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    Chapter 12

    tab The next thing I knew, the sound of a police siren is blaring down the street. I turn around. The police come to a screeching halt.
    tab "Freeze!" Two policemen jumped out of the car, and point pistols at us. Yeah, you don't have to tell me twice. I turned back around, dropped the gun, and put my hands up.
    tab "Chad!" A familiar voice rang in my ear. I turned around again. It was John Taylor, the policeman I met when I reported the death of my wife. He walked over to me, and said,
    tab "You can put your hands down now." I put them down.
    tab "What happened here?" he asked. "Who's him? And her?" He pointed to the two frightened figures lying on the ground. I took a deep breath, and started my long explanation. A very long explanation. Very, very long. I explained to him how I was invited to Charles' party. I hesitated to tell him about Elizabeth's body being found in Charles' closet, because Charles had told me not to, but remembered the Charles I saw to today was not the same Charles I saw a week ago, so I ended up spilling the beans. I explained how Charles and I met up here, and Sarah and I nearly got killed. All the while, he picked up the gun on the ground, and started to examine it. When I finished, he was still studying the gun, while saying,
    tab "You still remember the bullet we found, correct?" I nodded.
    tab "Yeah...Did you figure out who it was from?"
    tab "Yes," he answered. "But before I tell you, let me ask you this. Did you find a bullet in your wife's body?" I thought about it. I didn't really see a bullet. But you would have to be really close to puncture all the way through the skull and into the corner of a room.
    tab "Yeah," I said. John smiled and looked over to Charles, who was still lying on the ground, a scowl on his face.
    tab "What happened, Charles?" John teased. "Did you see someone else, and shoot them too?"

    tab I was shocked. That was happening quite frequently.
    tab "No! You mean..." John nodded his head.
    tab "The bullet we found in your room belonged to Charles' gun." He held up the gun that was still in his hand, and emptied the barrel.
    tab "And what do you know," he said, a pile of bullets in his left hand. "There are two missing bullets."
    tab "No!" Charles growled. "I didn't shoot Elizabeth! Why would I shoot her? Besides, I didn't have the oppurtunity to. I was on the phone with her while it all happened." John shrugged, and said,
    tab "That could be easily explained by two simple words: You lied. Being on the phone, I'm sure, was just your alibi." Charles jumped up, and started towards John, his eyebrows slanted and his eyes locked onto him as if he were hunting his prey. The other police grabbed him, struggling to keep him from getting to John.
    tab "You!" he exclaimed as he was handcuffed and dragged into the car. "You will pay! I will never--" The door slammed. John smiled and shook his head.
    tab "Criminals...You gotta admire their cockiness."
    tab "It was--it was Charles?" I said, still dumbfounded.
    tab "I don't see any other alternative," John said as he started for the police car. "He tried to kill you. Probably thought you knew too much information. And the bullets used against your wife definitely came from his gun."
    tab "But--but why would he hide the body in his own house."
    tab "Probably to get suspicion off him. People always expect criminals to frame someone else. So by putting the body in his closet, he made it look as though someone was pointing the finger at him." I had to admit, it all made sense. And yet...there were still too many out of place puzzle pieces to comfirm the whole picture.
    tab "Could I visit him? Ask him some questions?"
    tab "Of course. Whatever you want." And with that, he slammed the car door, and drove off.

    tab Could Charles really have been the murderer? I didn't want to believe it, but that's what it looked like.