Part 3
“Let’s talk about motivation then, ok? What reason could each of us have for murdering Granny?” Richard asks, glancing around the room.
Victoria glares at her brother, snorting. “Well, obviously you desperately want that inheritance, and you’ve already said multiple times that Granny was perfectly healthy. You wouldn’t have had the money necessary to move out for quite some time, so you did the unthinkable.”
“What the hell are you saying, Vicky! I would never hurt Granny! And how did you even…know about me wanting to move out?” Richard asks, bringing his voice down from the shout that his sentence began as.
Victoria shrugs, picking at her nails. “Well, it was fairly obvious to me. I just couldn’t work out who you were planning on getting a house with, but I guess it’s your little gardener boyfriend.”
Beatrice gasps, grabbing Richard’s arm. “Sweetie! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me- I would’ve helped you!”
Victoria laughs, the sound strangely bright for the morbid moment as we discuss who murdered her grandmother. “Oh don’t worry Mum, he won’t need your help anymore! After all, he has that big inheritance from Granny!”
Richard rolls his eyes, crossing his arms. “Like you didn’t want the same thing. Now you have Granny’s inheritance, you can finally sort out that ugly face of yours.”
Victoria leaps from her seat, trying to hit Richard. Beatrice and Henry both instantly intervene - this kind of behaviour isn’t all that unusual in their household; it is a well-known fact that Victoria and Richard hate each other.
“Oh shut it Richie! I would be able to deal with this whole ugly face with plastic surgery if you hadn’t been Granny’s fucking favourite! Then I would’ve got more of the inheritance, but you’re so greedy that you just had to have it all, to the point where you’re now incriminating me just out of pure jealousy!”
Richard scoffs, not even looking at his ridiculously acting sister. “Sure, that’s totally what’s happening here. I’m just telling the truth, there’s no need to get so antsy about it.”
Before either sibling can launch another volley of words at each other, Henry voices his own suspicions. “Well at least neither of you had a damn argument with Mother right before she died, and then murdered her in an effort to cover up what she’d found out…isn’t that right, Beatrice? And what a shame…everyone found out about your cheating anyway!”
Beatrice gasps, slapping a hand to her chest in utter shock. “How dare you suggest such a thing! I would never hurt my own mother-in-law! But you on the other hand - you were desperate for money and you knew how much Elise was leaving you in her inheritance! H&H has been failing for so long now and as the manager, you were sinking with the ship! You needed that money to stay afloat, just like Ronald.”
The elderly man stares at Beatrice distastefully, his hands clasped together in his lap. “How rude of you to suggest such a thing - while it is true that my wife left me money in her inheritance as well as me benefitting from her life insurance…but this was my wife we are talking about here. I loved Elise more than anyone else, and I would never even think about hurting her.”
Agatha huffs out a laugh, shaking her head. “Oh Ronald, you know as well as I do that that simply isn’t true.”
Ronald turns to look in his sister-in-law’s direction, glaring at her. “And what do you mean to imply with that?”
Agatha leans forwards in her seat, staring straight into his eyes. “You know how close Elise and I were. And obviously she told her best friend and dear sister about how her husband was treating her.”
Ronald points at Agatha, shaking his head, furious. “It was one time! I admit that I hit her, but it was once, many years ago! We were still young - before Patricia was even born! After then I never laid a hand on Elise again!”
“But who’s to say that you didn’t accidentally kill her?” Patricia speaks up, her gaze firm on her father. Ronald glares at his daughter, turning his attention to her. “And when could I have done this?! I was in the living room the entire time - hell, you were even there with me for most of it!”
“When you overheard me talking to Elise. When I left and came back, she was still alive. But you could have killed her then, before coming back to the living room,” Beatrice says slowly, tapping her chin in thought.
Hm. This is all getting rather complex…and we still aren’t any closer to discovering who did this.
“So what about Agatha then? It is common knowledge that she has big plans for H&H which couldn’t be put into motion because Elise refused to change from her traditional ideas of what the company should be like,” Ronald gestures back in Agatha’s direction, getting back at her for trying to incriminate him in his own wife’s murder.
Agatha scoffs, crossing her arms. “So what, just because my sister was willing to let our company die, I would kill her? You’re just grasping at straws now, Ronald. I love my sister more than life; she was my best friend, my partner at work, by sister. Unlike you, I have never hurt her in my life.”
“You’re speaking nonsense! You clearly-“
“Now listen here-“
“It’s so obviously Richard who-“
“Victoria is just trying to pin it on-“
“Henry has no proper alibi so-”
“Beatrice doesn’t have anyone to confirm-“
Oh for goodness sake, this is less than helpful. Leave these imbeciles alone for a single moment and they will only-
“Shut up!”
Patricia’s scream successfully brings everyone’s attention to her as she smashes her glass on the floor, sending shards in every direction, a million deathly dust particles.
“Patricia, what are you-“ Agatha begins, but Patricia interrupts her instantly with three simple words, which change everything.
“It was me.”
No. There’s no way. It’s simply impossible. To murder your own mother is simply-
“It was me. I killed her. I lied about my story. I was the last person to see Mother, and I killed her after talking to Agatha. And then I went back and we walked into the living room together, pretending that we’d been talking about cake the whole time. Agatha was in on it, she told me how to do it and everything! It isn’t my fault! It’s Agatha’s and Mother’s fault! They’re the reason I did it!” Patricia’s eyes are frantic and wild - I always knew she was a crazy bitch! I can’t believe it, I simply- this is disgusting. To think that-
“How dare you bring me into this!” Agatha lunges at Patricia, grabbing her niece’s hair and pulling Patricia towards her, reeling the woman in like the poor baited prey that she is.
“I’m telling the truth! Agatha told me that if I injected air into Mother’s-“ Patricia screams as Agatha drags her closer, and it truly is amusing how no one goes to help her.
Not that I can blame a single one of them - this woman just admitted to murdering her own mother.
“Shut up you bitch! I had nothing to do with any of this! Shut your filthy mouth!” Agatha screams back at Patricia, clawing at the younger woman’s face.
“Let go of me you old bitch! I did everything exactly how you asked! But you- you made me kill my own mother! And that feels so fucking terrible, Agatha! Do you know how awful it feels to take someone’s life?!” Patricia’s expression suddenly darkens as she shoves Agatha away with one powerful motion.
“Of course you do - after all, your poor husband mysteriously passed away when he was only 69! And his death coincided perfectly with H&H almost going bankrupt, before it was miraculously saved by your husband’s untimely death with his life insurance and will! You couldn’t risk killing your sister as well as your husband; it was simply too suspicious, so you had me do it instead!”
Speechless. I am speechless. Speechless and horrified that my own family could do this, speechless that my own family housed two murderers.
Revolting.
“Just how far will you go for your goddamn company?!” Ronald bellows, standing from his seat and hurling insults at Agatha, before turning his attention to his daughter. “And you. I always defended you when Elise called you useless, call you a dead-weight, said that your marriage failed because of your own incompetence - but maybe I shouldn’t have ever defended a disgusting murderer like you!”
Patricia glares at her father, grabbing a glass and hurling it at Ronald. “Oh shut it, Father. We both know that Mother only treated me like shit because you taught her to treat others like that - you ridiculed her and so she did the same to me! And guess what? I decided that I’d had enough. So when Mother treated me like this again, this time on her goddamn birthday which I was working so hard during to have a nice time…I took Agatha’s offer. I wasn’t supposed to kill her for another few weeks, but then- I just snapped! And I already had everything I needed, but only because Agatha brought the syringe with her everywhere she goes like a real psychopath! We were never sharing cake decorating techniques! We were talking about how to murder someone! And then Agatha went away to make a cake for the sister she knew was already dead, and she didn’t show a single goddamn shred of remorse!”
This is ridiculous. This whole family is ridiculous.
Agatha Henchley is a 68 year old widow who murdered her husband and assisted in the murder of her 72 year old sister. She is obsessed with the success of her company, Henchley & Hawcroft; the company which she killed for twice in order to keep afloat.
Ronald Hawcroft is a 74 year old who treated his wife like the dirt on his shoe, verbally abusing Elise throughout their 48 years of marriage.
Henry Hawcroft is a 44 year old who cheated on his wife as soon as he got bored of her, and ultimately saw his mother’s demise as a chance to benefit financially.
Beatrice Hawcroft is a 42 year old who also cheated on her husband, and did not care about her mother-in-law’s death, as the woman had never been kind to her.
Richard Hawcroft is a 20 year old who only got close to his grandmother for the purpose of receiving a large inheritance once the woman passed away, and obsessed over how good her health was.
Victoria Hawcroft is an 18 year old whose body issues and low self-esteem made her hate her appearance, to the point where she only cared about her grandmother’s death because it meant that Victoria would finally be able to alter her appearance.
Patricia Rentley is a 47 year old divorcee who murdered her mother as revenge for how Elise had treated her throughout Patricia’s life.
And last but not least, there is me. And perhaps I am the most ridiculous member of the family here. I am ridiculous because I was rude to everyone throughout my whole life, because I saw other people do it to me. I am ridiculous because I sat here and judged everyone else, thinking myself so above them, thinking that I was a so much better person than them.
I am ridiculous, because in the end, it is my own cruelty that led me to this fate.
I am ridiculous, I am rude, I am unwelcoming, I am judgemental, I am manipulative, I am abusive, I am cruel…
I am Elise Hawcroft.
And I am dead.