“Did they find anything then?” Natalie inquired.
Alice smiled bitterly. “Of course not. The Grahams framed Ms. Larson just to keep Mrs. Garcia from
sniffing Jacqueline out. That’s why Ms. Larson and her whole family were kicked out of the banquet. I
was a coward back then. I didn’t dare to tell what I saw. It wasn’t only until later that I told Ms. Larson
about it.”
“Is that why the Grahams went bankrupt?” Natalie surmised.
Alice nodded. “Yes. The Larsons joined forces with enemies of the Graham family, and the Grahams
went bankrupt as a result. After that, the incident of Jacqueline torturing a cat spread like wildfire.”
“Wait, then why didn’t Shane know anything about it?” Natalie’s brows furrowed in confusion.
If Shane knew about Jacqueline’s sick hobby of torturing animals, he would never have indulged her
every step of the way.
“Mr. Shane was studying abroad at that time. He only came back to J City after Jacqueline went
missing. By then, the Graham family had already crumbled, so naturally, no one mentioned all the
things Jacqueline did. I’m not surprised that Mr. Shane didn’t know about it,” Alice explained.
Natalie widened her eyes in realization. “So that’s why.”
“Mrs. Thompson, why did you suddenly ask to see me to talk about Jacqueline? Hasn’t she gone
missing? I even heard some people say she’s already dead.” Alice peered at Natalie curiously.
Natalie’s lips curled into a mirthless smile. “No, she’s not dead or missing. She’s just been in a
vegetative state for ten years. No one knows about it because the news wasn’t made public, but she’s
awake now. Anyway, I came to you because there’s something I need to ask you. Does the voice of the
person who told you to take the blame sound like Jacqueline’s?”
Alice was momentarily stunned by the question, but then, she began to think back carefully.
After a few seconds, her jaw fell wide open and she exclaimed, “Mrs. Thompson, now that you mention
it, I think it really was her. Even though I haven’t seen her or heard her voice in ten years, I can still
remember what her voice sounded like. There was a slight difference in the voice of the person on the
phone compared to Jacqueline’s, but the difference isn’t significant.”
“Alright, that’s more than enough for me to confirm that the real culprit who wanted me dead was
Jacqueline,” clenching her fists, Natalie murmured in a cold voice.
It all makes sense now. The one who reported Alice as the culprit was Mr. Gunn.
He’s a retired high-ranking official. That’s why Shane and I never once doubted the investigation results
he provided us.
But we both overlooked a very important detail, and that’s the relationship between Mr. Gunn and
Jacqueline.
Even though Shane already knew that Mr. Gunn was Jacqueline’s great-grandfather, at that time, he
still thought Jacqueline was the same innocent and kind girl. That’s why he never entertained the
possibility that she’d be the culprit, which was also why he never suspected Mr. Gunn of covering up for
her.
I never suspected it either, firstly because I didn’t know about Mr. Gunn and Jacqueline’s relationship
until later on, and secondly because I didn’t know that Alice was actually innocent. So I never thought
of the possibility that Mr. Gunn might have found someone to take the fall for Jacqueline.
This conspiracy is much deeper that I’d initially thought.
Especially Mr. Gunn. As a retired official, he actually covered up for a criminal. How despicable.
I can’t believe I even thanked him before. Not only that, I also spared Jacqueline after she pushed me
down the stairs for his sake.
“Are you okay, Mrs. Thompson?” Alice asked with concern upon noticing the anger and sorrow lining
Natalie’s features.
Natalie shook her head and replied, “I’m fine. I just figured out a lot of things I couldn’t before.”
“Oh, I see.” Alice nodded but didn’t probe further.
Taking a deep breath to suppress her anger, Natalie smiled slightly and said, “Alright. Time’s almost up.
I’ll bring your mother to visit you next time.”
“Alright. Take care, Mrs. Thompson,” Alice said gratefully.
With that, Natalie put down the receiver and left.
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