The Murder of a Mysterious Man

Lucas's POV

I went through Kelvin’s file again. This wasn't possible, and it didn't make any sense, it was like he didn't exist, which was weird.

I looked at my wristwatch. I was supposed to meet Taylor in an hour so she would take me to the Condo where Kelvin was found. In the meantime, I made a few calls trying to figure out what kind of person Kelvin Norman was. I had asked the team to do a background check on him but nothing came up, not even in the database. No person by the name Kelvin Norman existed. One thing I was certain about was that he was killed and whoever killed him was a pro,

He made it look like Kelvin stabbed himself and I have seen a lot of weird stuff in my line of work but no one is stupid enough to kill themselves by stabbing their heart. It could have been anything, wrist cuts or gunshots, but stabbing your own heart? That was just stupid and thoughtless.

I looked at the three well-known people in Kelvin’s life, which were his fiancé, His best friend, Simon and Becky. Kelvin, aside from his work, didn't have any other people, which was also weird. The man who hired me, Donald Dante, was filthy rich and only had one daughter. You would think a man like him would have Kelvin’s background checked so he might be aware of his non-existence son in-law. I grabbed my phone and called the old man.

After a few rings, the man answered the call.

“Yes Detective” he said

“Mr Dante, I had Kelvin's background checked”. I began

“And?” The man asked, sounding uninterested.

“There is nothing to check, he doesn't exist” I said. There was silence for a few seconds.

“Sir, are you still there?” I asked. He cleared his throat.

“Yes Detective. Look, I don't give two shits about that boy. All I know is I am glad he is out of my daughter’s life. Taylor cares, just give her the closure she needs, don't try to dig too deep” the man said, and hung up the call on me. It was clear he didn't like Kelvin much, which put him top of my list of suspects. Was the billionaire insane enough to kill his daughter’s fiancé on the day of his wedding and fly in a PA from a continent away to solve the mystery?.

At the agreed time, Taylor came to pick me up from my Hotel, for someone who had been through something awful. She was really keeping it together.

“Can I ask you a few questions?” I asked her.

“Sure” she said, her eyes on the road, a billionaire's daughter who drove herself without bodyguards following her around. This woman was sure different.

“Did your father like Kelvin much?” I asked. Taylor briefly looked at me before she turned to the road again.

“He hated him. Tried to convince me to leave him multiple times, even threatened to disown me if I married him”, she said.

“Did he have a particular reason why he hated him?” I asked curiously.

“Dad rarely has reasons to hate anyone. Kelvin was a good man, he loved me and made me feel safe. Do you think Dad killed him?” Taylor straight forwardly asked,

“Please don't lie to me, I know how crazy my Dad is. Just tell me the truth” she added, there was a look of pleading in her eyes. I suddenly noticed that though she seemed to be keeping it together, she was broken inwardly,

“I don't know, but he is among the suspects” I said. Taylor nodded frantically, blinking away tears,

“Gosh, I hate my Dad but if he did this to me, I would..” she paused, looking away.

“. I am sorry” she whispered as tears fell down her cheeks. I felt sorry for her.

“It's fine. We don't have to talk about it” I said. She nodded, cleaning her face,

“What have you found out so far?” She asked.

“Not much. Does Kelvin have any family?” I asked. Perhaps if he had siblings, I would get to the bottom of who he was, and where he came from.

“No, Kelvin said his family died, he grew up in foster homes” Taylor replied.

“Did he say where?” I asked. Taylor shook her head.

“Actually no, he didn't say where he grew up from. I guess I never asked, but I assumed he was raised in France because of his accent”, she told me,

“And Simon? He has known Kelvin the longest among the three of you, right?” 

“Yes”, Taylor replied.

“I would like to have a word with him” I said.

“Alright, I will ask him to meet us at the house after we leave here” she said. We finally reached the Condo, and entered. I could tell this was hard for Taylor as her hands kept shaking,

I wanted to suggest she stay outside, but she smiled at me, “I am fine, I can handle it” she said, as if reading my mind. We went into the Master's bedroom. I looked around the room. I then went through the files on his table,

“This will take long. You can go home if you like” I said to Taylor, but she refused.

“I wanna help. What are we looking for?” She asked,

“Anything” I didn't know how to tell her. Her dead fiancé was probably a fraud who was leaving what I assumed was a double life.

Taylor and I began to look through the files one after another. It was mostly work documents. In one of the notebooks, I found a phone number and tore the paper, putting it in my pocket. In Kelvin's study, I found a photo in one of the drawers,

“Do you know the man next to Kelvin?” I asked Taylor. She got the photo from me.

“No, I have never seen this man before” she said.

“Okay” I said. We looked some more, but there was nothing helpful,

I suggested Taylor go home while I went straight to Kelvin’s company,

I asked to see his schedule and discovered he had traveled to France a day before he was killed. Other than that, there was nothing more useful.

While making my way to Taylor’s place to talk to Simon, I made a call to the number I had found in the notebook. After a few rings, the call was answered.

“Vincent Vincenzo speaking”. A sharp voice said

“Vincent. Do you know any Kelvin Norman by any chance?” I asked. There was a brief silence.

“No, I don't know any Kelvin Norman. I think this is a wrong number”. The line went dead and when I tried to call it again, it didn't go through.

I called my team and asked them to look into Vincent Vincenzo. He made my job a lot easier by giving me his name. If my guess was right, this was the person Kelvin went to meet in France. 

When I got to Taylor’s place, Simon was already waiting for me. I asked to speak to him in private and began my series of questions..