CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE THE PHILIP FAMILY.

                "She may be our tenant but we don't know her that much." The man's eyes kept darting around but never met theirs.  "We know that you know her, what I need is you and your wife answering our question." Trent smiled at the man.

      The wife gathered herself from the ground and headed to a room connected to the living room with her daughter. "Please sit."  They were already in the living room. The three just sat on the chairs and Mrs.Philip joined them.

         It was already 3:30 pm. It was already drizzling and a little bit windy. Trent looked at the transparent glass window and sighed. "I will go make coffee for everyone." Mrs. Philip stood up. The woman is pretty. Her hair was as black as night, long and straight, and looked smooth to the eye. She has an upturned grey color eye, a pointed nose, and lips.

    She limped toward a pathway. El felt bad for her and decided to go help her make the coffee.

       Trent and Mr.Philip are the only ones left in the living room. "What are the questions you need to ask me and my wife? The man crossed his legs. 

"How was Miss Rosa as a person?" Trent brought out a notepad and pen from his pocket. 

     The man cleared his throat. "Rosa was lovely and kind." He had a smile on his face. "Rosa?" Trent raised a brow. "Well, since we are neighbors we do talk with each other once in a while." He said it so fast that Trent couldn't help but chuckle. "Did I say something funny?" The man asked with a frown.

   "Well, it was how you answered us earlier. You made it sound like you only have a landlord and a Tenant relationship with her"

   "So, what are you insinuating?" The man gritted his teeth.

  "Nothing I just thought that you will address her as Miss Rosa or Miss Rodrigo." 

Trent smiled at the nervous man.

       In the kitchen, El was assisting the woman. 

"The packets of the instant of coffees are placed on the top shelf." 

  She could barely stretch her hand. El nodded, she opened the shelf and had to stand on her toes to bring down the packets of instant coffee. 

  "You are short for a man,"  she said with a smile. 

 She accepted the packets from El. Ella laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of her head. 

  "Well my father is a short man" 

It was a lie. Mr.Patterson was of average height. Ella won't also be considered short as a woman but as a man, she isn't that tall.

   The woman laughed but it was quickly replaced by a painful look. She hissed and she placed her hand on her rib cage. 

    "Are you okay?"

  Ella supported her. "Yes, I am fine."

She gently pushed Ella's hand away.

Ella remembered that she was dressed as a man and not a woman so it was inappropriate for her to touch a married woman.

    "I know what you and your partner are thinking but Elijah is not a bad guy."

The woman's eyes were glistening with tears.

  So his name is Elijah, that bastard has the same as her brother.. Ella thought to herself. "Then I must not know the definition of a bad guy." Ella wanted to scoff.

   "He wasn't like this. His business is failing and his father is sick. He is stressed out." 

She stirred up the boiling water mixed with coffee. And tried her best to keep her tears from falling.

  "That doesn't give him the right to hit you." 

  Ella doesn't understand why the woman will defend such a scum. What if he is a handsome and tall man? Trent is a very handsome man but if he ever hits her, she will dump his sexy ass and walk away.

     Ella helped the woman turn coffee into the mug it was placed on a tray. Ella held it and they both left the kitchen and entered the living room. 

    Mrs.Philips stopped near the small pathway and looked at the right side of the green plastered wall. Ella followed the direction of her sight and saw a portrait.

   The man was wearing a black double-breasted suit. There was a medal of honor clipped to his breast pocket. It was a gold circle with a gold star in the middle.  They both held their baby, they looked so happy in the picture.

  "This is the reason I am enduring everything, I believe that everything will go back to the way it used to be." the woman seemed to be in deep thought. There was a smile on her face.

    "How many hours does it take to make coffee?"  Mr.Philip asked and they both hurried toward them.

     It was now raining heavily. Trent and Ella sipped their coffee. 

  "Miss Natalia. Rosa's best friend said that Rosa was pregnant, do you two know about it?"

  Mr.Philip tried to cover his fear and quickly sipped his coffee. That resulted in him burning his mouth. 

  "Be careful Elijah!" Mrs.Philip went to his side and held his face. 

   "I am fine," he slapped her hand away. Ella felt like going over there and punching him. She wanted to ask a question but Trent beat her to it.

  "What does Mrs. Philip do in her free time?" Trent asked with his everlasting smile.

    "I have a small vegetable garden." she sipped her coffee. 

   Trent stared at her well-long pedicure nails. "You do that with those nails?" 

 "What are you, police!" Mr.Philip scoffed. Ella started to wonder if she was the one in charge of the case or Trent. 

    "EBTV is the best TV station in Ehteran. We also have a certification to carry out investigations to make sure that we do not report fake news to the world. " Trent said with a smile

  "I hate looking at your face and you have been annoying me and you (she looked at Trent). I am the one in charge of the case so I will ask the questions. One more thing Elijah Philips, if you ever hit your wife again. I will come to beat you up to a plump. Now I need you to give me the key to Rosa's apartment." 

   The room went quiet, Trent doesn't know what is wrong with him but her little outburst made him horny.

     "I will go get the keys" Mrs. Philip left. And the room became silent again. She returned the keys and gave them to Ella.

   "Mrs. Philip. I also want to know how you handle your garden with such nails?" Trent's smile widened. When he heard Ella.

   "I use thick black gloves 🧤. 

"Goodbye," Ella went in the direction of the door. "Bye-bye." Trent waved at the stupefied couple.

      The weather was cold and it was a little windy. They both walked to Rosa's house. They crossed the DO NOT CROSS sign. They opened the red door and walked into the apartment.

   The two entered the living room. They put on their gloves and started searching around. 

   "God, this place looks like a unicorn barfed in it." Trent clicked his tongue. He disapparated and apparated in his office. He took his blood capsule meal and apparated back into Rosa's apartment.

  He popped three capsules into his mouth. It dissolved in his mouth and he closed his eyes to savor the delicious blood. 

    The blood capsules at first were created from the blood of faes but later the brainiacs were able to replicate all the elements in a fae's blood. The capsules taste exactly like faes' blood. This has reduced the rate of vampires going after humans.

  Except for the rogues, who still hunt humans and faes for blood. Ella walked out of Rosa's room and back into the living room. She came to a halt on top of Rosa's pink soft rug. 

   She couldn't move, she gawked at Trent whose eyes were closed and was moaning

 "What is he doing?" Ella said in her mind.

   Trent opened his eyes and saw the dumbstruck Ella glancing at him as if he was a strange person.

   "Is there a problem?" he asked.

She noticed that his eyes had turned red and it was brighter.

"No" she shook her head. They stared at each other for a while and Ella decided to look around. Then her brown eyes landed on the next apartment window and a boy was staring at them. 

Trent looked in the direction she was looking and saw the boy too. Trent recognized him, he was the teenage boy that scored on the basketball court earlier.

 He quickly let down the curtain and they saw his receding figure. 

"That's weird," Trent said before walking into the kitchen.

    Ella sighed and sat on the chair. The house was clean, they couldn't find any other evidence apart from the ones found by the police.

    She decided to look under the rug.  

"What are you doing?"  He came close to her. Ella's face turned red immediately. 

   "I just wanted to check under the rug. I know is stupid" she heaved out a sigh. 

"Nothing is stupid when investigating Ella." 

He started to fold the rug.

  "The child she was carrying belonged to Mr.Philip." Trent dropped a bomb 💣 on her.

    Her eyes widened not just because of what he said but because they also found the exact kind of medal of honor that Mr.Philip owned in the clipped inside her gorilla grip fluffy faux dusty pink rug.