In Our Darkness - 10. Chapter 10: Pietà

True hate--OMG, now we have a serious motive for the killing. This chapter is chilling and well-written and appears to be the answer to "why."

I can see two possible killers: Celia or Frank, her husband.

I will start with Celia but many of the conjectures fit either one.

Celia must be deranged to hold that intense, very powerful emotional pull which had to have festered for so long.  She rejected the compassion symbolized by the statute. She skillfully and maliciously kept this instant, intense and deep hate from college hidden from both David and Elisabeth. She kept a friendship going.  Celia married and found her mate, but that , if she is the lead killer, did not stop her hatred.

She thought after the fateful dinner party

They were…" so unlike her and Frank. And it’s not that Celia was upset that her marriage didn’t resemble that of her best friend. She knew Frank could never be David. No man could ever be David. It was just that envious longing at the pit of her stomach at night, long after Frank had gone to sleep, that kept gnawing at her insides. Yes, her life was fine, but when confronted with Elisabeth’s life, how could she be content? How could anyone? That’s why, when she got that fateful call later on that evening, the good part of her thought “what a tragedy!”, while the other secret part of her mused, “About time something went wrong in their perfect life."

Note: She doesn't acknowledge any connection to or responsibility for the killing

The perfect couple were going to have a child. Celia and Frank could not. Frank wanted to try IVF and Celia she no. She was pained as we are told.

So far Frank's thoughts are not disclosed. What if he realized at some point in the 7 years of marriage that he never measured up in Celia's eyes  to David and that Elizabeth and David set the standard and he and Celia could never be as good or as satisfied and happy. He wanted a child and Celia said no. He could read her mixed feelings and longing for David and develop his own hatred for the oh so perfect and always glamorous couple with a child they would not have. He could want to crush them.

She (and he) apparently pretended to be their friend and found a way to destroy them. So far, she or he is succeeding

BTW, a man like Frank, who might have an intermittent or unhappy sex life in marriage could turn to use prostitutes--like the one the detective intervened

Three questions:

How will she or he be found out ? Will she or he eventually break from the pressure or say something joyfully unguardedly to the wrong person like the Captain in the Canine Mutiny"-It was the strawberries!" She or he could reveal their true feelings at the wrong point now that the perfect couple has been destroyed

Even if the motive is revealed, can guilt be proven?

And then, what impact will this revelation have on David and Elisabeth? Their friend had their child killed.

Simple, one of them hired someone to do it and thereby had an alibi.

@scrubber6620, @Ivor Slipper, interesting theories all but I think the money trail is a better pursuit. Obviously someone wanted one/both of them dead and out of the way. 

To put this effort into killing a couple and their unborn child, reeks of stronger motivation. As far as David and Elizabeth are concerned and to paraphrase here, Something is rotten in Denmark!

There is a connection to the killer(s) that remains to be discovered, trace the serial numbers of the Honda and find the second working girl!!

1 hour ago, scrubber6620 said:

Simple, one of them hired someone to do it and thereby had an alibi.

True, but that doesn't make them the actual killer as far as I'm concerned. That is whoever was driving the Honda.

Let's see what clues and motivations evolve in future chapters. The author has us very intrigued with what so far has been revealed.

Great work !

1 hour ago, scrubber6620 said:

Let's see what clues and motivations evolve in future chapters. The author has us very intrigued with what so far has been revealed.

Great work !

Thank you! 😄

Celia would appear to be the likely culprit, but to attempt to kill your friend and her husband because of a college crush of whom was not ever interested in you seems like a stretch. However, if mental illness is involved, the implausible can be plausible. 

It is likely a business connection, but you never know with the author as with other stories, they can be quite clever.

Well done!

A game of CLUE gone awry?🔎

Do we now 'apparently' know WHO and WHY? BTW, we need another 'emoticon' for this chapter. Somewhere between Sad and Hate, but not Pity.

Celia's hatred of Elisabeth is a result of her girlfriend taking David as her boyfriend, but then offering to give him up if that's what CeeCee wanted, resulting in Celia feeling pitied. Hence the hatred.

There's also Celia's (misplaced) hatred for David for not recognizing & remembering her as being part of the group he guided at the museum? Making her feel unimportant.

Back to the future (sorry), Celia's hatred of Elisabeth and David has festered for years, and now they are about to become the perfect successful couple with a baby, when Celia wasn't able to conceive. And at the dinner party, something inside Celia snapped, But wait, they left and she was doing dishes. 

David was taking a scenic route home versus the faster, more direct route. If that came up during dinner, Celia could take the faster shorter route, get ahead of David in his vintage Mercedes (another symbol of success), and crash into them. Did she intend to kill David, Elisabeth and Andrew on the cusp of his own birth? In her mind she only thinks of how much she's taken away from the perfect couple / family. So IF Celia did crash into them, a good lawyer could get her off on a temporary insanity plea.

Or it was Col. Mustard.