I sat in my office, staring at the pictures I had taken of the shattered glass sculpture. It was clear to me that this was a case of family drama, but my questioning of Ricky Ruffley had given me little to work with. I did have a hunch that Chris Ruffley was hiding something. The question was, what?
I decided to pay Chris a visit, hoping to catch him off guard and see if I could get any more information out of him.
“What brings you here?” he said after opening the door to find me there.
“I’m just following up on the case,” I said, trying to sound casual. “I was wondering if you had any leads or suspects in mind.”
Chris scoffed. “You’re the detective, you figure it out.”
I took a deep breath and decided to take a different approach. “Listen, Chris, I know this must be hard for you. Losing your father and then having his prized possession destroyed. I knew a guy who had his mother’s beloved stair balustrade destroyed, and he was a complete wreck. But I couldn’t help but feel that you and Emily were a little too… scripted in our meeting the other day.”
Chris narrowed his eyes at me. “What are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying that I think you know more than you’re letting on,” I said. “And I think that if you want to honour your father’s memory, you need to tell me the truth.”
Chris hesitated for a moment, then let out a sigh. “Fine. You’re right. The truth is that I think Emily did it, but I can’t bring myself to confront her without any evidence. She’s always been a big fan of the Glass Smashing Bandit – she’s a glazier based near Melbourne, you see. Loved all the work it gave her. I think she was jealous that she didn’t get the glass installation given to her by Dad, despite her love of glass windows and balustrades, so she destroyed it in jealousy.”
“And you wanted me to come to the same conclusion?”
Chris nodded.
“Well, I’m sorry,” I said. “I just can’t see it.”
“So, what now?”
I considered for a moment. “I think it’s time I see that old housekeeper of yours. See what she thinks about the whole thing.”