Truth at Metro General Hospital - Part (3/3)

“My wife recalled the life insurance I prepared for her.” Frank Tucker shook his head, eyes red and puffy. “One thing led to another, and she suggested we use the woman’s body to pretend it was her. I said, it would never work, DNA and all that! B-but then she mentioned she saw something similar on a Netflix show and thought she could do that.”

Jenny typed furiously onto her tablet, getting every detail. Jackson covered his mouth, resisting the urge to throw his fists. So he ended up drumming his fingers across the top of his fedora sitting on his knee.

Frank Tucker inhaled a shuddering breath. “We drove back to where we left the body, made sure no one was looking, and brought it back with us. We took it to another wood working factory I knew of that was up for sale, completely empty of anyone so no one would ever know.”

Jenny raised her head. “What did you do after you severed the body?”

“...Officer I...I didn’t...I wasn’t the one who dismembered the woman.”

“Yo wut?” Jackson clenched gripped at his fedora, the veins in his throat bulging. “Are you saying your wife was...”

After a hesitant pause, the husband bobbed his head up and down. “Sarah was that doctor’s assistant, he does bone surgery. She knew everything there was to dismember a body. And she did it so quickly, so quietly. E-even I had goosebumps, watching Sarah remove one limb at a time with just a hack saw. Eyes, full of determination, focus, I... A-all I could do was either throw up, or wipe the sweat and blood from her eyes.” Frank Tucker couldn’t help a slight pause, clenching his eyes to block out a vivid memory. “Sarah did it. All seven pieces. W-we remembered about finger prints, so she also removed the fingers. We agreed to dispose of the chest, legs, and arms some place where people are likely to stumble upon it b-but make it look like a regular murder, not linking it back to us. S-since the Splitter was on the loose I thought...you know...”

Jenny leaned in while typing, “Where did you dispose the pieces we don’t have? The head and pelvis? The rest of the fingers?”

Frank Tucker’s cheeks bulge with a sickening sound. “Sorry I...Sarah told me to grind them up into a chipper. After I did a couple of fingers, I couldn’t stand seeing the mess. So I put the rest in a bag with some rocks and tossed it into Lake Tampa, the other end of town. Just, it made my stomach churn seeing all that gore. Afterwards, I brought my wife to my buddy’s place, a cottage at Cherry Grove. He’s out of town and he asked me to renovate it while he was away. I-I couldn’t think of anywhere else, so I took Sarah there to rest and recover from...”

Jenny dared to ask. “The thumb. Did she really...”

Frank Tucker covered his mouth with a nod. “By her own hand, all of it, for my sake. My sake. She’s dead. Gone. Th-there is nothing I can do now, to make things up for all suffering I gave her. I shouldn’t have let her go, then she wouldn’t have to force herself on that doctor, to get my attention! I was wrong, wrong to have a relationship with Felicia. It’s my fault! All my fault!” Then he started to strike at himself, punching his own face in fury and guilt.

Jackson rose to his feet. He jabbed his fedora back on his head, slanted over his forehead with a leer. “Frank Tucker. You’re under arrest for the murder of the unnamed victim and the murder of Sarah Tucker, legit. Anything you say can be and will be used against you in court. You have the right to remain--”

“W-wait. Wait officer! I told you, I didn’t kill Sarah! I swear by God! I-I just found out she died from, from the warden! I-I wanted to kill myself, I-I wouldn’t have done it to her! Not after what she did for me! She chopped off her own thumb to protect me!”

“Your wife knew your secret!” Jackson jabbed a finger into Frank Tucker’s chest, letting out his seething in a hard point. “She faked her death to get the insurance money for you. Now that everyone, even the police, believed she was dead and gone, you made sure she wouldn’t pull a magic trick and come back from the grave to spill her guts about you!”

“NO! NEVER! I seriously promised a new life for her, for us to start over! We-we just needed to wait until the payout was approved! H-how could I kill her when we’re so close to what we wanted!?”

“Then tell us,” Jenny rose up and stepped in between the constable and suspect. “Where were you last night? Can anyone account for you?”

“N-no of course no one can account for me! We had to make everyone believe Sarah was dead, I couldn’t risk someone tailing me! I-I secretly went to visit her to bring her food. Then I made sure she took her medications before she went to sleep! J-just when I got back home, y-you raided my apartment!”

Immediately, Jenny pulled up her tablet. With a few press of her finger tips, she produced an image. It showed a car racing down a street in the middle of the city, caught by a police camera. “Is this your car, Mr. Tucker?”

The suspect froze, staring at the vehicle in the photo. “Wh...what? Y-yes that’s my car but I don’t remember--”

“The coroner confirmed, Sarah Tucker died between 2:00 AM to 3:00 AM, we arrested you around 3:45 AM this morning. This dash cam was taken between her time of death and your arrest and it was coming from the direction of Cherry Grove. Not to mention, we estimate it only takes 30 minutes between the scene of the crime and your apartment.”

“No! Wait! Officer! You got it all wrong! Th-that car is mine, b-but I wasn’t there when the picture was taken! I was somewhere else, I am telling the truth! You got to believe me!”

Jenny closed the image on her tablet and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. “You are allowed to contact your lawyer. If you do not have one, the court will appoint one to you. Do you understand your rights?”

“I DIDN’T KILL SARAH! I CONFESS, I RAN THE OTHER WOMAN OVER! I DON’T EVEN KNOW HER NAME! BUT I WOULD NEVER HURT SARAH! EVER! I EVEN ORDERED A BRAND NEW WEDDING BAND FOR HER, CUSTOM MADE! I WANTED TO RENEW OUR VOW! WHY WOULD I DO THAT ONLY TO KILL HER! PLEASE, CONSTABLES! BELIEVE ME! BELIEVE MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”