Kurt's buddies always said, "He's the best friend you could ask for. Whenever someone's in a jam, he's the first to help out."
But when it came to his wife, they hadn't seen her since the wedding. Whenever a salesperson hit him up about some fancy jewelry, he'd ask for their opinion, saying he wanted to get it for his wife. They figured Kurt must really love her.
However, Kurt's business partners had a totally different take on him. They called him ruthless and fake.
The friend who was in trouble had issues with a new project. At that time, only Kurt lent him money, and he was extremely grateful for it.
What the friend didn't know was that Kurt had caused the project's problems in the first place by telling other companies not to lend him any money.
The cash Kurt gave him wasn't nearly enough. In the end, the friend had a mental breakdown and took his own life. Kurt ended up as the biggest shareholder in his friend's company, and the other companies working with Kurt got their share too.
Before he died, the friend even sent Kurt a thank-you message.
Kurt's current employees said he was an awesome boss, treated everyone well, and the company perks were great. But former employees who went for labor arbitration had a whole different story.
He set them up to fail and then blacklisted them in the industry, making it impossible for them to find work. Their families couldn't even afford food.
One former employee who almost jumped off a building said, "I got fired, and when I talked to Kurt that day, he was like a different person. He was so vicious."
The former employee added, "I really regret not bringing a recorder that day. If I'd known what he was really like, I definitely would have."
He continued, "Kurt picked the most crucial time in my life to set traps and make me mess up at work. He wanted to see me crushed by life's high costs. He enjoyed seeing me desperate and suffering. He said destroying someone on the rise in their career and with a seemingly happy family excited him more than drawing blood."
He added, "I wasn't the first to be treated this way in his company. But he hides it so well that none of my colleagues still working there have figured out his true nature."
Kurt was a two-faced guy wearing a mask!
And what Robert found out was that since Kurt's wife got married, she gradually lost touch with her old friends.
Kurt treated his wife's family really well. Every time he made a big transfer, his wife went back to her own home for some unknown reason.
Kurt's wife didn't have any social media apps on her phone, and there were hardly any contacts in her address book. She pretty much had no personal social life.
Neighbors around Kurt's place said they hardly ever saw his wife go out, and no one ever came to visit her.
After wrapping up his investigation, Robert concluded, "From what we've found, it looks like Kurt has a strong need to control his wife. So, it's pretty unlikely she'd have an affair."
"If she didn't have an affair, then why did he set it up for Lyra to push his wife into the water?" Ethan asked, puzzled.
Robert shook his head, just as stumped.
"So, if Kurt's wife didn't cheat, my theory that Kurt manipulated Lyra to kill Tony and his own wife, and then hired someone to kill Lyra, doesn't hold water," Robert said.
"Does that mean Kurt isn't the mastermind behind these murders? Could it still be tied to Sophia?" Ethan wondered.
"We can't rule Kurt out just yet. Based on who benefits, besides Sophia, it's only Kurt."
Tony also had the right to inherit their parents' property, and then there was Lyra, the mistress who had an affair with Tony and knew about his dark past of abusing pregnant women.
If both Tony and Lyra were out of the picture, no one would know about Kurt's shady past. He'd still look like the perfect guy and be the sole inheritor of his parents' estate.
Usually, the one who benefited the most was the prime suspect.
It was clear that Lyra was the most likely person to kill Tony, and the money she used to buy a house came from Tony. They had both emotional and financial issues.
Secondly, they confirmed that the call Sophia mentioned did happen, but the phone number was a foreign virtual number.
Finally, Kurt's wife was ruled out as having an affair.
Just as Robert was about to take Ethan to confront Kurt, the office door burst open, and Ryan walked in. "We found some evidence by the Willow River."
Last night, as Robert had requested, the police meticulously searched the crime scene in pairs. They found the coat Lyra was supposed to be wearing when she was killed, hidden in a very secluded spot by the Willow River.
In the coat pocket, there was a long, smooth hair.
"After a night of comparison, it turns out it's Sophia's hair," Ryan said.
All the evidence pointed to Sophia being involved in the murder. But Robert remembered what Sophia had said to Kurt yesterday, "Stop calling me."
'Why would she say that to Kurt? Did she think the person calling her was Kurt? Why would she think that?' he wondered.
Without realizing it, he picked up Sophia's photo again. In the picture, her eyes showed no sadness or joy, just a hint of coldness. A tough life had shaped her into who she was now.
"Where is Sophia right now?" he asked Ethan.
Ethan quickly checked with the colleagues who were secretly watching Sophia and then said to Robert in surprise, "They said she's at the ICU ward entrance of Hopewell Hospital."
Kurt's wife was there.