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fter months of despair, we finally had a solid lead. I wanted to jump for joy and just disappear into cloud nine. "We will be stationing some policemen around the industrial site. They will not be in their uniforms.
They will scout out the residential areas. They will also keep an eye out for anyone going around wearing an emerald ring on the middle finger of her right hand. You do not have to worry, Victoria; we will find her soon." He patted my shoulder as he said this.
The words I could not express were visible through the grin on my face. I looked at the policeman, and he gave me a sad smile. "Sorry, Ms., if I had been present in the room around the time she arrived, this case would have been done and dusted." I shook my head at him as I felt tears brimming in the corners of my eyes. "You do not have to say sorry for anything. You did an excellent job.
We are so close to getting her. She would not dare terrorize the people I love anymore or me. It is all thanks to you." He just looked down and blushed from the neck up as I complimented him. I decided to tell Detective Ocon. “Sir, there is something I need to tell you.” Detective Ocon looked up at me and nodded his head for me to go on. I shuffled my feet. “She is Andrew’s killer.” All of his movements halted.
His eyes looked like they were bulging out of their sockets. He looked at me with disbelief evident in his eyes. "You mean to tell me the same woman who kidnapped and tortured you is also the woman who killed the man you loved." I looked down at my shuffling feet and nodded my head.
He did not say anything for a while. “How do you know that?” I thought about what I was going to say next. I could not possibly tell him the truth. So, I said, "I did not have a clear vision of that night. My memory felt like a piece of cloth that had been ripped from certain places. But I have been getting them back one by one. In one of them, I had asked her if she had killed Andrew. She had not said yes, but she also did not say no. Sir, we need to consider the possibility that she can be Andrew's murderer." It seemed like the world halted at that moment. I could not hear anything.
This is it. This was it. It was out in the open. She was Andrew’s killer. She was also Doctor Tsunoda’s killed, yet there was nothing I could have done about that. I waited for Detective Ocon to say something. He was quiet. I could not read his expression.
What if he does not believe me and says that what I presented as evidence is not enough? What if he says my memory of that night cannot be trusted? What if she is never blamed for the murder she committed? So many what-ifs. I was so worried. “Okay?” “Okay?” “Yes, okay. We will give this case an urgent priority and treat it as such. Andrew’s murderer or not, she will be behind bars.” This was it. This was all the motivation I needed. I was going to prove her as Andrew’s murderer.
Andrew was going to get justice. I will make sure of it. “By the way, where were you? Why did it take you so long to get here?” Detective Ocon directed his question toward Max. She glanced at me before answering. "Ms. Frietz wanted to pay a visit to a friend of hers. We had just left there when you called. We then got here as soon as we could. Luckily, the bus was already at the stop as we got there; otherwise, it would have been a while." I had completely forgotten about my conversation with Annette.
Detective Ocon merely nodded his head. I was so focused on things that could have gone wrong that I completely forgot about Annette. It was all coming back to me now.
“Annette, are these yours?” She stood still for a minute, expressionlessly staring at the pair of heels. I counted my breath to stop myself from spiraling as I waited for her reply. Her eyes had clouded over, just like my father’s. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.... Only seven breaths before she replied, yet it felt like an eternity. “Yeah, those are mine. Cute, are they not?” She said it nonchalantly as she moved toward the table placed in the center of the room.
She set down the coffee and stood up straight before turning toward me. She looked straight into my eyes; a question mark visible in them. She said it with so much ease. Does she not know what they mean? I had an inner gnawing feeling that she was hiding something from me. “When did you get them?” She motioned for me to sit down with her hands before saying, "Well, a couple of days ago. I do not exactly remember the date or time. It was quite recent, though." What if she was lying? Her demeanor felt different; she felt like another person. She sipped her coffee.
She looked calm, deadly calm, the calm before the storm. “Are you hiding something from me?” I went ahead and asked her. She took a sip of her coffee, staring at the wall ahead of us. I still had not sat down. I was still standing right in front of those shoes.
She then got up, putting down the mug before herself, and stood right in front of me, eye level with me. Her eyes did not look like her own. One, two, three, four, five.... eternity. They seemed distant, far away. Gradually, the look in her eyes began to fade.
Her eyes began to become clearer and more focused; the cloud shifted. She then smiled at me, her old, normal smile, and said, “Of course not. Why would I hide something from you? I just thought these were cute and got them from a sale a couple of days ago. Why, though? Is something wrong? Do you not like them?” She was back to normal. For a minute there, it seemed like she was going to say something that would alter my life. Would it be betrayal, violence, or casual? I had no idea. All I knew was that I was scared.
I was scared of the possibility of being betrayed; I was scared of losing another person; I was scared of my own suspicion; I was scared of my own loneliness. I was just scared. I gave her a small smile. “It is nothing. They just reminded me of something, more like someone. That is all.” She nodded her head. She then turned to Max. "Why are you just standing there like that? Come on, sit down.
The coffee is getting cold. You know the winter air; it is crisp and unforgiving. It certainly will not spare your coffee. Come on." She urged both of us by handing us our cups of coffee. We took our seats on the sofa, the warm cup warming up my hands, ever-increasing the warmth building up on the inside.
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