Lyra's brother sighed and continued, "Sixteen years ago, only Lyra went to prison. She held a grudge. Not long after she got out, she went to Kurt's house to ask for compensation. But they had all moved away, and Lyra searched for him for years."
He paused, then continued, "Later, I accidentally found out that Lyra and Kurt were back together. A few years later, she let it slip that she had bought a house. I guess Kurt gave her the money."
Robert interrupted him, "Was Kurt married at that time?"
"Yeah, he was."
When Robert and Ethan left the interrogation room, Ethan remarked, "Seems like the root cause of this murder is that Lyra didn't just want to be Kurt's mistress. So she tried to drown Kurt's wife to replace her. Kurt might have even been in on it. The plan is for Lyra to carry out the murder, and then Kurt would get rid of her to cover it up."
Although Kurt couldn't personally kill her under Ethan's watch that night, he could've hired a hitman.
But Robert still felt something was off. Kurt seemed perfect to everyone, and almost no one knew he was behind the old murder case.
Why would a perfectionist let his ex-convict mistress kill his wife, only to later go through the trouble of hiring someone to eliminate the mistress?
Plus, if he really wanted his wife dead, he could just hire a hitman to do it directly.
Robert turned to Ethan and said, "Hey, can you check if Kurt's wife had any big inheritance coming her way or if he took out any insurance on her?"
There was a chance Kurt might've offed his wife for the cash.
But Robert couldn't wrap his head around why Kurt didn't just have someone make it look like an accident.
Something wasn't adding up. Robert told the other officers to search Lyra's house while he headed to the office. He pulled out the photos from Lyra's death scene and her home, and started going through them.
A bunch of the photos had tarot cards in them, showing Lyra was really into that stuff. If he could figure out what the cards meant, he might get a clue about what she was trying to predict. Maybe there were hints about the case hidden in them.
"Find out what these cards mean," he told Ethan.
"What does this have to do with the case?" Ethan asked.
"We found a tarot card in her jacket pocket. These cards must have held extraordinary significance for her, so much so that she carried one with her even when committing a crime," Robert said, pointing to one of the photos. "Maybe understanding these cards will help us crack the case."
Ethan nodded. After a bit, Robert's phone rang; the investigation results were in.
It turned out Kurt's wife's family wasn't loaded, and Kurt even sent them money sometimes. Plus, he didn't have any insurance on her.
So, the money motive was out.
"Get hair samples from him and their two kids, and send them to the hospital for DNA testing," he told the officer on the other end of the line.
If Kurt's wife had cheated on him and he found out, he might've snapped. In that case, having his mistress kill his wife and then hiring someone to take out Lyra wasn't out of the question.
This plan would not only get rid of his cheating wife but also eliminate Lyra.
"Robert, I figured out what these cards mean," Ethan said. "This one is the Witch, and this one is the Devil reversed."
Ethan pointed to one of the photos. "The card found in her jacket is called the Moon Goddess."
Later that evening, Sophia and her roommate Emily Johnson headed to the hospital cafeteria for some food. As soon as they got their meals, Emily dragged her over to sit with two nurses.
"I'm so over eating the same stuff every day," Emily grumbled. "I miss my mom's roast chicken."
One nurse chimed in, "Forget meat, I want seafood."
The other nurse added, "I want both meat and seafood."
They all turned to Sophia.
She thought for a second and said, "As long as life doesn't screw me over, I'm good with whatever."
"Then you should date Jeremy. If you were his girlfriend, you'd never have to worry," one of the nurses said, a bit enviously.
Emily jumped in to explain. "Sophia's into older guys."
"Really?" the nurse said. "I did a tarot reading yesterday, and it said I'm compatible with older men."
So, they started messing around with tarot cards while Sophia quietly ate her meal.
One of the nurses asked, "Sophia, why don't you do a reading to see who your future husband will be?"
Sophia shook her head.
"Sophia doesn't believe in that stuff," Emily said. "Plus, it's not always accurate."
Whether it was accurate or not, it could be pretty tempting for those who believed in it.
Sophia gave Emily a grateful smile and went back to her meal. Her phone rang; it was Jeremy. She glanced at it but didn't pick up.
Jeremy didn't call again. It wasn't until everyone was almost finished with their meal that Sophia's phone rang once more, this time not Jeremy but an online virtual number. Sophia still didn't answer.
"Why aren't you picking up?" the others asked.