Right then, someone knocked on the door and turned the doorknob.
“Pardon me for the intrusion, Ms. Garland.”
Ella entered with a few uniformed men behind her.
Rayna stood up. “How may I help you?”
“We’re the police from Norwal City,” one of the men solemnly said as he showed her his badge. “Ms. Rayna Garland, we suspect that you’re involved in an attempted murder of a pregnant woman. Please come with us to the station.”
Attempted murder of a pregnant woman?
Rayna was baffled. She had no idea when she was involved in an attempted murder.
“Ms. Garland,” the man continued, fishing out his handcuffs when he saw no response from Rayna, “please come to the station with us. We’ll have to resort to force if you don’t cooperate with us.”
“Sorry. I was lost in thought just now.”
Rayna was genuinely dumbstruck. However, as she was in the office, she did not want to blow the matter up. It would be troublesome if she ended up going out cuffed.
“Could you give me a second to hand my work over to my coworkers?”
At the men’s silent agreement, Rayna then gave instructions about work to Ella.
At the same time, she asked Suzie to find out where Egret Scents had gotten their perfume blend.
Ella asked worriedly, “Ms. Garland, will you be fine?”
“It’s all right. They’re just taking a statement from me,” Rayna reassured with a smile. “I haven’t done anything, so there’s no need for me to be afraid.”
After that, Rayna left with the men.
Once Rayna was out of the office building and in the police car, she could not help but ask the man beside her, “May I know who the person is who said I’m involved in the attempted murder?”
“Be still. You’ll find out when you’re at the station,” the man snapped.
Rayna pursed her lips.
Dozens of minutes later, they arrived at the station.
Upon entering the station, Rayna was reminded of what had happened in the past—about Meredith’s death. Back then, she had woken up at the police station and had been interrogated. She had been locked up for a handful of days before she was finally released.
Then, the thought of how Julian had died shielding her from the bullet crossed her mind, and her heart ached.
If she had not chosen revenge and gone to Heavenly Palace when she found out about Julian and Meredith’s relationship, she would not have crossed paths with Curtis, and the second half of her life would not have been deterred from its course.
One of the men brought Rayna to an office desk and pointed at the chair in front of it.
“Have a seat, Ms. Garland.”
Rayna pulled the chair back and sat down.
It’s a good thing we’re not in an interrogation room, I guess. I won’t be able to stand the glaring lights inside.
As the man opened his book, he pushed a few photos toward her. “Were you the one who gifted this duck stew to Vivi Louden?”
Duck stew?
It was only then Rayna realized what was going on. As it turned out, Vivi was the target in the case.
What’s going on? Did Vivi call the cops?
At Rayna’s silence, the man yelled, “Ms. Garland, answer my question!”
“Yes,” Rayna started, about to give him her explanation, “I was the one who gave her this, but there is a misunderstanding here. I—”
“You were the one who gave her the duck stew, so how could this be a misunderstanding?” the man cut her off. “You intentionally placed herbs that boost blood circulation into the stew and gave it to Ms. Louden in an attempt to induce a miscarriage.”
“That’s not it.” Rayna clenched her fists and forced herself to calm down. “A friend gave this stew to me, but I was too full to drink it. When I saw Vivi’s grandmother, I asked her to bring it back for Vivi. I didn’t know there were such herbs in it!”
“Even if you didn’t know that there were such herbs inside, you were still the one who passed this stew to Ms. Louden. Am I right?”
There was no way Rayna could deny that, so she answered, “Yes.”
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