Chapter 14

Davis's house was located four cottages down from the Rhinerts and was a small white building, much smaller than the Mabels' place. It had a long gravel driveway that had a small red Mini Cooper parked at the end of it and only a small turf of grass lay beside the house. There was a large red garage beside the house that completely stood out, but Lucifer told the detectives that it was so cluttered in that garage you could hardly find your way out, that's why the Mini was parked outside.

The house had a small brown roof with a satellite antenna sticking out from it and as Mark walked through the white screen door and into the cottage, he was soon hit with a large smell of fresh lemons and saw bright coloured air fresheners all over the walls. The air fresheners he found to be pretty ironic since the house looked the opposite from clean.

There was a small black metal table with matching metal black chairs that was close to a small dirty window and a front door when you entered the house. The table and chairs was chipped all over so you could see little blotches of white sticking out everywhere. To the left of the table, was a small kitchen with no door that was painted yellow and was chipped all over just like the table. It looked it was about to fall down. There was a counter full of dirty dishes, more than at the Mabels, and Mark could see a few bugs flying around and buzzing into the overhead light that had been turned on. A fridge sat beside the counter with a small stove across from it and the fridge hummed so loudly that Mark wondered how Davis went to sleep at night. There was a worn out blue couch that looked like it had been torn to shreds by bears, sitting in what Mark assumed was the living room, close to a small fireplace. Against the wall, close to the black table, was a large bookshelf that was cluttered with books on each shelf.

From the state of the place, Mark couldn't believe how Davis could live here but also knew that he had seen houses that were in states far worth than this one.

Davis looked pretty embarrassed as everyone walked into his house so he ran up the large white staircase behind the wall of the kitchen saying he was changing out of his jogging clothes. 

The men sat down in the metal chairs beside the table and there was just enough chairs for all of them including Davis.

"Shall I get anyone a drink?" asked Lucifer, as if he was the host and owned this broken down house.

Larry didn't want anything but Mark and Francis asked for two beers and Lucifer came back holding two cold beer glasses with the foamy yellow liquid inside and handed one to Mark and Francis. He then dashed back into the kitchen and came back with another cold glass of beer for himself. The four of them had to squeeze pretty close together so they could all have access to the table.

In about ten minutes, Davis came thumping down the stairs wearing a white T-shirt, green corduroys, and grey slippers.

"Would you care for anything Davis?" asked Lucifer, as Davis sat down.

"I'm fine," he declined.

"Suit yourself," said Lucifer has he took a sip of his beer. "It's Keiths by the way," said Lucifer to Mark and Francis, meaning that he had poured Alexander Keiths beer.

"I don't mind," said Mark, as he took a sip of the ice cold liquid and let it run down his throat.

"Neither do I," said Francis, as he took a sip as well.

Soon his beard was covered with a bit of foam from the beer.

The men were silent, as beers were sipped until Lucifer broke it with,

"So detectives, how long do you think it'll take you to solve this case?"

Mark and Francis shrugged as they placed their beers down on the table.

"We just need enough evidence to arrest someone. So far, we have nothing," said Francis.

"Where's your bathroom, Davis?" asked Mark abruptly.

"Down the hall and to the right of the living room," said Davis, as Mark thanked him and got out of his seat.

Francis stared at Mark as he headed towards the bathroom.

When Mark arrived at the large white bathroom door he noticed that to the right of him was Davis's bedroom. The blue door leading to the room was closed and there was a long wall that extended towards the living room, so no one could see if Mark had even entered the bathroom. Mark turned the golden knob of the bedroom door slowly to not disturb anyone sitting back at the table, he was thankful that it was unlocked.

Once the door was silently opened, Mark was hit with another strong scent of lemons and noticed more air fresheners covered the wall.

There was not much in Davis's bedroom except for a small bed with red sheets and across from it along with a small chest of drawers, and a night table.

The night table was what caught Mark's eye. There sat a yellow vase of red roses and on the bed lying face down, was Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. A large closed green suitcase lay at the foot of the bed, as if trying to be hidden from view. Mark smiled, delighted with what he saw. Now he knew that instead of a love triangle there had been a love square going on between Sandra, Lucifer, Bill, and Davis. He knew that Sandra had also had an affair with Davis, but Mark wondered if Lucifer was innocent and Davis had killed Sandra because he thought that if Lucifer was the killer he would have killed his brother as well. Mark wished he knew where that gun was.

As Mark quietly closed the bedroom door and headed back towards the table, he found Francis only sitting there drinking his beer.

"Where'd the rest go?" asked Mark, curious as he sat down beside Francis.

"Lucifer wanted to talk to his brother about something and of course the lawyer followed along. I think your double alibi is making more and more sense," said Francis, as he set his glass on the table. "Don't worry I'm watching them."

Francis pointed out the screen door where Lucifer was talking to his brother, with Larry close by. They were very close to the dirt road, so it was very hard to see them, but the detectives knew that if any one of them disappeared, they'd be dashing outside.

"I think I'm wrong about that theory," said Mark, as he took his glass and took another sip of his beer. "I was just in Davis's room."

"What did you find?"

"The same three pieces of evidence we found in the Rhinert's and the Burke's place along with another suitcase."

"Jesus, Mrs. Rhinert had a double affair?"

"Sure looks like it."

"Well then, you'd think that if Rhinert knew about Davis, he would've killed him."

"Exactly."

"Or maybe he never knew."

"That could be or Davis found out about Sandra cheating on him, so he killed her."

"That could be a possibility. Damn it, if only we could find that gun."

"We can't search this place, who knows when they'll come back and they can clearly see us from outside."

"Wouldn't matter anyway. You won't find a gun in this mess."

Mark nodded as he took a sip of his beer. That's when he saw the door open and Lucifer, Davis, and Larry walked into the house.

"So that's why," said Davis, as he took the lit cigarette from his lips and butted it out in the small ashtray in the kitchen.

Mark knew who had killed Sandra.