The Lilac Alibi

On a torrential rainy night, I found an unopened bottle of rat poison in my daughter's room and a stranger's muddy footprint on the windowsill. After three months of investigation, the police finally arrested the reclusive old man living across the street. But as I handed the poison bottle across the precinct counter, I caught my reflection in the angled security glass. Stuck to my cuff was a single lilac petal—a flower I had only ever encountered on the day of my daughter's funeral.