Chapter 91 Mom Passed Away, She Didn't Have Much Time Left
The medical examiner arrived at the scene quickly.
"Are you a relative of the deceased?" he asked.
Juniper clutched the gradually cooling and stiffening body, hesitating before looking up.
"My mom's not dead. She's just asleep. Doctor, please save her. She's been in a coma before, for many years, but she woke up. She'll wake up again."
Medical examiners were accustomed to the stark reality of life and death.
With a sigh, the medical examiner replied, "I'm sorry. I'm not the kind of doctor who saves lives. I determine the cause of death. Was the deceased named Lyra?"
Juniper held Lyra, seemingly deaf to any other sounds in the world, convinced that Lyra was still alive, that she just needed to take Lyra to the hospital.
Or maybe it was better not to go to the hospital. She wanted to take Lyra home.
She tried to lift Lyra but couldn't manage it on her own.
"Miss, your mother has died under suspicious conditions. We need to determine the cause of death. Can you please let go of the body?" the examiner asked.
Juniper remained still, her face numb, refusing to let go of Lyra.
The examiner had no choice but to signal the police officers waiting nearby.
An officer gloved for the task, stepped forward and forcefully separated Juniper from Lyra.
After being pulled away, Juniper collapsed on the ground, her hands smeared with dark red blood.
She couldn't understand. Lyra had called her that morning. How could she suddenly be lying here motionless?
She had worked so hard to take care of Lyra, who had finally woken up. How could she stand it if Lyra decided to sleep again?
If this was a punishment for her past mistakes, she was willing to pay any price, even with her own life.
But why? Why punish her by taking away the ones she cherished the most?
Alexander had never shown her fatherly love, favoring sons over daughters, but Lyra was different.
Lyra would tell Juniper, "As long as you're happy, that's all that matters. Don't worry about me."
Why did everyone she loved and who loved her have to leave her?
Juniper struggled to determine if this was reality or a delusion.
If it was just a nightmare, why then did her chest hurt so badly?
The pain was suffocating.
It felt like being submerged in the deep sea, drowning, unable to grasp anything, nearly perishing.
Meanwhile, the medical examiner had reached a conclusion.
"The cause of death was severe head trauma and massive bleeding in the head."
"Did she fall on her own, or was someone involved?"
"It's hard to determine. With wheelchairs like these, the brake system is very basic. Even if the brakes were engaged, the person sitting in it could still fall because of the slope's momentum."
"Mike, take a team member and ask the nursing home staff who the deceased had contact with today."
At that moment, Ava, who had been shrinking behind Magnus, suddenly clutched at his arm in fear.
"Benjamin, let's go, I'm scared."
Magnus's brows furrowed slightly.
When he had arrived earlier, the only people at the scene, besides the staff of the nursing home, were Ava.
But Ava was clearly distressed, shaking her head furiously to any question he asked, making it impossible to get any information out of her.
No one would suspect that a mental patient was a murderer.
Even if they did suspect, and even if Ava had accidentally caused Lyra to fall, the mental patient would be innocent.
Gary glanced over at Magnus and approached them, asking, "Who are you?"
"She is my mother. She also lives in this nursing home. They called me as soon as the incident happened, and I came right over."
Gary's calculating eyes shifted to Ava.
He noticed that Ava seemed very uncomfortable.
"Was this lady present at the scene when the victim fell?" he inquired.
Ava retreated, completely cowering behind Magnus, "I don't know, I don't know anything. Don't ask me..."
"Sorry, my mother has mental issues. She's not lucid."
Gary did not want to miss any clues. He asked, "I spoke to the staff of the nursing home, and they said that your mother had previous conflicts with the victim, even going so far as to hit her. Is that true?"
Magnus did not deny it, "Indeed, due to her mental state, she often confuses people and has had minor altercations with many residents here."
His answer was watertight.
After hearing this, Gary smiled briefly, his shrewd gaze resting on Ava, who was behind Magnus.
At his scrutinizing glance.
Ava shivered, "I didn't push her, it wasn't me. She... she fell on her own. I really didn't push her."
"Did you actually see her fall?" Gary probed closer.
This together scared the wits out of Ava.
She refused to talk further, just shaking her head.
It was then that Gary dropped a bombshell, "Let's investigate and see if anyone in this nursing home had a conflict with the victim or any kind of undisclosed vendetta."
Magnus's eyes darkened subtly without betraying his emotions.
Ava gently tugged at his clothes from behind.
He held down Ava's restless hand as if understanding something.
As the two young officers were getting ready to question others with notebooks and pens in hand.
Juniper suddenly stepped forward.
Her face was pale, her eyes devoid of tears.
She spoke very calmly, "There's no need to investigate. My mother has lived in this nursing home for three years and got along well with everyone. She had no enemies and never had any conflicts with anyone."
"Juniper, your mother's death—"
Juniper stood there, her figure slender, her eyes cast downward. A bitter smile flickered across her face as she said, "We're just unlucky, can't blame anyone for that."
Magnus, not far away, felt a shadow pass over his eyes. His heart tightened.
The staff at the sanatorium were inclined to downplay the incident, knowing full well that if it turned out to be a homicide, it would make the front page of every local news outlet. Moreover, it would stir panic among the other patients and their families, possibly leading to a mass exodus that would be a significant financial blow.
The director jumped in in an attempt to calm the waters, "Although I wasn't close friends with Lyra, we often chatted. She was kind-hearted and gentle, well-liked by others, and had no known conflicts. The slope here is indeed our responsibility. We've been meaning to regrade it after several patients have fallen. We'll discuss compensation with Juniper, and we will also pay our respects at Mrs. Winthrop's funeral."
"Gary, can I take my mom home? I don't want her lying here like this," Juniper asked, her face devoid of sorrow. in fact, it was devoid of any emotion at all. She was calm, like an outsider looking in. It's said that the deepest grief is beyond tears, and perhaps this was such a case.
Gary, who witnessed the young woman's stoicism, felt a surge of compassion. She looked barely in her twenties, yet she seemed to have lost all vitality, her spirit withered.
"Juniper, are you sure you don't want to investigate further? What if your mom—" he started, but she cut him off with a slight shake of her head, "No need to investigate. Right now, I just want to dress my mom in clean clothes so she can leave this place with dignity."
Lyra was dead, and Juniper felt like her own life was not for long. That's just how it was. Their fate was always out of their hands. No one to blame.
Though Gary was a tough guy, this young woman in front of him moved him deeply. He had daughters himself and felt a fatherly kind of sympathy.
He handed her his business card, "Juniper if you change your mind and want to continue investigating, contact me. Or if you need any help, you can call us anytime." The case seemed suspicious to him, and he intended to follow up on it.
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