It was cold, and pouring rain on the evening of Friday, March 13th. Detective Estrada was home playing with her children when the phone rang. Her boss said she needed to go to New York Hospital immediately to investigate a potential homicide.  When the detective arrived to the 13th floor as instructed, she went to the nurses’ station and asked for room #666. She stopped at the entrance and looked all around without moving for a while.  She put latex gloves on, took a camera out of her purse and took pictures of the victim and his immediate surroundings. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. His body didn’t show any signs of a struggle.  She called the clerk back at her office and gave her the victim’s name “Isaiah Santos”.  He had never been in trouble with the law before. He was an innocent man.   Detective Estrada went back home.

The very next morning, she woke up early and sat at her breakfast table with a cup of tea.  She couldn’t stop thinking about Isaiah.  She reviewed his medical records, and he was fairly healthy.  He was admitted to the hospital because he was scheduled to have surgery on his knee the very next morning. She had his cell phone and went through his contacts.  She called a few contacts that he had been in touch with recently and asked them to meet in person.  She first met Darren, his best friend.   The detective asked him many questions, documenting every word that was spoken. She found out that he was working at TD Bank full time and had a part time job with Uber.  Darren seemed nervous, and so timid.  He didn’t talk much except to answer the questions.  She met other contacts and found out that Isaiah had many friends but was also disliked by a lot of people.  One night Isaiah was at a party and he accidently took the wrong wallet.  Some people thought he stole it.  He made a lot of enemies that day.

A week later the detective was still so puzzled and confused. She decided to take another look at the pictures. She studied them for what seemed like an eternity, just staring and staring and staring. But then it finally came to her. She couldn’t believe that she had overlooked this. In one of the photos there was a little piece of paper sticking out from under the mattress. She quickly rushed to the second floor where all the evidence was kept. Towards the very bottom of the bin was a tiny piece of crumbled paper which read “you shall be lucky it wasn’t you”. She couldn’t believe that someone would leave a note.  It might not mean anything yet but it might later on.  The next day she asked all 6 detectives that she worked with to go back with her to New York Hospital to help her inspect again.   Detective Estrada went to the isolation room where they clean all the tools. She looked in all the capsules and when she went to the needle area she found that one needle was a bit larger and out of place than the others. She went into another area where it showed were that needle should of have been. She noticed a clear residue of something in there. She sent the syringe to the lab to be tested along with bloodwork taken from Isaiah.  The toxicology reports overwhelmed the detective. Isiah died as a result of a needle filled with Arsenic which was injected into his veins!

“I promise it wasn’t me”, Amintta said.

“You were the last person to see the victim.  You are under arrest.  You have a right to remain silent.  You may have a lawyer.  Anything you say can be used against you.  You will have the opportunity to go to court and let the judge decide what your future holds”, the detective said with a stern voice.

“But...but...bu”.

"It is what it is!  Put your hands up where I can see them now!

“I promise it wasn’t her, Joe the nurse yelled.  Please don’t arrest her”.

“Then who was it?!?!  Amintta was the last person in the room with Isiah”.

“I’m sorry but I don’t have any clue who could have done something so horrible”. 

“Mhm alright then I will see you tomorrow at court”.

“But I didn’t do anything…”

The next day at Court…

“GUILTY”!!

The whole crowd was confused. Amintta parents were in shock. Joe’s parents had died a year before.  Joe didn’t really miss his parents because they never really cared about him.

“It’s not my fault!”

“Yes, it actually is!!”

“Bu..bu…but”

“Sorry but Amintta you are sentenced to 2 years in maximum prison in Georgia”.

Hmmm what can I do to get myself out of this monstrosity, she thought to herself.

“Judge Judy please trust me it wasn’t me”.

“Sorry Amintta Ragavanis but you were proven guilty and when Joe Dolce came previously he was proven not guilty.”

“NO, THAT’S NOT FAIR”!!!

Then after the racket Amintta caused, she got out of her seat and started running towards the judge, but the police and guards immediately grabbed her and she was sentenced another year to jail. Her parents were so disappointed and disheartened from Amintta’s actions, that they threatened to disown her.  Her parents decided it was best to stop talking to her forever. 

Three years later

Amintta got out of jail, she is in poverty and doesn’t have any sort of transportation or electronics to call her parents or anyone else.  Luckily one of her friends from prison, Abagail had just been released from jail so Amintta had no choice but to leave with her.

Abagail didn’t have enough gas to drive Amintta home and herself home so Amintta was forced to walk the mile and a half home. When she arrived at her parent’s house she was so surprised to see her parents were overly-happy to see her.  When she approached them they immediately apologized and hugged and kissed her repeatedly.  

“OH MY GOD, were so sorry…we didn’t mean to be so dis-owning and so misunderstanding. We should have just listened to your part of the story. I guess we just got caught up on the idea of what happened and you being accused. Maybe you should quit your job officially, when you were away The New York Hospital kept calling and asking if you were coming back because nobody else wanted to go and get interviewed after what happened to you. So do you still want to go”, her mom and dad said in sorrow.

“What do you mean”?

“How didn’t you hear… the government got sued, after what happened to you. They think it was actually your co-worker Joe, he went to court again the other day we came and watched, gratefully he was proven not guilty…but the bad thing is that we don’t know who murdered Isaiah”, she explained.

  “Ummm I really don’t know…I really need the money to pay my dream apt. after. But I don’t know after the incident…”

“Just go if you really need the money because I checked around the city and there were no jobs in your interest that needed workers.

“Well what type of jobs were there and how much did they pay?”

“At Sunoco gas station you get paid $9.22 an hour, at Family Plumbing you get paid $22.43, at Cleanout Express you get paid $16.55, and as a funeral director you make $20.00 an hour. So I suggest you stay with your job at the NYH because you get paid 63.38 an hour. You get paid almost 40 dollars more and that would really help you reach your goal for the apt…. and the bail money, she murmured under her breath.”

“Well we should go see a financial counselor to help me with my savings and spending my money on the things I need versus the things I want.”

“Okay well talk about this with your father tomorrow, and maybe he can help us.”

The Next Day

There all sitting down on the couch with a nice calm vibe in the air…

“So dad mom and I think I should hire a finance councilor. What are your thoughts about that?”

“That’s sounds like a great idea… do you know who you are going to have yet or any of the details?”

“Well no, we are going to find out the details and stuff later… we wanted to find out if it was a good idea and if we should invest our money on it.”

“What do you mean we? Aren’t you going to help me pay for it?”

“Well if you think that you’re the only broke one here and need help… your wrong. You only stayed in jail for 3 years. You were sentenced for one more because you tried to strangle the judge. We bailed you out because we needed your help financially… and your bail was $1,000,000. We still owe the bank half. So if you really want your dream apt. you will have to get a second job and help us pay the bail first.”

“WHAT…how long would I even have this dumb second job”?!

“Well it depends on how much you get paid with it… say you become a lawyer two hours away somehow without a degree… you would get your dream apt. much faster…versus getting a job as a local plumber.”

“wait a minute… MOM why didn’t you tell me about this debt you are in?!”

“Sweetie, I didn’t want you to stress out. I wanted you to have a good time while you just got out, please forgive me. now that you bring it up I feel really bad. How bout this… to make it up to you we can go visit a special place.”

The father walks out of the living room and walks in the kitchen to make himself a sandwich for lunch.

“What is this special place… all I want to do right now is go see Joe and talk this out!”

“That was kinda where I was going to take you… he wanted to do the same with you and he asked me permission a couple minuets ago.”

“Alright then, but are we allowed to go to the hospital and ask to see some camera footage and see if we see anything familiar?”

“Sure that’s fine with me, but go ask your father.”

“I know”

As she walks out of the living room her mom texts Joe about the plan.

“Dad said I could go!”

The next day at 4:00 p.m.

“Hey Joe, long time no see.”

“Hey I know; I was really looking forward to this.”

“Same”

“So how bout we head to the NYH and see some footage and get some information on what they found out so far.”

“Yeah that sounds great!”

30 minutes later there at the hospital with detectors flooding everywhere, police surrounding the outside and a couple ambulances outside. They finally let the Amintta and Joe inside and after many questions which seemed like forever. When they went inside they asked to see some footage. The police officer denied their question and didn’t let them see anything. Amintta and Joe said that they really needed to see the footage to see if they saw any familiar faces.

“Sir I have heard that male in the photo was in his 60s and had the same jacket as my dad. Even though I highly doubt it was my dad I would still like to see the footage.”

“Alright, only because you guys work here and you might be able to solve this case…”

“Thank you so much, I really do appreciate it.”

As Amintta and Joe walk into the control room as they watch all the videos which take an hour of their important time. When they were on the 9th video it showed a little clip of his face. It was a hidden camera in the isolation room, right behind the camera. And then she saw a familiar face it was… her father all along! Her father Bob Schneider had left and disappeared before anybody could stop him. Her father only did this crime because he was forced by a gang leader.  He was forced to do it to save his entire family.