Slightly stunned, he nodded in agreement after a while.
The company building had more than a hundred floors. Sasha had chosen the fortieth floor, approximately twenty meters above the ground. There was no way she could have survived a fall from that height.
I swept my gaze over the scene of the crime before I gave Joseph a sidelong glance. “What did the police say?”
“They found broken pieces of metal railing as well as shards of glass where she fell. Preliminary findings point to an accidental fall, but they’re still in the midst of conducting an autopsy. We’ll need to wait for the full autopsy report before we can make the final conclusion.” Even in the face of such a horrible incident, he still managed to remain calm and collected.
I nodded, not saying anything further. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions before the results of the autopsy came out.
After leaving the company, I called Cameron to tell her that I wouldn’t be able to take Summer to the hospital. Too many things were happening at once at Featherstone Corporation, and I didn’t have the time to include Summer in my daily schedule for now. Cameron reassured me that Summer’s fever had gone down and that she was doing alright.
Back at the villa, I phoned Nora and asked her about Abe.
She proceeded to rant on and on for what felt like hours, but my ears pricked up at a certain piece of information. “Wait, Danny was the one who contacted you first?” I interrupted her. “Did you meet him?”
“Nope!” she replied. “He just called me up, telling me to remind you to be more careful, and said that Abe is targeting you and Anthony specifically.”
After a brief moment of hesitation, I decided to tell her about everything that had been happening recently.
“Has Abe’s reach really expanded that far?” she gasped in shock. “Oh! By the way, Armond recently returned to K City. If you find yourself in trouble, you can contact him at any time. He might be able to help.”
I assumed that she was only offering so in order to be polite. As such, I made some noncommittal sound of affirmation and hung up on her, remembering what I had promised Armond last time. I had yet to return the item to him and had been thinking about taking some time out of my schedule specifically to do so.
The eventful day caused me to toss and turn in bed, failing to get a single wink of sleep. Anthony didn’t come home for the entire night either, most likely because he was swamped with work.
The next morning, I woke up, made some breakfast, and packed it up before heading straight to the company.
I had barely reached the main lobby when I caught sight of a group of people screaming and crying for Featherstone Corporation to return to them their daughter. It was currently the beginning of work hours, so there were also many employees crowding around the entrance.
A middle-aged couple dressed in all black were sobbing the loudest, calling out Sasha’s name over and over. I’m guessing they’re her parents. There was also a young child around five years old with them, standing stiffly as she looked around in a daze.
Just then, Joseph came downstairs with horrible dark circles under his eyes. After sending away the employees that should be clocking in for work, he did a double-take when he saw me. “Mrs. Featherstone, are you looking for Mr. Featherstone? We had a meeting that went on throughout the night, and he just ended it.”
I kept an eye on the old couple in the lobby as I inched closer toward him. “How long have they been here for?”
“Since last night. They keep demanding compensation, but the official police report hasn’t come out, so we can’t promise them anything yet.” Joseph’s eyebrows knitted together.
Humming in acknowledgment, my attention was drawn toward one of the staff members at the front counter complaining loudly, “God, I’ve had enough of them. Mr. Featherstone has already issued a statement asking them to wait for the official police reports, and that the company will take responsibility regardless of whatever the results are! They’re obviously just trying to ruin the company’s reputation by causing a commotion on purpose!”
The words took me aback. “Mr. Campbell, is the amount of compensation for an accidental death and a suicide the same?” I inquired.
He shook his head. “No. If it was an accidental death, we would need to pay much more, and the entire company’s security system would need to undergo restructuring. If it was a suicide, the company only needs to pay a small part in reparation fees as more of a moral obligation than anything else.”
I could understand why the old couple was making such a fuss now. With the Featherstone Corporation having to deal with this sudden accident, the victim’s parents were likely trying to cause an uproar in the hopes that Anthony would give them the money to go away.
But they had been going at it for such a long time, and yet, Anthony showed no signs of coming downstairs. He had probably also decided to wait for the police report to come out before taking any actions.
I glanced at the old couple again, whose eyes were red and swollen from crying. They appeared especially frail and weak after having stayed up through the night.
The young child beside them also looked worryingly pale. Turning to Joseph, I told him, “Mr. Campbell, please get someone to buy some breakfast and snacks for them.”
Joseph frowned. “Why? They’re clearly here to cause trouble.”
“They look hungry and pitiful… especially the child. Please do as I said.”
“Alright.” He didn’t sound convinced, but nodded and went off anyway.
Entering Anthony’s office, I spotted him reading a document. I placed the lunchbox that I brought right in front of him on his desk. Snatching the pen and document in his hands away, I chided, “I know you’re a workaholic, but you’ve just burnt the midnight oil. At least eat some breakfast and then take a nap on the bed.” I was acting angrier than I truly felt.
The faint hints of a smile grew on his face as he pulled me to sit in his lap. “Why are you here so early in the morning?” He sighed deeply and buried his face in my hair. “Did you not sleep last night?”
The sight of his stubble starting to poke out of his chin pulled at my heartstrings. “Enough about me; have you seen what you look like? That’s it, no more chit-chat. Eat your breakfast and then take a nap!”
I climbed off of his legs and opened up the lunchbox for him.
Surprisingly, he obediently ate the food in silence, and then insisted on having me sleep beside him. I was unwilling at first, but he looked so serious when he said, “I can’t sleep without you.”
Thus, I had no choice but to lay down in his embrace and closed my eyes.
Soon after, I heard the sounds of his even breathing. He must be exhausted after pulling an all-nighter.
The echoes of footsteps rang out from the office. Taking advantage of Anthony’s deep sleep state, I slowly tiptoed out of bed and left the private restroom. The first thing I saw once I was back in the office was Joseph pacing back and forth looking worried.
Upon seeing me, he quickly asked, “Mrs. Featherstone, is Mr. Featherstone currently taking a break?”
I nodded. “Did something happen?”
Joseph sounded slightly apprehensive as he explained, “The situation with Sasha’s family is getting worse. They’ve rounded up a large number of distant relatives and are continuing to be a disturbance. The lobby is a complete mess, and it’s starting to affect the employees’ work.”
“Didn’t Anthony asked you to investigate Sasha’s relationship with her family yesterday? Did you find out who the kid is?”
“Yes, the child is her four-year-old daughter. Sasha was a single mother who had gotten pregnant when she was a university student. No one knows who the child’s father is. Both of Sasha’s parents were local laborers and had now retired. They’re not very poor, but Sasha has an older brother with a gambling addiction who stole their parents’ retirement savings and rent savings. Now, all her parents have left is a rented house that’s fifty square feet large. They’re going through a relatively hard time.”
That was the reason why Sasha’s parents were so desperate for money after her death. After all, her entire family had been dependent on her income solely and had already been living a frugal life before this. Now that she had suddenly passed away in a freak accident, it was near impossible for two senior citizens and a young toddler to survive on their own.
After pondering for a long while, I told Joseph, “You haven’t slept at all, have you? Go and take a rest in the office. I’ll handle the situation in the lobby.”
“N-No, I’m fine…” he stuttered.
“Joseph, I know I haven’t been a consistent employee of Featherstone Corporation, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t know anything,” I insisted. “Besides, the issue downstairs is just a civil dispute and not something that requires special knowledge. I can handle it myself. So relax and go take a rest, alright?”
He opened his mouth as if to argue further, but his phone suddenly rang out from his pocket. Awkwardly excusing himself to answer the call, I heard what sounded like his wife on the other side of the phone. “Hubby, the baby has a fever, please come home quick!”
His expression swiftly changed upon hearing that. Turning to me, he stressed, “I’ll leave things in your hands, Mrs. Featherstone. I have an emergency at home, but I’ll come back as soon as possible.”
I nodded, reminding him to take care of himself once more.
I went downstairs to the lobby at the same time that Joseph left the building. It was still working hours, so there was only a group of about ten or more people of all ages standing around in the lobby. They had somehow gotten hold of a huge banner and had written the words “A life for a life! Repay your debts!” across it. They seemed quite serious about the message, too.
The receptionists were all cowering in fear behind the counter, deathly afraid that one wrong word would unleash the family’s wrath upon them.
I couldn’t help but feel thankful that Sasha’s body had been taken away prior to this by workers from the funeral parlor. If they hadn’t, her relatives might have carried her coffin case all the way here as a part of their demonstration.
There were security guards stationed at the elevators to prevent them from barging into the upstairs offices and disrupting the employees’ work.
I immediately caught sight of the group that seemed to have run out of energy as I exited the elevator. Heading for the front counter, I asked one of the receptionists, “Have the reporters been here today?”
Logically speaking, there should have been more reporters today than yesterday, but there was not a single one to be seen.
The receptionist did a double-take after seeing me, but she quickly regained her composure. “They usually come by during noon or at night. That’s when the lobby is filled with people, and that’s the only time that Mr. Featherstone will pass through the lobby.”
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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