Chapter 495 Miscalculation
"Who's that kid who came in with Winnie? Was she yelling at Ishara about kidnap?"
Stephanie muttered discontentedly from the bottom of the stairs.
Carlos descended with furrowed brows and said, “Take Mom to the guest room to rest, Patrick. I've got some family matters to deal with.”
First, Carlos wasn’t sure how much of what Winnie said was true.
Second, he couldn’t let Stephanie learn or get involved in this.
He headed straight for the Blanchet family's backyard, accompanied by several male helps.
"Father! You can't just open my storage room because Winnie wants to take a look. There are rules in the Blanchet household. Winnie comes in, demanding an aggressive search of the Blanchet residence. What's the reason for this? How should that make me feel?"
Eleanor chimed in, blocking the way. "Exactly, my dear! Everything's in order in this house. Why should we indulge Winnie just because she had a hunch?"
"Do you really not know why? You're suspected of kidnapping my son, and all evidence leads to you!" Winnie glared at Ishara, who was hurrying over.
Their desperate interference and visibly panicked demeanor betrayed their guilt.
Ishara must have been surprised: Winnie had evidence.
After all, she and Sidney had never revealed a hint of their findings that Ishara was involved with Oscar's disappearance, stumbled upon by sheer coincidence.
And there was no way she could know about their conversation with Jeremy at the hospital yesterday.
The more Ishara resisted, the more likely it seemed that Oscar was being held in that mansion.
"Grandfather! Oscar is in there. Better to make a mistake than to miss an opportunity. Break down that door!" Sidney clutched Carlos’s hand, frantic.
Carlos's heart softened.
Oscar was a young life, his grandson he was yet to meet.
There was no real loss in checking out an old mansion that had been closed up for years.
"Break the door down and open all the windows," ordered Carlos.
Ishara and Eleanor turned pale.
Winnie noted their reactions.
Jeremy and his team of elite operatives arrived, determined to search every nook and cranny for missing child.
If Oscar was trapped inside, he’d definitely be found.
Winnie and Sidney burst in, heading straight for the basement Sidney had spotted!
The villa looked modest from the outside, yet it was surprisingly spacious inside.
The deeply dug basement was so full of dust and mildew that Winnie nearly choked. She covered Sidney's mouth and nose with a damp cloth and turned on her flashlight. She instructed Jeremy’s guys, “Keep an eye out for fingerprints as you search.”
“Yes, Miss Anderson!”
Two hours later —
Jeremy received a call from Lawrence R.
He was back in Trento City and on his way to the Blanchet place.
After giving instructions to his men, Jeremy left the Blanchet house and waited at the bend for Lawrence.
Lawrence, sitting in the back of his Bentley, pulled up, looking pale and noticeably thinner.
He attempted to get up, with some difficulty.
Jeremy glanced at his chest and immediately stopped him, getting into the car, “Winnie and I have made a significant discovery, I'll fill you in.”
—
In the yard of the Blanchet family...
After nearly three hours of searching, Winnie had not found Oscar!
Jeremy’s team had combed through every inch; they were skilled in reconnaissance and forensics, but they told Winnie, “No child’s fingerprints either.”
Despondent, Winnie emerged from the villa, her heart tight, covered in grime.
Now, Ishara donned a different expression, her relaxed demeanor stained with tearful grievances, betrayal hidden in the corners of her eyes.
She cried to Carlos, “Dad, how could I possibly kidnap Winnie’s child? I didn’t even know she had a kid. Winnie, you suspected I was holding your child here, and now you’ve searched the whole place. Did you find him? If not, please clear my name and apologize.”
Winnie and Sidney stared at her, unwavering.
Winnie itched to lunge forward, to throttle her and demand where she had moved Oscar.
Oscar wasn’t there.
But he had surely been there before!
Just a moment ago, Sidney, clutching her arm and crying inside, “Mommy, believe me, I didn’t make it up! The first time I approached this house, something felt so strange. I regret not shouting inside, ‘Oscar, Oscar!’ Maybe he would have heard me! The second time I came, that feeling was no more.”
“In my rush today, I didn't think things through. Now we can’t find Oscar, and it’s likely Ishara took him.”
"There's no way she could've known we were onto something. When did she take him?"
It definitely wasn't today.
It was... It happened on the day Sidney visited the Blanchet family after the drowning incident!
Winnie got it then—the day Sidney barged in must have set Ishara off, and that had to be when she moved Oscar.
And just now, her and Eleanor's interference, it was all a show!
She and Sidney had walked right into a trap because they were too desperate!
They had insisted on getting Carlos to open the mansion, only to come up empty-handed.
Winnie clenched her fists, while Sidney's eyes flashed with fury, "Give me back my brother!"
"Father, I haven’t done anything, but Winnie... this kid is pressuring me..." Ishara coughed, her face pale.
Carlos was in a bind.
Winnie stepped forward, ice in her voice, "You've done nothing?”
“Why was my child able to pull off your handkerchief and hide it in the car that took him? It proves you were there during the abduction!”
“You planted that poisonous flower right out front of your junk room, matching the pattern on your handkerchief.”
“Let's not even talk about the kidnap, sister, what exactly are you 'researching' privately? A plant worth a hundred thousand dollars, does Dad know you're growing it?
“I just checked out the mansion, and the basement is deep, with a tunnel leading to the mountains behind.”
“This is no ordinary storage space; sister, hiding a person or sneaking someone out would be a piece of cake!”
“How do you explain all this?"
Carlos fixed Ishara with a steely gaze.
He had no idea how the layout of this odd mansion had been transformed into what it was, "Ishara, you don’t know medicine, what do you want these flowers for?"
"It's a misunderstanding, Father, I don't know these flowers..." Ishara protested weakly.
"The embroidery on your handkerchief is of this flower! You still want to argue, when the fabric Oscar pulled off matches your handkerchief exactly!" Sidney contended fiercely.
Ishara pressed her lips tightly, tears brimming in her eyes, "is Winnie blaming me because of a mere handkerchief?”
“I cough often and always use a handkerchief, I buy them in bulk, there are thousands of them out there.”
“That kind of embroidery, what’s so strange about it?”
“As for the flowers planted in front of the mansion, I had no idea, Father. And the basement, the underground tunnels in the mansion, I’ve never even been down there. Maybe it was the Blanchet family’s servants who altered it when they built the place?"
“I used it as a storage room, just had the help move some old stuff in there. I've never set foot in that house myself.”
“Winnie, you've said a lot, but still, no child has been found here! Father, will you really let Winnie blame me like this?"
A frosty look flickered in the corners of Winnie's eyes.
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