☘︎ Lʏᴋᴀs Vɪᴛᴀʟʟɪs ☘︎
I'm in the middle of a crime scene.
It feels like a hallucination, except there really are medical examiners wrapping up the dead body of Samantha in a black bag and forensics collecting any evidence they could find within the Davidson Villa.
I spot one of the officers speaking to Jennifer and Mia. Jennifer's features are guarded to stone, giving off no emotion. Mia is the one who answers most of the officer's questions.
When the officer declares that Mia's free to go, and diverts his whole attention on Jennifer, I see her fists clench, grabbing my attention to her hands where she's gripping something akin to a piece of paper tightly in her right palm. Something about her guarded stature tells me she doesn't want to disclose it to the officer.
Still stranded at the main door, I tilt my head as curiosity heightens in my veins. What's that?
The officer with graying hair and sharp amethyst eyes, Jared Ritchie as per his name tag, slants a look at Jennifer, "May I know again why you went to Miss Samantha's room when you found her body?"
"I wanted to ask her something." Jennifer answers vaguely, not giving the exact reason.
The officer notices it too and he looks ready to press her for answers.
I have no idea why I do it, but within the next seconds, I find myself sauntering over to them, and standing in front of Jennifer so that officer Jared doesn't glance down at her hands.
"How did this happen?" I gesture at the corpse being carted away, diverting the blue uniformed, mid-forties man's attention to me.
"Someone stabbed the housekeeper multiple times and left her to bleed to death." The officer takes an eye-sweep around the vast living room before looking back at me.
"The medical examiners claimed the time of death was today around 5:00 A.M." Jared asserts, before adding, "As per protocols, whoever was in the house at the time frame are not allowed to leave the city as long as the investigation goes on."
Jennifer goes wholly still beside me, her grip on the note loosening. I don't know whether she realizes it but the piece of paper falls out of her hands to the floor due to the loose hold when she nods robotically to the officer's instruction.
My head whisks towards him in alarm, "Wait, five in the morning? Everyone were in the house at that time." We'd left for the death ceremony after six.
Jared shrugs, "Then I suppose 'everyone' cannot leave city until we find the culprit. My senior, Officer Ethan Langford, will be handling this case. He'll eventually approach each of you for questioning."
The name sounded oddly familiar but I couldn't put my finger on where I've heard it before.
Fixing the lapels of his uniform, "I shall take my leave now." The officer extends his hand to me and then Jennifer.
Jennifer absent-mindedly gives his offered hand a firm shake with her now empty hands.
The moment the policemen cleared the house, she stalks off without sparing anyone another glance and totally forgetting her little note was left behind.
I picked the paper up from the floor and tucked it into my jean's pocket.
***
Staying for over a week in the Davidson Villa, I'd long given up on expecting Jennifer Ryson to show up at the dining room since that eventful first day, because she never did.
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The Secret Heiress | ✔️
Romance---▪︎ A Wattpad featured story ▪︎--- Twelve years ago, an incident changed my life. I was sent to London by my father with a new identity; all alone, away from my family and home, away from everything that was me. With a new persona as Jennifer Ryso...
