Chapter 14: Interrogation

Olivia jotted down all her questions and headed over to Lucy's rented place. The neighbors had a good impression of Lucy, but she was hardly ever home because of her job.

"Lucy lives here alone, and the place is always spotless. She gets back really late from work and sometimes has to go out for part-time gigs, so the house is mostly empty," the landlord said.

Olivia nodded. After the landlord's introduction, she did a thorough search of Lucy's place, collected some fingerprints, and found some hair, all of which she took back to the station as evidence.

"Is Lucy in some kind of trouble?" the landlord asked, a bit nervously.

Olivia wasn't about to spill any case details since they didn't have solid evidence yet.

"I'm just following standard procedures. I'll let you know once we have results. Does Lucy have any other family?" Olivia asked.

The landlord shook his head. "I only know she has a son. Seems like she's divorced, and her son isn't in Emerald City; he's down South somewhere."

Olivia biked back to the station and handed all the evidence over to Ethan for testing.

Back at the office, she grabbed a cup of water from her desk and started drinking. William saw this and tried to stop her, but she had already finished the cup.

"Olivia, how's that water taste?" William asked, looking a bit off, which puzzled Olivia.

"It's just water. What's the big deal?" Olivia replied.

"Olivia, that's Mr. Phillips' cup. You drank his water!" William exclaimed, clearly excited.

Olivia finally realized that the cup wasn't hers. She quickly grabbed it to refill, but when she turned around, she bumped right into Henry.

"Mr. Phillips, you're here too!" Olivia greeted, feeling super embarrassed. How could she be so careless?

Henry looked down at her fluffy hair and swallowed quietly.

"Thirsty?" Henry asked.

Olivia was dumbfounded. What did he mean by that? She didn't get it but instinctively nodded. After running around all day, she was indeed a bit thirsty.

"There's food left for you on the table. Eat up; there's still a lot of work to do!" Henry pushed Olivia into a chair, then turned to get her a cup of water, still using his cup.

William was shocked by this scene. What was going on? Why did it seem like Henry was into Olivia?

Olivia was really hungry. She devoured all the meat in the lunchbox; it was just too good.

"Eat slower. No one's gonna take it from you!" Henry said as he watched the surveillance footage, occasionally glancing at Olivia.

Henry watched Olivia eat with a look of disdain, like she hadn't had a proper meal in ages.

After eating, Olivia reported what she had learned, and William filled her in on the interrogation results.

"Lucy admitted she had been to Aurelia's house but insisted she knew nothing about her death. But when she found out the cause of death, she wasn't very surprised, which means she's lying about not knowing," William explained.

He then pulled up the interrogation footage. After watching it, they started brainstorming the next steps.

"Lucy's landlord mentioned she's divorced and has a son working down South. I checked her place; she doesn't have much of value. The priciest thing is a fridge. She makes $4,500 a month at the hospital and does part-time work. Her rent is $700 a month, and she lives super frugally," Olivia reported.

"With that salary, she should be okay. But from her lifestyle, it seems like she's really strapped for cash," William noted, finding Lucy's situation odd.

Henry glanced from the surveillance footage to Olivia.

"You go interrogate Lucy. The traffic cops are still digging through surveillance footage, which might take a few days. Also, we need to get in touch with Lucy's son to see what's up with him," Henry instructed.

Olivia nodded, grabbed her notebook, and was about to head out but was stopped by Henry.

"Fix your appearance. You look like a mess!" Henry said, taking his cup from Olivia's desk with a hint of disdain.

Olivia felt a bit miffed but when she checked herself in the bathroom mirror, she was shocked.

Her hair was all over the place from biking back. She did look pretty disheveled. She quickly found a comb, tidied up her hair, and put on a hat before heading into the interrogation room.

Lucy's eyes darted around when she saw Olivia. It was clear her psychological defenses were starting to crumble after being at the station for so long.

"Lucy, tell me about your relationship with Aurelia," Olivia asked, her eyes locked on Lucy.

Lucy looked at Olivia and stammered, "We... we were close. The first year she came to the hospital, we were roommates. Aurelia had a rough life. She married a guy she didn't love. She wanted to run away with the man she loved, but he tricked her, took her to some remote place, and sold her for $20,000 to marry a cripple!"

It seemed Lucy knew more about Aurelia than Leo did.

"She trusted you and told you about her past?" Olivia pressed.

Lucy nodded and continued, "The cripple's family abused her. She was stuck there for thirty years and even had a daughter with him."

"Lucy, you've been divorced?" Olivia asked, and Lucy nodded.

"Twice. My first husband was from a rural area, had no skills, and was very poor. I couldn't stand it, so I divorced him and took my son. My second husband was a drunk. He did nothing but drink and beat me. I tried to endure it for my son's sake, but he not only beat me but also my son. So, I divorced him too!" Lucy explained.

Lucy took her son with her in both divorces, showing how important he was to her.

"Why did you go to Starfield Town?" Olivia asked.

Lucy's expression tightened.

"Her son called her back. He was getting married and wanted her to come back to discuss the wedding. Basically, he wanted Aurelia to give him some money!" Lucy explained.

Olivia looked at Lucy and continued, "So after you got off the bus, you went to the bank, and Aurelia withdrew $5,000 for her son's wedding?"