The maid moves from dusting the furniture to cleaning the windows, and briefly focuses beyond the smudges on the window. She screams when she sees the body of her employer, John Bywater, floating face down in the backyard pool. Inspectors Rectus and Sumere are called to the scene.
Sumere: What an unfortunate accident!
Rectus: We can't assume it was an accident.
Sumere: There's an empty bottle of alcohol by his towel. Clearly, he was drunk and passed out, drowning.
Rectus: The maid said Mr. Bywater swam laps every morning. There is no glass, and the empty bottle has no lip marks. Actually, the empty bottle has no residue inside. She did say she heard an argument earlier, and when she looked outside, she saw the neighbor, Mr. Adstat, pointing his finger at the deceased with a threatening look on his face.
Sumere: So, Mr. Bywater was murdered by Mr. Adstat!
Rectus: We can't know that. I spoke with Mr. Adstat, and he was very shocked and upset to find out about the death. He was angry because Mr. Bywater was supposed to invest his money, but never got the confirmation. The result was Mr. Adstat missing out on an opportunity to make a lot of money.
Sumere: It must be a family member then.
Rectus: Mr. Bywater has no family. He's an only child, a bachelor, and both of his parents have passed away. We need to speak with his business partner, Paul Avara, who was recently accused of embezzling from their firm's brokerage account. Mr. Bywater was going to testify before a grand jury today.
Sumere: Then Paul Avara must be the murderer!
Rectus: Apparently, Mr. Bywater was going to testify that his partner was innocent. It wouldn't make sense for Paul to kill him.
Sumere: Well, we need a suspect to solve this crime. I'm going to find as much dirt as I can on Mr. Avara. If he's going before a grand jury, there has to be something.
Rectus [Rolling his eyes]: I think that's a dead end. I'm going to investigate some other leads.
-- Later --
Rectus: I found some useful information.
Sumere: So did I! Paul Avara has quite a past. He has been divorced several times and has a sizable alimony burden. He has a DUI that he's still fighting. His uncle is currently serving time for money laundering. Apparently, Paul worked with his uncle before joining up with Bywater. The empty alcohol bottle was for a label that Paul was trying to bring into their investment portfolio. So, Paul was in the backyard, by the pool.
Rectus: None of that matters.
Sumere: What do you mean! Paul Avara is a scumbug who deserves to be punished!
Rectus: Sounds like he's already being punished.
Sumere: Why did you say "none of that matters?"
Rectus: The maid said the bottle had been out by the pool for several days. Paul brought it over when they were having a business meeting. But that doesn't even matter. The autopsy showed that Bywater suffered a heart attack when he was swimming laps.
Sumere: No, no, that was no accident. I'm sure Paul gave him something. He caused the heart attack. I'm sure of it.
Rectus: We found security footage that shows Bywater grabbing his chest, flailing in the water, and then just stopping.
Sumere: That sounds awful! All the more reason for Avara to pay for it!
Rectus: The coroner said the toxicology report showed nothing. Bywater had preexisting conditions, became dehydrated, and had an electrolyte imbalance.
Sumere: I bet Avara knew about the preexisting conditions. He just needed to push him over the edge.
Rectus: How could Avara cause an electrolyte imbalance? That is caused by not taking something.
Sumere: I'm sure there are ways. We just need to find them.