Chapter 197

There were no visible bloodstains or obvious external injuries on the body.

Alexander glanced at the corpse and then began to examine the restroom.

It was relatively clean.

He turned his head and noticed that the corpse was holding an e-cigarette.

The air still had a faint, sweet smell of e-cigarette vapor.

"What's the victim's name?" Zoey asked.

Katerina, who had come along, quickly replied, "Cecilia Thorne."

Zoey took a closer look at the body's face. Even though the long hair covered it, she recognized Cecilia as one of the girls from the Sable lounge yesterday.

She never expected to see her again today, and in such a way.

Charles took a deep breath as he looked at the female corpse. "She just started college and now she's dead. How will her family handle this?"

Robert scanned the surroundings. "Alright, everyone out. Let the tech team collect evidence first."

"Got it."

With Robert's command, Zoey was the first to rush out.

She had been holding her breath in the bathroom, trying to inhale as little of the toxic fumes as possible.

Finally, she breathed in the fresh air greedily, looking quite relieved.

Robert had already started questioning, "Katerina, are you Cecilia's teacher? Can you tell us how you found the scene and what it was like?"

"Well…" Katerina hesitated, thinking as she spoke, "When I arrived, she was already dead. I don't know what happened. They were in gym class at the time. I can bring her classmates over for you."

"That works. Preferably someone who knew Cecilia well."

"Okay." Katerina turned to make a call, presumably to find out who Cecilia was closest to.

Zoey glanced at her phone and sent a message to Vernon: [Where's Sable?]

A few seconds passed with no reply.

She put her phone away.

The medical examiner directed his assistant to move the body out. Just as they were about to leave, Dennis stopped them. "What's the situation with the victim?"

The medical examiner replied, "Preliminary judgment suggests she died within the last two hours. There are no visible wounds or bruises on the body, indicating sudden poisoning. Her lips and nails are pink, but I can't detect the smell of bitter almonds in her mouth right now. It's too foul in there; we'll need to test it back at the lab."

"Potassium cyanide poisoning?"

"Possibly, but we need lab results to be sure. I can't give you a definitive answer right now."

"Alright, thanks. We'll wait for your call."

The medical examiner nodded slightly and directed his assistant to load the body into the vehicle and leave.

A short while later, two girls arrived.

Zoey recognized them from last night.

They were the girls who had dinner with Sable last night.

Things were about to get more interesting.

As the girls approached, they visibly hesitated upon seeing Zoey. They had been badmouthing her yesterday, and now they were meeting her under these circumstances. It was undeniably awkward.

Alexander noticed the girls' expressions and cautiously approached Zoey. "Judging by their reaction, you've met before?"

Zoey nodded, "Yeah, we have."

Robert glanced at Zoey before starting to take statements from the two girls. "You're both friends of Cecilia, right?"

"Yes, we're her roommates. I'm Violette."

The other girl quickly added, "I'm Theodosia."

"Alright, tell us everything you know," Robert said, his tone gentler than usual. "Specifically, about the victim's situation. When did she die?"

"We're not sure." Violette's face turned pale as she recalled the event. "We were in gym class, and during a break, Cecilia said she needed to use the restroom. She never came back when the teacher called us to gather."

"We thought she might have eaten something bad and kept urging her to hurry up. But she didn't return. When the class ended, the teacher took roll call and noticed Cecilia was missing. We were sent to find her. We called out for her, but no one answered. We checked each stall, and when we found her… she was already…"

"I was terrified. You can't imagine… opening the door and seeing her sitting there. Her eyes… I still remember them. It was horrifying. I was so scared I couldn't move. You wouldn't understand unless you saw it yourself. It was truly terrifying." Violette kept repeating how terrifying it was, clearly shaken.

Alexander asked, "Did Cecilia usually smoke? We found an e-cigarette in her hand in the restroom."

Violette and Theodosia exchanged glances before replying, "Yeah, she smoked, but she rarely did it in public. She would either smoke secretly in the restroom. She might have been smoking when she went to the restroom, which is why she had it with her. We saw it when we found her."

Zoey asked, "Did either of you touch the body?"

"Yes…" Theodosia said softly, nervously watching Zoey. "When we first found her, she was just sitting there. We thought she had a leg cramp and tried to help her up, only to realize she was dead."

The fact that the body had been moved was not good news.

Robert recalled the medical examiner's words and asked, "Do you know if Cecilia ate anything before going to the bathroom? Or drank anything?"

Theodosia thought for a moment and replied, "We usually bring our own water to gym class, because running makes us thirsty. Cecilia didn't eat anything, just drank some water."

"Where's the water?"

"All the water bottles are kept together, over there." Theodosia pointed ahead.

She led Zoey and the others to a large tree where several water bottles and labeled thermoses were placed.

Charles looked at the numerous water bottles, feeling overwhelmed. "There are so many. Which one is Cecilia's?"

Theodosia crouched down and picked up a clear thermos, then pointed to a nearby water bottle. "If I remember correctly, it should be this one. Cecilia was afraid of mixing them up, so she placed it next to my thermos."