Five
Alex and Megan were sat on the veranda together, heads close whispering when Florence and Humphrey arrived back at the villa. "Hi Alex. Megan," Humphrey said. They looked up and Megan smiled in their general direction.
"Hey. Can we get you anything to eat or drink?" she asked. "Or is this strictly a police work call?"
"Strictly a police call but some lemonade would be lovely Megan," Humphrey said. Megan smiled and rose from her seat. She placed a hand on the table to guide herself to the wall of the villa so she could head inside.
Once out of ear shot, Humphrey and Florence sat down at the table. "How can we help?" Alex asked politely.
"We want to talk to you about your whereabouts during the afternoon, if you don't mind of course?" Florence said.
"Not at all. I want to help Uncle H to find Alice's killer the same as the rest of us," Alex said as Megan appeared at the door with the lemonade.
"Do you want to do this with your sister or…?" Humphrey asked.
"Megan and I talk about everything. We're twins," Alex stated. "Whatever gets discussed here I would share with her anyway," he added. Alex took the jug out of Megan's hands and she found an empty seat and sat down.
"Ok. We need to know you're exact whereabouts from 12:25 and 1:48pm," Florence stated.
Alex took a sip of lemonade and stared at his uncle. "At 12:25 I was in the living room with the boys. I went into the kitchen about 12:35ish to see if Megan was alright and needed any help. She asked me to wash up the meat knife and put it on the side of the counter for her, which I did. I left about 12:37ish and went to the bathroom. I returned to the boys at 12:41. It said so on the bottom of the screen of the programme we were watching. I then went to the toilet again at about 1:15ish and was back in the living room by 1:20. I then stayed there until I went to get Alice at 1:48pm."
Megan frowned. "Are you suggesting that Alex murdered her?" Megan asked.
"Meg, leave it," Alex warned. "Its their job they have to check everything. I had the opportunity they have to check it," Alex said. "I never went into Alice's room before I found her dead. I swear," he said.
Florence inclined her head. "Did you ever feel put out by Alice? For what she'd done to your sister or had she been hiding something from you?" Florence enquired.
Alex took a deep breath. "We broke up soon after the incident in Brazil. I was furious she could hurt my sister like that. But we reconciled about a year later. If my sister doesn't hold a grudge why should I?"
Humphrey looked at Megan. "Megan? Do you have any issues with Alice?" he asked.
"I punched her in school when we got back after Brazil but that was 10 years ago. I'm over it. In fact she's done me a favour. My other senses have heightened," Megan explained shrugging.
"Thank you. We might be back," Florence said as he phone began to ring. She looked at the caller. "Fidel?" she asked. There was a pause. "Ok, we are on our way," she hung up. She turned to look at Humphrey. "We need to see the forensics apparently."
They both stood. "See you later. If you come along to Catherine's tonight we can catch up properly," Humphrey said. They let themselves out the villa, not seeing the two brothers as they left. "So what's happened that's so urgent?" Humphrey asked.
"There have been some strange things appear on the forensics report and post-mortem," Florence explained. "And by strange I mean strange," she said getting in the jeep and driving towards the station.
