“Do you believe in souls, Ste?” I asked, my gaze fixed on her, uncertain if she would take my im
seriously. “It’s me, Phoebe.”
Ste’s shock was palpable. She covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes darting around, searching
for an exnation.
There was a long silence.
My story must have seemed far–fetched, even ludicrous.
“What are you trying to pull?” she finally asked, furrowing her brow, irritation creeping into her voice.
“How could you know all that? Are you trying to impersonate Phoebe? Do you take me for a fool?”
Her wary eyes scrutinized me as if I were a suspect in a crime or an aplice.
And who could me her? If someone suddenly imed to be your dearly departed friend, you’d be
skeptical, too.
“Easy, easy.” I quickly said, gesturing for her to calm down.
Ste paused, her suspicion only growing. She must have been wondering how I knew so many
intimate details about Phoebe.
“You think I’m an aplice, don’t you? That I did something to Phoebe before she passed. forced her
to spill your secrets so I could deceive you?” I voiced Ste’s doubts.
She remained silent, still on guard.
“Okay, then ask me something. Something only you and Phoebe would know. She couldn’t have told all
of her secrets. I really am Phoebe.” I exined, raising my hands in a gesture of peace.
Ste’s eyes began to well up, perhaps hoping against hope that I was indeed Phoebe.
But we were both skeptics, non–believers in reincarnation or life after death. The whole idea was
straight out of a soap opera.
“Phoebe left some bank cards with me,” Ste probed, watching me carefully.
“Two cards,” I replied earnestly. “One for the schrship funds, another for my paycheck. There’s over
thirty grand in the schrship ount, and I’ve saved up ten grand in the other for Dexter and
Melody’s wedding gift. Oh, and there’s our joint ount for the kids at the orphanage.”
I had once wished Dexter and Melody a lifetime of happiness. Unfortunately, they wanted me dead.
Just mentioning Dexter and Melody brought a sh of hatred to my eyes. Ste spoke again, “Phoebe
had some cosmetic work done. What was it?”
13:13
This usation made me bristle. No naturally beautiful girl likes to be used of having work done.
“Why would I need stic surgery? No, I haven’t had anything done.”
“Wrong answer. I took her to get eysh extensions.” Ste countered with a dismissive wave of her
hand.
I was at a loss for words. “Ste, you’re counting eysh extensions as stic surgery? The eysh
extensions of that beauty salon you took me to weren’t even as long as my eyshes! And because of
that, my eyshes fell into my eye, and I even got conjunctivitis!”
Ste’s eyes began to flicker. “Which spa, where?”
“Trinity Avenue, BeautySky Spa, I think? The salesperson keptplimenting me the moment walked
in, saying how pretty I was and that I should get semi–permanent eyeliner or eyebrows so I wouldn’t
need makeup anymore.”
N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.
Ste tightened her grip on her water ss and then asked, “Did Phoebe love Dexter?”
I caught my breath before answering, each word heavy with emotion. “I don’t love Dexter anymore. If I
do, all the pain I endured would be my own fault.”
Connection to
Ste turned away, wiping away a tear. “I’ll concede that you might have some Phoebe, but I don’t
believe you are her. What do you want? Just be straight with me.”
“It was Melody… she killed me,” I started, then quickly corrected, “Melody killed Phoebe. She told
Phoebe to go to Tangle Lane on the 15th and didn’t tell anyone else. She lured Phoebe there, right into
the hands of the murderer.”
Ste whirled around, fixing her eyes on me. “Do you have any proof?”
I shook my head regretfully. “I don’t have any hard evidence, but… Phoebe’s phone has recordings of
her conversations with Melody. Didn’t the police recover the data?”
Ste frowned. “Data recovery is aplicated process. It’s not that simple, and it takes time.“