Chapter 529 Let Him Speak the Truth!
"It's all part of the job," Mike replied.
"Enough with the formalities, we're all friends here. Mike, take the day off; all your expenses will be on the house," Fiona offered.
"Thank you, Ms. Fiona."
Mike stood up straight, clearly delighted, and said, "Wells."
"It's time to go."
Fiona signaled to Thalassa.
She nodded.
The two of them then got into the car.
Before starting the vehicle, Fiona handed Thalassa the file on Selena.
"This should be the first victim. Here are her parents' contact details; give them a call. We're lucky that our grandmother's school is very conscientious. They've been keeping tabs on her parents for the past two decades, although they lost touch over these last several years. God bless Selena's folks; hopefully, they're still in good health."
Thalassa took a deep breath. "I'll make the call."
"Okay."
Thalassa quickly dialed Selena's father's number.
After two beeps, a dead tone suggested the number was out of service.
Thalassa’s heart jumped to her throat, and then she immediately called Selena's mother.
After a few long seconds, the call connected.
Thalassa instantly made a silent victory gesture.
"Hello, may I ask who's calling?" A weary voice came from the other end of the line.
Fiona and Thalassa both breathed a sigh of relief.
An hour later, in the suburbs of Bay City,
Fiona and Thalassa followed the address to a retirement villa community.
"This is a really nice place," Thalassa remarked as she looked around.
The houses were spaced far apart.
The neighborhood itself was pristine.
Birds chirped, flowers bloomed, and the surroundings were immaculate.
"Thank goodness, it looks like the old couple might be living quite comfortably," Fiona remarked with a sense of solace.
She had read their file.
They were a couple known for their kindness and generosity.
They had only slapped Justin once, and upon realizing the hardships of his family's situation, they understood how tough it was for him to come this far.
He wondered if it was his own shortsightedness that led him to take his own life in Chicago.
After one child‘s death, they didn‘t want another one‘s life to end up the same way.
So, they proactively approached the school authorities, hoping the school wouldn't take it out on Justin.
Perhaps because of this, the couple avoided further trouble.
If they had insisted on investigating the cause of their child’s death and pinned it down on Justin, the implications were too painful to contemplate.
After searching, they finally found the address given by Selena‘s mother.
Just as they arrived at the entrance, they saw a small courtyard full of flowers, where an elderly person with silver hair, wearing a white T-shirt and linen trousers, was pruning a plant.
“Grace?“ Fiona and Thalassa called out.
The elderly woman turned around.
Seeing Fiona and Thalassa, she smiled and walked over to open the garden gate. "I was worried you might not find the place and was about to ask my maid to pick you up."
Grace and her husband were originally from Guangdong province, and due to the fact that her daughter passed away in Bay City, they feared her spirit wouldn't be able to cross the high seas to return home.
So, they settled here.
“Let‘s have some tea,“ Grace said.
Grace led the two women inside and leisurely brewed a pot of tea with skill and care.
"I never thought after all these years, someone would still remember Selena." Grace's eyes lowered as she mentioned her daughter, her face full of sorrow. "You said you had questions about her?"
“Ma’am, we are deeply sorry for stirring up sad memories,“ Fiona said gently.
Grace shook her head "Everyone thinks it would upset me to talk about Selena, but, I prefer people to talk about her with me rather than the memory of her existence fading away over time."
Thalassa thought for a moment, and decided to get straight to the point. "Grace, actually, I'm Justin's stepdaughter."
Grace’s hand, which was pouring tea, suddenly shook, overturning the teacup in front of her.
Fiona, concerned she might have been burned, quickly took the teapot from her.
She wiped up the spilt tea with an absorbent towel.
"You're Justin's stepdaughter? What do you want from me?" Grace frowned, her warmth instantly gone.
"My mother was killed by him!" Thalassa's eyes suddenly filled with tears; her voice choked. "Just like what happened to your daughter, he tried to make it seem like my mom jumped into a reservoir to commit suicide, but my mom was too scared. She would never take her own life."
Thalassa's words instantly petrified Grace.
She then clutched at her chest, quickly pulled out a bottle of pills from her pocket and took a few.
“Are you alright?“ Fiona stood up and went behind her to pat her on the back.
"No..." Grace waved her hand dismissively, then she looked toward Thalassa. "You mentioned you are his stepdaughter? Weren't you Anne's daughter?"
"Anne's dead too," Thalassa stated emphatically. "They said it was sleeping pills, but Justin didn't get an autopsy. He had her cremated right away, and many people suspect that Anne was killed by him too. The one who doubted him the most, Anne's first love Toby Brody, also ended up dying under mysterious circumstances."
"Toby?" Grace looked shocked. "He's dead?"
"You knew him?" Fiona asked, surprised.
"When Selena passed away, as a student council representative, he was always helping us. He took care of our accommodations when we first moved to Bay City," Grace said, her, frowning in concern. "How did he die? Was it illness? An accident?"
"He was murdered, then buried under a stretch of highway. It wasn't discovered until five years ago," Fiona replied solemnly. "His partner Charles tried to avenge him and got outsmarted by Justin, ending up in jail for eight months. His engagement fell apart, and Justin kept tripping him up, making it impossible for him to find a job, so he's been drifting and tutoring for a living."
"How could he be so evil?" Grace was utterly astounded.
"Grace, we're not spreading rumors. I can take you to meet Toby Brody's son if you want," said Fiona earnestly.
"So, you're here because you suspect Selena was also killed by him?" Grace asked deliberately.
In her mind, she intermittently recalled discussing with her husband, feeling sorry for Justin and deciding to let him off the hook.
If that was true, had they inadvertently let the murderer of Selena go free?
"Do you really think your daughter would commit suicide over a relationship?" Fiona looked into Grace's eyes, her gaze carrying a seemingly magical power that calmed the mind. "I've seen her records; she was exceptional. She was only half a year away from becoming the engineer she dreamed of."
"Yes, she always wanted to be an engineer. She came to Bay City University because the engineering program is ranked number one nationally..." Grace's brows were tightly knitted together, then she suddenly grasped Fiona's hand and said, "My dear, my daughter would never commit suicide. She had her fair share of relationships and breakups, but she wouldn’t give up her life's work and her parents over something like that."
"Right." Fiona held onto the old woman's hand tightly.
Grace’s hand was shaking fiercely.
"In that case, we'll make that rotten-hearted murderer confess the truth," Fiona said, each word laden with determination.
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