The press was all over it.
The whole thing went ballistic from the time the body was found in the town’s best hotel. In quick time, the police had their prime suspect and spent hours questioning him. There were those who thought they were a bit hasty, but they pressed ahead. His alibi was weak and the interrogators kept the pressure up because of it. At the time of the crime, he maintained that he’d been at a night club in another town, but nobody interviewed could definitely state that they had seen him on the night. The case drew a lot of attention because the victim was a known crime boss from a major city, who’d come to the town for a meeting with other key players and members of a countrywide crime syndicate.
From the word go, he had fervently protested his innocence. During questioning he had repeated that he was being wrongly accused of something that was completely foreign to his nature; that he was trying to get away with murder. He pointed out that he had no motive to commit the murder. People who knew him would say that this simply wasn’t the sort of person he was.
Despite all this, it went to trial.
As a result of there being only circumstantial evidence, together with the idea that police had possibly cut a few corners in order to get a conviction, he was pronounced not guilty. Owing to the case having created so much publicity, a huge crowd of reporters waited outside the courthouse.
As he left the building a free man, he fought his way through the noisy reporters and jumped into a waiting car. He’d had enough of being the centre of attention.
Although it was hard, he made absolutely sure that nobody saw him smirk.