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.
