Free Justification for Murder by Elin Barnes

take in all of the information and wondering if there was anything else he wanted to write or thought he should. Nothing came to mind. He felt green doing this exercise, as if he were back in school taking a test he hadn’t prepared for. The initial feelings of enthusiasm he had felt by writing all of this down died instantly when he realized he still had nothing.
    Darcy reread the entire file but didn’t find anything else worth noting. He then moved on to Jacqueline Pritchard. He pinned her DMV picture. She hadn’t been a very attractive woman, but she looked kind. Her wiry silver bob accentuated her round face and crooked teeth. There were smile lines around her eyes and mouth. She was an elementary school teacher. She lived alone and would have retired in a couple years. She had a cat.
    “Saffron has a cat,” he said to himself and wrote “Cat” toward the bottom of the board, under both names.
    He focused on the CSU report. Based on the information from Rachel, the lines must have been punctured anywhere from a few minutes to several hours before the accident. He wrote “Pushpin?” as well.
    He leafed through the file one more time to see if anything else caught his attention. Mrs. Pritchard was divorced, didn’t have children but had a sister living in Arizona. She had been notified at the time of the accident and was making arrangements to come to California to claim the body. He decided to give her a call.
    “Mrs. Hudson, my name is Detective Darcy Lynch. I’m very sorry for your loss,” he said as soon as Jacqueline’s sister answered the phone. “I would like to ask you a few questions about your sister if you have the time.”
    “Hello, Detective. I just arrived in San Jose. I was on my way to my sister’s. Would you like to meet there?”
    “Yes, I’ll come by in thirty minutes.”
    He read the file one more time, just to make sure he had all of the information fresh in his mind, then headed for his car. He decided to take the surface streets to avoid the beginning of rush hour. The journey took him a little longer than he expected, but he managed to be late by only a few minutes. He parked on the street.
    The house was modest but well kept. The grass looked recently mowed. The white trim was bright and contrasted nicely with the red door. Darcy had always liked red doors for some reason.
    He rang the bell and set his sunglasses to the top of his head. The spitting image of Jacqueline Pritchard opened the door. He was surprised, and it must have shown.
    “Yes, I know. People used to think we were twins,” Michelle Hudson said, extending her hand. “I’m actually a year older than my sister.” A shadow of sadness darkened her face. “Detective Lynch, I’m assuming?” When he nodded, she said, “Please, come in.”
    They walked in silence to the kitchen, where she poured two generous cups of tea without asking him if he wanted any. Then she motioned for them to go to the living room. It was spacious and bright. Two large bay windows faced the backyard. A young plum tree provided a bit of shade for the tomato bushes.
    “We can go to the patio if you want. I always forget that it’s often nicer outside than inside in California. That’s rarely the case in Arizona. Too hot.”
    They went to the back and sat on two comfortable lounge chairs. The light breeze made the afternoon pleasant and fresh with fruit tree scents.
    “Were you two close?” Darcy asked.
    “Yes. We’d always been. It was a really hard decision for me to move to Arizona, but Jackie had just got married and my job offered me a good package if I relocated. We talked every week. I knew something was wrong when I called her last Sunday and I couldn’t reach her. By Monday I was not surprised when the police called me to tell me that she had been in a fatal accident.”
    He nodded. “Did she have a good marriage?”
    “For the most part. Ron was a nice man.”
    “Why did it end?” He took a sip of the tea. It was