Chapter 354 A Race Against Time
ADRIANA
He was very much in love with her and felt responsible for what happened with his father and her family. The conflict was written all over his face—the love for the woman he once knew, the guilt for what his father had done, the fear of what would happen next.
Hazel didn't have the patience that I did. She didn't share in his sympathy. The fact that he had hidden these things from us to begin with had made her very skeptical of him. At first, she was the one who thought that we should take him off the list of suspects, and now, she couldn't even look him in the eye.
"Listen, I don't know what it is you think you're doing, but if you don't provide Alisha, we will take you down for both murders. Lucy's and hers. We don't care if she's still alive. No one else knows that aside from us. You will go down for both murders." Hazel's voice was cold, sharp as broken glass.
I needed to close this case fast. We had been on it for long enough, and now that we had all our facts, I wasn't about to allow emotions to get in the way of the truth. Even if I wanted to feel sorry for one of them, Hazel, whose heart was non-existent, would correct things. She wouldn't let me use my heart to judge.
"What do you want to know?" Tobias finally asked, his voice defeated.
Hazel gave me a look. I really had her to thank. Sometimes, her tough front made things better.
"What happened between Lucy and Alisha in that cabin?" I asked, leaning forward.
It was like he had shrunk to half his size.
"I don't know. You'll have to ask Alisha yourself. She didn't tell me anything, and I didn't ask. I couldn't ask because there was just so much."
So he did agree that she was still alive. Of course, she was. What kind of show did the both of them put on? I mean, that fire? That fire was out of control, and if it were a car accident that actually caused it, then it had to have been a very freak accident.
If I could find out where she was, I would release Tim right now. I had no interest in adding anyone to my collection of prisoners.
"But the fact remains that she could be alive and you don't know where. Do you have a clue? Remember, don't lie because I will find out." At this point, we were going to exhaust all our resources to find out where exactly she was. This had dragged on for too long.
"I really don't know where she is, My Queen. But she reached out to me a few days ago and asked me to help her bring a few things to a certain location. I think she plans to leave the country soon."
And there is no way in hell I'm going to allow that to happen. If she does, then it's all gone. Every bit of progress, every lead, would vanish into thin air. She would escape justice, and Tim would rot in a cell for a crime he didn't commit. Not on my watch.
I leaned forward, tapping Hazel's shoulder sharply. "Get the men. Tell them to hide out at the airport. They must not be seen. I don't want to spook her." My voice was urgent, leaving no room for argument.
Hazel was already pulling out her phone, her fingers flying across the screen. She nodded once, her focus absolute.
I turned back to Tobias, my eyes narrowing. "When are you going to meet her?"
"This evening, at four."
My heart dropped. That was half an hour away. We barely had time to go back to his office and pick it up and then go to the airport. I didn't want her to get there and then wait for him, and I had a feeling that due to the seriousness of the situation, she might want to show up early. Every second counted.
The driver, catching the sudden tension in the car, turned the vehicle around immediately, cutting through traffic with a skill that bordered on reckless. The city became a blur of motion as we hurried back to his office. On the way back, I had to remind Tobias to be a professional.
He should know that she would notice if he does anything funny, if he's sniffling, if he's looking around. One wrong move and she'd vanish like smoke.
"Do anything to tip her off and I'll have them bring out the new gun the King gifted me," I said, my voice low and menacing. "I've been looking for a way to test it out. I won't mind starting with you."
He looked at me, horrified, his face pale. It was just a warning, but he knew I meant it. I could surely get a gun just as quickly too, and he knew it.
By the time we got back to the office and picked up whatever it was Alisha needed, there were fifteen minutes left until four, and it would take us more than that to get to the airport. The pressure was immense.
So while the driver and Hazel drove and plotted how they would get there in time, I sat back with Tobias, telling him that it's going to be okay. The words felt hollow even to me. The whole thing was just one big unfortunate thing, a tangled web of pain and secrets.
Tobias was quiet the whole time, staring out the window. I wonder what he was thinking about. I don't know if he blamed himself for everything that happened. He should blame himself but not for her assault. He used Alisha to make Lucy jealous. Even though things were different, it's not nice to play with someone else's feelings. I don't care if she was in on it or if it was just sex. He still played with her feelings, and that set all of this in motion.
"We're here."
I suddenly snapped out of my thoughts and looked up. It was quite bright outside, and I put the mask over my face because I didn't need anyone recognizing me here. It'll just bring trouble.
"Go in, we'll be right behind you."
I could see that he was nervous, very nervous. His hands were shaking, and he kept wiping his palms on his trousers. I didn't want him to ruin the whole thing.
Hazel and I hid in one corner, behind a large concrete pillar, patiently waiting and watching. He placed his phone to his ear to make a phone call, a pretense to look natural, and turned around almost immediately. As I turned in the same direction, I saw her small frame come into view.
She had already changed her hair color, her style of dressing, and she wore big glasses that hid most of her face. She was a chameleon, a ghost in the making. I'm guessing Tobias helped her with her escape this time again. We waited until they were close to each other before we came out.
He had already handed the bag to her and he was speaking to her. I didn't want his conscience to do one last dance and mess this up. It was now or never.
"Alisha!" I shouted, my voice echoing through the bustling terminal. "Stay right there and don't move!"