Chapter 239
Janet hesitated for a while and decided to share her doubts with Clemente.
“Clemente, I still feel that there are missing parts in this thing…” she said.
“About what? The owner admitted to his crime already,” Clemente looked confused.
“The owner is responsible for Keavy’s death. But what about Elder Randy? The owner had nothing to do with Elder Randy and he wasn’t even at the Spring Ball…”
Clemente let out a cold sneer, “That is where things get really interesting. Hear this: the owner’s restaurant is one of the caters of the spring ball.”
…WHAT?
Janet gasped.
So the owner WAS at the spring ball! He even prepared the food himself, which gave him a chance to poison Elder Randy.
But what did the owner do? Was it another mistake?
And what about Agnes?
Based on the information that they had gathered so far, Agnes had nothing to do with this whole mess.
But that couldn’t be right…
A thousand thoughts sped through her addled brain.
“Cheer up Janet. You just did something really awesome today. I am going to let the king know about this!” Clemente grinned.
“Clemente wait-”
She wanted to ask him to keep it quiet before they could know more.
Yet Clemente had turned hastily and rushed away.
Standing stiffly for a few more moments, Janet returned to the interrogation room.
The owner was still in his chair, sobbing miserably.
“Queen Janet! Have you talked to General Clemente yet?” he looked at Janet with hope, “Did you tell him that I didn’t mean any of these? And I definitely don’t deserve to be sentenced to death?”
“The King and the elders will mete out your punishment.” Janet studied his tear–stained face and asked, “And now I have one more question for you: do you know Elder Randy before this?”
The owner’s expression was vacant, “Who is Elder Randy? I don’t know him.”
“He is one of the elders that attended the Spring Ball a couple of weeks back, and you were the caterer of that event. Elder Randy got poisoned at the Spring Ball and his symptom matches with Keavy’s.”
The owner rounded his eyes as his brain processed the information.
Then his breathing became heavy.
He burst out crying, “WHAT THE HELL! Are you blaming me for that case as well?! Am I responsible for all the poison cases in the whole world?!”
“I didn’t say that. Calm down-”
Yet the owner had completely lost control of his temper under pressure.
“You rich and powerful people can’t do this! Can’t dump shit on my head like that!!! I won’t be somebody else’s scapegoat!”
He roared, his face twisted by horror and panic, and he banged his fists on the table, “I don’t know that goddamn Elder Randy! You can’t blame me for that! You fucking
can’t-
“CALM DOWN!!
Janet shot up and tried to contain him.
Yet he slapped her hand away, breathing very fast.
“No…NO! You are going to sentence me to death, aren’t you!” he shouted, “Then I take it back! I take all my testimony back! I won’t let you powerful fucks walk over my head-”
Just then, the door to the interrogation room flung open.
Westin strode in with a large group of soldiers and elders behind his back.
“Chain him! And toss him into the cell,” Westin ordered the soldiers icily. “This man is responsible for Keavy’s death and Elder Randy’s poison case. He will be brought to trial later!”
The soldiers piled in and yanked the owner up from his chair.
The owner was still crying miserably, “I didn’t do it! I didn’t poison that elder! You can’t do this to me-”
The soldiers clogged his mouth.
And they dragged him out of the interrogation room.
“…Wait!”
Janet wanted to chase up the owner. Yet Westin stood in her way and placed a hand. on her shoulder.
“Great job,” he said with a smile on his lips.
“Westin listen-”
He bent his back and planted a kiss on her forehead.
“I owe you a thank you,” he said hoarsely by her ears. “You unraveled the truth. Your helped my best friend. I am so proud of you my love…”
She frowned in silence.
Did she really unravel the truth?
Yet why did she feel that she was getting further and further away from the truth? Somebody cleared his throat behind Westin.
Janet looked over and found that it was Elder Lamonte.
By his side was Agnes, with her head held down.
“…Queen Janet,” Elder Lamonte gave a nod to Janet.
There was an awkward smile on his face.
It looked as though he was trying to show his gratitude yet wasn’t quite used to that expression.
“Thank you…for what you did for my son,” he said briefly in a hoarse voice. “You
Will be a good queen.
You are welcome.”
The man who was once her enemy now changed his attitude and was expressing his gratitude.
Yet it gave Janet less pleasure than she thought.
Her eyes flickered to Agnes.
“Why don’t you look happy, Lady Agnes?” Janet asked abruptly, “Aren’t you happy to learn about the truth of your mate’s death?”
Agnes gave a small shiver.
Slowly, she raised her head and forced her face into a strained smile, “O–Of course I am happy…”
“It doesn’t look like it,” said Janet icily.
Enmity flickered across Agnes’s eyes as she said, “I was just wondering…why did you suddenly become so interested in Keavy’s death? It has been so long ago…. “I stumbled upon it while looking into Elder Randy’s case. And I won’t stop my investigation until I have the FULL TRUTH,” Janet said.
She stressed the “full truth” on purpose.
Agnes gave another shiver and lowered her head again.
…This woman was definitely involved.
Janet could be sure of that.
Yet the only question was…HOW?
“My Queen accomplished something great today,” Westin announced proudly. “Let’s celebrate her contribution over dinner at the dining hall tonight!”
The room erupted into applause.
Westin lowered his head to Janet, “Do you want to head back to the castle with me my love?”
Janet shook her head, “No…you go ahead. I want to stay here a bit longer…to clear my head.”
They all left the room to prepare for tonight’s celebration party.
Janet wandered down the hallway along. Pacing to think.
She brought herself back to the very beginning of this investigation.
OK, from the start.
Clemente told her that he should be having dinner with Keavy that night, but he caught up in patrol duty and couldn’t get back in time.
And that was why Keavy ordered that takeout, which killed him.
Assuming that it wasn’t an accident, and somebody did poison Keavy with that takeout on purpose (Janet was still convinced that it was Agnes), Clemente couldn’t be home during dinner that night…
And what did Clemente say about that patrol duty?
….A girl was attacked by bears near my patrol point…but it turned out to be a false alert.
False alert!
Someone probably designed that emergent patrol duty to divert Clemente from home!
Janet turned on her heels abruptly and headed downstairs.
The Patrolling Center was a few floors beneath the interrogation room.
Janet walked into the center and stopped a passing soldier, “Excuse me, I need help with something…”
“Queen Janet!” the soldier gasped, “Yes of course. What do you need?”
He recognized her, which definitely made things easier.
“Do you keep records of the calls people made into this center asking for help?” Janet asked.
“Sure we do.”
“How long do those records date back to?”
“We still have records from 10 years ago.”
Awesome!
Janet gave the soldier the date and time and asked him to dig up the phone record of Clemente’s patrol duty.
It didn’t take long. 30 minutes later, the soldier brought Janet into a meeting room. and played the record for her on a laptop.
That record started with some static.
And then a few seconds later, a female voice suddenly started screaming:
..Help! I–I am being attacked by a bear! Hurry and send someone over to help me…NOW!”
“Do you need to hear it again, Queen Janet?” the soldier asked.
“No need,” Janet said with a cold smile on her lips.
Although the record was short, she could still recognize that voice-
Agnes’s voice!
Agnes should be at her parent’s that night. Why would she call into the Patrol Center
calming that she was attacked by a bear?
The reason was simple: To divert Clemente away from the house so that she could carry on her plan of poisoning Keavy!
Gotcha, bitch.
Janet looked at the soldier and said, “Can you ask General Clemente to come over? There is something important that I need to tell him.”
Chapter 380.
He came in with a big grin on his face asking, “What are you still doing here Janet? You should head back to the castle with the King. I want to stop by my brother’s grave and let him know about the truth that you found. Do you want to come with me or should I see you at the party-”
“Clemente wait!” Janet had to raise her voice to stop him. “Listen. Have you listened. to the phone call that was made into the Patrol Center on the night that Keavy died?”
Clemente frowned, “No. The Center had operators who took the call and assigned duties directly to us. Why are you asking about this?”
Janet nodded.
That was what she thought.
If Clemente had taken the call himself, he would have recognized Agnes’s voice.
“Listen to this.”
She hit “play” and played the record for Clemente.
“…Help! 1–I am being attacked by a bear! Hurry and send someone over to help me…NOW!”
Agnes’s voice echoed in the room.
The grin faded from Clemente’s face, and it was replaced by a horrified expression. “W–Wait….What is this?” he stuttered, trembling. “Where did you get this? How on earth-”
“I asked a soldier to dig this phone record from 5 years ago. The person who called in for help was Agnes,” Janet said.
“IMPOSSIBLE!” Clemente roared, his face twisted by anger. “Agnes was at her parent’s house that night! There was no way she could be attacked by a bear-”
“Precisely!” Janet snapped, “Because she lied about it! She made that call to divert you from home so that Keavy would have to order a takeout-”
“You are still dwelling on that! The owner admitted to his crime already-”
“He didn’t admit to everything! The owner strongly denied having anything involved in Elder Randy’s case!”
“And you believed him? A wife murderer who happened to kill my brother as well?”
“As a matter of fact, yes, I believe him,” Janet said icily. “That man is a piece of shit. But he doesn’t have the gut to touch a well–respected elder and he has no motive to do it.”
She stared at Clemente’s rage–filled face and added, “And if you really think about it, there are so many parts that don’t add up in the owner’s testimony. For example,. he labeled the poisoned food carefully. But how did the poisoned one still end up in Keavy’s hand?”
“He was clumsy! He panicked. He grabbed the wrong one,” Clemente said gruffly.
‘Now you are just purposely neglecting the evidence,” Janet sighed.
There was a moment of silence.
The only audible sound was Clemente’s labored breathing.
Janet could understand his frustration: just when he thought that he had the whole truth already, he was told that it was yet another lie…It must have been hard.
But she couldn’t let him back away from the truth just because it was hard.
“Clemente…”
She softened her tone and wanted to keep on persuading him.
Before she could say anything else, he turned to her with bloodshot eyes and asked, “What else do you need then?”
“About this case?”
“Yes, about this case!” Clemente clenched his fists, “I can see that you won’t drop this case until you look into everything. Fine. I can help you. But you have to promise
me that you will leave Agnes alone when you are done! She has been through enough already!”
Janet raised an eyebrow, “If she is proven innocent… Yes. I promise that I will leave her alone.”
“Good.”
Clemente ran his fingers through his hair, irritated, “Now, what are the loose parts that you were talking about?”
The loose parts.
Janet rubbed her chin, pondering.
The biggest mystery was how the poisoned food ended up in Keavy’s hand.
The food was labeled.
Assuming that this whole thing wasn’t just a clumsy mistake, then someone must have swapped the labels somehow and let the owner believe that he was giving Keavy the clean food.
But how?
The only time window was when the owner was still in the restaurant.
But according to the man, he prepared the food himself and never let the food leave his sight for a single second until
“The car accident!”
Janet snapped her head up and gasped, “If someone were to swap the labels, they could do it during the car accident! The owner said that he hit somebody with his car
on his way to Keavy’s. Remember?”
Clemente looked skeptical, “That is far–reaching…”
“But possible! Can we find out the identity of the person hit by the owner?”
The fastest way was to ask the owner himself, of course.
But Westin had already thrown that man into prison. And a whole lot of paperwork would be required if they wanted to question him in person.
“Yes…Can you ask him that? That is all we need to know…”
Clemente was on the phone with the prison.
Seconds later, he covered the speaker with one hand and turned back to Janet.
“The owner said that he could remember,” he said with a tight furrow. “He simply said that it was a person wearing a baseball hat and a mask—”
“Male or female?” Janet asked urgently.Books Chapters Are Daily Updated Join & Stay Updated for All Books Updates…
“He couldn’t be sure. Since it was so dark and raining so heavily at the time.”
“Any official police record for the car accident?!”
“None. The police weren’t involved.”
Clemente shook his head, “The person being hit simply twisted the ankle. The owner let that person rest on his car while he ran to the nearest convenience store to get an ice pack. But that person was gone when he came back to his car.”
Which meant that the person had a moment alone with the food!
And had a chance to swap the labels!
But if there wasn’t any police record and the owner couldn’t remember…how