“All of a sudden there was loud bang, so I ran into the room. It was very late and everyone had gone to bed except Ella and me. Everyone in the house rushed downstairs to see why I was screaming, but apparently when they got there, I passed out. Before I passed out, they said I pointed to something on the floor, and when they looked, they saw Ella, lying there dead, with a gun about ten feet away.”
This was what I told Detective Hans Bierhals when he asked me what happened. The detective was averagely tall and had blue eyes, blonde hair, and a slight German accent.
“Interesting…” he responded. “Can you tell me what the relationship was like between your wife and her in-laws?”
“Ella loved my family, but she was always nervous around them because they always acted like they didn’t like her.”
“Why would nt they like her?” pressed the detective.
“My parents didn’t dislike her, but they always wanted me to marry someone else. It was a bit of a disappointment to them when I married Ella,” I said.
“Go on,” prompted the detective.
“My twin brother, Ethan, didn’t like her because she broke up with him in high school. He never really forgave her.”
“An ex…” observed the detective. “What about your sister?”
“Hannah?” I asked, surprised. “Hannah liked Ella. The two of them always got along. When we got engaged, they became really close.”
“I think that will be all of the questions I need for today,” said Detective Bierhals.
After that, he took each of my family members into the room one by one. When he was done, he said goodbye, but told us that he would be back in the morning to report his findings. Then he slammed the door and left.

The next day, he came back with not much more information. Anything he had was ‘highly classified’.
“Can’t you just tell me who the current lead is?” I begged. He looked at me warily.
“Right now, all signs are pointing to Ethan,” he said. “He has the motive and according to his friends, he took the breakup really hard, even though it was a long time ago.”
“Still, Ethan was never the extreme type. Murder just doesn’t sound like him.”
“Like I said, it’s just a lead. How about we go to the casino tonight to discuss it. I’m a regular there.”
“Sure,” I said. I really needed something to take my mind off of everything.
That night we met at the casino just a few minutes from the house. It was very big, and I had only been to a few casinos before since I’m not much of a gambler. Apparently, Detective Bierhals was. He won tons of money, but he never cracked a smile until we were leaving when all of a sudden, he started to grin.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said quickly, “I’ll see you tomorrow,”
“Ok, bye,” I responded, and then we left.

The next morning, Detective Bierhals came in looking very smug. I wondered what he was hiding underneath his grin, but he wouldn’t tell anyone until he had the whole family together. Once everyone was gathered, he explained.
“This case was a difficult one,” he began, “There was no proof at the scene of the crime except for a fingerprintless gun and a bunch of people who all had a motive and opportunity.” He paused, looked around, then turned to my mom. “You said that you give Hannah money to pay for college, correct?”
“Yes,” she answered.
“And what college does she go to?”
“Princeton,”
“Interesting. She told me it was a community college near here that no one really knows about.” We all looked at Hannah. “I knew one of you was lying, so I talked to all of the nearest community colleges. None of them had heard of Hannah so I then looked at Princeton. They said that Hannah had unenrolled at the beginning of this semester, which confused me, but then I remembered that your parents paid for your school. Money is one of the most common motives for murder. So what were you using it for that you didn’t want anyone to know about? The next day, Liam and I went to the casino together and I saw you there. That’s when it all made sense. You squandered your college money on gambling and didn’t want anyone to know. So when Ella found out and wanted to tell your parents to help you, you freaked out and killed her.”
“I can’t believe you would accuse me of this,” Hannah said, “I would never kill someone even if I didn’t want anyone to find out my secret. Plus, you don’t have any proof.”
“Actually, I do have proof,” he said, “You know that not too long ago, you all had to take a forensic test. You didn’t know it, but we found a crucial piece of evidence- an unsigned note in Ella’s purse. The note wasn’t very long, but it was telling Ella that if she didn’t swear that she wouldn’t tell someone’s secret that someone was going to make sure she wouldn’t tell it. When you all took the test, it matched Hannah’s handwriting perfectly. At first, I thought it had been planted since Hannah didn’t have the motive, but, then, as I kept investigating, it all fell into place. It was Hannah who murdered Ella,” he said.
Hannah tried to object, but then two policemen came from the other room to arrest her. “I didn’t do it!” She cried.
After she was taken away, Detective Bierhals came over to me and shook my hand.
“I’m sorry for your loss.” he said, “I hope you feel better knowing that she has been caught.” And with that, he left.
We were all still in shock so everyone went up to their rooms to process. Once everyone left, I started laughing. I couldn’t believe I had actually gotten away with