There I stood , starring down at the receipt from the old coat I had found in lost and found section.

of the New York subway.it was had to read

what was on the crumbled up piece of

paper,the ink had become hard to

see,almost invisible but nothing stood a

match against me.

Nothing new on the receipt,just a typical

grocery list; The cashier's name,Ada and a

typical grocery list;eggs,milk,bread,dish

soap,a pack of gum.This is the kind of list

that leaves your memory as it's being paid

for.

One detail stood out to me.

The date.5th September, 9:18 p.m

That was the day .

That was the day Lauren besette's

husband,Tobey Daniel bessette said he was

nowhere near the metropolitan

area of new York.

And that was the day Lauren besette

disappeared.

I ,detective Pikachu hale didn't like

receipts,it was too random, could easily be

forged but this receipt came from toby

bessette,himself,donated or probably

forgot.

Five weeks after Lauren was reported missing.

I delayed questions to give the grieving

widower,Tobey some time and space

In my office,I spread the receipt paper

under a bright light,the ink was still as

faded as my eye under ordinary daylight

could see,the lamp light didn't help much.

make a difference,but the store name was

clear.

Riverside market- east metropolitan area new York.

Tobey lived at the west metropolitan

district,just a forty five minutes drive away.

At 9:18 p.m he was out buying groceries .

At 9:30 p.m according to his statement,he

was home alone .

At 9:45 Lauren's phone had last been active

near a river in the metropolitan

district.nothing after that.

I called in Tobey,he had the face of a man

who had a carefully maintained life,he look

put together,his shirt was neatly

ironed,a controlled,non-shaky voice .

I slid the receipt to his side of the table where he had sat opposite me .

"I don't know what that is" Tobey said, immediately.

"You don't shop there"

"Nope"

"But you were there that night, weren't you?"

He paused and said lightly "No"

I pushed the receipt even closer along with the lamp for him to see clearly .

" So someone put it in your coat pocket ?"

He looked me dead in the eye" or someone wants you to think I was there"

It was a clean and direct answer,no stutter. Too clean.

There was a little write up at the bottom of the receipt.

Written with a black pen

"Happy anniversary T"

"You didn't celebrate your anniversary that week?"

I asked with a slight frown.

" We don't always celebrate on the date

that it was meant,sometimes a week from

the date or days after".

"Lauren wasn't home that night" I said quietly.

The store clerk remembered him,she said

he had been there that night.

He was in a hurry,he ordered the cake last

minute and wanted it that night .

"He said it was for his wife" the store clerk remembered .

After much investigation and talking to a

lot of friends and familes. I didn't find

much.

Lauren had already planned to leave

tobey,there had been a lot of

arguments,secrets ,disagreements.

I started to put two and two together.i

examined the receipt further,a scribbled loyalty .

number at the bottom of the receipt

belonging to a cashier named "Ada Byron"

,Tobey's mistress.

The story quickly unfolded

Lauren had been growing very suspicious.

Tobey had gone to see his Ada that

night,Lauren had followed him while

tracking him.

Witnesses recalled seeing Tobey and

Lauren having a big argument,a very big

one ensued between the two outside the

market in the east metropolitan district

that caused stares. A lot of stares. a lot of

stares.

Lauren was never seen or heard from again.

The only thing that was discovered was her

phone

four weeks later around the metropolitan

district river forefront,her body was never

even found.

The case cracked open because of a little

crumbled receipt found in a coat that

ruined a man's alibi .

A man's picture perfect story destroyed by

breads,eggs,and milk that never got home.

That receipts revealed details. Two things

were revealed; He went to see his lover

that night.

He has lied about not ever being in the

grocery store.

The "Happy birthday T" on the receipt was

written by the cashier Ada Byron ,he was

secretly seeing .

When Daniel bought the cake ,he casually

wrote it on the receipt because it was the

anniversary of when they first met,not his

anniversary with his wife Lauren.

An affectionate little note which ruined his

entire alibi .

A coat of secrets indeed.

#fiction #writing #inkwellprompt #inkwell