"I don't mean to doubt you, Miss Williams, but I don't understand what you just said too well. Can you explain this with a bit more clarity?"
After Georgia asked that, Gina spoke up slowly.
"Before I turned ten, I was an orphan growing up in an orphanage. Sarah Duran was in the same orphanage as me. Of course, that wasn't the name she went by back then, and mine wasn't Gina Williams, either. Every year, there'd be people coming to the orphanage to pick a child to take away and keep. But older girls like me and Sarah basically didn't have anyone who wanted to raise us, so the two of us just stayed in the orphanage until we turned ten. The keeper told us that someone was going to come to choose a child to raise soon, and they'd said they wanted a ten-year-old.
"Just as the keeper said, a gentle, beautiful woman came. She had a soft voice, and she was the kindest woman I'd ever seen. Just as I'd pictured a mother. She hadn't chosen me to begin with, but Sarah. Sarah, though, gave the chance to me of her own will. She spoke to the woman, said that she had people helping her with money, and she was doing well at her studies. She could go to school and grow up at the orphanage. But I had a cat lip, and could only have a better life after surgery. After she made that suggestion, the woman followed through. She's my later adopted mother, Amy."
Georgia couldn't tell that this brilliant, capable and pretty woman had a cat lip when she was young.
She smiled, went into a listening posture, and signaled for Gina to continue.
"After Amy adopted me, she became my mother, and afterwards, she took me to a graveyard and introduced me to my adopted father. Afterwards, my name became Gina Williams. My adopted father's name was Gordon Williams.
"So when I got to know my adopted father, the only thing I saw of him was his tombstone. My adopted mother was great to me. She put me through surgery and let me become a normal child. She took me to school, bought me pretty clothes, got tutors for me, sent me to art classes. Whatever I wanted, she satisfied. I was always curious why she took me in. She was kind and gentle to me. I only knew long afterwards that my adopted parents had once lost a son. His age should be about the same as mine. They searched all over the world for a long while and didn't find him, so when Gordon was about to pass, he mentioned in his will that he hoped his wife could adopt a child. A child who could grow up to take care of him, and have someone to support her after he passed without falling too deep into sorrow. That's why they adopted me."
According to what Gina was saying, this Gordon Williams was supposed to be the friend of Sarah's father, and the person who'd bought up the island together with him back then.
She grew curious.
"I don't believe you would need to lie to me about this. You're the adopted daughter of Gordon Williams, and by your meaning, your father didn't die naturally. You were only adopted after his death, so how do you know about this? I'll put it another way – can you prove what you said was true?"
"I grew to eighteen years old, and just when I came of age, my adopted mother, who'd taken care of me so tenderly all along, passed away., Back then, I didn't know my adopted father's past or who his friends were, but my adopted mother left me a letter, and her first request was to help her find her son. If that was possible, she wanted me to take their son to their grave to see them. That was a wish that went unfulfilled even in their death, and my adopted mother had told me about this when she was alive. I'd agreed. That's not the strange part of the will.
"My adopted mother said something else important in the letter, though. She told me that my father didn't die of natural causes, but because he'd been injected with a slow-acting poison. It was incurable, and he could only wait for death. She suspected the person behind it was Sarah's father, Percy Duran. Of course, my mother had her reasons for suspecting him. My adopted father had told her once that he'd bought up a small island in the southeast with Percy and was planning on developing it into a tourist spot. They planned to make a mansion where they could grow old there together, and take their kids there long-term to live on holiday as a private resort. But when my adopted mother was dealing with my adopted father's inheritance, she didn't find the property rights to that island.
"My adopted mother couldn't help but ask Percy Duran about this, but afterwards, the property my adopted father left behind get attacked regularly. I was living overseas with my adopted mother back then, but more and more people came looking for trouble, and it grew harder and harder to run the company. Clearly someone was pulling strings behind the scenes. My adopted mother could only sell all the properties, then take me back home to raise me."
"And you suspect that the person behind the scenes was Percy Duran?"
Gina nodded.
"For the past few years, I've been investigating what happened back then and looking into the property rights of the island. It had been bought out from another person, whose own company was about to go bankrupt and needed money. That's why he'd sold that fixed asset. I found him. He told me that back then, Gordon and Percy had bought that island together, each offering half of the capital, and that their original plan was to build it into a tourist island to attract visitors."
"I've got it. Tell me the name of that person and how to contact him, and I'll investigate this myself."
Georgia wasn't going to believe everything Gina said, of course. She might have appreciated Gina's ability, but Georgia couldn't be sure that everything she said was true.
Gina gave out the name and contact method of the original owner of the island and wrote it down. Georgia handed the slip of paper to Wilson, then turned back to Gina.
"Did your relationship with Sarah turn sour because she'd gone back to the Duran family and become Percy Duran's heir."
"That's the reason. I'd stayed in contact with Sarah for those years and we wrote to each other about how it was going for us. I didn't think she was Percy's daughter, and I didn't think she was going to get back to the Duran family, or that she was even now trying to expand it."
"All right. That's that. Go back to work, and don't trouble yourself over this. If I have any new thoughts about this partnership, I'll notify the company, and you won't need to concern yourself with it."
Georgia said that, then Gina stood up politely and left the office.
The office was left with Georgia and Wilson. She turned to him and raised the question.
"Do you know the name of the person on that slip? And have your heard of this Gordon Williams?"
"No on both counts."
Wilson replied.
"But I'll investigate right away. It shouldn't take too long. We have the name, address and contact information. Wait for news from my investigation."
Wilson promised, and Georgia grew a bit dubious.
"Do you think what Gina said was true? Did she need to lie about such a thing?"
"I don't know Gina Williams. Other than that she's a particularly competent worker, I don't know what kind of person she is in private."
As Wilson said that, he raised a question of his own to Georgia.
"Are you going to tell Miss Duran what Gina said today?"
Georgia shook her head.
"I don't particularly trust either of them, and there might be some things we don't know. Investigate Gordon Williams and the person who had the island before and verify Gina's words today."
After resolving that little bit of business, Wilson drove Georgia home.
She didn't know how Robert's mother was doing, and fell deep into thought.
Before her car stopped before their mansion, she saw Robert walk out the front door.
Maisie was living in the mansion next to them, and Robert looked like he was getting ready to head back to their place.
Georgia had the driver stop. She was planning to get off and go home with Robert.
But the car had just stopped when Georgia saw Robert suddenly lean against the wall and slump to the floor.
Georgia turned pale and rushed over, seeing Robert cover his mouth as he coughed violently.
"What is it? Where are you feeling ill? I'll take you to the hospital right away!"
Georgia said frantically, her right hand reaching out to grab Robert's elbow.
"When did you get back, Georgia?"
Robert's face was a bit unnatural, and Georgia saw him hide his hand behind his back.
He was clearly trying to keep something from her.
She panicked, and without hesitating, Georgia took Robert's hand and wrenched his fist open in front of her.
His hand was covered with blood.
The sight of it!