▌Chapter 4 ─ At The Center ▌

      ━━━━━ AFTER IRIS AND Marta walked back into the house, Elliott, Wagner, and Benoit sat outside still talking. Elliott sat down on the chair across from Benoit.

"You have been very patient, my friend. And yes, you are right. None of these weak alibis and domestic squibbles answer your question... "Why is Benoit Blanc here?" Well, now I will tell you why. I'm here because this mornin', someone dodged a very important question." Benoit said as Wagner walked over to them.

"Who?" Elliott questioned him. Benoit pulled the cigar away from his lips, "me. Linda asked who hired me." Benoit informed them.

"Well, who hired you?" Elliott asked him.

Benoit shook his head moving his hand to the side slightly, "I do not know. An envelope of cash showed up at my apartment yesterday with a news clippn' of Thrombey's death." Benoit told them.

"An envelope? That worked?" Wagner asked him, disbelief resting on his face.

Benoit gasped, lifting his fingers to show what the envelope looked like. "An envelope of cash. So somebody suspects foul play and goes through this ha cha dance of hiring me, of staying anonymous. It makes no damn sense. Compels me, though." Benoit paused, thinking for a brief moment. "Walk me through everyone's whereabouts at the time of death." Benoit said, moving the cigar up to his lips.

Elliott leaned back pulling his notepad out of his pocket, moving forward he flipped it over. "We know that the party ended around 11:30. Marta took Harlan upstairs to give him his meds. Iris went up there with them. The stairs leading up to Harlan's bedroom and his attic office creak horribly and Linda is a light sleeper. So we know every time someone took the stairs that night. The first was when Joni heard a ka-thunk from somewhere above her in the house. She's concerned about Harlan, so she goes up to investigate... Waking Linda. Harlan was in his attic office with Marta and Iris. He explained that they had just knocked over the Go board. You know, that game with the grid and stones?" Elliott questioned, staring at Benoit.

"They play it every night, and sometimes Iris joins them. He was fine. "Go to bed." So she did. Ten minutes later, Linda is awoken a second time... By Marta leaving. Iris walked her outside, Walt was smokin' a cigar on the porch with his son. He saw her leave and drive off, Iris stayed outside until Marta was in her car. Noted the time. Midnight. Iris turned in for the night shortly after Marta left. Fifteen minutes later, Linda is awoken for the third and final time... By someone coming down the stairs. Harlan, who came down for a midnight snack. Which Walt tried to discourage. Based on this, the medical examiner determined the time of death to be between 12:15 and 2:00 a.m." Elliott continued.

"As Walt was finishing his cigar at about 12:30, Meg came home. She went straight to bed. Walt and Jacob turned in shortly after that. And sometime later that night, it's undetermined, but possibly near 3:00 a.m., Meg woke up because the dogs were barking outside. She used the bathroom, ran into Iris who was awake. She mentioned that Iris had been throwing up and had still been waiting for Fred's return even though they had a fight. That's it. All right?" Elliott told him, shoving his notepad back into his pocket. "Now, everyone's stories matched, every moment accounted for." Elliott added leaning back into the chair.

"And there is no other staircase up to Harlan's room?" Benoit questioned the two men.

Elliott shook his head, "none. Just the creaky one." He responded.

"So, uh, we know that Ransom didn't do it because he wasn't there. From what the rest of the family said Fred couldn't have done it because he and Iris had a fight. Marta couldn't have. Harlan was still alive when she left. Meg... Meg came home during the window of the time of death, right?" Wagner questioned looking between the two.

"Now look, look, it was a... Except it was a suicide, all right? Harlan slit right through his carotid. We saw from the blood splat patterns that they were uninterrupted, meaning, it's almost impossible for anyone to have been around him at the time. He's the one who cut his own throat, all right? I don't know why we keep goin' over this." Elliott said.

"Physical evidence can tell a clear story with a forked tongue." Benoit replied, clearly confusing Elliott and Wagner.

"What?" Elliott questioned him.

"And as we can see from this mornin', everyone can lie." The thunder rumbled in the background causing Benoit to pause. "Well, almost everyone." Benoit said.

After their conversation the three entered back into the house and they looked at Iris, who sat next to Marta. "We'd like to talk to Miss Drysdale first." Benoit said walking back into the room where they had spent a good amount of time questioning Iris's other family.

Iris gave a look to Marta, she picked herself up following behind them into the room. They closed the door behind her and Iris walked over to the chair sitting in front of the knives.

"Miss Drysdale, we kept you and Miss Cabrera waiting, because your piece and her piece are at the very center. What exactly happened between you and your fiancé, Fred?" Benoit questioned.

Iris gulped, suddenly she was filled with anxiety and in return she closed her palms and started to press down into her skin. Benoit seemed to notice this, and he assumed that the argument that the two had, wasn't a good argument.

"Ugh, a few months ago I went to my grandfather because I suspected that everyone in the family was doing something they weren't supposed to be doing. I even suspected Fred, I had for a while." Iris began to explain.

She knew that she would tell them everything they wanted to hear but she would find a way to protect herself and Marta.

"What was Fred doing that you weren't sure of?" Elliott proceeded to question her.

"A few weeks after we got engaged my lawyers called me and told me that someone was taking money from the company. And I had to find the person doing so and fire them. From that moment on I thought it was Fred, and soon after other things with the family started to happen. So, I made the only logical move that would work in my interest. I went to my grandfather and told him I had a game for him to play. You see, our game was along the lines of cops and robbers." Iris said.

She seemed to calm down a little but she was still pressing her nails into her palms. Even though she was with Fred her heart pulled towards someone else. The brunette wanted a good reason to get out of that relationship.

"Cops and robbers?" Wagner questioned, confused by the name.

"It was a way to help him with his ideas, but it also helped me with my make-up ideas. We'd give each other evidence for a case and we'd find the clues or prepare the necessary clues to answer the main question. I went to him because I wanted to know the truth about my family and my fiance. I wanted to know whether he was using me or whether he actually loved me." Iris continued to explain, looking down at her palms.

"And what evidence did your grandfather find?" Benoit asked her. She sighed knowing that things would get worse if she said too much.

"Fred was stealing from me and my company, every month he would take a certain amount out. I worked so hard to build my company up from the ground. When my grandfather offered to help me pay for college, and start my company I told him no because all my life I had known what it was like to have money and for once in my life I finally had a chance to see what it was like to barely have money and start a company. And because of that with my money I paid off my own debts. And then a few years after my make-up company became something, I met a man named Fred and we started dating and the next thing I know I'm engaged." Iris told them, looking at the three as she told them almost everything.

"After finding out that Fred was taking money from me I confronted him, and it just happened to be in front of my grandfather as he pulled us into his room at his party. He wanted me to put my foot down, he just wanted me to be happy because he knew I loved someone else. And the only way I could be with them is if I confronted Fred. But of course he denied everything." Iris said, pressing a little harder into her palm. "After he left I thought I wanted him to come back to me but the truth is I don't. I hate him, it makes me feel a certain way and I don't like it."

"If it was possible do you think he could have committed a much larger crime?" Benoit asked her.

"No, I don't think he could but I wouldn't be surprised." Iris replied.