At the airport, we got a lot more information than we’d initially thought; or I’d thought at least. For the first ten minutes of the meeting, I was in a whole other dimension. I was angry at Lucas, and my brain couldn’t pinpoint why. I wanted to talk about the trauma of losing my sister. And yet, a large fragment of me thought talking about it made it more real and less of a nightmarish dream I was having.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡ20HUsx1vNx 維尼
The man they guided us to as the person to talk to because he was the only one who could answer our questions was called Guy… Something. I forgot because I wasn’t fully with them when they introduced him. He was a tall, handsome man. He was very respectful and called me ‘ma’am’ and he called Lucas ‘sir’. That was completely disregarding the fact that we were of the same age. When i thought about it, he could have been older than both of us by three to five years.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡ49AURtl22k 維尼
Lucas wasted no time and got to the point. He had Guy looking through the airport’s reports from the previous two weeks in less than three minutes of our introduction. At which point, I was still very much distracted.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡFvT4VcitBu 維尼
‘Okay, Angela. You’re an adult who should be independent and full of sense.’ I scolded myself. ’Use some of that sense now and put your anger aside. Concentrate on the job.’8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡng2dCGUlHs 維尼
“I know the name, sure,” Guy’s groggy voice was saying after I was scolding myself. “He’s flown here many times before already and this town is a small town, as you know, but he wasn’t here on that day. He hasn’t been here since his last flight three months ago.”8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQHXQrqrq7 維尼
He had a groggy voice, half bored, half exhausted. And pretty much half awake. I liked him. He seemed like quite the character, almost like he could be funny if he was put in the right conditions.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡkRVhatyLkp 維尼
“So, you mean that Mr Hedgepeth didn’t book a flight a week ago?” Detective Lawrance asked. He wanted to be sure.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡg8iPCkIpND 維尼
“Yes, sir. That’s what I’m sayin’.” Guy replied. That’s when it fully sunk in. It hit me that Mr Hedgepeth hadn’t booked a flight in the past three months, and neither had his wife Tanya. That meant that she’d lied to me. She had something to hide, something enormous, and her plans weren’t well thought out either.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡxObOmm4F18 維尼
“What about his wife?” Lucas was inquiring. I was quite intrigued. This meant that we now had a proper suspect since she’d lied to everyone; the police and me.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrjlKhYAtK 維尼
“Tanya? Not seen her too.” So none of them had been here for at least three months, or that’s what Guy said. “I checked the records like you said I should, but nothing came up.”8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡXG28OMXgsp 維尼
“Thank you, Guy,” Lucas said. “I’ll talk to you soon.”8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPP18Hoaa6 維尼
We left the place and went to drive away. We were both absorbed in our own thoughts; with the extra information taking to the forefront of our minds. Why had Tanya lied to us? She was the only person with a plausible reason to lie to us. Guy had no motive for which he could tell the lie. We both looked at this from the perspective that Guy was being truthful. Mr Hedgepeth hadn’t gone on some innocent cruise which his wife had to keep as a secret. Tanya was the only one, along with her husband, who could benefit something from telling such a lie. So why had she lied? What did she gain from it? Where was her husband then? Why had he left in the first place?8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡugXb5bbvE5 維尼
“Can’t you check the obituary and see if his father’s dead?”8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7N71HlwAYA 維尼
“Mr Hedgepeth’s father died two years ago. He had no other fathers or stepdads,” Lucas responded. “I had one of my guys look into that piece of information yesterday evening.”8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6X0BpnnrQ1 維尼
I gawked at him. He had said all that in a monotone voice, like he hadn’t dropped the biggest bombshell ever. He didn’t respond to my now glare. “And you were planning to tell me this when?” I asked.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡchRjt8OWhX 維尼
" Right now. That’s what made me want to look into this more.”8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡ79ruQ87xE5 維尼
If he was only going to look into evidence when he wanted to, then we had an enormous problem. Not only was this town equipped with nonsensical homicide detectives; but idiotic ones too. Such a shame because it was a pretty little town that deserved every good thing in the world, including good detectives.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡ16B5FRV2eM 維尼
“So, if you hadn’t wanted to, you wouldn’t have looked into it?” I was pissed, and I hoped he could see it. I loathed such selfish behaviour.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxXE8mqq4Y 維尼
“No, I was going to look into it already, but that made me even more sure that there was something for me to find out.” Yeah right. He sounded more like he was trying to convince himself more than me. How atrocious!8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3w9zhjUJf4 維尼
“Where are we going now?” I gave a quick nod and asked. Maybe not talking about it would help me calm down and not slap him.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡnm60P4FDwL 維尼
“Back to the station, I need to…” He trailed off.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡbDJE3E7WSx 維尼
“What?”8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2y2jPDezrX 維尼
“Alison.” He said. “We know next to nothing about her, but I have a feeling she’s important to the case.” Me too! That’s why I told him about her. Why on earth would I tell him about someone totally useless to the case of a dead woman? Why would I waste his time like that? And mine too.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFd3SR1mIB 維尼
We got to the station, and he made me sit for a very long time describing Alison to him and telling him of every minute detail I could think of.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDYp2yPCg1 維尼
“When last did you see her?”8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡEViaHd4H65 維尼
“Maybe two days ago?” I said. “Are we done? My brain’s starting to hurt.”8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡZuYwNCJtO8 維尼
“Oh, so you have one.” He whispered. I heard him and glared. He didn’t seem fazed at all. And I decided he was an irritating person.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡfG8sqKEYz8 維尼
It was later in the afternoon when Lucas sent me home and made me promise that I’d stay in the house with my aunt. My aunt welcomed me with a small smile;8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Fu93akt2V 維尼
“Who was that?”8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡGAA8i0TQgu 維尼
“Um… Lucas? I told you I was heading out with him in the morning.” She made a grunting noise. “What?”8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6FKKDjMat 維尼
Aunt Poppy shook her head no, gave me a curious look, and said nothing else. I figured she was done talking, and I went to make myself some lunch. She followed me into the kitchen, took her book and sat at the counter. All the while maintaining her curious gaze on me.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ZqPYGNF7d 維尼
“Okay, Aunty. Spit it out.” I said, slapping my hands on the countertop.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡTxXcirQfns 維尼
“What?” She gave me a fake innocent face. I groaned.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2eYH9Qphpi 維尼
“Yeah, okay, whatever.” I reheated a frozen pizza and had some orange juice on the side. It was a great orange juice, but my mind wasn’t concentrating on the flavour. I was busy thinking about the information we’d received that day at work.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5X6cjHURv 維尼
Halfway through my pizza, Aunt Poppy made her presence known by asking a question that I knew she had. I had the patience to wait for her to ask it herself.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0t1h7hOzJV 維尼
“Is Lucas a great company? What did you guys do the whole day?”8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡeX7gW1QrTZ 維尼
“Oh, Aunt poppy. Matchmaker isn’t your job. He was nice, we… talked and stuff.” I didn’t think saying that we were investigating a murder together was a great way to tell her about the nice day id had.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡCwxxTvf3Lt 維尼
“Did you solve it?”8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ58IWiIV12 維尼
“Solve what?” The pizza slice stopped halfway to my mouth.8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQ2tQqMfDQ 維尼
“The murder, obviously. Do you think I’m stupid?”8964 copyright protection19ＰＥＮＡＮＡvtCfp0MoZh 維尼
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