“I’m not nervous.” Arnaud leaned lazily against the couch as he continued, “I just don’t appreciate you glaring daggers at me like that. You’re looking at me like I’m the murderer.”
Boniel cut them off, “That’s enough! I don’t want to hear another word from you two until the doctor arrives!”
He then turned toward Rayna, who was somewhat pale from fear, and added, “You look terrified. How about I have the housekeeper clean up your bedroom so you can get some rest upstairs?”
Rayna shook her head and politely declined his offer, “Thank you very much, Old Mr. Terblanc, but I’d prefer to stay here with you guys.”
Boniel said nothing further after that.
About ten minutes later, the doctor finally arrived. He was going to greet Boniel upon entering the living room, but Boniel motioned for him to examine the body upstairs first.
The doctor nodded and went upstairs while everyone else continued to wait in the living room.
About five minutes later, the doctor came back downstairs and said with a solemn expression, “The gown was coated with a huge amount of very deadly poison. It enters a person’s body upon contact and spreads rapidly throughout the entire body, resulting in an agonizing death within ten seconds.”
Boniel turned toward Rayna and asked, “Did you wear that gown today?”
“I never wore it again after changing out of it last night. It was already noon by the time I woke up today, so I brushed my teeth and went downstairs for lunch. After that, Calbert and I went to see you in the study. It was three in the afternoon when we returned to the bedroom. I then took a nap and woke up at half past seven. Calbert and I then came downstairs for dinner,” Rayna explained in detail.
Boniel summoned the housekeeper and asked her, “Were you and Martha the ones in charge of cleaning Ms. Garland’s bedroom today?”
“Yes, that’s right. We entered Ms. Garland’s room to clean it shortly after she came out at noon. We did it a second time when she went downstairs for dinner,” the housekeeper replied with her head held low.
“Summon all the housekeepers that have been to the second floor today!” Boniel ordered sternly.
Soon, all eight housekeepers were lined up in front of him.
They were all able to state their reason for being on the second floor, and there were no surveillance cameras on that floor, so no one knew who the murderer was.
Infuriated and frustrated, Boniel glared viciously at the housekeepers as he yelled, “You all sure are bold for trying to take my daughter-in-law’s life in my house!”
Rayna arched an eyebrow in surprise when she heard that.
Huh… I remember him complaining a lot about me yesterday, so why is he suddenly calling me his daughter-in-law now?
The housekeepers panicked and claimed that they were innocent.
However, Boniel said coldly, “All of you claim to be innocent, and yet, you’ve all been to the second floor within that timeframe. Since you’re all suspects, I should just have you all sent to prison. I will not allow anyone to harm my daughter-in-law, and I will do anything it takes to make sure of that!”
“Dad, these housekeepers have been serving our family for eight years. People are going to accuse us of abusing our housekeepers if you send them all to prison,” Arnaud reminded him.
“Arnaud, if I recall, a housekeeper once dirtied your suit jacket by accident. You broke both her legs and fired her on the spot. Doesn’t that count as abuse as well? What happened today is a lot more serious. Someone coated my girlfriend’s gown with a deadly poison. Why are you trying to defend them?” Jefferson asked calmly.
Arnaud turned to look at him as he replied, “I was going to wear that suit to pay my respects to my late mother. That housekeeper had the audacity to insult my mother after dirtying my suit. I caught her in the act, so I had found solid evidence before punishing her. To send all these housekeepers to prison without knowing identifying the murderer will ruin our family reputation.”
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Dear sweetheart novel (Rayna and Julian)