When William didn’t respond, Marcus, who was right next to him, exclaimed, “Did she see you?”
Triumphantly, Bobby shook his head and replied, “Of course not! It takes a lot for someone to catch me in action.”
“So, what happened? What did you find out?” William asked.
“Miss Barnbook came up to the attic after she returned. There was no place to hide in the attic, so I climbed out of the window and held onto its edge, hiding right outside the window. I heard her searching for something, and then she stopped to call someone. She was comforting the person on the other side of the line, telling them to be patient for a little while more and that she would be sending some medication soon. After she hung up, she found whatever she was looking for and left. I didn’t want to stay there for too long, so I quickly left her house as well.”
“Are you sure she didn’t know you were there?” William asked.
“I’m dead sure!” Bobby nodded.
“Do you know whether the person on the phone with Lucian was a man or a woman?” William asked.
“I couldn’t tell. I could only hear Miss Barnbook’s voice. But she sounded respectful, so the person she’s talking to must be someone she looks up to.”
“Is that so?” William frowned, but he said nothing further.
Upon seeing William’s frown, Bobby reached into his pocket and took out a leather wallet. Opening it, he picked out a few strands of hair and said, “Sir William, this is the woman’s hair which I’ve mentioned just now. I think this might be useful to you.”
William’s eyes lit up when he saw the strands of hair in Bobby’s outstretched hands. “Perfect! I was just wondering about the identity of this mysterious woman, and here you have procured such an important item. Bobby, what would I do without you in times of need?”
Marcus looked at William and Bobby in confusion. “It’s just a few strands of hair. What can we do with them? It’s not like we can compare it with someone else’s hair.”
William grinned, “Who said we can’t? Marcus, take it to run a DNA test immediately.”
“Wait… I’m losing you. Whose DNA are we comparing it to?” Marcus found himself unable to keep up with them.
Seeing the confusion on Marcus’s face, William laughed out loud, “Marcus, didn’t you always say you’re the brain of the team? How come you’re slower than Bobby today? Come on. If he gets it, you should be able to get it too!”
Marcus scratched, “I really do not follow what you’re on to. Can you please put it more plainly, Mr. Howard?”
William glimpsed at Bobby and shook his head, “Well, before this, I had my suspicions. But now, I think I’m more confident as to who this mysterious woman might be.”
“Are you saying that you already know who she is?”
“It’s only a deduction. And we now only need to use the hair that Bobby found to confirm it.”
“I still have no idea how you came up with that deduction. Just who on earth is this woman?” Marcus asked. The more he listened, the more confused he was.
William’s brows knitted at Marcus’s puzzled look. He prompted, “Do you remember that you told me Lucian had no female friends when I asked you to investigate her?”
“Yes. I’ve always thought it strange that, other than Miss Garcia, she doesn’t have any other female friends,” said Marcus. It felt incredulous for him to even spell it out.
“Adding on to that, Miss Barnbook is someone brilliant who had been working tirelessly with Miss Garcia. She’s attractive and elegant, and she’s quite kind-natured too. It really is strange that she doesn’t have many close friends.”
“It isn’t that strange. Some people just don’t like making friends,” William smiled faintly. “However, the fact that Lucian doesn’t have any other friends reminded me of what Ronald told me this morning, which brings me to a speculation.”
“That is?”
“Perhaps the mysterious woman is Natalie Garcia.”
“How is that even remotely possible? Didn’t Miss Garcia die?” Marcus immediately brushed aside the theory.
“Indeed. Julie, Paxton, and Ronald killed her. But I’ve been thinking… If Natalie could expand the company to such a large scale, all the while having no feelings for Ronald, how did such a strong woman like her fall into Ronald’s trap?”
William then continued, “There are only two reasons for ordinary people to fall into a trap. It’s either they’ve let their guard down, or they’re greedy. But based on what Valeria told me about Natalie, she had always had her guards up against Ronald. Not only did Natalie not love Ronald, but she also never wanted anything in return from him. If so, how did Ronald manage to plot a scheme against Natalie?”
“Maybe her guard slipped,” Marcus made a wild guess.
“That can’t be. That would only have been possible if Ronald had killed Natalie on the spot. But Valeria once told me that Natalie had been poisoned for some time before they went abroad. Natalie had gotten better when they were abroad. But her health deteriorated after they got back, and Natalie started taking the poisoned supplements that Ronald got from Julie again. Natalie didn’t love Ronald. Don’t you think she’d at least doubt him during those few months?”
“What’s more, Ronald and Julie had already rented a house for their convenience. Natalie isn’t a mere housewife. She must have known about Ronald’s affair. There must be something that we’re not seeing…”
William took a deep breath, “That’s why I went to Ronald today to gather all the information I could regarding Natalie’s pregnancy and death. And I heard something really interesting. He has never gotten close enough to see her face from the time of her death up to the very moment she was sent to the crematory.”
Marcus was dumbfounded, “Are you saying that the person who died wasn’t Miss Garcia? But who else could it have been? Her doppelgänger?”
“No. Natalie is, of course, dead. Ronald was too guilty to face Natalie, but Valeria would have recognized her own mother with just a look at her.”
Marcus was now baffled, “But weren’t you just saying that Miss Garcia might not be dead?”
“What I mean was, Natalie was indeed pronounced dead by the doctors in the hospital, and she was sent to the crematorium. But Ronald pretended to faint during her cremation, and Valeria passed out due to shock. They were brought out of the crematorium, so they wouldn’t have known if Natalie’s body had been sent into the furnace to be cremated. And they certainly wouldn’t have known if it was Natalie’s ashes in the urn.”
“So you’re saying that someone removed and replaced Miss Garcia’s body with another body at the crematorium?”
“Exactly. Before this, I had a feeling that the mysterious woman was Natalie. So, I went to Ronald, but he only confirmed half of my speculation. After listening to Bobby’s discovery, I think I can be fairly sure that I’m right all along. Now, I only need to run a maternity test with Valeria using this strand of hair to prove my theory right.”
“But Bobby said he didn’t know who the other person was, didn’t he?” Marcus asked before he suddenly came to a realization. “Oh! I think I know now! Bobby said Miss Barnbook was very respectful towards the other person. But she sometimes doesn’t even care about Sir Archer. She only bows to one person, which is Miss Garcia. So… The other person on the line could have been Miss Garcia?”
“See, you aren’t that daft after all! Now, I’ll leave the rest to you.” William smiled at Marcus, “Hurry up, I need to know the answer as soon as possible. Thank goodness for DNA identification. Otherwise, we’d still be guessing on our deathbeds.”