Chapter 9

Adam continued walking through the precinct, everyone was running around. The officers and constables were rushing around and files were piled high on their desks.

He looked guiltily down at the files in his hand, sighing he took it with him into his office. Once they were set down on his desk Adam reached out to the phone on his desk, he grasped it tightly before slamming it down. Slumping down onto his chair, Adam looked out of the window. The motive of the killer; a crime committed in a fit of rage not out of passion surprisingly. But it was Emma's maid, her personal longtime friend, as well. So he could conclude that this was not a random murder, this was someone that knew Emma and hated her maid, Bella, enough to kill her. But why? What was the incentive?

Adam grabbed a piece of parchment, the nib hovering over the parchment, it was slow at first. Thinking of potential incentives for the killing, but soon ideas and theories all flowed out and time flowed past, time completely slipping from his grasp. He continued to work well past his mandated hours, he sighed until an incessant knocking woke him up from his task. Adam scrambled, trying to clear up his desk and patted himself down before ripping the door open, startling a new face.

Adam smiled awkwardly, "Um. What is it?"

"I-I am the new cop on this team. I was told to come to you for a debriefing on the most recent murder of the maid."

"Oh! You're Cayenne Rowan. Come on in!"

He was dragged into the office where they proceeded to spend the rest of the day except for the occasional food or drink run as they compiled the little evidence that they have accumulated from the almost empty crime scene.

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Emma groaned, pulling at her hair. Their trip was over and she was heading back to her mothers home. Megan by her side, Emma gripped her hand tight. She felt Megan squeeze back, smiling in the corner of her eyes.

Picking up her suitcase and ignoring Megan's protests, Emma walked up to the manor and knocked on the door. An elderly maid met her at the door, when she saw Emma the maid beamed before shutting the door without another word until there was a flurry of action from behind the door. Megan looked at Emma with a concerned expression, to which Emma brushed the concern off with a smile.

Before they could communicate anymore a plump lady in her mid-fifties came out and regarded her daughter with a warmth that only Chinese mothers are capable of. She welcomed her daughter in and quietly orders the main to get a move on, and give orders to the kitchen, specific orders to make her daughters favourite food.

As they continued conversing, both Emma and her mum were talking about everything, everything that had gone down in her life or how mundane and simple her mother's life was. Ever since her dad had gone back to his own country, her mother seemed to be living in relative peace and undisturbed by everything that was going on in society itself. Emma's mum has always been quite removed from the outside world, she preferred to stay in the house, although she was quite the lively person when in the right company. Emma would know, her mum confided in her with everything, at times.

Not that Emma resented it, or even disliked it, she would just sometimes get tired of her mother's endless complaints about certain things.

The two settled down at the dining table, bare of anything that would be a sign to show off wealth, just the things needed at the table for eating. Her mother observed her intensely, gauging her daughter's reactions to the food, of course, nothing about her facial expressions gave her away. Although Shi Zhang would have preferred to make the food herself, she was getting to the age where she would tire easily, so she'd rather spend the time chatting to her daughter; of course, she could ask her daughter to accompany her down to the kitchen where she could converse and cook at the same time, but it's been a while since she had seen her daughter. Shi Zhang watched her daughter, and let her speak about random things for a while more before asking the big question that's been bugging her since her daughter's arrival.

"What's gone wrong?"

Emma's mouth shut with a dull snap, looking down at her plate, taking a deep interest in the carrots and began stuffing her face with food and ignored her mother's inquisitorial gaze for a few tense moments before sighing.

Emma took a breath and then started telling her mum everything that had happened recently. The murders, her wanting to divorce Alexander, and how she had nearly gotten raped. Shi Zhang's eyebrows were raised and the look of incredulity had Emma cackling at her mother's face.

Her mother frowned hearing her daughter recount these things so flippantly about these appalling situations she had been exposed to.

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Damon observed Alexander from a distance, he has been showing up to rehearsal less and less frequently now. He has even been neglecting to write back to his potential interviewers, completely leaving them high and dry. They had started writing and pestering Damon, even going as far as to come and wait for him at the door of their theatre. It was becoming annoying as they had no regard for his rules as the owner and director there, and their obnoxious attitude was making him more and more irate in correlation to the growing amount of time he was spending with the reporters.

Making his way to his office Damon prepared himself to call Stanley instead of Alexander this time as it seemed something was occupying Alexander to the point where he couldn't even take a moment to pick up a call.

Damon waited for a brief moment and the silence was on the point of being unnervingly quiet until Stanley's voice sounded from the other end.

"What's up Damon?"

"Heard anything from Alexander?"

"Nope."

Damon picked up on another muffled voice that sounded vaguely like Alexander, but he brushed it off and hung up the telephone before going back out to face off against the reporters. They were really getting on his last nerve.