CHAPTER 88: EMPTY SAFE

The investigation commenced the following day and was in full swing. Several uniformed police officers were scattered in different areas inside the mansion as they immaculately and diligently inspected the grounds for possible leads to would lead and strengthen the case of my father’s gruesome death. Two investigators were stationed both at dad’s room and Nicole’s, who meticulously does their expertise inside for hours now.


I am currently inside my father’s room and uneasily seated at one of the seats beside the window pane, which was the very first time I did, since the time of his death. For the past week, I couldn’t force myself to even go here. I just couldn’t bear to be in this place and intentionally neglected it for days. But since the investigation began today, I had no other option but to appear here.


His private room brings several treasured memories in me. And now that I am here, what previously occurred here during our private moments together, all flashes back into my head. I could vividly see how his face looked every time he gazed at me while speaking softly. I could still feel his warm touches on my skin every time I sat beside him before he slept and kissed his forehead. I could literally feel his presence in every corner of this room. It was as if he wasn’t gone as his immeasurable love and compassion towards me still lingers in the air. My nostrils could even smell his scent.


My eyes couldn’t suppress the sorrowful beads from falling as I roamed them around while tightly clinging on my chest a framed picture of us together. As I silently cried, the investigators were mindless of my presence and continued their search.


‘I love you, Daddy. We were given such a short time to be together, yet my love for you was undeniably beyond anything in this world. I’m deeply sorry I wasn’t able to protect you from danger and harm. It still grieves me every time I remember that night, where I should be here with you, but I wasn’t. I will forever carry that guilt inside of me, even if I know that you wouldn’t wish me to feel that way. I will dearly miss your smiles, Dad, and your heartwarming words. You will forever be alive inside my heart, where no one would be able to take you away from me. I will avenge your death, Dad. Whatever it takes, I promise, I will give justice to what happened to you. I will not rest until I find the justice you deserve.’


I let go of the framed picture and placed it back on the bedside table, deciding to head out of this room as I am experiencing hardness of breath due to severe tearing.


“Do you happen to know the combination of this vault, Miss Hunt?” One of the investigators all of a sudden asked, who was in front of the vault, which was inclined at the wall. He was brushing it with earnestness and care while using a certain high technology lighting.


“What for? Was that even necessary?”


“So we could check and verify if everything inside was in its right places, Mam. Standard operating procedures.”


“My father left the combination in his will and it's in my room.”


“Would you care to check the combination, Mam, so I could inspect the inside of the vault?”

I suddenly got alarmed at the urgency of his remarks and the way he said them with redefined certainty. Although he didn’t elaborate his statement, I knew that he must have found something a bit odd for him to demand for the combinations. This was his line of work, his expertise, so he accurately knew what he was talking about.


“Alright! Hold on.” I answered with swiftness and my feet went out of the room in a flash. I headed back after a few minutes, carrying with me the folder that contains my father’s last will and testament. “Was something wrong?” I quizzically inquire as I now see the two investigators were both in front of the vault.


“If my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me, there are fingerprints all over this vault, Miss Hunt. And by the looks of it, it seems like these prints didn’t match one another. Besides your father, Mam, who else knew about the combination?”


“I don’t know. Maybe Lewis knew, why?”


“It seems someone opened this vault aside from your father, Miss Hunt. As there were two sufficiently not identical fingerprints. One could be from your father, but the other one certainly isn't.”


My hand hastily snatched my phone inside my pocket and pressed Lewis’ contact number. He was currently inside Nicole’s room, together with the investigators.


“Go here to dad's room now, Lewis. Right ahead please” I straightforwardly concluded the minute he picked up my call. We waited for his arrival even before the investigation commenced opening the vault.


“Why, Baby?” Lewis abruptly exclaimed as he stepped inside the room, which all three of us gazed his way. He immediately headed towards us with a puzzled expression. “What about?”


“Do you happen to know who else knew the combination of this vault, Baby?” I asked fervently.


“As far as I could remember, Mr. Gregory knew the combination and so was Nicole. Why?”


“Who are they, Sir?”


“They are…”


I answered, interfering with Lewis's words out of the blue. “Mr. Gregory McConner was my father’s butler and dear friend, while Nicole Christensen was his secretary slash adviser and personal aide. They are both working here, but the latter was relieved from her duties more than a week ago.”


“What are all these for, officers?” Lewis inquisitively addressed the two, looking my way with confusion.


“Two fingerprints were found at the vault's combination lock, Sir. Two people touched this vault. One must have been the owner itself, while the other remains questionable, since according to you, two people knew the safe’s combination aside from Mr. Hunt. Let’s open this vault and hope nothing is missing.”


I could feel myself sweating in bullets as the investigator began to cue in the safe’s combination. I am not quite certain if this was in any way relevant to my father’s case, but merely judging the words this man in front of me had spoken, it seems what he discovered was highly crucial for the murder case.


All eyes were tuned at the vault as the man-in-charge slowly opened it. I was literally stupefied at the content of the safe. Nothing was inside the compact space except for an opened jewelry box and empty transparents cases, which didn't contain any jewelry in it. I incredulously looked at Lewis, who was gazing ahead with sternness.


“Doesn’t your father use this vault, Mam?”


I didn’t know what to respond as my eyes gazed back at the empty safe. Lewis was also astounded, but managed to speak up. “I’ll call Mr. Gregory. He might know the answers to your query, officer,” He didn’t wait for any response and immediately ran towards the door and left. Several minutes later, he returned with Mr. McConnery behind him. “Here he is, officer.”


“Mr. McConnery, I apologize for any inconvenience, but there are a few questions I would like to ask from you. Kindly answer me as straight as possible, Sir.”


“Of course, officer.”


“According to Mr. Lewis here, aside from Mr. Hunt, you and a certain Nicole Christensen knew the combination of this vault. Was it correct, Sir?”


“Yes, officer. Sir Alexander told me about the combination before. It was his late wife’s birthday. Nicole knew the combination as well, she was his secretary after all.”


“When was the last time you opened this vault, Sir?”


“Never. I never did, not even once.”


“Haven’t Mr. Hunt ordered you before to get something inside of it?”


“No, he didn’t. He usually asked Nicole for those things. I heard once before in the living room where he told Nicole to get a certain amount of cash in the vault, because he needed to pay someone here” My eyes and Lewis’ met, as if they were in silent conversation.


“So Mr. Hunt was using this safe after all.”


“Yes! That is where he put almost all of his jewelry and his late wife’s sets of collections, so was his bundles of cash. That vault was his mini bank, as he used to call it” Mr. McConnery uttered with truthfulness and a clear tone.


“If that was the case, then I believe we didn’t merely have a murder case, Miss Hunt, but robbery as well. Give us a whole day to analyze and extensively examine this vault, Mam. Then afterwards, I suggest you include robbery to your list to file against our probable culprit.”


I could radically feel my veins bulging as my blood boiled with undetermined fury against Nicole. Only she will have the ultimate motive to do such a thing, because it was extremely obvious that Mr. Gregory wasn’t lying. He didn’t taint his friendship with my father and I believed his every word.


The anger I had for Nicole didn’t just double, but tripled. She didn’t merely have the audacity to take my father’s life unmercifully, she even stole from him, which extremely sickened me. She surely had the nerves to do such a thing to a man who treated her like a family member all these years.


‘How dare you, Nicole! You will pay for what you did with your entire life! I will see to it that you will die in jail, you shameless bitch! I will hunt you down and you can never escape my wrath!’