100 Ways to Solve a Murder-Chapter 118: The Artist VI

Two Days Later

11 PM, Jackson Detectives Agency

Sam pushed the agency’s door open that evening, dressed in her usual get-up, pants, and a shirt under a coat and her favorite pair of 1460 cherry red doc martens boots. She scanned the place as she entered; the boys were nowhere in sight. Either already left for the day or doing surveillance, it was 11 in the evening after all.

"We’re close!" Levi shouted from his office when he heard the front door ding, signaling someone entering the agency.

Sam continued on her way, knocking on the slightly ajar door on her left.

Levi and Marco both turned to look at her, and she raised her left hand, showing them the Chinese take out in her hand.

"I could leave?" She threatened jokingly. Marco cheered in relief; he was starving.

Then he approached the redhead swiftly, "You are an angel, Sam!" He said, earning a grin from her.

Sam handed Marco the food, and he took it happily and made his way to prepare it on the blond’s work table.

Levi faced the board again, thinking while he stood before it. He took off his jacket hours ago, and both loosened his necktie and folded his sleeves. But his hair remained perfect as always.

Sam approached the psychologist after shrugging her coat and draping it on a chair, and she stood right beside him, looking at the case board. She hadn’t been there in a while; she was busy with her part of the investigation. But now that she had nothing else to do for their current case but to wait on his lead, she came to help in any way she could.

"What’s the craic?" she asked Levi, his eyes remained on the board.

"Nothing. And it’s starting to annoy me." The slicked blonde admitted, then turned to look at her, dismay clear in his hazel eyes.

Sam nodded in understanding, "Let’s eat first, and then we can brainstorm." She suggested, earning a nod from him. And they made their way to the table to grab food and eat.

While chewing their food, Marco turned to Sam. "Levi says, you think this is homicide." He said, earning a nod from Sam. And Marco thought that it must have been really homicide, seeing as the two geniuses both agreed on it. Not once had their findings been wrong when they both decided on it.

"My examination on his hair showed that the poisoning had been ongoing for the past five months. But we found no trace of lead enough to kill someone in his flat or the building." the redhead explained.

"It eliminates the option that it was accidental death. It’s too prolonged, especially considering that Michael Scott’s first attempt on his life a decade ago was through overdosing himself with sleeping pills. An easy route to go. It doesn’t match his psychological pattern." the slicked blond supported.

Marco nodded while chewing his orange chicken,

"My theory is the killer probably wanted to dose him initially but not enough to kill him. An attempt to show that he’d been sick for a long time, thus dying wouldn’t seem suspicious." Levi added.

"He was a 38-year-old man, after all, with no known health issues." Marco thought out loud; they were making perfect sense to him now.

Sam swallowed the last of her food and reached to grab a bottle of water on the table to rinse her throat. "The question now is the motive. Why? What do they gain?" she asked.

Marco furrowed his brows; he’d been thinking the same thing since this afternoon. Since their visit to Leo.

"Insurance money?" he suggested unsurely.

"Payout is little; it’s not it." Levi dismissed easily.

Marco thought for a moment, "Revenge?"

"I thought that too, but so far, based on interviews with the tenants and his family, he never had any noteworthy argument with anyone. But we still haven’t eliminated that possibility." The blond said.

Marco continued to think of a motive, what else does the man own that is valuable? What will the killer gain from him dying?

"His paintings?" he suggested, Levi looked at him like he was stupid. The man was a great artist, but he was nobody in the industry. And they still need to look at those paintings in Leo’s Gallery tomorrow evening. After giving the Scotts a visit in their homes. Diana had called earlier to inform him that her daughter arrived, and they settled to meet tomorrow afternoon.

"The building, that’s valuable?" Marco suggested he was just throwing stuff now, hoping something will stick.

"His last Will states that the building will be given to his sister. But she has an airtight alibi." Levi retorted, he checked.

"Those journals in his flat? Any news?" Sam asked the blond.

Levi shifted to look at her, "Davies’ people are still looking at it, I guess there’s too much data for their brains to handle. It was more than a decade worth of entries after all." he said, then his brows rose for a second, realizing something.

"Unless," he continued, then fished his phone from his pants pocket.

He pressed it against his ear and said, "Davies, bring us the journal from 6 months ago forward. Now." Then he ended the call, not bothering to wait for a response.

Sam turned to the piles of photos in a box next to the table. In it was a pile of pictures of each painting the victim made; she hadn’t seen most of it. It wasn’t her field of expertise, after all.

But slowly she scanned each one, each photo different. She looked at each corner of the painting; each one has a date in the lower right corner. And she slowly grouped it by anywhere six months previous and forward.

"Levi, I’ve noticed this." She said, looking down at the photos of the painting. The slicked blond approached her, looking at her separated pile.

Levi nodded, understanding what she was trying to imply. "His style changed," Levi agreed; he did notice it quite recently too. And the slicked blond decided to analyze the man’s paintings more, especially the one that would be displayed. From what he gathered, Michael chose the seven paintings himself for the gallery.

"Yeah, six months ago, his concept was in a darker shade. Then, five months forward, he used bright colors. Everything is full of life." The redhead said, noting the difference.

"You mentioned something about a gallery?" Sam asked, "Ah yes, Leo, the curator. He said Michael has a few paintings he made recently, claiming it was the man’s best work. But since he died, the painting belongs to the person in his will. He’d have to convince them to go through with the show first, or else he’d have to find other arrangements."

"And who would that be?" Sam asked curiously.

"His ex-girlfriend, Alicia Brown."

Sam raised a brow, "Why her, though?" she asked.

"She was his last girlfriend; she’s married now with two kids. I reckon he was never able to move on even after six years."

"What’s the history between them?" the redhead asked, intrigued.

"Intel said she broke up with him seeing as he didn’t make enough money as an artist. She replaced him with a broker."

"So, I assume there’s no animosity from her side."

"You’re right, and Marco and I will be going to the gallery at 10 PM to see the paintings and meet with her. It would be best if you came," Levi said, earning a nod from her. She was planning on coming from the start.

"This Leo was the same bloke who brought him to the hospital weeks previously?" Sam asked, earning a nod from Marco. "Yeah, he said they were meeting to discuss the show when Michael suddenly felt ill. So, he took him to the hospital." the bearded man said, recalling their conversation with Leo.

They heard the front door ding, and seconds later, they saw Davies walk in, a scowl was present on his face. In his hand was a box; they can only assume the journals.

"Perfect timing, as usual, Davies." The blond greeted the older man casually.

"I can’t stay." the man said, earning a shrug from Levi. He honestly didn’t care. Marco moved to take the box away from the man, thanking him in the process.

"You’re dismissed," Levi said, earning a glare from Davies and an embarrassed smile from Marco. "Thanks again for delivering this Davies." the bearded man said, trying to acknowledge his effort, something his cad of a best friend refused to do.

"Handle the evidence carefully." Davies reminded the group before stepping out of the room.

"Don’t I always?" the blond retorted.

Levi takes the whole box from Marco, then hands it to Sam, "Tell us anything that stands out."

He ordered, earning a raised brow from Sam. Did he just order her? She thought amused at his bossiness.

Marco, on the other hand, stared at Levi like he was crazy. That was a lot of journals; she couldn’t possibly read all of it by herself, he thought.

Gingerhead took it and picked one, then started flipping through it. Earning a curious look from Marco, he had never seen her do that before. What an odd thing to do, he thought.

Not 5 minutes later, Sam paused and showed Levi an entry five months ago, it stated:

’I knew it...and I accepted it.’

Levi furrowed his brows together;

What do you mean, Michael?! he almost cussed out loud in frustration.

Sam continued with the other journals, then finding something amiss three weeks before his death, he made entry the same date as when he was discharged from the hospital.

’I feel it soon. And I accept it.’

Sam’s eyes widened in shock,

He knew!!

He knew who the killer was all along!

But why didn’t he say anything?

Why didn’t he make it all stop???

The tension in her face and jaw Levi took notice of, "What is it?" he asked, taking the journal from her hand before she could answer and reading through it. He raised a brow at her, "He knew all along." he muttered.

That simple entry brought more questions than answers.