A Death Triangle

Violet Simmons (secretary):  

I just wanna start off by saying, yeah, I killed him. Let's just say, he had it comin' to him. As I sit across from this cop in front of me, I ain't worried he will find out. Not a bit. 

"So, Ms. Simmons, I assume you know why you're here," the cop says. 

I nod, but he continues. "We are investigating the murder of Jonathan Howards, your boss. You were on board of a yacht with your entire company of sixty four people when a splash was heard and your boss was found dead in the water below," he states. I nod. 

"We are interviewing everyone on the boat as our standard operating procedure. If you would, please restate your recollection of your night on the boat yesterday."

"Yes, sir," I respond. "As I remember it, everyone was having a grand old time. I drove with my friend Anna and we got there around 9:00." 

I let out a sigh. "I remember when we got the group text about celebrating twenty years of our company and how we were gonna rent a yacht. I was so excited to spend time with my work friends outside of the office." I look down at the marble white floors with a deep frown. "It's just sad that we ain't gonna remember that night as something fun," I say, looking back up at the cop.

The cop breaks his stare from me and looks down in his lap. I see him startin' to write somethin'. Probably notes. "Indeed," he states, looking back up. "Please, continue." 

I tuck my hair behind my ears and keep talkin'.

"Well, when Anna and I got down there, the music was already kickin'. You hadda almost holler to be heard. We got drinks first. I had a couple margaritas from the bar on the first deck. Anna and I met up with some of our other coworkers and we chatted at the bar. The music wasn't as loud on the first deck because the DJ was on the second deck." 

"Anyways, after drinks, my friends and I went up stairs to the second deck and we danced the night away. It was all kinda a blur to be honest. Up until the incident. I will probably remember that moment forever," I say, with fake heartache. 

The cop leans forward in his chair. "Tell me more," he says. 

"Well, as I was dancing with my friends, we all heard a holler. I don't know who spotted Jonathan in the water first but after that, we all stopped dancing. Some of my coworkers were grouped up at the side of the boat lookin' at the water," I state. 

"Everyone was curious to see what was happenin'. So, we all sauntered over to the edge and looked down and saw Jonathan, floating dead near the boat." Fake tears fall from my face so I pull out a tissue from my pocket. 

"Sorry, it was justa really scary moment," I say, wiping the droplets off my face. 

"I'm sorry. That must have been difficult experiencing that," the cop responds.

"Oh, it was," I say, sniffling. "Well, after that, someone called the police and we were all shoved off the boat to go home. It was a very traumatic experience," I finish. 

The cop continues to write down things on his note paper after I finish. Once he's done, he stands up and walks towards the door. 

"Thank you, Ms. Simmons, for sharing your experience of that night. We will be in contact if we need more information," he states. Just as he is about to leave, I stop him.

"Officer, if ya don't mind, I'd like to share something with ya," I say to him. 

This stops him dead in his tracks. "What would you like to say?" he responds, his interest piqued. 

"Well, I would never blame any of my coworkers for doing something as vicious as committin' murder in cold blood, but I have a piece of information you might find important," I say. 

His eyes widens as he hears this. "Please, do share."

"Well, there was this office rumor that Jonathan was having an affair with Will Anderson's wife. Will is our accountant at the office. Office rumors spread like wildfire and they'll always have some truth to them. I reckon Will was always looking at Jonathan with this sortah burnin' hatred. I would always hear tense conversations comin' out of Jonathan's office and Will would always storm out of there, looking like he wanted to tear someone's limb off. I nevah knew exactly what they talked about, but it didn't sound good."

The man stares at me intently, processing my statement. 

"Thank you, Ms. Simmons, for sharing your experience," he finally says. 

"Thank you, Officer. I hope you find out the truth about this situation," I respond. 

We finally part ways, and I walk to the bus station with a smile. Look, I'm not this crazy murderer or somethin', I swear. Jonathan Howards deserved to die. As long as I can recall, I have been harassed by that man. Sexually, emotionally, physically. He takes advantage of me and I cain't do nothin' about it. He taunts me, gropes me, and insults me. Course he don't visibly do it in public but he's always touchin' me and gettin' in my personal space in front of the others. He'll pull me into his office to have "a meeting" everyday, where he'll physically assault me.

Look, I cain't leave this job because I needa pay my bills and this is the highest paying job I've ever had. I cain't quit or I would be livin' on the streets again. I cain't tell people because no one would believe me. Jonathan Howards is an esteemed man in the office. He wenta college, is the top man in the office, and is doggone rich beyond compare. Who would believe the girl from the slums who grew up on the streets? No one would. So, I took care of the problem. Growin' up, I hadda do awful things to survive. That's how I learned. So, if Jonathan Howards was hurtin' me, I would git rid of him. I will do anythin' in order to survive. 

It was real easy. All I did was silently slip some fentanyl into Jonathan's bourbon durin' the party. He instantly started to act loopy and stumble around, endin' up walking to the back of the boat where no one was. No one suspected nothin'. Everyone just assumed he was drunk. I just assumed he would drop dead on the floor in front of everyone but the God foresaken idiot had to stumble to the back of the boat and fall overboard too. 

Sadly, I didn't gettah watch him die. 

Will Anderson (accountant):  

I'll begin with the truth. I did, indeed, kill Jonathan Howards. I saw an opportunity, and I took it. I'm sitting in front of a police officer, who wants to interview me. Don't worry, I know what I'm going to tell him. I've already rehearsed it all. 

"So Mr. Anderson," the officer states. "I assume you know what happened to Mr. Howards. If you would, please restate your recollection of last night on the boat."

I lift my leg and rest it on my knee and begin my story. 

"Let's see. I got to the party boat at 8:46. I wasn't very excited to go. I mean, it was with the same people I see everyday of my life. But, that's beside the point. I came alone, and went straight to the bar. I sat there and ordered a martini. Talked with the people around me. Nothing too exciting."

"The music was very loud and I have sensitive ears so I mostly stayed on the first deck at the bar. I didn't feel like dancing anyways."

The cop is writing information down on a piece of paper. He looks back up at me. 

"And where were you when Jonathan Howards body was found?" the officer questions. 

"Well, I was still on the first deck when I heard a loud scream. Everyone at the bar raced upstairs and went to the edge of the boat, just to find Jonathan floating facedown in the water. It was truly a very frightening moment." I shiver with faux terror. 

"After that, the police officers arrived and everyone went home," I add. 

The cop nods, and continues to write on his piece of paper. As he is writing, I use it as my chance to speak up.

"Sir, if I may, can I share some relevant information to this case?" I ask him. He stops writing, looking up at me, and leans back in his chair. 

"Yes, proceed," the cop responds. 

"Well, I'm not one to point fingers but I think you should interview Elijah Wilkes," I say. 

The police man raises an eyebrow and looks at me with a questioning gaze.

"Elijah was always one step behind Jonathan. Everyone knew he hated Jonathan. Jonathan and Elijah were both fighting for the top position of general manager. When Jonathan got the job, Elijah was never the same. He was always second in command. He would complain about how he was the one that deserved to be in the top position rather than Jonathan. Jonathan would talk to Elijah in a condescending manner and give him meaningless tasks to complete. Everyone could tell that Elijah despised him. I thought you might want to know that," I finish. 

The policeman stares at me intently, running his fingers over his gray stubble, pondering my statement. 

"Thank you, Mr. Anderson. We will be in contact with you if we need more information," he concludes. 

We say our farewells, and I begin to drive home. As I look back on it, killing Jonathan Howards was simple, really. I didn't know for sure if I would have the opportunity at the party. But, just in case, I came prepared. When I saw Jonathan start stumbling around towards the back of the boat, I followed him. I found him leaning against the back railing of the boat, with no one in sight. So, I walked by him, pulling my knife from the inside of my trench coat pocket. I stabbed it in his side as I silently glided by. Jonathan didn't even realize I was there. He was drunk out of his mind and the midnight darkness gave me cover. 

I was planning on finishing the job, when I thought I heard footsteps. Looking back on it, my mind was probably playing tricks on me. Now, I hate to admit it, but I did panic. I took out the knife and slipped it back in the inside of my coat, walking briskly to the front of the boat. No one even noticed I was gone. Moments after I stabbed him, I heard a tremendous splash, followed by a scream. Even though I didn't plunge the dagger into Jonathan's heart, his own clumsiness failed him.

Since you must wonder why I killed him, I will tell you. I found out that for the past two years, my wife and Jonathan were having an affair. Everyday I would go home to my wife. We would share our days together as if nothing was amiss. I trusted her, only to find out she had been sleeping with my own boss. Logically, I couldn't get rid of her, since our children needed a mother. But, after questioning Jonathan about the incident and hearing him admit it to me with no remorse, I knew what I had to do. So, I waited for an opportunity to strike and when the office boat party presented itself, I took action. 

I have no regrets. 

Elijah Wilkes (assistant manager):

If you really want to know, I finally did it. I killed him. I wasn't planning on doing it or anything, but it was too easy not to pass up the opportunity. I tap my fingers on the wooden table as the officer in front of me looks me up and down, assessing me. 

"Mr. Wilkes. Let's get straight to the point. I would like to hear your recollection of yesterday night on the boat, from start to finish please," the man demands. 

I lean back in my chair and let out a sigh.

"God, where to begin. Well, I got to the party boat around 9:15. I came alone but I met up with some buddies of mine and we went straight to the bar. It was a long day and I needed a drink or two. To be frank, I was extremely bored the whole time. My buds wanted to go dancing on the second deck but I didn't really want to, so I stayed at the bar on the first deck."

The officer scribbles stuff down on his note pad. 

"I see. And please describe what happened next," the officer states. 

"Yeah, so I was sitting at the bar and then I heard this loud scream. It was so loud, I heard it over the music. Everyone at the bar raced up stairs and we saw people gathering towards the edge of the boat. So, we raced over and saw his body, completely dead in the water. It was pretty much chaos after that. The police came and then we all went home."

The man continues to write stuff on his notepad. I wonder what he was writing.

"Okay, Mr. Wilkes, that's all I need from you today. Unless, you want to share anything else with me?" the cop asks, his squinting eyes piercing through me. How did he know I was going to say something?

"Um, yeah, actually there is something I wanted to say," I respond. 

"So, I know your interviewing everyone and stuff but I think you should pay close attention to what Violet Simmons says. She's our secretary at the office and God does she hate Jonathan. She would have a meeting with him everyday about secretary stuff and she would come out of the office with clenched fists and almost in tears," I tell him. The man doesn't say anything so I ramble on. 

"No one said anything, but we all kind of knew that something fishy was going on between them. Also, I hate to be this person, but I know she grew up in a very rough area and has a criminal past. I really don't doubt she would kill someone if she wanted to," I finish. 

The man stares at me with a gaze I can't decipher. We have a brief uncomfortable silence until he suddenly stands up. 

"Thank you, Mr. Wilkes. We will contact you if we need more information." He walks out of the room so suddenly, that I'm left a little bit confused. I shake my head and walk out of the room back towards my car. 

I didn't plan on killing Jonathan. I wouldn't even call myself a murderer. Jonathan was just being stupid as always, stumbling around, drunk out of his mind. I got bored at the bar and went upstairs to find my buddies, but instead saw Jonathan start to stumble to the back of the boat. I debated at that moment to not follow him, but my rage got the better of me. I didn't even know what I was going to do, but I found myself going towards the back of the boat. 

I found Jonathan, leaning over the railing with his hands wrapped around his stomach. It looked like he was sea sick or something. It was pitch black and he faced away from me, so I was invisible to him. It was so tempting, seeing him leaning over the railing like that. What would happen if I just gave him a little shove? So, that's what I did. I watched him fall to his death and land with a thunderous splash. Satisfaction rolled through me. I ventured back to the front of the boat, just as someone started to scream. I blended right back in with the crowd, and no one suspected a thing. 

I did kill him for a reason. I wouldn't just kill anyone. Jonathan Howards was my enemy. Throughout my whole career, that man has gotten the better of me. I deserved to be the general manager, not the fucking assistant. We both fought for the position of general manager but Jonathan got the job because of his relationship with the owner of the company. I deserved that role. I was never meant to be second in command to him. Jonathan would look at me like I was nothing, making me do menial tasks while he sat in the big chair, giving orders. I wanted to rip his disgusting ego right out of him. If Jonathan was out of the picture, I would be promoted to the top position and I would never hear his arrogant voice again. So, when I saw him on that railing, so close to death, I couldn't let that opportunity go. I've never made a better decision.

And no one suspects a thing.