Fanon:Bella's Secrets/Den

Den
She sat silently on the sofa, waiting, uncommonly, for a murderer. She had been expecting one to return for quite some time, and the pearly light of the dawn irriatated her. The door opened, and a beautiful, slender woman walked in, tossing a .22 pistol down on an armchair. "Where the **** have you been?" the waiting one snapped. "It took me a bit longer than I thought it would to do your dirty work," the new arrival shot back. "Sorry, sorry," the older one said. "You're back now; that's the important thing. You sure the ***** is dead?" "Dead as we need her to be. She's bled out now." "Great. And Don...?" "...Didn't see a thing. He was inside doing whatever. I was out of there by the time he came out to see what happened." "And the investigation?" "It hasn't left Don's home yet. He's number-one suspect, too." The plotter of the murder sighed. "Don't worry," the gun-holder assured her. "The evidence against him isn't forensic at all, only circumstantial. They've got time to find someone else to blame." "You're right. For now, we need to make sure that that someone isn't either of us. Listen carefully."

''Beloved citizen of Riverview Bella Anne Goth was discovered dead from bleeding out of two bullet wounds. "We can't figure it out," Chief of Police Andy Brodton says. "Usually the motive is clear, but everyone loved Bella, and  nothing was missing from the house where she was killed. We can't imagine a single person in Riverview who won't miss her." As well as an entire town grieving over the loss of such a good woman, Bella leaves behind a husband and two children, Cassandra and Alexander. When asked about his feelings on his wife's unnatural death, husband Mortimer Goth replied, "I've never felt this way before in my life. I'm both angry over her murder, sad about her death, and peaceful about all my beautiful wife accomplished in her life. She could have done so much more if the killer had given her a chance." Mr. Goth is putting thousands of Simoleons into the investigation of his wife's murder, and Cassandra has organized a fund for victims of crimes called the Bella Goth Victim's Fund. The funeral will be hosted in the Good Stone Church, and it has been confirmed that despite that it was his house Bella was found in, Don Lothario will be invited at the wishes of Cassandra Goth. The funeral and wake will be from 5 to 9 in the evening on August 7th, followed by the burial.''

Don groaned as he tossed The Riverview Current onto the table, and Ridge patted his shoulder sympathetically. "They make me sound like the only option for the perpetrator," Don said in anguish. "It's their job as newspaper people," Drake said. He hadn't entirely warmed up to Don, but it's hard to work with someone distraught. "They take what little they know, expand it, add quotes and sentiment, and boom! You have a murder eulogy." "If it's so sad," Ridge said, "I wonder why we're not grieving." "Eh, we're detectives. If we don't know them personally, the death of a good person isn't a grief event, it's an investigation," Drake clarified. "Ridge, why are you snickering?" He noticed that his partner had read the article again and was chuckling into her elbow. "Sorry," she apologized. "It's just that I know of one more kid of Bella's, born between Cass and Alex. His name's Sam, and I was snooping around at city hall when found his records. He's living with his Dad, but his Mom's still here. Well, not anymore. But he's Sam GilsCarbo." "Bella cheated on Mortimer?" "I don't know if she meant it, or if it was a drunken fling, but yeah. Remember that time the whole nation had a big cow because Bella lost her unborn baby when she was 5 month pregnant, and she went up into the mountains alone to 'clear her head'? Yeah, that was when she had Sam." "We've got to meet this guy," Drake said, "But later. Today we have to go back to the crime scene."