Chapter 4 - investigation part three

“Let’s have a break, Mr. Brown. As you hear, my gut needs some food. I’m hungry. Where shall we go? I like Mexican food – you too?” He nods. So he drove us to a restaurant nearby.
We take a seat and I really feel hungry after all. So I order a large beer, a nacho plate and as main menu a burrito plate. I demolish the nachos easily and when the service brings the burrito plate, my heart beats higher. This burrito plate is just the way I like best: covered with guacamole and sour cream next to a mound of beans and rice with melted cheese on everything. I begin to dig in. Mr. Brown watches me in awe. He himself has a beer, a salad and some nachos. While eating we didn’t speak a word. I am focused on the meal and enjoy every bite. When I glance at him, I thought ‘poor boy, he can’t enjoy the meal’. When we were done, I pay for us. Afterwards he drove us to the park and we walked a bit. This helps me to settle and to digest the meal. I didn’t feel full, not at all, but for the moment it was enough.
After a while at about 2 p.m., I ask him who’s next. Now, he drove us to the American delivery service.

We meet Harry Stone in the storeroom. A tall and strong man greets us. He is the son of the owner, but his dad is ill so that he has to manage everything. He tells us, that he delivered at about 3.30 p.m. Mr. White opened the door and greeted him friendly. He gave him the bag with all the various burgers and fries. Mr. White paid for it and then he drove away. He didn’t enter the room. I ask him to come on Monday morning to sign his statement. And to Constable Brown I said he should treat him like all others.

Our last suspect works at a Mexican delivery service. We meet him in his flat. Today he is off work. He is a good-looking young man. “At about 7.30 p.m. I delivered the food. Mr. White called me to come in. The door wasn’t locked. I found Mr. White lying on the couch naked just dressed with his boxer shorts and his socks. His tremendous ball stuck far out and seemed to be rock hard and well fed. He asked me to put everything on the table. I had to clean it first. I left all the Mexican food on the table. He gave me his wallet and I took the money to pay the bill. When I was about to leave he asked me for a favor. I should stay for a while and feed him or help him to digest. I understood his wish, but I was in a hurry. Other customers were waiting. However, I did him a favor. I took one of the two glasses, filled it with Coke and handed it to him. Then I left. Did I something wrong?”
“No, no Mr. Rodriguez. Everything is okay. Yesterday, the housekeeping found him dead. So we question any person who saw or spoke him alive.”
“Okay, I see. When I left him, he was alive. I don’t know what happened later on.”
“Well, I know. Please come on Monday to our bureau to sign your statement.”
“That’s okay, Inspector. I will come.”
Outside the flat, I told Constable Brown to treat him like all others. Meanwhile, it was teatime and I needed a break. Questioning people, driving around and digesting a good meal made me tired. I said good-bye to Mr. Brown. On Sunday, we are off work, so he should enjoy the time.

But a call right now changed everything. The office tells us the address of the widow. It is our duty to inform her right now and to question her about her husband. When we arrived, we stand in front of a nice terraced house. Mrs. White opens the door and I introduce ourselves. She is astonished and leads us to the living room. We seated on the sofa and she offers us tea and serves it with some cookies after a couple of minutes. Then she looks curiously and wants to know why we are here.
“Mrs. White, I’m sorry to tell you that your husband is dead. I don’t know yet if it was an accident or something else. But I’m sure we will find out.”
Mrs. White is speechless. Her mouth is wide open and her eyes bulk out. She is shocked. Then she lit a cigarette (Lucky Strike) and her hands tremble.
“How do you know? He’s on a business trip and will return tomorrow morning.”
“No, Mrs. White. The housekeeping of a Motel outside the town found him dead. And as far as we know now he wasn’t on a business trip.”
“He is on a business trip. He told me. He wouldn’t lie to me.” She pulled nervously at her cigarette.
“I’m so sorry, Mrs. White. Please believe me. He’s dead and I ask you to go to the morgue and identify him on Monday morning.” Now she broke down and cried out load. At this moment, there was nothing we could do. Just wait until she calmed down.
“How did it happen, Inspector?”
“I’m not sure yet. We found him surround be an immense amount of boxes from different delivery services. As far as we know, he had eaten up every box. His belly ballooned and maybe he ate too much”
“He was always a good eater. I disliked that. It is disgusting. I often told him to diet, but he denied it all the time. I called him names. I threatened to leave him. I threatened him with the divorce. I did everything to stop this madness. But without success. He was so awful and terribly fat. We had to buy new furniture and new clothes due to his increasing weight. We still love each other but I hated his weight and his habit to eat and to eat more. I had always an awful lot of cooking and dishwashing. We don’t have a dishwasher.”
I was a bit shocked about her strong feelings and a look to Constable Brown showed me that he was shocked as well. I thought it's the best to change the theme, so I ask her about his career.
“He works in a bank. Sitting around. He is responsible for all computers and for the network. Don’t ask me more because I don’t understand much of computers and all this kind of stuff. He won’t return, will he?”
“I’m sorry, Mam, I’m so sorry. When did he leave?”
“He left the house after lunch, maybe between one and two o’clock.”
“What did you do, when he left the house?”
“I phoned up some friends and later on I watched TV until I went to bed. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, that’s a bad habit of mine. I’m just curious. By the way, if you’ll come Monday morning to identify your husband than drop into our office to sign your statement. Will you do that?”
“I don’t understand why, but if it’s necessary – of course I will.” We left the house and the sad widow. Now, I was really tired and exhausted. So I left Constable Brown without hesitation.
“See you on Monday!”

(to be continued)