"Don't worry, Lance and Logan didn't blame me," Deanna reassured the elderly lady, recalling their attitudes from yesterday and today.
Old Ashley felt a significant portion of her worries dissipate upon hearing this. She expressed a few more concerns to Deanna before ending the call.
Finally, Deanna's phone fell silent. She got out of bed, freshened up briefly, and went downstairs.
Downstairs, Sam saw her and quickly greeted, "Missus, you're up. Do you need a meal? I've kept lunch warm in the kitchen."
Deanna realized she hadn't eaten and nodded lightly. After eating, she took the nourishing soup prepared by the kitchen and headed to the hospital.
When she arrived, only Lance and Xavier were in the room. Deanna looked around but didn't see Samantha or the children. "Where are Samantha, Gregory, and Chloe?" she asked while placing the food box on the bedside table and opening it to reveal the aromatic soup.
Lance watched her actions and spoke gently, "I asked Mom to take Gregory and Chloe out for a walk. They were getting bored after spending the whole morning in the ward."
Deanna nodded and sat beside Lance, preparing to feed him the soup. Xavier, noticing this, offered, "Mr. Mercer, I'll go attend to some matters and report back later."
Lance nodded in agreement. He preferred to have time alone with Deanna without others around.
But before Xavier could leave, Deanna called out, "Wait."
"Missus, do you have any instructions?" Xavier asked respectfully.
Deanna looked up at him and asked, "I remember you interrogated the person who hypnotized me last night. What were the results?"
Xavier instinctively glanced at Lance. Lance met his gaze and nodded slightly, indicating he could speak.
Xavier understood and reported truthfully, "The interrogation revealed that besides him, there might be a second person capable of putting Missus under a mental suggestion."
Deanna's face darkened immediately. "Who is it?" she demanded.
Unfortunately, Xavier didn't know and shook his head. "We only know it's a woman."
Hearing this, Deanna's mind flashed with Eula's resentful face, and she voiced her suspicion. "Is it Eula?"
"I showed Duncan a photo of Eula, but it's not her," Xavier denied with a shake of his head.
Deanna frowned, surprised. It wasn't Eula!
"Do I have any other enemies? Or someone who admires you?" Deanna suddenly asked Lance.
Lance understood her implication and shook his head. "Your enemies have mostly met their own ends. As for admirers of mine, I don't know."
Deanna was dissatisfied with his answer. "What do you mean you don't know? Either there are or there aren't; it's not hard to answer."
"But I really don't know," Lance said helplessly.
Xavier couldn't help but interject on Mr. Mercer's behalf, "Before meeting Missus, Mr. Mercer had very few women around him, mostly business partners whom he never saw as women."
Though Deanna knew Xavier was defending Lance, she couldn't help but feel pleased hearing this. However, she didn't forget the main issue and pondered for a moment before saying, "So it seems Eula is still the most suspicious."
"I suspect her too, but her actions are so normal that nothing seems amiss," Lance agreed while pointing out what he found problematic.
Deanna pointed out sharply, "Haven't you considered that the more normal things seem, the more suspicious they might be?"
Lance's expression changed; clearly, he hadn't thought of it that way. He then tried to trace Eula's actions using this reverse thinking but still found nothing suspicious.
"No, I still can't find anything," he said, shaking his head at Deanna.
Deanna frowned; it shouldn't be this way. Even the most perfect crime scene leaves traces. She then said seriously to Lance, "Tell me again about what happened when I was in trouble and Eula's movements."
Lance didn't refuse and started recounting from when Eula first interacted with Deanna. Deanna listened attentively until he mentioned the heavy attack abroad when she interrupted him.
"Wait, you said Eula secretly escorted me away; why was I still attacked?"
"Because the situation abroad was chaotic at the time, and there were traitors within our forces," Lance explained.