Chapter 233
Chapter 233
Chris swept a glance over her eyes, still red but steady with resolve. Then he tilted his head slightly and told the bodyguard, “Go get it from the car p>
The way he handed it back so easily caught Winter off guard.
So that was where he had been keeping her press badge. In the car.
Once she had it back, Winter went with the police to the crime scene, while the coworkers from the station who had been assigned to cover it with her headed there too.
The scene was at the corner of an alley, partially hidden beneath an old metal awning.
Officers were still guarding the area inside the police tape, while a crowd had gathered outside it.
The police had responded quickly after the emergency call came in, and nothing at the scene had been touched. The groceries Mrs. Young had bought that morning were still scattered across the ground. Near Winter’s feet was a tomato with the skin split open.
The sight of that familiar shopping basket made her eyes burn.
“It’s horrible. Killing someone in broad daylight like that. Whoever did this has to be a monster p>
“And she worked for the Xanders. Whoever did it is in serious trouble now. ”
The comments from the crowd kept drifting into Winter’s ears.
Then she saw it.
Half fallen from a grease–stained paper bag on the ground was the sandwich with green peppers. Beside it stood the food cart where it had been bought.
Winter went still.
Mrs. Young had come over here to buy that sandwich for her.
Tears spilled down her face at once. Her chest shook so hard she could barely catch her breath.
Not far away, the police were taking a statement from the food cart owner.
“Yes, she did buy a sandwich from me. She specifically asked for green peppers. Not many people order it that way, so I remembered. After she paid, I had to use the bathroom, so I ran across the street to that burger place. By the time I came back out, people were already saying someone had been killed p>
The officer taking the statement immediately turned to a colleague. “Go confirm that p>
A lot of the market’s security cameras were broken, but there were plenty of nearby shops. In the end, Winter and the officers spotted a camera outside a small corner store.
The owner cooperated and pulled up the footage.
Several pairs of eyes stayed fixed on the screen.
Then Mrs. Young appeared in the middle of the bustling crowd.
A moment later, someone bumped into her. A woman in a bucket hat and face mask stepped in and helped her toward a less crowded area.
+25 Bonus
Even with the hat and mask, it was easy to tell from the long hair tucked beneath the brim that she was a woman.
Mrs. Young went into the alley, while the other woman walked off in the opposite direction and disappeared from the camera’s view.
Once Mrs. Young entered the alley, she was out of sight.
There were no cameras inside it.
By noon, the case still hadn’t moved forward.
There were no direct witnesses.
After finishing her latest on–camera update about the case, Winter wrapped for the day. Her coworkers headed off to their own holiday plans, and everyone split up.
“Ma’am, Mrs. Young’s family has arrived at Blackwood Manor,” the bodyguard said, staying close beside her.
After the incident, the police had contacted Mrs. Young’s family. Chris had sent a car to bring them in. They lived about an hour away from Liono City, and they had only just arrived.
“All right p>
Winter got into the car the bodyguard was driving and returned to Blackwood Manor.
After helping Mrs. Young’s family gather her things, Winter, as the mistress of the house, personally sat down with them for lunch.
She also handed them the compensation Chris had already arranged.
In the study, sunlight spilled across Chris’s broad shoulders as he stood before the floor–to–ceiling windows, a cigarette between his fingers, watching Winter in the courtyard below as she comforted Mrs. Young’s family.
She handled everything carefully and with quiet grace.
He flicked ash from his cigarette and said coolly, “How does a man so drunk he can barely stay on his feet manage to hit Mrs. Young in the mouth every single time p>
Winter hadn’t been allowed to see the body, but he had gone into the morgue himself.
There were no injuries above the bridge of her nose.
“You think that drunk may have been set up to take the fall?” Gavin’s expression darkened.
Florence
A passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.