Why Did She Have to Die Too?

*Warning, this story contains implied assault and deaths triggered by an allergic reaction

Selina sat alone in a barren room, staring at her reflection off the wide view mirror on the wall opposite for the past hour. Selina thought she had planned the perfect murder, one she could safely relish in a faraway place instead of where she was. The investigation was supposed to point towards the couple which would give Selina time to leave the country. The evidence was to be her advocate instead of the embarrassingly basic finger pointing between the other suspect and her. She leaned back on the rickety metal chair and reflected on the events that led her there.

Selina bumped into Benny a few weeks after she moved to the city. He was exactly how she remembered, with his pretentious suit and a charming demeanor that made her nauseated. Benny did not recognize her however, and predictably did what most men like him do when they meet a pretty woman, he hit on her. Her mind instinctively went back to that period when she was brutally robbed of her dignity and life by the man flirting with her right then. Selina felt she could kill him on the spot, either by stabbing him in the eye or strangle him with that godawful tie, she was not picky about how.

Instead, an idea took shape in her mind, one that promised to be infinitely more satisfying than a mere rash act. That idea gradually morphed into an entire plan, painstakingly built upon every time she saw Benny again. Each date with him became tolerable when she used them to elicit the tiniest morsel of information to feed her plan. Selina felt herself perversely excited each time a fortuitous piece of the plan presented itself. Like his severe peanut allergy, which Benny almost sounded like he was bragging whenever he talked about how serious it was. Or the couple, Mike and Laurie, who stayed in the only other penthouse suite opposite of Benny’s.

Laurie was in her early 50s but spent a fortune to retain a look many years younger. It was unmistakably to keep up with her husband, Mike, a former special forces operator for the military who was almost 10 years her junior. Laurie was a self-styled entrepreneur who sold a series of handheld aroma diffusers she designed. They were highly portable devices that dispense a mist of fragrant essential oils from a specialized cartridge. The contraption and her talents as a social media influencer gave Laurie a moderately successful business.

The couple spent most of their fortune touring the famous night spots in the city, they loved soaking in the limelight as a socialite couple. Their wealth however were under threat by Benny, whom they accused of swindling them for millions in failed investments. The ongoing lawsuit served as the perfect motive for the couple in Selina’s plan, Mike and Benny even had a physical altercation not too long ago.

Selina planned for a date with Benny to coincide with Mike and Laurie’s regular dinner plans. As they headed down in the lift, she had it rigged to breakdown midway. Selina also planted a modified version of Laurie’s aroma diffuser in Laurie’s bag, this aroma diffuser could be remotely activated and the cartridge in it contained a highly concentrated, aerosol form of the peanut protein. Selina would activate the diffuser and induce a fatal anaphylactic shock in Benny, and as a failsafe she even tampered with Benny’s EpiPen by adding peanut residue in it.

First impressions of Benny’s death should point to an accident, but Selina counted on it escalating to an investigation. The couple and Benny’s history, Laurie’s aroma diffuser and the lift breakdown should cast enough suspicion on the couple. They should give Selina enough time to leave for her planned trip out of the country. No matter if the police do figure it out eventually, Selina did not plan to return.

The events began according to Selina’s plan when Benny invited her up to his penthouse suite while he got ready. Selina rang the door of Mike and Laurie’s suite and pretended to be mistaken. She gleefully noted that the couple were at home and looked dressed to head out soon. Benny was still in the shower when Selina got in his house, she saw his clothes laid out on the bed and proceeded to search the pockets to swap his EpiPen for her tampered one.

Benny got out of the bathroom and upon seeing Selina decided to remove his robe and approached her with a dirty grin on his face. It took all of Selina’s willpower to stop from enacting her plan early by stabbing him with the tampered EpiPen. But she whispered to herself that it would only be a few more minutes and convinced him to get dress for dinner. Hearing the door of the opposite suite opening, Selina hurried Benny along and managed to catch the lift with the other couple.

Laurie tried to broach a topic to cut through the silence but failed to stop the rapid escalation of angry words between Mike and Benny. They decided to be “adults” and not talk the rest of the way. Selina found herself sweating more than the tension justified, she could barely hide her exhilaration as she activated the aroma diffuser. It took no more than a minute before the smell of peanuts permeated the air.

Benny was not exaggerating about his condition which triggered almost immediately. He started to choke, and his face swelled like a balloon. He soon collapsed and was flopping around desperately trying to breathe. Selina wanted to be there to see that happening, a sort of closure after everything. But instead of a cathartic experience, she turned in shock to see Laurie on the ground desperately gasping for air, her face swelling up too.

The situation seemed to invigorate Mike, who quickly figured out they were having an allergic reaction. Rather than question the how, he sprang into action and emptied Laurie’s bag to find her EpiPen. When it failed to produce any, he searched a still struggling Benny and retrieved his. Mike turned to Selina and declared, as if for posterity, it was barely a choice if it was between saving Benny or his wife.

Selina looked on as Benny pressed the EpiPen against Laurie’s right thigh, a click sound came on and the auto-injector did its work. Selina watched helplessly as the life saving device aggravated Laurie’s condition. Eventually the lift went dead silent after Benny and Laurie stopped struggling. Mike collapsed back against the wall, a mix of confusion and shock hung on his face.

Selina’s attention returned to the present in the barren room as she contemplated her options. She considered if her second visit to the police station was mere formality to confirm certain details. Perhaps they had ruled the deaths as an accident, and she was there to sign off on some final paperwork regarding her earlier statements.

A police detective finally stepped into the room and apologized for the delay. He was polite and friendly, offering Selina a cup of coffee or tea which she turned down. The detective then calmly placed a plastic packet with a device inside on the table, it was the aroma diffuser.

“Do you know what this is, Miss?” He asked.

Selina shook her head to indicate she did not.

“Our lab techs confirmed this was the device that triggered the allergic reaction in the victims.”

The detective removed the device from the bag and sniffed the tip.

“Peanuts! I can’t imagine it being a popular flavor, can you?” The detective asked rhetorically, before placing another plastic packet with an EpiPen inside on the table.

“So, that was what killed our first victim, Benny. While this is what killed our second victim, Laurie, after the husband administered it to her. Guess what, there were traces of peanuts in it too, isn’t that strange?” The detective held up the tampered EpiPen and waved it slightly to illustrate.

“You see, the lab techs confirmed the two devices were tampered with, which meant this wasn’t an accident. Whoever messed with them is looking at being charged with murder.”

Selina considered the detective’s words but remained silent.

The detective continued, “Earlier you mentioned we should take a closer look at the husband. Which I thought was curious, almost like you were trying to tell me something? Anyhow, I did, and after speaking to him, he accused you of having something to do with it! Now, why would he say that?”

Selina finally broke her silence, “He accused me? Why? I don’t even know either of them.”

“Well, he claimed to have seen you in his wife’s shop, purchasing an aroma diffuser like the one in front of you. We tried to pull up their records to verify, but it might take some time, they had to handle the estate and all.”

Selina shifted uncomfortably in her seat and realized she had foolishly paid with a credit card. But she convinced herself it was still a pretty thin case against her, “So I bought an aroma diffuser, lots of people buy them. Why would that point to me being responsible for her death?”

The detective smiled and laid out a piece of document he retrieved from a folder, “I remembered you mentioned that you only knew the first victim, Benny, for a few weeks? I found a statement here given by you and the charges you made against him 3 years ago, charges which you subsequently dropped. What’s that about?”

Selina was stunned that the statement remained, she thought it was scrapped after she dropped the charges.

“We also found some fingerprint evidence that someone tampered with the lift, I should get the results later.” The detective then leaned forward and spoke with a changed tone, “Look, you seemed like a nice lady. I would like to think this is all some terrible accident but everything we found so far is pointing me towards another conclusion. So, if you have anything you want to tell me, now is the time.”

Selina stared at the detective, aware of how things were rapidly going against her, “I think I would want my lawyer now.”

The detective calmly gave a gentle smile and stood up, “I think you should get one too.”