1: 1

My first two husbands both killed themselves. Depression, they said. Both swallowed poison while I was out of the house.

My third husband I chose with care. A photography buff, decent, upbeat, always looking forward.

But in the third year of our marriage, while I was staying at my parents' place a thousand miles away, a group of officers showed up at the door out of nowhere.

"Blanche Henson, your husband's been poisoned to death at home."

The news hit so hard my phone slipped out of my hand and hit the floor.

I covered my face, staring in disbelief at a familiar face, Captain Chavez from the task force.

"Captain Chavez, why do all my husbands end up poisoned? Why can you never find who did it?"

Captain Chavez snapped the cuffs onto my wrists.

"Drop the act, Blanche Henson. You're the killer."

I stared at him, refusing to believe it.

"Captain Chavez, what are you talking about? My husband was poisoned at home, and I was a thousand miles away."

1

Looking at the cuffs on my wrists, the anger in me hit its peak.

His eyes were sharp as a hawk's, locked on me.

"Still stubborn? Do I have to lay the evidence out before you'll give it up?"

I spat at his feet.

"Captain Chavez, you really disappoint me."

"Fred Whitney is my husband. Why would I ever hurt him?"

"You can't catch the killer, so you pin it on a woman a thousand miles away with no chance to have done it?"

"If this gets out, aren't you afraid people will curse you behind your backs?"

Captain Chavez said coldly,

"We work by evidence. Three husbands in a row, every one poisoned the moment you left the house. One might be chance. But three?"

I clenched my fists in fury.

"Captain Chavez, if that's your evidence, then it's a joke!"

My parents heard the commotion and came running out.

Seeing me surrounded by all these officers, my mother was terrified.

My father rushed forward.

"What's going on? What's going on? Why are you arresting my daughter?"

He tried to lunge in, but they held him back.

Captain Chavez looked at him.

"Your son-in-law is dead."

My father went pale with shock.

"Again? He died again?"

At that, my mother crumpled to the floor, slapping the ground, wailing,

"Why is this happening? Is my daughter really cursed to bring death to her husbands? Marked by some evil star? Doomed to grow old alone?"

Watching my parents sob, Captain Chavez said sternly,

"Enough with the crying. You're both suspects too, and you'll both cooperate with the investigation!"

"Us?" My father stared at him, unable to believe it. "Sir, aren't you making a mistake? We're farmers, plain and simple. We work the land every day. How would we ever kill anyone?"

Captain Chavez didn't bother explaining. He gave the order. "Take them all in. Question them separately."

The interrogation room.

After they had grilled me for a long time, Captain Chavez walked in.

He slammed my parents' statements down hard on the table and asked me,

"Blanche Henson, still won't admit it?"

I looked at him, confused.

"Admit what?"

Captain Chavez asked,

"Did you or did you not kill Fred Whitney?"

I was so angry I laughed.

"Whatever you say. Three husbands dead one after another with no explanation. I don't want to live anymore anyway."

"Whatever charge you want to hang on me, go ahead. As long as you write it down, I'll sign every word."

2: 2

2

Captain Chavez traded a glance with the two officers assigned to question me.

Watching me sit there like I had nothing left to live for, one of them, a woman named Silvia Delgado, spoke up.

"Blanche, calm down. We enforce the law fairly. We won't wrong an innocent person, but we won't let a guilty one walk either."

Eyes stinging, I shouted back at her.

"So instead you wrong me? You wrong my parents?"

"I was back home. A thousand miles away."

"My parents are honest farmers. Forget killing Fred, they've barely even set foot in town."

"Hand them a train ticket and they still wouldn't know how to get to my place. And you actually suspect me? Suspect them?"

Silvia came over and unlocked the cuffs.

"Blanche, don't get so worked up. We're only trying to find the truth, to get you justice. That's why the questioning has to happen."

"Is that so?" I stared at her. "Then go find me the killer."

"This is already my third husband."

"You can't seriously think every husband of mine gets depressed and kills himself just for marrying me."

"You can't be about to tell me I was born under a bad star, cursed to bring death to my husbands."

Silvia frowned.

She didn't know how to explain it either.

She glanced at Captain Chavez.

His eyes still held that suspicion, still weighing me.

"Blanche, so far we don't have enough evidence to prove you're the killer."

"But some things are too much of a coincidence. For one, every husband of yours took out a huge life insurance policy while he was alive, with you as the beneficiary."

"For another, every time one of your husbands died, you weren't there. Either a thousand miles away or overseas."

"Doesn't that seem too deliberate? How do you explain it?"

I slammed my fist down on the table.

"Captain Chavez, what are you getting at?"

"You're saying it was wrong of me to buy my husband insurance?"

"Or that buying him insurance proves I'm the killer?"

"Or maybe you mean that when my husband died I should have been standing right there, so I could say I was the killer and let you incompetent people close the case nice and easy?"

Captain Chavez frowned.

"That's not what I meant at all."

I yelled in his face.

"You can't find the killer, so you throw all this nonsense at me instead?"

He shook his head.

"We want this solved just as fast as you do. Please stay calm and cooperate with us."

I gave him one disappointed look and sat back down.

I breathed slowly for a long moment, then said quietly:

"My first husband took me to buy insurance before we even married. Not just him, I bought it too. Each of us was the other's beneficiary."

"Then he died. I could never get past it, so I bought insurance for my second husband and my third as well. Just to give myself some peace of mind."

"As for why I was away whenever they died, that I really can't explain."

Captain Chavez gave a slight nod at my explanation.

But Silvia asked, "According to the leads we currently have, you and your current husband, before the incident, had—"

"Silvia!"

Captain Chavez barked, cutting her off.

I looked between the two of them, confused.

"What do you want to ask? If it helps the case, I'll answer anything."

Captain Chavez shot Silvia a look.

She nodded, came over to me, and said gently, "It's all right now. You and your parents can go. But don't wander off for a while. We may call you in to cooperate with the investigation at any time."

Silvia drove my parents home.

And I went back with them, all the way to Bayport, a thousand miles away.

When we got home, there were still officers keeping watch inside.

Silvia followed me in and said, "Until this case is closed, for your safety, we'll have someone here around the clock to protect you. You don't mind, do you?"

I knew they still suspected me.

This wasn't protection. It was surveillance.

I turned to Silvia and asked, "Do you think I'm the killer too, just like Captain Chavez?"

3: 3

3

Silvia gave me a faint smile.

"It's not just you I suspect. Until this case is solved, anyone could become a target of my suspicion."

I looked at how completely serious her face was.

I gave a bitter little laugh.

"True enough. Anyone can be a target."

I didn't say anything more to her. I went back inside and looked at the photo of my husband, Fred.

Thinking of all the little moments we'd shared.

I couldn't stop the tears.

"Blanche, would you mind if I borrowed some of your water to boil a pot for drinking?"

I heard Silvia's voice.

I quickly wiped my eyes.

I came out.

Silvia and her colleague were looking at me.

Silvia asked,

"Have you been crying?"

"I'm fine. It's only four husbands, isn't it? It's not the first time. Nothing worth crying over."

I walked up to her and took the kettle from her hands. "Let me."

Silvia smiled.

"Thank you for the trouble."

"It's nothing."

I turned and went into the kitchen.

The faucet switch was set to purified water.

My hand paused, and I quickly turned the valve over to tap water.

I filled the kettle.

Once it had boiled, I brought it out to Silvia.

"If you need tea leaves, I have some in the house."

Silvia paused.

"Tea? That would be wonderful. We really do get drowsy on the night shift."

I fetched them some tea, then turned back into the kitchen, switched the faucet to purified water again, and filled a can using the sprayer.

"Blanche?"

The voice behind me startled me, and my hand jerked.

I turned around. It was Silvia.

She glanced at the sprayer I was using to fill the can and asked,

"What's this for?"

"The flowers on the balcony haven't been watered in a while," I said.

"Oh." Silvia smiled and said, "My colleague and I are going to order takeout. Would you like something? My treat."

"Thanks. I'll take a stir-fry of shredded pork and beans."

I said it, then went out to the balcony to water the plants.

After dinner, I went back to my room to sleep.

In the middle of the night, I faintly heard voices. I walked quietly to the door and listened.

It was Captain Chavez and Silvia, talking about the case.

Silvia said, "Captain, how's the investigation going?"

Captain Chavez sighed. "On the day it happened, someone did come by. It was raining that day, and she was carrying an umbrella."

"Based on our checks, it's very likely she was the victim's lover."

"A lover?" Silvia sounded puzzled. "You don't think it was a crime of passion, do you?"

Captain Chavez said,

"Kevin's already taken a team out to keep an eye on the woman quietly. For now, we can't rule that out."

Silvia said, "If that's the case, should I go help watch her too? Because from what we can see so far, Blanche really didn't have the time or the opportunity to do it."

Captain Chavez said, gravely,

"But she's still a suspect. Especially given what we've got so far. Before she went back to her parents' place, she'd quarreled with the victim more than once, and she'd even brought up divorce."

"So we can't rule out that she had a motive. You'd better stay here and keep a close watch on her."

Bang! That was as far as I could listen.

I threw the door open and shouted at Captain Chavez and Silvia,

"Are you two even human?"

"My husband is dead. This is already my third husband, and every single time you turn up nothing. Now, instead of working the case, you just keep suspecting me?"

"When my husband died, I'd already been home a full three days. So you tell me, how was I supposed to poison my husband from a thousand miles away?"