10 – Layla

Another day dawned once again. Veronica managed to get to her work place in the nick of time. She was exhausted due to the events of yesterday.

"You're okay ?" A voice asked.

Veronica looked up and saw Jared standing right in front of her.

"No" She replied.

"Why ?" He asked.

"Before I answer your question let me take my seat" She said. Jared saw how she staggered as she walked towards the receptionist table, "Just what could have made her this tired ?" He thought.

Jared asked once again and Veronica began to talk about the plan they came up with the previous day which will help them apprehend the murderer.

"I even had to stay up late, right now I'm just super tired" Veronica said, putting her head on the table. Jared stared at her for a while before he eventually spoke.

"I'll be right back" He said.

"Sure" Veronica said.

Five minutes passed and Jared made it back to the ground floor.

"I'm back" He said

"That was fast" Veronica said as she lifted her head from the table. Jared handed her a cup, she thanked him as she took the cup from his hand.

"Thanks for the water " Veronica said and with that she drank it. At that moment she realized what she drank wasn't water; it had a swalty taste and she could feel her energy coming back.

"ORS !" She exclaimed.

"Exactly" Jared said with a smile.

"Woah, thanks a bunch, I'm really grateful, I can feel my energy coming back" Veronica said. Just then the Elevator doors opened, Daisuke stepped out along with Mj, Claire, Abayomi and Amari. "Veronica you're here" Mj said walking towards Veronica.

"We were waiting for you" Daisuke said.

"Sorry I made you all wait, Are we all set ?" She asked, They all nodded. "Good let commence first stage of the plan" Veronica said.

Mj brought out her cellphone and placed a call. The call went through, a voice was heard at the other end.

"Hello, yes, please come to Atlas Haven, its urgent" She said.

1st stage: Mj will tell Georgina's sister and mom to come to Atlas Haven.

Jared bent over to whisper in Veronica's ear.

"So who's the killer. ?" He asked.

Veronica just grinned.

"You will know soon enough, in fact, I don't even need to tell you, I'm sure you already know" She said.

Jared was taken aback by her words but later wore a satisfied smile.

The doors flung open; policemen flooded the place along with Layla and her mom. As soon as Layla spotted the Claire, she pointed her finger at her.

"There she is, the one responsible for my sister's death" Layla said in an angry voice. Before the police could make their move, Veronica stepped forward.

"Hold your horses, we didn't call you here to arrest Claire but to tell who the killer really is" She said. "What do you mean ? Are you trying to cover up for her ?" Layla asked angrily.

"We are only trying to reveal the truth" Veronica replied.

2nd stage: Revealing bits of information as well as creating tension.

"When we discovered that Georgina went missing, we found this note in her room" Mj said handing over the note to one of the policemen.

"It turns out it was a cipher, After we deciphered it, it read NO 2 Golf estate. We went to that address with the hope of finding Georgina but we found her corpse instead" Veronica said.

"Yes, that's what you told me and my mom" Layla said.

"Yes and we have every reason to prove that the killer isn't Claire, but you Layla" Veronica said.

Layla gasped along with her mother.

"What are you saying ? ! Do you really think I'll kill my own sister ? !" Layla asked as she furrowed her eyebrows.

"I hope you know what you are saying, my Layla wouldn't kill anyone let alone her own sister" Georgina's mom said.

"Yes you see, when we asked you guys about your connections to Georgina, Layla said Georgina told her that she was coming to the Hotel to stay for 3 days" Veronica said.

"Yes, I have a close relationship with my sister" Layla said.

"But" Veronica said, bringing out Georgina's diary "when we read her diary it was the complete opposite. The only person who knew about Georgina's whereabouts was her PA, Claire" She said.

"That's right, Georgina ordered me not to tell anyone and I obeyed" Claire said

"But .... But how can we be so sure of what you're saying, that diary could be some fabricated evidence that you guys came up with so as to set me up" Layla said.

"If you're not sure, you can always come and see for yourself" Daisuke said.

Layla was about to step forward when Veronica stopped her.

"Not you, your mom" She said.

Her mom walked towards Veronica, took the diary from her hand and began to look through it.

"She's right, this belongs to Georgina, its her handwriting" She said. One of the policemen walked towards Layla's mom, took the diary from her hand and began to read it.

"As you can see, according to the content of the diary. Georgina was apparently blackmailed which was why she came to the human realm so as to escape her blackmailer. The Blackmailer used her past to threaten her and the only people who knew about her past was her family. In other words, Claire couldn't have been the one blackmailing her" Veronica said.

"She's right, that's what the diary says" the policeman said. Veronica glanced at Layla, she looked pale and began to bite her fingernails, Veronica wore a smug smile.

"Come on isn't it a bit too early to start turning pale, you could easily be found out you know. Oh well you'll dig your own grave soon enough" She thought.

Amari stepped forward holding some of the letters in his hand. "These are the letters that were sent to Georgina" He said. The policeman took the letters and began to read the letters aloud.

"6CN6C FC88A is the code name the blackmailer used, Here is the key for decoding the code" Veronica said, handing over the paper to the policeman.

"If that's not enough proof, then this should change your mind" Veronica said "you can come out now".

Layla's eyes widened when she saw who walked in, it was Barbara.

3rd stage: using our trump card, Barbara as our finishing blow.

Barbara introduced herself and began to narrate the conspiracy she and Layla had against Georgina. She stated how Layla came to her offering a proposal saying she can help her rise to the top of she helps her in eradicating her sister. At that time, she was blinded by envy and hatred so she agreed. She provided Layla with everything she needed to kill Georgina.

Barbara even showed the police the text messages between her and Layla, she also mentioned that layla set up hidden cameras in Georgina's house which was how she was able to know her evey move; she also confirmed that the key to the cipher is real one. She claimed the proof was in the text messages.

"Layla told me that she will encode her name in the letters in order to hide her identity and how we will work together to set Claire up" Barbara said.

"Truly, this is enough proof that Layla is responsible for her sister's death" the policeman said. "No ... It can't...be" Georgina's mom "Layla please tell me this isn't true".

"NO ! it can't be.... Aha... I got it now, Georgina was stabbed and shot three times, the knife was made of Carbonite. I am a dragon and Carbonite is deadly to me so I couldn't have killed her" Layla said in a shaky voice.

"Oh my, how did you know ? I don't recall us ever telling you about how Georgina was killed" Veronica said in a high pitched voice.

Upon hearing this, Layla became silent. "We didn't disclose how Georgina was killed because we didn't want to break you and your mom any further" Veronica said.

"That's true, Layla how did you know Georgina was killed in that manner ?" Layla's mom asked.

At that moment, a vein appeared on Layla's forehead and she snapped

"You bxxch !, you did this didn't you ? If only ... If only you hadn't been here" Saying this, Layla launched at Veronica; At that moment Abayomi tackled her to the ground. Layla tried to free herself but to no avail, Abayomi's grip was too strong.

"If only you didn't exist I would have won. That fxxxing bxxch Claire always got on my nerves, if not for her I would have gotten rid of my fxxxing sister a long time ago" Layla said, she was full of rage .

"But why ?" Her mom asked, her eyes brimming with tears causing Layla to laugh maniacally.

" Why ? You're really asking me why ? You've always favored her over me, you've never once appreciated me, been there for me, stood up for me or even supported me. Its always her and never me, she even stole my dreams of becoming an author and you didn't even bat an eye. How do you expect me not to hate her !" Layla said in a wrathful manner.

"And this bxxch over here" Layla said as she faced Barbara "decided to sell me out after all we've been through together". Layla also launched to attack Barbara but the police apprehended her and left along with her mom whose eyes brimmed with tears and Barbara.

And that was how the missing murder case of Georgina came to an end.