Chapter 67 Chapter 67
Just when she was about to walk back to the kitchen, her smartphone rang. Wondering who it could be, she pulled it out of her pocket and checked the caller.
“Hey, Hope,” she said happily when she picked up, sitting down on her bed and leaning her back against the wall. “What’s up?”
She heard her friend exhale sharply. “Did you read the news this morning? Did you check Twitter?” she asked breathlessly, sounding frantic and scared, her behavior frightening Valerie. It appeared as if something bad had happened, but what could that be?
“I didn’t, what’s going on?” she replied nervously, not sure if she even wanted to know.
“You mentioned a while ago that you would interview the CEO of Regal Enterprises, right? And didn’t you say it was yesterday?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Valerie answered, fidgeting with the blanket on the bed.
“Last night, a murder happened close to the company building, in the parking garage right next to it. I was very worried at first because I remembered that you were close by, and so I did some digging to find out what exactly happened,” she explained. Valerie was hardly able to concentrate anymore as the shock hit her full force. Her hand holding the smartphone trembled.
“Huh? What?” she forced out, choking on her own words.
“The police are looking for the culprit, but they don’t have much to go on. Apparently, all the CCTV cameras were destroyed. The last thing they recorded was a bright light, that’s it,” Hope said, while Valerie froze, her eyes widening more and more. “I don’t want to accuse anyone, but do you know where Maxwell was yesterday between six and nine pm?”
Valerie’s pulse rose. Her heartbeat accelerated, and her breath came in uneven pants. She felt nauseous all of a sudden, bile rising in her throat. She did not know where he had been, but she remembered his cryptic comments, his strange behavior. And it didn’t take a genius to count two and two together.
“Valerie, are you still there?” Hope’s concerned voice got her back to reality. She gritted her teeth.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Hope , I think… I think it could have been him.”
“Oh my God, Valerie,” her friend whispered. “This is terrible.”
“What else do you know about it? Tell me everything.” she demanded, prompting Hope to sigh deeply.
“I don’t think you want to hear this.”
“I need to know. Please don’t keep it from me. I’ll find out anyway, one way or another.”
“Well, fine. But I would prefer to tell you in person, not on the phone. Do you think we could meet?” Hope asked tentatively, no doubt thinking about the demon that might interfere.
“I… I’ll try to sneak out… maybe he won’t notice,” she mumbled nervously, her eyes moving to the bedroom door as she lowered her voice. “Let’s meet in half an hour.” Valerie was honestly terrified. If Maxwell really killed someone yesterday, a human no less, then she did not want her friend anywhere near him. He should never even meet her. Hope had to stay safe at all costs.
“Okay, come over to my flat. I hope you can make it,” Hope said before she ended the call. Valerie’s nerves were a complete mess at this point. She was shaking all over, tears burning in her eyes.
She despised violence, despised people who used their strength to torment others who were weaker. She thought that Maxwell had gotten used to being around humans, especially after he had gotten along so well with Jackson.
Crushing disappointment mixed with anger. She got up abruptly and changed her clothes, getting ready to leave at record speed since she did not want to be near him at the moment.
All she wanted was to be far away, to have space and time to think. Grabbing her purse, she tiptoed to the door and opened it with a soft click, peering outside into the hallway. From the closed living room doors, she heard the faint sounds of a video game, proving that he was busy right now.
Mochi was nowhere to be seen either, making her plan ten times easier. Her heartbeat surged nervously when she snuck towards the front door. Trembling fingers closed around the doorknob, opening the door. It creaked a little bit, causing her heart to stutter in fear, but nothing happened. Nobody noticed.
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Valerie ran down the stairs as quickly as possible without falling and got in her car to drive off, nearly flooring the gas pedal. She left her flat behind within minutes, but she was still nervous. Would he get angry once he noticed she was gone? What would he do?
Maybe running away wasn’t such a good idea, but she needed to know what Hope had found out. She wanted to talk to her in person and not just on the phone since it seemed to be something very serious.
Fifteen minutes later, she pulled into the driveway of the house where Hope lived. Valerie rang the doorbell and was greeted by her friend, who immediately hugged her tightly.
“Valerie. You’re okay.” she cried, not letting go of her for at least a minute.
“I am okay, no need to crush me,” she replied as calmly as she could. “And now you'd better tell me what’s going on.”
Hope nodded and took her hand to pull her along into the small living room of her flat, where they sat on the sofa, close to each other.
“First of all, it won’t be easy to speak about this. It’s a lot to take, especially knowing who is most likely responsible,” she said, not doing a very good job at hiding her trepidation from Valerie, who grew increasingly distressed seeing her friend like this.
They had known each other for a long time, but she couldn’t recall having ever seen Hope act this way.
“Go on and tell me. I need to know.”
“Well… the… uh… dead body was found by an office worker who was heading to his car after the late shift. He saw weird red spots on a wall and went to investigate. What he found behind a car was… um… the mangled body of a man in his twenties. He was in such a bad state that he could barely be recognized,” Hope explained hesitantly.