The officer sitting in the middle spoke quite nicely, “Your name is Cody, right? When you were on that island with your Uncle, have you contacted anyone except your Mom?”
Cody frowned, “Are you suspecting me right now, sir?”
The officer sitting on the left laughed, “Geez. What a smart boy.”
The officer sitting in the middle smiled, “We trust you, Cody. This is just a part of the procedure. First, we need to figure out who sent those notorious people to you and your Uncle’s way. Would you be cooperative so we can find the culprit sooner? Does anyone else know about your camping trip with your Uncle?”
It was not a hard question to answer for him.
Cody shrugged, “Apart from Mom, Candace, and Linford Bradley….”
Enzo cleared his throat, looking at his nephew, casually mentioning his father’s name.
Perceiving his Uncle’s displeasure, Cody changed his tone, “Hmm… Candace and My dad are the only close people who knew about this trip,” Cody stopped for a while, seeming to recall someone. “Oh, Jasper was also there once when I Facetimed my Mom.”
Enzo asked, “Jasper? Who’s Jasper?”
“His full name is Jasper Johnson. He’s my Mom’s friend,” Cody didn’t feel very well at the moment. He paused before adding, “And he’s a very great person.”
Enzo didn’t say anything as he exchanged a look with other officers.
****
When Enzo took Cody out of the office, the boy seemed pretty worried, “Uncle, are you guys suspecting Jasper right now? Do you think he was the one who sent those attackers? But I thought your enemies sent those people.”
Enzo didn’t want to hide anything from the boy as he knew he was smart. However, he knew the boy needed to face the truth sooner or later too. He hastily sighed, “Those attackers admitted that you were their target when I confronted them. I’m afraid they didn’t come after me, Cody.”
Cody seemed rather down after coming back from Enzo’s office. Candace asked him to play with puzzle pieces with her. He even refused his little sister’s invitation. He just sat on the couch, eyes staring blankly at the boring cartoon on TV.
Franco was pretty worried when noticing Cody’s behavior.
What the heck did Enzo tell the boy? Why couldn’t they just let the boy be happy? He scolded his grandson in silence.
Cristelle also noticed Cody’s sadness. She sat beside her son, asking gently, “What’s wrong, honey?”
Cody shook his head, “Nothing. I just don’t feel like playing anything right now, Mom. You don’t need to get worried.”
But how could Cristelle not be worried, “Why? You don’t want to tell Mommy your thoughts anymore?”
Cody felt a bit tired as he rolled his eyes, “Ugh… Mom, I’m really okay. School is gonna begin soon. I just feel sad that I can’t play with Uncle Enzo anymore.” That was an excuse that Will quickly pulled out to ease his mother’s suspicion.
Candace came over, “Cody, let’s play house.”
Cody jumped off the couch and held Candace’s hands, walking away.
The boy didn’t even eat much during dinner. Thus, Franco got even more annoyed at the thought, deciding to teach Enzo a lesson when he returned.
****
“What happened to Cody?” Cristelle was cleaning Linford’s wounds in her bedroom.
Linford was sprawling over her bed, stretching comfortably, “The boy tends to think about many things. You don’t need to worry about that.”
Cristelle used a bit of strength on purpose.
“Ow!” Linford howled, “Why are you so biased?”
“Just for your information, Mr. Bradley, the boy is also your son,” Cristelle pulled a face, “Can you stop treating him as your enemy?”
Linford huffed, “He should feel honorable being treated equally as an enemy by Linford Bradley.”
Cristelle rolled her eyes, “Are you a five-year-old as well?”
Linford looked a bit down, “I just want your attention. You only care about the babies.”
Cristelle went blushed. And then, lowering her gaze, she murmured with a small voice, “It depends on your performance.”
Huh? Depending on his performance, is she serious?
Linford’s eyes lit up as he got up and kissed swiftly on Cristelle’s cheek.
Candace happened to walk in after that, but she didn’t see that kiss.
“Candace… Sweetie, what’s wrong?” Cristelle got up from the bed and went to the girl.
Candace shook her head as she pointed at the door. She seemed quite down, “Cody was in the study room.”
Cody was in the study room alone. He didn’t even want to play with her anymore.
Cristelle looked at Linford. Linford sighed and stood up, “I’m checking him out right now.”
“Don’t argue with him again,” Cristelle reminded him before he left.
****
Cody picked up a book and randomly flipped the pages, but he was not in the mood to read anything. Finally, the door was pushed open as Linford walked in.
“Why are you here?” The boy asked angrily.
He just wanted to spend some time alone. Why did these people have to bother him constantly?
Linford smacked his keys on the desk, “This is my house.”
Cody sighed as he jumped off the chair. He was not in the mood to quarrel with his dad right now.
“What did Enzo ask you when he summoned you earlier?” Linford suddenly said behind the boy’s back, “Did he suspect you for exposing the journey to someone else?”
Cody didn’t want to answer the question. He thus kept walking.
“Did you tell Jasper?” Linford slumped on his chair.
The boy stopped, looking over his shoulder, “How did you know?”
Linford shrugged, “Someone’s trying to murder my son. Can’t I even investigate the whole thing now? Should I let a vicious person kill my son?”
Cody was lost for words. He was so upset after hearing Enzo’s assumption earlier.
He climbed to another chair near him as he faced Linford, “But Jasper is a great person. He helped us before. His family even disowned him because he helped Mom. I don’t think he’s the one who sent those notorious killers.”
“Your Uncle and I haven’t made sure of anything yet. The investigation is still going on. Why are you so nervous?” Linford arched his eyebrows, trying to get the boy to think outside the box.