AUTHOR''S POV


    As the investigation thickened, there were more interrogations. Taxi drivers and store staff that were present and open along the scene of the crime were interrogated. All the CCTV around there were also checked. Truly, Aiden was determined to leave no stone unturned.


    And as stones were turned, more shocking evidence was discovered. Like the one leg of Amie''s shoe beside an abandoned bus a few stores away from the store where she had been with her mother. Eventually, the culprits were found.


    The detective''s heart was full of joy as he climbed down the vam and led the team into the building, certain that he was on to the right people this time.


    At the entrance, they all scattered around, each team going to their designated positions as the building has been monitored for days.


    All they had needed were the fingerprints on the abandoned bus and the rest of the case magically solved itself. Atleast, the detective would like to believe so.


    The moment the detective, with his own team, walked past the sparse huge hall, and through the hallway, he felt something was wrong. The ce was eerily quiet.


    He pushed open door after door in the hallway. Each was brightly lit until they got to a room with no lighting. When a torch was shone inside, it was found to be a small room, stuck with cleaning materials and whatnot.


    On closer inspection, he found a hole in the ground at the back of the room. He moved closer. "Shit!"


    He immediately announced, his voice steady as he said into hispel microphone. "All units, update: I have a new lead. Follow my GPS instructions!" Then, he lowered himself into the hole"


    ***


    How did it get to this? Tabitha thought as she watched, through her dark sunsses, how the outside world moved like nothing had changed.


    Yet everything had changed for her, for them. She turned her gaze before her. Sid sat quietly at the front, a hanky on his face. Ron''sser focus was on the road as he drove. Jon sat beside her in the backseat, his shoulders hunched, fingers rapidly clicking on theptop''s keyboard.


    He nced up with a grin. "I''ve gotten us the tickets, guys. Identifications altered. The check-ins will be a breeze. My guy is on duty today and he''s expecting us."


    He''s the only one who hasn''t made it feel like their lives wereing to an end. Through the dark, he and Ron kept forging ways, while Sid and Tabitha just chose to wallow in misery.


    "Perfect," Ron muttered.


    Tabitha nced at him, still surprised that he hadn''t bombarded her with ''I told you sos'' yet.


    Before the start of the operation, he had clearly expressed his concerns.


    "Just let them be, Tabitha. Let''s move on to other people," he had said repeatedly.


    But Tabitha had been stubborn. She itched for some sort of revenge. Her ego had been crushed and she couldn''t let it slide.


    Ever since Amie''s death, they had all lived with guilt... and fear. It got worse when the case was reopened and Aiden was intent on getting to the root of the matter.


    It was supposed to be an easy job, a very simple one, Tabitha thought. No one was supposed to die. The guns weren''t even loaded! The dumb henchmen that Sharon got them fled the moment they saw the police.


    Tabitha was abruptly thrown out of her thoughts when she heard Ron cuss out as his fist rammed on the steering wheel, "Shit."


    She removed her sunsses as she sat up, and looked ahead just as Jon reclined in his seat, looking around as he muttered, "It''s over guys."


    On every side they turned, there was a policeman van.


    "Guys, listen," Ron began as he turned to them. "Since none of us was the one who shot the girl, we might still have a chance. We''ll probably just spend a few years in jail and-"


    "By a few years, you mean a decade, right?" Tabitha bit out, agitated and infuriated, even though this was all her fault.


    "I should have backed off when they warned me," she finally admitted within herself as she looked around at the armed policemen climbing down their vans.


    "Let me speak, Tabitha!" Ron said


    calmly, but there was an edge to his tone. "If you fun, you''d get shot and that''s it, the final end. Worse, you''ll get paralyzed and deployed to some godforsaken ce. Or you canjust turn yourself in, spend a few years in jait and get out." His gaze went over each of them. "The choice is yours to make," he finished just as a knock came on the window on his side.


    Ron rolled down the window. "We''d advise that you step down," the man said, his gaze moving from each one of them.


    ***


    Each of them was interrogated.


    Tabitha sniffed, wiping tears off her face, as she narrated the whole ordeal. When she was done, she sped her palms together. "But I swear, we didn''t mean to harm her. It was not intended at all. We just wanted to get the money." "Then who shot her?" The detective inquired.


    "We hired some men, two of them actually. Just random henchmen. It was their job. They were just supposed to stay there with Amie, get the pay and hand her over. We don''t know what exactly happened... all we heard was a gunshot." She remembered how they''d all fled when they saw the ce swarmed by the police.


    The detective nodded, but Tabitha didn''t think he looked convinced.


    "I swear, detective, we didn''t shoot her. We only plotted her abduction and contacted her parents, but it wasn''t us."


    "Is that all, miss?" The detective arched his eyebrows at her.


    The detective had seen in the gazes


    of the rest that there was


    information they were all holding back, but no matter how he tried, they wouldn''t speak. He had decided to leave them first and interrogate Tabitha. If she also doesn''t speak then he''d know what step to take next.


    "Who else was involved?" The detective pressed, watching as her gaze roamed the table.


    Tabitha had thought of excluding Sharon, hoping that she''d provide security for them but they''ve not heard from her for weeks since the incident happened. They''ve tried to reach her, to let her know that it was the men she hired that shot Amie but they couldn''t reach her Out of bitterness, she bit out. "Sharon."


    The detective''s lips curled into a sly smile. He had suspected Mr Aiden''s wife even more right from when she sat before him in the questioning room weeks ago. "Who''s that?" He prompted carefully, trying not to put words in her mouth.


    "Sharon," Tabitha repeated. "Sharon Aiden."Text ? owned by N?velDrama.Org.


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