The Fake Heiress and Her Purrfect Partner novel Chapter 253

Chapter 253

The gecko lounged comfortably on Nina’s shoulder, watching Danny put on a show. He couldn’t help but clap his tiny claws in amazement at such drama.

“Man, this two-legger sure knows how to act! He and that old lady, Alice, were the ones who stashed the sleeping two-legger in the hole together!” the gecko said.

Just then, the forensic team came down the chimney passage, looking disappointed. “We didn’t find any valid fingerprints in the crawl space. The suspect must have worn gloves and shoe covers.”

What the animals saw couldn’t be used as evidence, but it could still help crack the case.

Right now, the evidence only proved that Alice handled the body. There was still no hard evidence of any accomplices.

“Gloves? Shoe covers?” the gecko wondered, tilting his head. His tail flicked back and forth in confusion. “Are those the blue things they put on their hands and feet?”

Suddenly, the gecko remembered something and shot upright, all excited, “Oh yeah! Alice got a call from a two-legger named Fiona.

“After she hung up, she started freaking out, rushed the guy, and said, ‘Fiona’s coming back soon. What are we gonna do with these gloves and shoe covers’?”

“And the guy said, ‘Just toss them in the lake. It’s so deep, no one will ever find them”.”

Nina’s eyes widened. ‘Wait, there is more crucial evidence at the bottom of the lake?’ she thought.

Nina leaned in close to Simon and whispered, translating what the gecko had just told her.

Simon’s lips pressed into a thin line as he shot a sharp look at Danny and Alice, the pair who’d been caught handling the body.

At that moment, Danny was gripping Alice’s arm, his voice urgent. “Grandma, have you lost your mind? Ada just stole your pendant. Did it really have to get someone killed?”

Alice met Fiona’s gaze, her voice raspy. “Ada was hired by Fiona to take care of me. I asked her if this was how she repaid Fiona’s trust.”

“I told her I’d spread the word about her stealing so no one would ever hire her again, and I’d even call the cops on her. Ada got so scared that she started backing away, and then her foot slipped. She fell down the stairs!”

After she finished, Alice suddenly grabbed a police officer’s sleeve, tears streaming down her face. “Officer, please, it was just an accident! I swear, I didn’t push her!”

Fiona finally let out the breath she’d been holding after hearing Alice’s story, ‘So, Ada’s death really was just an accident, she thought.

“Officer, my grandma’s always been strong-willed. She’s spent her whole life standing tall, and nothing upsets

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Chapter 253

her more than having her trust betrayed,” Fiona said.

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Nina tilted her head, her clear voice cutting through the sea of pleas. “I have a question. If what you say is true, and Ada died in an accident, why did you choose to hide the body instead of calling the police right away?”

She pointed at Ada’s body. “Moving and hiding a grown adult’s body in the chimney crawl space takes a lot of strength and nerves. Wouldn’t it have been way easier just to call the cops?”

Fiona was taken aback, instinctively shooting a look at her grandma.

Alice’s face turned ghostly pale as she stammered, “I… I was just scared… Fiona’s a big name now, and her company is really taking off.

“If people found out someone died in our house, it’d be a huge scandal. It could totally ruin her company’s reputation.”

Danny quickly chimed in, eager to help, “Yeah, exactly. My grandma’s really traditional, so her first reaction was to cover things up. She just didn’t want Fiona to get caught up in this mess.”

Just then, Simon stepped in close, staring Danny down from just inches away. “After you finished dealing with the body, you threw the gloves and shoe covers into the lake, didn’t you?”

Danny was caught completely off guard by the sudden question.

His right eyebrow twitched involuntarily.

That was a classic micro expression of surprise.

His eyes instinctively darted up and to the right, a telltale sign that his brain was scrambling to come up with a lie.

After a few seconds of hesitation, Danny snapped back, his voice tight with nerves. “What body? What are you even talking about?”

“Officer, don’t just throw around accusations without any proof! If you’ve got something, show it! I just found out about Ada’s death today, okay?”

Even though it all happened in less than half a second, Danny forced himself to look calm and started denying everything.

His eyes went wide, and his nostrils flared. No matter how hard he tried to play it cool, the shock and panic were written all over his face.

Simon didn’t miss a single one of those microexpressions.

When someone was confronted with a spot-on accusation, that flash of surprise always came first, followed by the defenses kicking in..

Danny’s reaction was textbook.

Simon turned to the Cloudville cops. “Organize a search team and dredge the lake by the mansion, right

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Chapter 253

away.

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“His face gave it all away: first shock, then calculation, then denial. Those gloves and shoe covers they used to deal with the body were in the lake for sure.”

Danny and Alice both went pale. “Dredge the lake?”

Nina locked eyes with Danny, her eyes blazing. “Danny, you just said you only found out about Ada’s death today.

“If we find your DNA on the gloves from the lake, that proves you knew everything from the start and were in on hiding the body.”

Simon cut in. “That’s lying to the cops, covering up for a criminal, and you could even be charged as an accomplice. You still have a chance to come clean.”

“Are you kidding me?” Danny shot back, trying to sound tough as he raised his voice. “How much longer are you cops gonna keep messing around with this?”

Fiona shot an anxious look at the cop in charge. “How long is it gonna take to search the lake?”

The officer glanced out the window at the fading light, his brow creasing. “The lake’s pretty big, and the water’s deep and murky.

“Even if we call in a pro dive team with all the fancy underwater tech, the soonest we’ll finish searching is tomorrow morning.”

Just as the officer was about to radio for the dive team, Nina suddenly called out, “Hold on! Who says we have to wait? We might just find the evidence tonight!”

All eyes instantly locked onto her.

Nina turned to the Cloudville cops. Her eyes lit up. “Officer, didn’t Esteban have a turtle? It wasn’t taken away with the rest, was it?”

The officer nodded quickly and hurried over with a glass fish tank. “Yeah, that’s right! Both vans were packed with people, and we were worried the air would be too stuffy for the turtle.

“We didn’t know how to handle this little guy, and since it might be important evidence, we left it here for now. We were planning to bring it back to the station later.”

Inside the tank, the little Psychic Turtle that Esteban had bragged about was just lounging around, idly nudging the pebbles at the bottom.

Its dark green shell gleamed warmly under the light, and every so often, its little head would pop out of the water, those beady black eyes scanning its surroundings with curiosity.

The turtle looked perfectly content, completely oblivious to the fact that it was about to be sent on a quest.

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