“Sure, you make the call.” Toby opened his eyes slightly, responding with his hoarse voice.
Sonia replied with an affirmative hum and started applying the antiinflammatory gel to the scratch marks on his back, during which she inevitably touched the caning scars left on the man’s skin.
Although Toby had already recovered from those wounds, they became horrible-looking scars that looked like centipedes. In the meantime, Sonia couldn’t help but feel heartbroken at the sight of those scars. Her eyes were filled with tears all of a sudden. “It must have hurt a lot, right?”
Knowing what the lady was asking, Toby kept his eyes on the white bedsheet he was lying on with a smile. “What's done is done, plus I did something terrible, so I deserved to be punished.” The man didn’t answer her question directly because he didn’t see any meaning in doing so since his wounds had already become scars.
Moreover, he was prevented by his pride as a man to tell her directly that it hurt as it would make him seem useless, but at the same time, he reckoned it would sound too fake if he told her that it didn’t hurt at all. Therefore, he decided to be coy in answering her question.
“Something terrible? Why would you beat yourself up for that?” Sonia sniggered, finding Toby’s reply amusing.
Nevertheless, Toby turned around slightly and propped his head. “I wasn’t being dramatic. Back then, I was hypnotized into doing horrible things, but in hindsight, those were things that I wouldn’t have done if I could act on my free will. Thus, I wasn’t technically wrong with what I just said.”
Sonia let out a sigh and answered, “This was all Tina’s fault. She was the one who sought help from a hypnotist to brainwash you.”
“The hypnotist was her then-boyfriend’s brother,” Toby squinted and said.
Sonia nodded. “I know that. Tim spoke to me about that earlier. He even mentioned that your heart was transplanted from Tina’s then-boyfriend, who was the hypnotist's brother.”
“That’s right. It belonged to Quentin back then.”
Sonia looked at the man and added, “Tim even said the timing of your heart donor showing up was too much of a coincidence. After all, the Fuller Family had been searching for the right heart for you, but had no luck for twenty-four years. Still, just when the golden period for your heart transplant surgery to be carried out was about to come to an end, Quentin passed away, and it just so happened that his heart was compatible with yours. This obviously aroused Tim’s suspicion and made him wonder whether Tina was responsible for causing Quentin’s accident. Besides, he also said you were investigating the matter, so is there any new update about it?”
Toby shook his head with a glacial look. “Nothing much. Quentin’s accident happened six years ago, and the location it took place was somewhere on the outskirts. There was no surveillance camera nearby, and neither was there anyone who lived around that area. Therefore, there was no witness who saw what happened at that time. Because of that, the investigation has become tough.”
“Now that you put it this way, it seems to me that the car accident was no coincidence.” Sonia stroked her chin and analyzed. “The car accident happened somewhere sparsely populated on the outskirts with no surveillance camera. Well, it looks pretty obvious that whoever caused the accident didn’t want to alert anyone about it.”
Toby chuckled coldly and replied, “You’re right. That’s why Tina definitely has something to do with Quentin’s death, but sadly, we don’t know where Tina is. Otherwise, we could just directly interrogate her.”
“You have a point.” Sonia nodded. “I wonder where Tina is hiding to manage to stay away from you for so long, which I find surprising.”
“Don’t worry. As long as we’re still alive, I’m sure her vengeful nature will prompt her to show up and retaliate one day,” Toby held Sonia’s hand and said.
Sonia curled her lips and smiled. “I know, which is why I'm not in a hurry to look for Tina at all, but as for Quentin’s death, have you told the hypnotist about it?”
“Nope, I haven’t.” Toby shook his head. “It’s still not too late to tell Miles about that when we find Tina. By then, we could even let him do his trick if she refuses to reveal the truth.”
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