Bill, who had long been waiting for them at the entrance, hurriedly approached their car when he saw them driving in.
“After Winnie was released, we found something puzzling about one of her recent activities. She called her daughter, Yuliana, who had apparently hired a few men and are now on their way to Chanaea,” Bill reported. “That’s all the information I got.”
Roxanne’s heart began thudding in her chest. “Do you think Winnie’s trying to destroy the evidence?” “In other words, her previous quarrel with Grant might not have been an ordinary confrontation.
She went to him because there was evidence left in the Jarvis residence,” Lucian said. Bill nodded in affirmation.
“In that case, who could Yuliana have hired?” Roxanne asked curiously. Bill and Lucian exchanged knowing looks. Lucian narrowed his eyes ever so slightly and said, “If I’m not wrong, she must’ve hired private investigators to destroy the evidence!”
“As expected of Mr. Farwell! That’s what I thought, too!” Bill replied, albeit with a hint of hesitation. “But why would Winnie do something so reckless when she has just been investigated? That’s a far cry from the calm demeanor during her questioning! Could she be intentionally diverting our attention to the Jarvis residence?”
“Even if that’s her plan, it doesn’t matter. I have enough people to watch over them. The only one who’d work with her at this juncture is her son, Yosef Jarvis…” Lucian muttered.
With that, he called Cayden and ordered him to put twenty bodyguards at Bill’s disposal. Even though Bill was highly-respected and wielded a good deal of authority in the police station, the fact that he was retired meant that he didn’t have the power to deploy officers at the drop of a hat.
“From the looks of it, we haven’t searched thoroughly enough for my mother’s heirloom! Mr. Chapman, I shall return to the Jarvis residence with Lucian to look around again!” Roxanne was getting increasingly anxious.
Bill nodded and watched as the couple sped away in their car. Not long after, Cayden brought a team of men to the station as instructed. Pleased with the turnout, Bill smiled and instantly got down to work.
Meanwhile, in a mansion on the outskirts, Winnie was pacing about restlessly and checking her phone for the time almost every other minute. Yosef, on the contrary, could only lay on the couch, unable to move because both his arms were in a cast.
Argh! I hate Lucian Farwell! He could’ve hit me anywhere, yet he just had to break my arms… I can’t even use my phone or play cards now!
Upon seeing how uneasy his mother was, Yosef couldn’t help but sigh. “Mom, don’t you think you’re worrying unduly? You were so calm and steady at the police station… Why are you so scared now that you’re back?”
“You know nothing! I’m worried that whatever Roxanne’s mother left behind might contain evidence of our crimes!” Winnie fumed as she glared at her son.
For a moment, Yosef was shocked, but he quickly got over it and grew cold as ice. “What evidence? That has nothing to do with me! I don’t even remember having taken part in anything… You were the one responsible for poisoning Roxanne’s mother to death.”
Needless to say, Winnie was furious at how her son was acting so frivolously. Oh, the audacity! Does he not know what I’ve done for him? I only did what I did for him and his sister! That’s it… It’s time to lay my cards on the table!
“Oh, you were a part of it,” Winnie muttered as she fixed a steely gaze upon her son. “In fact, you were the one who carried out the deed.”
Yosef was so stunned at his mother’s claims that he would’ve jumped from the couch if it weren’t for his broken arms.
“Don’t spout nonsense, Mom,” he retorted. “I was only five years old then, for goodness’ sake. How would I have helped you murder someone at that age? You should turn yourself in if you’re so scared!”
That, unfortunately, was the last straw for Winnie. Without a second thought, she rushed up to Yosef and slapped him hard across the cheek.
“It’s just my luck to have a son as useless as you! Why is my life so full of suffering? I want you out of my sight once your sister is back!” she yelled before bursting into tears.
Seeing his mother racked with sobs, Yosef gritted his teeth and tamped down his irritation. “That’s enough. Why are you crying when you were the one who slapped me? Anyway, Yuliana’s almost home. It’d be better to have her help you since I can’t do much in my current condition.”
Just then, the sound of car horns rang out from the courtyard. “Stop crying, Mom. I think Yuliana’s back.”
Winnie’s sobs stopped abruptly as she dabbed away the tears she had so painstakingly squeezed out for the act. She rushed down the stairs to welcome her beloved daughter. Sure enough, Yuliana had arrived home with four strangers in tow.
The men were in all shapes and sizes, yet they were so ordinarily bland that no one on the streets would give them a second look.
That characteristic, however, was what gave them the best cover. After all, their job entailed helping wealthy folks tackle some of the trickiest cases-from investigating a homewrecker to catching a cheating spouse in the act.
Winnie’s face lit up when she finally saw Yuliana, but the same couldn’t be said for the latter.
“Mom, you’d better be careful,” Yuliana muttered sternly as she marched into the living room with the four men following behind. “You’ve just been released from the police station, so I’m sure your every move will be monitored. You haven’t gone out, have you?”
At first, Winnie shook her head, but it didn’t take long before she started squirming under her daughter’s stare. “I-I did go out for a while last night. Will I really be followed? The police don’t have any evidence, though…”
Yuliana’s face instantly turned black as thunder. “What makes you think you’ll be safe outside? Tell me. Where on earth did you go? Do you think Roxanne will let you off the hook that easily?”
Stunned by how grim Yuliana was, Winnie began to regret her own actions. “I was going to go to the Jarvis residence, but in the end, I got so worried that I passed by it without stopping. T-That isn’t enough to expose me, is it?”
After treating the four private investigators to a feast and drinks, Winnie went upstairs with Yuliana to have a discussion with her. Upon seeing how miserable her brother was, Yuliana gritted her teeth in frustration.
“Roxanne is trying to wipe us out completely, but she seems to have forgotten that cornered animals are the most dangerous. If she keeps pushing us into a corner, we can hold her three children hostage!” A vicious glint flashed across Yuliana’s eyes.
From what Winnie had said, she could understand how a mother’s worry could be used against her.
“The best course of action now is to find a way to leave Horington first. Once we arrive in Gerton, we can consider going abroad.” Yuliana’s initial plan was to get her hands on Roxanne’s mother’s heirloom, but looking at the situation, she might not be able to do that at this point.
“But it’s obvious that the cops are after us. It won’t be easy for us to leave Horington.” Winne looked worried. Yuliana nodded. Suddenly, her lips quirked up as an idea popped into her mind.
As night fell, Roxanne and Lucian arrived at the Jarvis residence. Bill led a team of cops, equipped with professional search gear, to thoroughly search the premises inside and out in an effort to locate the family heirloom.
The bodyguards Lucian arranged were also actively digging in the courtyard. They dug deeper than their previous attempt, and soon, they reached a depth of about six feet.
Roxanne continued frowning as she tried to figure out what her mother’s heirloom was. She went over her childhood memories, attempting to find any clues that might be related to her mother’s daily habits but to no avail.
The heirloom remained elusive despite the professional and thorough search. The fact that Winnie had failed to locate it for years made Roxanne wonder if the heirloom was just a figment of their imagination.
Just then, Bill came in from the courtyard. “I’ve searched everywhere in the Jarvis residence and received some feedback from the neighbors around. Based on my findings, it’s unlikely that the heirloom is in the yard. It’s more likely that it’s still inside the house.”
“Where would it be, then?” Roxanne took a sidelong glance at the building. There are only a few things left in the house, and they have combed through every possible hiding place. Where else could the heirloom be?
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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