Charlie Edgar Poe was brutally victimised. Some people know how to cover their tracks. The death of Charlie was no accident. It was a maid who spotted the dead body of a 16-year-old floating in the swimming pool. The deceased’s eyes were open as if she had been strangled. Could this death not be an accidental drowning? Could it be deliberate murder of a young innocent girl?

Robert, the father of the deceased, arrived home with his wife Vivian. Vivian was Charlie’s step-mum. What broke my heart was a father to arrive home to see his daughter in a body bag and his swimming pool being made a crime scene.

Vivian sobbed as if she admired Charlie. I knew deep down that that icy bitch felt happy. She was a ravishing brunette. They say that looks can be deceiving; that woman was a wolf under a lamb’s skin. She was rotten to the core. There was something offish about her eyes. I could see Hell within those blue-indigo eyes with rowdy screams of tortured souls who feel nothing but agony. She was the devil.

An autopsy needed to be done. There were so many appalling discoveries in Charlie’s body. Detective Morgan had a theory of how Charlie had died. In the neck of the deceased there was evidence that she was strangled as there were marks of hands. There was also no evidence that she drowned due to consuming a great amount of alcohol. She also was sexually assaulted.

Police pictured that mysterious murderer as a dangerous sexual predator in our society. He could be a serial murder. Charlie was laid to rest in Santino cemetery. There were rumours in the community about Vivian that she was the one who murdered that sweet Charlie. This alarmed the police force. Maybe she had a hand in this; everybody was a suspect. She could have a perfect motive.

One neighbour, Emily Watson, came to give account of what she had witnessed. The day she last saw Charlie alive, Charlie gave her a password to her computer just in case anything bad happened to her. She said to Emily that her step-mum was not who everybody thought she was.

Emily thought Charlie was a self-centred spoiled brat who was trash-talking her step-mum.

“I guess I was wrong officer. If I had listened to her maybe she would still be alive. That night I saw Vivian and her brother Victor having a dispute about how they were going to dispose of a body. I did not know that it was Charlie’s body,” said Emily, wiping tears with her right hand.

Police did some homework on Victor and Vivian. Detective Morgan found that Vivian had five failed marriages and all of her stepdaughters had died the same way as Charlie. As for Victor, he was a jailbird who had committed many felonies such as rape, murder and serious heist. Things began to make sense.

The police came with a search warrant to take Charlie’s computer. They entered the password that they were given by Emily and found a document by Victor and Vivian, in which they were conspiring about how they were going to assassinate Robert so that Vivian could inherit all the money and luxurious assets. So this was a motive to silence the girl forever so that they would not be exposed.

Vivian and Victor were arrested. It was game over.

Robert was angry and sad that he had failed his daughter. Vivian tried to pin all this on her brother. In police custody, Victor confessed all the crimes he did together with his sister. He said, “I cannot go down alone. I can’t be the scapegoat. We killed Charlie because she had something on us. I entered her room, I forced myself on her and then Vivi did the strangling part. When the girl was dead we didn’t know where to dispose of the body. I wanted to dispose of it next door. So we came up with the pool idea. We threw her beautiful body in the pool. What a waste of beauty! That is a death compliment.”

The officer was furious. How could Victor be a sadist when he was supposed to be remorseful?

“You son of a bitch! How can you be flippant at this awkward moment? You and your sister are monsters that need to be locked away forever. Charlie Edgar Poe is the victim. You took a young life. Her father is scarred for life because you scumbags took his daughter’s life. You did not just kill Charlie; you also killed Robert alive. I hope you enjoy your new cell.” said Morgan.

Two weeks later Victor and Vivian were sentenced to 25 years in prison.

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Tell us what you think: Do you think 25 years was enough?