Chapter 2: The Funeral (Part 1)

"I'm sorry for your loss Mr. Maxim" the chief said grabbing Mr. Maxim's hand. Mr. Maxim nodded in return. "I honestly hoped that I would never have to look at your ugly face again Mr. Gilbert" he replied, which would have come out humorous if it weren't a funeral.

The chief patted his back, "yeah me neither" he replied.

Funerals always had a sombre atmosphere. I looked around observing the shallow and ghostly look on the Maxims faces. Mr. and Mrs. Maxim had both grown old, white streaks of hair touched Mrs. Maxims face and she would occasionally brush it aside along with her trickling tears. Their son, Samuel Maxim, stood next to his father. He was quite tall and had a slender figure. He seemed around my age about 28 years old. He looked as if he could be a model in a fashion magazine. The sister on the other hand, Emma Maxim, was also a walking beauty. She had a petite figure. She had to be around 24 years old at most. But the aura coming from the siblings was completely different. Samuel, had a dominant and composed look on his face, while Emma had a nervous and timid look. Occasionally she would end up crying alongside her mother, who now seemed to be looking into a distance, her eyes vacant.

I could tell interrogating this family was going to be tough. I tried to approach Samuel countless times but he would only glare at me and refuse to even talk to me. But Emma would occasionally talk to me. She asked me delay my interrogation till after the funeral. She even suggested that she would show me Sally's room. I agreed to remain quite for the rest of the funeral.

Instead I looked around to observe the people around me. A lot more people came then I had expected. For a moment I thought I saw someone I knew but the person vanished as soon as I tried to check again. Odd. I only came to this town a few months ago. It might've been my imagination.

A boy who had been weeping ever since they brought out the body had already caught my attention. I found out that his name was Daniel Simson, he was the last person who had met up with Sally. It seems that he had been asking Sally out for quite a while and this was the first time she had agreed to spend some time with him. I felt I could empathize with the boy but he was still under suspicion. I decided not to interrogate him for now.