Chapter 61: Chapter Sixty-one

I don’t know anymore. My head is like a ticking time bomb, already set to explode any minute with just one wrong move. Why is this even happening to us? Where did we go wrong? Where did I go wrong?

“What’s the matter?”

My lips felt like they were sealed tight with the strongest glue. Tongue couldn’t utter a single word. Who wouldn’t feel the same way? After hearing what those two talked about when they were alone, I’m sure they’ll be speechless as well. Especially when the person who did the deed is sitting right next to you, acting as if nothing happened.

“Rachel…” Chad drawled. A worried expression on his face but I didn’t care. “What’s wrong? Is your stomach aching? Did you eat your cheesecake already?”

I mentally rolled my eyes. Is that all he has to say? After what I heard from his mother, even the words that came out of his own mouth… really? My stomach is aching? Is that the best he could do? Heart sinking lower as if a quicksand is within me, I fought back the tears that were forming. Oh god… why? Was he faking it from the beginning? That’s not true, right? Is this all a dream? A nightmare that I need to wake up from?

“Rachel, why are you not answering me?” he demanded with a not so gentle tone. He was starting to get alarmed. “Did I say something wrong?” Chad’s voice then dropped to a whisper. “Is your monthly friend here?”

“No.”

My curt reply shut him up. However, Chad is a persistent man. Figuring that he’d want more answers, I stood up from the couch and excused myself. Much to my relief, he didn’t follow me. I went to the stairs and climbed up, heading to my room.

Christmas isn’t over yet, in fact it hasn’t even really begun. Mom and Harvey, including Grandma, were still in the living room. Mrs. Montgomery and her husband were also there. The staff was still busy preparing food in the kitchen although I recall Mom telling to head home once they were finished. Christmas has yet to come officially yet the spirit for the holiday has already been drained out of me.

“Miss Maxwell?”

I spun around to see Henry at the foot of the stairs, staring at me in confusion. I chuckled and rubbed my head. “I’m just going to my room to rest for an hour. Tell my mother I’ll go back once my head isn’t aching.” Lying through my teeth, I watched as Henry bowed slightly and walked away. Leaving me alone.

Not wanting to see anybody else, I dashed up the stairs and to my room. Once the door was clicked shut behind me, my tears relentlessly fell. Big fat ones rolling down my cheek as I profusely wiped them off. Languidly, I went near my bed and flopped down.

My head still couldn’t process the conversation between Chad and his mother. Memories of them smiling at me and looked like they were having fun flashed before my eyes.

Hands clenching into a fist, I punched the mattress. This is not fair! It can’t be true! This all can’t be true! Grabbing my hair, I began to pull on harshly as if it would wake me up. Wake me up from this hellish nightmare. Everything… is all a lie? These past few months, have they been lying straight to our faces? After the kidnapping of Harvey, I thought that, despite how weird Rebecca Montgomery was, we got closer. But no! They’re the ones who staged the whole thing!

I gritted my teeth, glaring at my hands. They were the ones who wanted to hurt us. I don’t know what their reasons are but who cares about them? Those reasons mean nothing to me! Hurting my family, my Dad… Hand grabbing the collar of my dress, I fisted it and fought the ugly sob threatening to croak out. My Dad… if they really had something to do with his death… I will never forgive them.

Glancing up, my eyes fell on the small box that Chad gave me earlier. He told me not to open it until midnight struck so I placed it here in the safety of my room. Looking away from it, I buried my face into my hands.

Chad…

Do you have any involvement in this? Or did you just do it because your mother would leave you? Was it intentional? Unintentional? I want you to answer me but if I ask that question… I fear that I may never see you again.

“Why does this have to happen?” I whispered painfully to myself. The darkness of my bedroom slowly swallowed me, shutting me out from the world. One wouldn’t know pain until he or she experiences it. No matter how many dictionaries are being published or how many people talk about it— pain is something to be felt to be understood.

Hugging myself, I shivered.

The world is scary… full of vicious people that hurt others to be happy. To gain something they never had without thinking of the consequences they have to face or ignore them. After all, a person with desire would never stop until it’s quenched.

Chad and his mother… they’re probably the same.

“Hey.”

My soul almost left my body in shock as I glanced up to see Chad at the door, light pooling into the darkness. A worried expression on his face. I gasped and looked away, hand on my heart. Feeling it beat so fast.

“What are you doing here?” I asked softly. When he was about to go near, I stopped him by raising my hand. “Don’t go further. This is a woman’s room, you shouldn’t be here—”

“You never told me that last time—”

“I said get out!” I screamed, throwing a pillow at him. “I don’t want to be with anyone right now. I want to be alone!”

He frowned and backed away. “All right! Sheesh, don’t start attacking me.” Chad closed the door and my heart began to fall apart at the image of him doing the deed.

No. It can’t be them… it can’t be right.

***

“Hey…”

Setting the papers down, I raised an eyebrow and turned to the boy. “Yes? What is it, Harv?”

He had a small frown on his face as he stared at me. “What’s wrong with you? You’ve been awfully quiet since yesterday. Did something happen yesterday without us noticing?”

Lips in a thin line, I shrugged and moved my gaze elsewhere. “Nothing in particular. Am I really that quiet? As far as I could remember, I wasn’t talkative during Christmas. What about you? Is something bothering you?”

He sighed. “Nope… except I’m regretting I didn’t eat a lot of food yesterday. I was knocked out after opening my gifts—I promise to myself I’d eat more cheesecake!” I could feel his eyes narrow down on me. “When I woke up, I was so excited to get a slice but I forgot that someone else loves cheesecake so much.”

I grinned. “You shouldn’t have wasted any moment… you know I would eat a lot.”

Harvey shook his head at me. “Seriously, women your age are scared to become a ball of lard! Yet here you are eating cheesecake like it’s your breakfast every day.”

A pout was on my lips. “That’s mean, Harv. You know I take good care of my health! And I don’t eat cheesecake every day. Just on special occasions.”

“Mhm… yeah, sure.”

Signing under my printed name, I pushed the paperwork away. The morning sun was covered by the thick gray clouds, making the whole atmosphere quite gloomy outside. The Christmas tree in the living room was still standing, fairy lights twinkling softly. Even the fireplace has still wood burning in it. Yawning, I stretched my arms before leaning back against the couch. It may be a holiday season, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do my job as the head of the company.

“So,” I drawled. “What are you up to now?” I didn’t have anything to do and I’d rather talk to Harvey than Mom. She was already worried about my actions last night. Not to mention, Grandma was also curious. Harvey may have noticed but it was easier to make him forget about it unlike those two.

They shouldn’t know… not until I confirm that it is true. I bit my lower lip and clenched my fist. I wish Dad was still here. He’d know what to do.

“Nothing… I’m just going to play a couple games later.” Harvey answered. “Why the sudden interest? Do you have anything special in mind that we could do?”

I smiled. “We can watch those Charlie Brown films if you want. We can think up something to do along the way.” Anything that will get my mind off those two.

Just as Harvey was about to respond, a knock resonated from the front door which Henry hurriedly dashed to answer. He swung the door open and talked to the visitor for a few seconds. Henry then turned towards us. “Miss Maxwell, the investigator is here.”

What?!

The man then walked in, snow slightly covered his hat as he took his coat off, handing it to Henry. A black briefcase in his right hand. I immediately stood up and greeted the investigator. “Good morning, Sir. May I ask what you need?”

Didn’t Dad cut off his service with the investigator after those kidnappers and the ‘mastermind’ got caught?

Before he could talk, I held up a hand for him to stop and then gestured for him to follow me. Harvey was watching curiously, wanting to know why the man was here as well. I can’t get him involved with this again.

“Henry, my brother wants to watch Charlie Brown. Can you help him look for the CDs?”

That was all I needed to say for both of them to get busy, leaving me and the investigator ample free time to discuss in Dad’s study. “That way, Sir.”

Once we were in Dad’s study, I sat down on the leather chair with the investigator across me. “So… why are you here, Sir? I thought Dad ceased the investigation about those criminals who kidnapped my brother.”

He then replied. “Yes, your father did do that. But he also left me another investigation that I should solve and when he knew he was sick, Mr. Maxwell told me to continue no matter what so that when the case is finally solved, all I have to do is show the evidence.”

“I’m sorry but I can’t follow through— what investigation?”

“An investigation on the Montgomery family.”

“Huh?”

An… investigation on the Montgomerys? Was this what Dad was troubled about the whole time?

“Your father wanted you and your family to know what the Montgomerys have been up to behind your backs.” The investigator opened his briefcase and handed me a manila folder. “Surprisingly, he wasn’t wrong about his suspicion.”

Taking the folder, I opened it and pulled out pictures of Rebecca Montgomery talking to a group of men. My eyes widened when I spotted the same van that kidnapped Harvey parked next to them. Pulling out another picture, she was with the same group of men. Unable to grasp the truth, I spilled the whole content of the folder onto the desk. A lot of pictures lay on top.

Rebecca Montgomery was either talking to the kidnappers and who seemed to be the said mastermind of the kidnapping. Then, I spotted another picture of an unknown man with Mrs. Montgomery. “Sir… who is this man?”

He leaned forward to see who I was pointing to. “Ah, that man… he’s the one who killed your former assistant, Miss Howard.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” I whispered. Staring at the pictures, I shook my head at it. “She can’t be the one who did this all. What have we done to her to make her so… violent? We never even met her back then. We just met at this party last October.”

The investigator cleared his throat. “Well, after doing some more research I found out that her husband, Mr. Max Montgomery was about to file for a divorce with her.”

“F-file a divorce? What made him file for a divorce? Do you know?”

“I thought it was because he didn’t like her anymore. But from what I was told in the bank, Mrs. Montgomery is almost low in funds. Max Montgomery won’t give her money as well because she always goes to casinos and bet her money there.”

He then pulled out a photo under the pile and showed it to me. It was a picture of Chad’s mom in the casino, in front of a slot machine. The other one was her playing poker. It was shocking really because I never expected her to do such a thing. Sure, some rich people would go to casinos and play but for them to waste all their money on such a game… it’s a bit silly.

“I see…”

“Miss Maxwell, it’s very clear now that the Montgomery family, specifically Rebecca Montgomery and her son, is the root of all this harassment. Even they kidnapped your brother and tried to hurt you.”

“C-Chad?” My eyes wide at the mention of him. “You also have evidence that he has anything to do with this abomination?”

No… he can’t possibly do that. He, too, was hurt by those criminals. He was injured and he even helped us escape—if he wanted to hurt us he would’ve done it before! However, he didn’t. Chad never tried to hurt me physically and if it was emotionally, I had some mistakes with our relationship as well.

“By evidence… you mean this?”

He held up a picture of Chad holding a box, his mother about to take it from him. I furrowed my eyebrows and shot up from my seat once I recognized it. It was the box with the rat inside. “No, he couldn’t have known that it had the rat in it. He doesn’t have anything to do with this.”

The investigator then sighed. “If you insist, Miss Maxwell. By the way, if I may ask… has Chad Montgomery asked you any amount of money?”

“Y-yes, but it was for his financial support. His company needed a little help. That’s all.”

“When was that?”

Thinking hard, I couldn’t recall when it was. “I… don’t remember. Why are you asking me this?”

He then nodded to himself, as if realizing something. “If you did give him money, it’s probably for his mother. She probably pestered him to ask you.”

“Chad would never do that—”

“Before I forget, Miss Maxwell.” he opened his briefcase again and handed me a CD. “This is the footage I got from the hospital where your father stayed. This was taken before he died. I suggest you play it.”

Was there a surveillance camera there? How come I didn’t notice?

Without hesitation, I placed the CD into the laptop and played the footage taken by the hospital’s surveillance camera. It was around eight in the morning. By that time, we were all away. A few seconds passed just watching an empty hallway, the door to Dad’s room in view. Rebecca then walked down the hallway and I frowned.

No… she couldn’t have done it. How did she even enter without people noticing? How…

My heart stopped beating when she stopped in front of Dad’s room. When she entered, I shot up and gritted my teeth. Grabbing the pictures and the CD, I put them into the envelope. Not hearing the investigator calling my name, I dashed out in anger.

“That bitch!”