Not gonna lie, I'm kind of proud of myself. I didn't have much to work with. Only memory, insinuations in diaries, and an autopsy report. And yet, I was able to accurately say who was the correct killer. I knew since I started investigating that Arjun wasn't guilty. And now, I've got them red handed. "Ashmita, it's not what it looks like-" she starts, but I cut her off.

"No, it's exactly what it looks like. Why were you so interested in the diaries, hm? And what was the need to tear out the pages?" Sarah looks at me, dumbfounded, and just starts to stutter. I stare at her, with a more dangerous look than the last. "You wouldn't be tearing out those pages or be so interested in the diaries in the first place unless you had something to hide. You're hiding something, hm?"

Sarah keeps on staring at me, and to really deliver the final blow, I say, "You killed my mother, right? Arjun is innocent, and you got away with it for 16 years."

Sarah finally stops looking like a deer in the headlights, and looks at me with a slightly dangerous look. "How did you find out?"

I cross my arms, and lay out my framework for finding out. "My mom referred to you in her diaries as 'Hungarian.' Your maiden name is Sarah Magarian. The term for Hungarian is 'Magyar.' Two, you said that my mom rejecting advances caused her to lose her life. You wouldn't have known that unless you were there. Also, on her autopsy report, there was an imprint of a chain bracelet on her body. You told me you used to wear a chain bracelet before my mom died, and you claimed you lost it right around that time. That's too convenient. There was also barely any bruising on her body. You've admitted your strength is very low. That wouldn't have caused a lot of bruising on her body. All you had to do was give the first stab in the stomach, then she'd fall to the floor and you'd finish off the job. And of course, the motive. You had all the motives in the world. Mason slept with my mom back when she was still alive. He was so close to her around the time she died. Jealousy would have played a factor, and you thought that Mason was still in love with my mom. You decided that you could just kill her off and get her out of the way so that you could have Mason all to yourself. It all ties together like the ribbon on the Christmas gift, Sarah. You're the one who did it."

I try to keep my facial expression as straight as a piece of spaghetti, but honestly, it's hard. It's hard for me to not lose my shit and just start yelling at her and cursing her out. I take deep breaths to alleviate my anger, and make sure that I keep on staring her in the eye. Sarah, after hearing my entire thought process laid out, puts the torn pieces of diary on the table, and stares daggers at me. Fear starts to boil in the pits of my stomach, because she's a killer. Who knows what she could do to me at this moment?

"I should've known. You were too smart for your own good. I should have let Mason lose the custody battle, so my secret could've been kept. You've got a big mouth, Ashmita. I know where you're going to go, Ashmita. You're gonna run down to the police, tell them what you heard. You're not going to be able to convince them. They would never believe you. Because you're wrong. Especially about the motive."

I raise an eyebrow at Sarah, as she continues to get in my face. She walks towards the garage door, and says, "Mason may have been in love with Jyoti. Who wouldn't have? She was smart, beautiful, sassy, headstrong, a great mother. Just everything that a woman should be. It was enough to get me to fall in love with her too."

My eyes widen at her confession. "In love with her? Oh my god. Sarah was in love with my mom?" Shock hits me in the face like a swift punch. I take deep breaths so that I don't crumble onto the floor in pure shock. But, at the same time, I'm kind of disgusted. Not at the part where she was in love with my mother. I don't care if someone loves someone else of the same gender. The one thing that disgusts me is her involvement with Mason. Was she just leading him on all this time? Was she ever in love with him at any point?

"How could you do this to Mason? You've been married to him for 15 years, and you've been leading him on all this time? How could you betray him like that?"

Sarah scoffs a little bit. "Ashmita, my dear, it's called bisexuality. Of course I love Mason. How could I not? He's the perfect husband. But, Jyoti was something else. I couldn't tell anyone, though. Nobody knows, except you and me. They'd never look at me the same. They'd be repulsed at the fact that I was in love with a separated woman."

I try to control my shock, because I need her to lay out exactly what happened on that day. Even if it makes me sick to my stomach. "So, what happened on the day of the murder? You said that she rejected advances. Did you try to make a move onto her?"

An evil smirk comes upon Sarah's face, as she stares right into my soul with her deceptive kind brown eyes. "You're too smart for your own good, Ashmita. I went to her house to tell her how much I loved her, because Arjun left her and I thought I could sneak a chance. I had a plan laid out just in case she rejected me, because how could she reject me? I had been so kind to her and tried to help her out as much as I could. I didn't deserve to be rejected. So, I went, and when I told her that I loved her, she rejected me. Dumped me like a piece of trash. Said that she wasn't interested. I lashed out at her, and asked her if I deserved all this. She said that she doesn't owe me a thing, because all I did was make her uncomfortable. So, I gave her what she deserved. Death. And I made sure she felt it good with that knife."

Nausea whirs in the depths of my stomach, but I try to fight it back. I need to get the detailing of the murder on recording, otherwise it'll be useless to just get a confession. "How did you make it so that Arjun seemed guilty?"

"Simple. I was still in contact with him. I was able to get cells and shit from him because I was over at his house a lot. Planted them there, and it made him seem guilty. With that, there was enough evidence against him for the case to get a lot messier if he didn't plead guilty. So, he did."

Sarah comes up to me, and gets into my face for real now. "You better not go run your little mouth to the police. I will end you if you even consider doing that. You're too talkative for your own good at this point. Nobody should ever know that I killed your mother, and framed your dad for it." I stare at her with a neutral look on my face, and she walks back to the table to get more snacks and to cut herself a piece of cake with the knife that's on the table.

I walk a bit towards the little chair where I placed my phone, take it, and press the "Stop Recording," button on the app. "What are you doing?" Sarah asks.

I turn my phone off and place it in my pocket. "Locking in the evidence. Come in, now!" I call, and surely enough, Arjun and Mason open the garage door and walk inside.

Sarah looks at them with a look of shock on her face. "How much did you hear of that?"

Mason crosses his arms. "I heard enough. Nathan has phoned the police. They're on their way. You're going to jail, Sarah, and Ashmita's got the evidence against you."

Sarah looks at me, with all the anger in the world, and says, "It's all because of you! You little-" She grabs the knife that was on the table for cake, and charges towards me.

Without another thought crossing their minds, Mason and Arjun run up in front of me. Arjun holds Sarah back, while Mason steps in front of me to protect me just in case she comes and tries to attack me. He turns around, and I ask, "How long until the police come?"

He shrugs, and says, "Couple of minutes. I told Nathan to call the police pretty much immediately after Arjun signaled me to."

Shortly after, I hear the sound of Arjun falling backwards, and the sound of feet rapidly racing towards us. Without another thought passing my mind, I step in front of Mason to tackle Sarah and get her out of the way.

She lifts her arm up, and before she can bring her knife down, I grab her wrist and hold it tightly. I make sure that it's held there so that it can't come down and do damage. Mason runs towards her hand and pries the knife out of her hand. Sarah lifts up her other hand, but Arjun bolts towards her and grabs her wrist so that she can't do anything else with it.

Thankfully, we don't have to be there for long, as we hear police sirens coming closer and closer to our house. And for the first time in a while, relief washes over me.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I thought this was a kind of chilling chapter, but I'm writing a psychological thriller, and realized that this is like, kindergarten for when it comes to chilling. Do you guys think I should've put a warning for Sarah describing the murder? And how do you feel now that we know that Arjun is an innocent man? Let me know in the comments.

Hey everyone! How's it going? So, we're slowly starting to wind down when it comes to chapters. I'd predict that we have about 6-9 more chapters before we're completely done. I'm kinda excited. I'm excited to bring this story to a close.

Also, I can't be the only person whose favorite character is Arjun. I mean, the poor guy got cheated on, he thought the kid of his wife wasn't his, and then he's framed for his wife's murder, spends 16 years in prison, only to come out and be treated like crap by everyone around him (including Ashmita, but she lightens up). And even then, he has to be covert about meeting his daughter, who is pretty much all he has left because he's still known as a cold blooded killer. His daughter. Also known as his family, whom he actually loves and tries to form a relationship with and make up for lost time. And he doesn't complain much. He still tries to be civil to the guy who kinda destroyed his family. I love him.

Anyways, enough of my rambling. Hope you guys liked this chapter!

Please vote/comment/share/follow/message if you like my work! See you all next Sunday with a new chapter of TSOC! Have a great week!

Love you guys,

Shree