Mystery story

Let me hear it from the beginning ' said Inspector Dulles , as he scanned the forensic evidence before him : a Glock 17 , with one bullet fired fingerprints on the handgun showing those of the victim , Robert Green , 52 the medico-legal report showing the victim had succumbed to irreversible shock due to gunshot wound on the frontal region . On the other seat was the victim 's widow , Laura Green , 32 . She wore a black dress and high-heeled shoes . But her eyes were like a hawk 's , cold and piercing and fathomless

My husband arrived

on the usual hour ' she said , as if dictating to a stenographer . He took a shower , changed clothes , and settled down before the TV set with a glass of Jack Daniels . He refused to eat when I told him dinner was set . At about eight he went inside his study and I followed . He was incoherent , like he was angry with himself or something . Finally he took out his pistol from a drawer and shot himself ' Mrs . Green stopped as if collecting her thoughts , but she was motionless as a statue . I called 911 . Then you came

Pardon me for being blunt ' Dulles said , sipping from a glass of cold water , but I gather Mr . Green has been seen around with another woman ' Dulles said

Mrs . Green assumed a pained expression , but said nothing . Do you quarrel about such things ' pursued the detective

No ' said the woman . He knew I would disapprove , so he had tried to keep it a secret . But I have ways of knowing

Did you spy on him

The woman shrugged and pursed her lips

Dulles silently put down his glass . He liked interrogating suspects who flinched and cowered , but he could not penetrate this one . He has to try harder . So you found out , one way or another , and plotted your revenge (No response . But you made sure all his insurance policies were good and to your name just in case something happened (still no response . And you kept nagging at him , humiliating him in the eyes of people , making his life miserable , until he thought of filing for divorce (Dulles thought he saw a gleam in the widow 's eyes . But you threatened to shame him by revealing all about all his philandering and kinky affairs if he persisted , and he became desperate and mad (Here the widow 's eyes slowly shifted from gazing into emptiness , like a machine gun turning on its swivels to aim at a new target : the eyes of Inspector Dulles . He found it disturbing to look at it squarely , but he could not now stop . Then you pestered him no end until he could take no more and so he took his own life

No

Inspector Dulles dodged as if to ward off a blow at the same time he heard the sound of shattering glass . Turning to look , he saw tiny shards of what remained of his glass of water on the floor . He turned to...