“I... It was a woman living next door who told me about it.”
“Your next-door neighbor? What's her name?”
“I...” Sally hesitated. He's not going to call her too, is he?
Harry seemed to know what she was thinking. “But you know, I don't recall anyone living next to you. Isn't the house empty?”
Relief flooded Sally for a moment. It looks like he doesn't actually know who lives next door. If he did, he wouldn't say the house is empty.
“It's not empty. The woman living next door is Lillian Dunst. She's the one who told me these clothes were fake.”
Oh.
As Harry came to a realization, he whipped out his phone once again and dialed a number.
Sally felt her stomach drop. “Wait! Y-You don't actually know Lillian, do you, Mr. Hudson?”
Harry shook his head. “Of course not.”
Hearing that, the woman breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. It'll be fine as long as he doesn't call her.
But if he doesn't know her, who is he calling now?
The call went through quickly, and Harry switched from handset to speakerphone.
A hoarse voice could be heard. “Why, hello, Mr. Hudson!”
Sally began to panic. D*mmit! It's the village secretary!
This is bad.
“Good day, sir,” replied Harry. “There's something I'd like to ask about.”
“Please do, Mr. Hudson.”
“Could you confirm if the person living next to Sally Lodge's house is called Lillian Dunst?”
The village secretary grew curious. “Lillian Dunst? Yes, that's right. But why are you asking about someone who is dead?”
What?
Harry's brows furrowed intensely. “What do you mean?”
“Well, Ms. Lillian Dunst died from a car accident last week. The culprit hasn't been caught yet, though. I thought you were calling to ask about the accident.”
“So she's kicked the bucket, huh? Sorry to bother you,” remarked Harry.
He then turned to Sally, whose face had turned crimson.
At this point, she just wanted to bury herself six feet under.
The woman had spent most of her time in the house ever since she left prison and hadn't wandered out much.
That was why she was completely oblivious to her neighbor's passing.
Now, it was too late to even regret her words. Why did I mention someone I actually know? I should've just said it was a random stranger who told me about the clothes!
“Let me ask you something else, Sally Lodge. Do you have a lot of pants at home?” continued Harry.
Sally was visibly confused. “What do you mean by that?”
“Just answer my question. Do you or do you not have a lot of pants at home?”
Sally shook her head in bewilderment. “No. I came out to buy some clothes because I don't have many back home.”
“Then why did you only buy these tops? Why didn't you get any pants or skirts?”
“I...”
It was now that everyone realized that Sally had indeed only bought herself only blouses.
Even Lacey, Nancy, and Dawn hadn't noticed that until now.
The three women gasped in amazement at how meticulous and sharp-eyed the officer was.
With all the evidence they had, the truth was apparent.
There was a ninety-percent chance that Sally had stolen nearly forty thousand before coming over to slander First Bloom Apparel.
“There's not much left for me to say now that the truth has been laid bare in front of our eyes,” Harry remarked coldly. “Is there anything else you'd like to say, Sally Lodge?”
Sally hung her head low and kept silent, looking utterly defeated.
She didn't even know what to say anymore.
Harry turned to Lacey. “Well, Ms. Hinton, I shan't take up any more of your time. I'll be taking this woman back to the station.”
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Lord Protector novel (Zeke Williams)