Chapter 449 – Second Chance Love of the Missing Groom Novel

“It’s my treat when there’s a chance,” Martin replied.

“That’s enough.” Abigail shoved Zachary.

Zachary turned around and shot her a look. “Oh, you look so spooked.”

Abigail, however, was really upset. “That’s enough from you.”

With that, Zachary stopped being weird, but he allowed his eyes to linger on Lulu before striding outside.

Abigail smiled. “The room is ready. Let’s go!”

Arriving at the room, Abigail made the excuse of girls’ talk and went into the bedroom with Lulu.

Martin glanced at the bedroom but said nothing.

With the insight he honed on his job, he knew the instant Zachary showed up that things were complicated between him and Lulu.

He just did not let it show, just as he decided not to ask—even feigning ignorance—if Lulu did not tell him.

Meanwhile, in the bedroom…

Abigail gingerly asked Lulu, “Are you alright? I just wanted to get a nicer hotel. I didn’t think we would run into Zachary—”

“Abigail.” Lulu cut her short with a smile. “I’m fine.”

Studying Lulu’s face for seconds, Abigail decided to keep quiet after ensuring that she was.

Changing the subject, she asked, “You’ve been away for a while. Anything you’d like to eat? It’s my treat.”

Lulu thought about it. “Strawberry cake.”

Abigail was speechless—they could get that anywhere!

“Just cake? It’s not that often you come back.”

“Fine, but after dinner.”

Martin joined them as they headed out to eat, before getting the strawberry cake as well.

“When can I take a look at the body?” Lulu asked.

“Anytime. Diarmuid has already arranged everything with the hospital,” Abigail said. “But you should rest before you go—it was a long journey and you’re pregnant.”

“No. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to get it done soon and head home.”

It was obvious that Lulu did not want to linger, so Abigail called Diarmuid to make the arrangements, while she went with them in the same car.

After Eagle parked the car behind the hospital, they sneaked in since what they were doing was highly irregular.

If Neil were to find out, Abigail would be in further trouble.

And since it was not as if Neil would agree to a post-mortem, they had to keep things quiet!

James Cross led them to the morgue, which was at a quiet corner beneath the parking lot.

They felt a gust of cold air hitting their face the instant the elevator doors opened, but Martin and Lulu remained composed since they were used to it.

Diarmuid, however, was worried—there was a chance Dennis’s death was caused by the surgery or the artificial heart.

Diarmuid was waiting in the corridor outside. He took Abigail’s hand when she arrived, quietly saying, “Calm down.”

Abigail looked at him in surprise. “Do I look that worried?”

She had already kept herself under control!

At the same time, James pulled Dennis’s body from the morgue drawer, while Lulu and Martin joined him.

Abigail was going to do so since he was concerned about Lulu, but Diarmuid stopped her. “Don’t.”

“Why?” she asked.

“You’d just affect them.”

Even if they were not superstitious, corpses were still a jinx and Diarmuid did not want Abigail to be near.

Abigail was in turn speechless.

How would she affect them? Even if she was no forensic doctor, she more or less knew how things work.

Martin came to them just then and asked, “Can we cut the body open?”

“No,” Abigail said.

Martin appeared awkward right then. “Well, we’re not finding anything unusual outside…”

“Do it,” Diarmuid said.

“But…”

“I’ll take responsibility for any issues afterwards,” Diarmuid said, easing his mind. “Just do what you have to. Don’t worry.”

Seeing that Diarmuid was dependable, Martin returned to Lulu and gave her the green light.

James brought them the tools they needed, and everything went smoothly since autopsies were Lulu’s specialty.

Her examination was thorough, too, and she soon found something suspicious.

“He might have been poisoned,” Lulu said.

Abigail frowned. “What? Poisoned?!”

She thought about a lot of possibilities, from her surgery to emotional trauma… but not poisoning.

“I’m basically sure,” Lulu said, passing Abigail a bag. “You can ask someone to perform a lab test on this.”

“Okay,” Abigail said as she took it. She then told James to send Lulu and Martin back to their hotel.

As for her, she was heading to Hotmesh Research to test the substance Lulu handed her, with Diarmuid’s company.

She put on a lab coat and headed inside the lab, while Diarmuid sat outside, watching her work through the window.

Cloud City was certainly quiet late at night…

Crash!

The silence was abruptly cut short!

Diarmuid sprang to his feet and opened the door, asking, “What happened?!”

He then looked to the floor…

The remains of a broken test tube lay on the floor, and Diarmuid strode into the room, studying Abigail from head to toe.

“Are you alright?”

Abigail shook her head. “I’m fine.”

Diarmuid frowned—her face was pale, and she appeared weak as she lay against a desk.

Still, he asked, “Did you find something?”

“Dennis was definitely poisoned,” she replied. “I found traces of hemlock in the sample Lulu gave me.”

“Hemlock?” Diarmuid asked. “What’s that?”

“It’s a poisonous plant,” Abigail explained. “You can extract enough poison to kill two oxen with a single shrub.”

However, she had no idea who would poison Dennis—he had been admired and loved during his time at Hotmesh Research, and no one held enmity against him.

“Maybe he consumed it by mistake?”

“No,” Abigail said confidently. “That can’t happen because hemlock doesn’t exist here—it’s indigenous to another continent. Moreover, there should be initial symptoms such as exhaustion, accelerated heart rate, cerebral hypoxia, and fainting. It would then be followed by myocardial ischemia, leading to death —naturally, it would look as if the death was caused by a failed surgery. Either way, Dennis did not consume it by accident. Someone trained in the medical field must have deliberately staged it to look like that.”

Diarmuid narrowed his eyes. “So, someone wanted to frame you?”

It certainly was the case, given the current observation.

If there was no experienced forensic doctor who could tell that Dennis was poisoned, they would have just considered it a typical death caused by blood loss.

In that case, people would believe that Abigail’s artificial heart was useless, and everyone would turn their crosshairs on her!

But she could not think of anyone who would do that…

“That’s enough. It’s late—let’s just head home for now,” Diarmuid said, putting an arm around her shoulder. “Don’t dwell on it.”

Abigail nodded, but she was terrified.

It felt like she was caught in a web of conspiracy, but she had no idea who was behind it!

Once they returned home, Diarmuid took a shower while Abigail got a call from Lulu, asking if she had found anything.

“It’s hemlock poisoning,” Abigail told Lulu.

Lulu clearly knew as well. “Martin is suggesting that you pull footage of Dennis Turner before he fainted. There should be cameras around, and it might offer you a clue. Just give me a shoulder if you need more help—Martin and I will do our best.”

Abigail had been standing out on the balcony, leaning against the wall as a soft breeze gusted.

It was a little chilly, but she felt a hint of warmth within herself.

“Okay,” she said.

As she hung up and returned inside, she saw Diarmuid in a bathrobe and holding a towel as he dried his hair. “Your turn.”

Abigail, however, lowered her phone and said, “I need to go to the hospital again, to look through the footage before Dennis fainted…”

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