthday cake.
With love, Roger.
