Chapter seven

     The first time Briggs saw Jillian's home, he thought that he was seeing a gingerbread house. The simple brown structure that had walls that looked like they were made of cookies looked completely out of place amongst the more modern looking houses surrounding it.

     The house was actually the only thing that Jillian's father had left when he abandoned her and her mother. After her mother had remarried and moved away from Andromeda city, she had left the house to Jillian. Jillian originally wanted to demolish the house to build something similar to her neighbor's houses but she eventually decided against it because the house wasn't just a momento of her failure of a father but also contained some of the happiest memories she had of growing up.

     Jillian led Briggs into her house through the kitchen door. She felt strange leading a man into her house. Her house was her personal domain, her own private space where other people rarely enter. It was her sanctuary from the outside world and she felt both excited and scared to let Briggs inside. The act felt strangely intimate.

     Briggs went into the ginger bread house filled with curiosity. He was already shocked that the woman who was known for her chillingly cold attitude lived in a house with so much character. He was dying to see what the lair of 'the frigid crusader' actually looked like.

     Once inside he noticed that the house was immaculate. The kitchen was spotless. The floral tiles on the floor were so clean he was afraid to actually step on them. Everything was carefully put away and arranged properly. The only discordant tone in the whole room was a bowl of cereal that had been left out in the open, uneaten.

     The living room was also very different from what he expected. There was a giant antique coffee table at the center of the room and surrounding it were old looking leather sofas and a couch. 

     Briggs had seen a small television in the kitchen but surprisingly there wasn't one in the living room. Instead there was a fireplace and an old fashioned gramophone.

     Jillian pointed to the couch and politely said, "You can sit here Detective. If you're thirsty I can get you some tea or lemonade."

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

     Briggs stopped looking around like a bewildered tourist and replied, "It's okay, I'm not thirsty but if it's all the same to you I would like to talk to you about what happened last night?"

     "To be honest, I don't remember much. I do have flashes of memory but everything is fuzzy. I remember getting hit by Bruce Macalister who I have been trying to prosecute in court for the last few weeks. He was the reason that the two officers were assigned to guard me in the first place."

     Briggs took out a small notepad and started taking notes,"So you think your injuries were caused by Bruce Macalister?"

     "I'm not sure but I think so."

     Briggs was confused. He knew what kind of person Bruce Macalister was. He was very much capable of the beating that Jillian had received but he wasn't the kind of person who let people walk away after a beating. He was a ruthless bastard who killed all that opposed him. In addition to that, Bruce was found murdered and dumped in the suspiciously overfunded Andromeda Hospital biohazard disposal facility. His head and face were so badly damaged that they had to use his fingerprints to identify him. Records show that he had made a call to the Manelli pizzeria around the time of his murder. Combine that with the fact that he was dumped at the Andromeda Hospital biohazard disposal facility which is mainly bankrolled by the Manellis and the fact that it was the place where the Manelli family usually dumps their victims made it look like he was killed by the Manelli.

     And then there was the murder of the two officers who died in a parking lot behind a strip club. They were both shot at close range by a shotgun. The coroner had estimated that their time of death was around two hours after that of Bruce Macalister. The two officers were also suspected to be on the Manelli's payroll. Were these two cases connected? 

     The story just didn't add up and the only witness that could help had Amnesia.

     Briggs wasn't sure what to do next but he felt that he should do it fast before Andromeda was ripped apart by the war between the two powerful families.