6 — Finding pieces of the puzzle
"Veronica!" Jared called, "Coming!" Veronica said and left.
What were you still doing up there ?" Jared asked. "Well... Wait why are you here ? Didn't you say that only newbies sit at the back" Veronica asked raising an eyebrow. "I can seat anywhere I want" Jared said in a sharp tone. "Before I forget, the reason why I didn't come down immediately was because Miss Georgina told me a crucial piece of information before she passed" Veronica said. "Really ! What did she say ?" Mj asked "why didn't you call us ? Are you dumb ?" Jared asked in a snarky voice.
Veronica's palm came in contact with his head, "Ow !" Jared groaned placing his hand on his head. Veronica explained how Georgina made mention of the painting Raymond found in her room being forged and how it was a trap. "A forged painting ? Trap ? This case has gone to the next level but it's not a new thing" Mj said "So you guys have solved more complex cases than this ?" Veronica asked. "Of course we have, by the way, you surprised me Veronica, you are the first newbie I've seen not to shiver at the sight of blood; well apart from Mj, you had a calm expression on your face" Jared said. "Well what can I say, anyone would get scared, anyone but me" Veronica said. "I see, you are an interesting person" Jared said . Veronica sensed that he was about to say more, so she quickly asked Mj about her ability in order to avoid more questions from him.
"Come on Vero, you of all people should know my ability" Mj said with a puzzled expression. "Well, can you just tell me, I mean you've been very quiet and we haven't had time to talk" Veronica said in a high pitched voice, Mj just sighed. "My ability name is steal; I can steal someone else's ability and it will become twice as strong when I use it, it only last for 8 minutes though".
They arrived at the hotel, they saw Daisuke standing outside, waiting for them. "Where is she ?" He asked. They explain the situation to him which made him frown. "Well, this case has just taken a dark turn, nevertheless, only let her family know of her passing nothing else. Let's head inside" He said. As they entered the building, they saw Amarachi and Layla sitting by the reception table; Amarachi hurriedly walked towards them along with Layla. She queried them about Georgina's whereabouts, Daisuke gave a signal to Mj, Mj tried to calm her down while Daisuke took Jared and Veronica to the side.
"So you're saying she was killed not too long after you arrived at the run down building" Daisuke asked in a low voice. "Yes and in her last moments, she told me about the forged painting and how it was a trap" Veronica said. Daisuke was about to say something when he was interrupted by loud sobbing. The three of them looked in the direction of the cry and saw Georgina's mother wailing while Layla tried to comfort her. Something about Layla's facial expression caught Veronica's eye which made her stare intensely at Layla. Jared shook Veronica which caused her to snap back to reality. "What do you suggest we do sir ?" Jared asked. "Oh yes, Jared; please hand over the knife you told me about that was used to stab Georgina, I will take it to Eniola to run some experiments on what kind of material was used to make the knife since an ordinary knife can't kill a dragon. I would like both of you to question the mother and sister, ask them if there's anyone else they know that maybe responsible for this, since they are the only ones we know that are connected to Georgina" Daisuke said.
With that, daisuke walked towards Mj, whispered something in her ear and she followed him as he left. "Jared, mind telling me the testimonies of Layla and her mother, when you and Mj questioned them" Veronica said in a serious tone. "Yeah well, her mom stated that Georgina was going to meet her favorite artist for inspiration for her new book, which probably explains why she had that flower vase painting in her room. Her sister, Layla, said that Georgina told her about the hotel she was going to Lodge in for 3 days before meeting the artist" Jared said.
"Hmmm, I remember Raymond mentioned the name of the artist who owned the flower vase painting, I can't remember the name but I'm sure that was the artist Georgina was going to meet, but of course we didn't bother to look further since we thought we will find her at that address, I mean we did find her but we found her dead, anyway let's go and meet them" Veronica said, walking pass Jared, Jared tagged along. They told Georgina's relatives to follow them to the elevator which will take them to the third floor where the guest room is.
They reached the third floor and went out of the elevator. Veronica couldn't help but stare at Layla intensely, due to past experience, Veronica has been able to tell someone's true feelings just by looking at their face even if they are hiding their true emotion. Veronica noticed that Layla had a slightly satisfied expression, which shouldn't be the expression one should have when hearing about the passing of a loved one; Veronica felt she was overthinking it and decided to focus on what was on ground. They entered the guest room and took their seats. Veronica whispered to Jared, suggesting they should interview the mother and daughter each, "are you sure about this ?" Jared asked, "affirmative" Veronica replied. Seeing her confident expression; Jared told Layla to go out for a bit, saying later he would call her in. She obeyed him and left the room living her mother, Jared and Veronica.
"I am really sorry for your loss, please accept my condolences; I promise you will get to the bottom of this" Jared said. "Please do, but what do you need me for ?" Amarachi asked . "Well, we want to know if there are any other persons connected to the Georgina, the only people we know that are is you and your daughter Layla, so want to find out if there are more" Veronica stated. "Who is Georgina ? Like what is her status ?" Veronica asked. "My daughter is a famous author, she has even won an award for the best selling author of the year; she's really successful" Amarachi said. "Ooo, maybe Georgina was killed out of jealousy ? Who knows ?" Veronica thought.
"Do you know anyone who is capable of this ? Like the murder of your daughter, seeing that she's a famous author, maybe someone unalived her out of jealousy, it's just a guess after all" Jared said. "Yes, I am also thinking the same though I don't know much about my daughter, she was so lively when she was a teenager, but as soon as she became famous she began to spend less time with me; I was always worried about her, though...." She hesitated. "Though what ? Go on" Veronica said. "Georgina, I began to notice she was feeling kind of off. She began to do strange things like one day I prepared her favorite meal so that she will have enough strength before she went for an interview but she rejected it, which is unlike her. Recently she's has been on her guard most of the time, sometimes she had a terrified expression on her face as if something was coming for her, something dangerous. I kept on asking her if everything was alright, but she kept telling me that everything was fine, I knew she was lying but no matter how hard I asked; she kept repeating the same thing. She told me she was going to meet her favorite artist to look for inspiration for her new book, I asked for more details but she didn't tell me anything. looking at her unsettling expression, it seemed she was trying to run away from something. I knew she was going to reside at a hotel but I didn't even know which hotel it was going to be, she didn't even tell me how many days she will spend" Amarachi said.
"Wait, you said you didn't know the hotel she's was going to reside in, then how did you know that she will be here" Veronica asked. "My youngest daughter, Layla, told me. She even told me how many days she was going to spend in this Hotel, in fact; she was the one that recommended to me that I take the case to you since you guys deals in cases involving the paranormal and my daughter is a dragon so I can't just hand over the case to a Mere human detective agency" Amarachi said. Veronica pondered at what she said before she finally spoke. "Okay, so you're saying you don't know anyone else who is close to Georgina apart from your youngest daughter ?" She asked again. Amarachi nodded, Veronica told her that she could leave and she should please tell Layla to come in. Will that, Amarachi left. "Layla seems to know more about Georgina than their mother, I guess Georgina's relationship with her mom is a strained type, at least we've gotten some information out of the mother, let's see what the sister has to say" Veronica thought.
Layla came in and took a seat on the sofa, Veronica observed Layla very carefully. "Okay we've heard from your mom about your sister's social status so we won't ask you that, you seem to be very close to your sister than your mom, mind describing your sister's recent behavior before she came here" Jared asked. Layla took a deep breath before speaking, " Georgina had a strained relationship with my mom, and her behavior recently was very odd, she began to do things she never did before Like rejecting her favorite meal. She always seemed terrified and save something or someone was coming for her, she always cried when going to sleep, she even stopped taking a walk on weekends my mother refused to notice any of that" Layla said.
"Wow you're such a good sister Layla, I mean I can't imagine your mother being so cruel to Georgina and yet used stood by your big sister side, how nice of you, I mean the mere fact that your mom wasn't aware of Georgina's were about shows how damaged their relationship is" Veronica said in a giddy voice. Jared looked at her with a weird expression cause he knew that all what she said was irrelevant to the case. "I know right" Layla said in a high pitched voice. "She didn't even tell anyone of her whereabouts, I was so worried and wondered why she didn't even say anything about it like why did she keep it to herself, I did a lot of digging to find her whereabouts. That's just show you how much I was worried about her". "Oh what do you mean Layla ? I thought she already told you about her whereabout I mean if she did there is no need for digging right ?" Veronica said calmly.
Realizing what she said, Layla quickly rephrased her statement, stating how it was a mistake since she makes a lot of mistakes when she's under pressure. "Oh I remember, since Georgina is so close to me she told me a lot of things about the life of being a famous author, she has a lot of rivals you know. Her biggest one is an elf named Barbara, she hates my sister to the Bone because she feels that she has missed a lot of opportunity to shine because of my sister. Barbara was actually aiming for the award of the best selling author but my sister took it from her which made her more bitter. Another of rival is a vampire named Zach, he hates Georgina as well but not as much as Barbara. I'm no detective but this is just my assumption, I feel one of them is responsible for my sister's death possibly Barbara, I don't know" Layla said.
"Do you know the name of the artist your sister was going to meet ?" Veronica asked. "Yes the name of the artist is Carol Grace" Layla said. With no further questions, Jared asked her to leave. Suddenly he received a call from Mj telling him to come to the fourth floor. He told Veronica and the left for the elevator.
"You're quite good Veronica, exceptionally good for a newbie" Jared said "looks like your previous job was similar to the one you're handling now". Veronica nodded and fell silent, "though why did you say some things that weren't relevant" Jared asked. "Come on think about it Jared, didn't you notice that her testimonies were clashing" Veronica said "what do you mean ?" Jared asked "come on don't play dumb, remember how you told me of how Layla told you and Mj that Georgina herself told her that she'll be residing in this hotel. There was absolutely no need for her to start digging up on Georgina's whereabout. After all if someone told you where they are going there's no need for you to start researching on their whereabouts. Also why did she say she makes mistake when she's under pressure, like it's possible but in this case she's not under any pressure, is not like we're saying that she's the killer or she's the one responsible so why would she be under any pressure, maybe she knows who the killer is and doesn't want to say it or maybe.... She is the killer but anyway this is just my assumption" Veronica said.
Jared was shocked by her intelligence, he didn't expect it. He indeed played dumb to see what she had to say about it but he didn't expect she would have the same thoughts as him. "You truly are an interesting person Veronica" He thought, having a satisfied smile on his face. They reached the fourth floor, Veronica saw that the fourth floor was actually a bar. They both walked towards a door, Jared opened the door and they went in. Veronica was shocked by what she saw, they were inside a laboratory. "A secret lab in a bar ! Now that's something you don't see everyday" She thought. After admiring the lab, Veronica saw Mj along with Daisuke, Raymond, Abayomi, Zuri and Eniola. Eniola was more wearing her kimono jacket but a lab coat. "She's a scientist ! Sweet" Veronica thought. They both walked towards them, Jared told them about Amarachi and Layla's testimonies and what they concluded. "Hmm, truly Layla is quite suspicious, looks like we will pay a visit to Barbara and Zach and see what they have to say on this, Anyway, it seemed that the knife Georgina was stabbed is made of Carbonite" Daisuke said. Both Veronica and Jared gasped. "Really !" Jared exclaimed
"Yes indeed, I ran a few tests on the substance the knife was made from and saw it was carbonite, carbonite is a really difficult mineral to get hands on, for someone to even get hands on it and make a knife out of it really wanted miss Georgina dead" Eniola said in a serious tone. "Carbonite is a gray mineral, it looks harmless but it's very dangerous to dragons, it can end a dragon's life whether they mistakenly took it into their body or someone stabbed it to their heart" Veronica thought. "Things are becoming much more complicated, in that case, Raymond I would like you to use your tech skills to find where Barbara and zach resides. When the information is gotten, Veronica and Abayomi both of you would go to Barbara's location, one more person will be accompanying you. Jared, Mj and Ray, you would be going to Zach's place to question him.
They all echoed yes sir, Daisuke dismissed them and they all left the lab. Veronica was just about to leave as well when Daisuke called her back. "Sorry about this Veronica, I didn't expect the case to take a dark turn. I sent you because I knew you needed some experience about what we did here, I mean finding a dead body is not a new thing to us but it must surely be a new thing to you, you know if it's a lot for you to take in you can stay behind if you want" Daisuke said. "I appreciate your concern sir, but with all seriousness, I wasn't bothered by the sight of the corpse, I knew what I signed up for when I decided to work here, after all you gave me a choice to either work here or leave but I chose to work here. So I'm not backing down from the case, I will put all the pieces of the puzzle together till I guess my perfect picture. Thank you once again for your concern but I will continue with the case" . With that, Veronica did a slight bow and left the lab.
"Told you when I said she's not ordinary girl, look at her go" Eniola said in a playful voice. "Yes you are right, apart from Mj she's the other newbie I've seen that is this bold. Looks like she managed to impress Jared, who is hardly impressed by anything. I have a feeling she would make a great detective" Daisuke said