Chapter 255

Chapter 255

Arabella had been here for three days now. On this particular day, she left the house carrying a canvas bag with a camera inside.

The Hensley family's security equipment store was located midway down East Street. The shop itself wasn't very big. When Arabella arrived, Theron was sweeping the entrance.

"You're here." He glanced up at her.

"Good morning, Theron." Arabella pulled out her camera from her bag and gave it a little wave. "The light's really nice today. Thought I'd grab a few shots of the storefront."

Theron didn't say much. He just stepped aside and went back to organizing the shelves.

Arabella set up her camera by the entrance and took several exterior shots, then casually made her way inside.

About ten minutes later, Theron's wife emerged from the back room. "Ms. Pearl, you must be tired. Have some water and take a break."

Arabella thanked her and accepted the glass. Seizing the opportunity, she asked casually, "Theron mentioned you have some old items that were brought back from out of town years ago. Would it be possible to take a look? I'm mainly interested in photographing things with historical character—for comparison material."

Theron's wife glanced back at her husband.

Theron had already come in from the entrance. Hearing this, he paused, thought for a moment, and said, "There's some stuff in the storage room, but it's pretty messy back there."

"That's fine, I'm not picky." Arabella smiled, her manner easygoing. "Just need a few photos of old items."

Theron didn't refuse. He set down what he was holding and gestured for Arabella to follow him. He led her all the way to the end of the hallway and pushed open a metal door. Inside was a small storage room crammed with miscellaneous items.

"This is it." Theron pointed to several old wooden crates in the corner, coated with dust. "These are things we collected years back. Nobody wanted to buy them after a while, so they've just been sitting here."

Arabella thanked him and crouched down to photograph the old objects. Theron stood in the doorway for a bit. Seeing she was genuinely focused on her work, he said, "Take your time. Call me if you need anything."

With that, he turned and headed back to the front of the store.

The storage room fell quiet.

Arabella spent about ten more minutes taking photos before straightening up and walking out with her camera.

The hallway was empty. As she passed the half-open door on the left, she lightened her footsteps and paused to listen. There was no sound from inside.

Theron had mentioned this room to Arabella before—his father lived there.

She took a deep breath and knocked twice gently on the door.

An elderly, muffled voice came from inside. "Who is it?"

"Mr. Hensley." Arabella kept her voice soft. "I'm Arabella Pearl, doing research around town. Theron just mentioned you brought some old items from Suncrest City. I was wondering if you might remember anything about them?"

There was a long silence inside, then she heard slow, shuffling sounds. After a moment, the door was pulled open from within.

Stefan was even smaller and frailer than Arabella had imagined.

Arabella's tone grew even gentler. "Mr. Hensley, I'm here from Imperial City doing research. If you're tired, I can just sit out here and chat with you for a bit. I won't come inside."

Stefan studied her for a while longer before slowly nodding. His voice was unclear. "Imperial City, huh? That's quite a ways away."

"It really is." Arabella kept her posture relaxed. "I've been photographing some old items in the store the past couple days. Theron said some of them were things you brought back from elsewhere when you were younger. I'm guessing maybe you collected them during your time in Suncrest City?"

Stefan's eyelids twitched.

Arabella continued casually, "There are quite a few old mansion in Suncrest City. Some of them still look the way they used to. I passed by one the other day—the outer walls were completely covered in vines. I didn't know whose it was, so I didn't feel right going in to look around."

Stefan's body shifted again.

"The one covered in vines?" he spoke up. "Was it at the end of East Street?"

Arabella's heart quickened, but her expression remained calm. "I didn't really note the exact location. It was deep in an old alley somewhere, with a big courtyard. I think there might have been some engraving above the gate, but it was too worn to make out clearly."

Stefan was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "That's the Turner Villa."

"The Turner Villa? Was it an old wealthy family's estate?" Arabella asked, feigning ignorance.

Stefan didn't answer that question. "Are you from the newspaper?"

"Yes." Arabella didn't miss a beat. "I'm here to do some historical documentation for the town."

"Wait here a moment."

Sounds of rummaging came from inside the room.

About five or six minutes later, Stefan appeared in the doorway again. He was holding a wooden box. "This is it."

"I brought this back from Suncrest City when I was young. It's been sitting around for decades. Haven't really opened it much. Since you're doing documentation, take a look. You can photograph it if you want, just don't break anything."

Arabella said gratefully, "Thank you, Mr. Hensley. I'll just take a few photos and won't touch what's inside."

Stefan waved his hand dismissively, as if he no longer cared much. He turned back toward the room, saying as he walked, "Go ahead and look. Just put it back where it was when you're done. I'm going back to rest. At my age, even a few words of conversation wears me out."

Arabella crouched down on the stone step and carefully unlatched the wooden box. Inside were indeed old items—things like fountain pens, a wallet, notebooks, and the like.

Arabella photographed each item one by one. Then her fingers brushed against something thin and rigid at the bottom of the box.

She carefully moved aside the objects piled on top, revealing an envelope.

She gently pulled out the paper inside. There was only one line written on it.

[Once this is done, you'll have no further ties to the Turner family.]