by Clara Lewis
Olivia hissed in pain and reflexively dropped the bag. Jordan looked at her and made a move to treat her scratch. Olivia raised a hand and told him to inspect the bag instead.
Without difficulty, Jordan hauled the bag out of the hole and settled it on the floor next to Olivia. Olivia hurriedly unzipped the bag and paused. The smell of metal filled the air. Olivia avoided touching the contents but moved the bag around to see a missing fire poker and a bloodstained shirt someone had tried to wash, repeatedly.
“Tell me, what does that look like to you?” she asked, pointing to the contents of the bag.
“Looks like incriminating evidence to me,” Jordan said grimly.
Chapter 9
The next day, Eddy was hauled into the police station. Olivia had insisted that she would rather question him anywhere but the Barlowe estate. The moment news had gotten around that they had evidence on who may have murdered Ruth, the family suddenly had a lot of free time. They hovered over Olivia, determined to know the identity of the killer.
Jordan reluctantly agreed. He was determined to see this case end as quickly as possible.
“Hey Eddy,” Olivia said gently.
The man looked distraught. Despite being the murderer, there was something in his eyes that made Olivia feel sorry for him. He looked up for a brief moment and nodded in acknowledgment. Just as quickly, he brought his head down and looked at his lap instead.
“Are they listening to us?” he asked, so quiet that Olivia had to lean in to hear him.
By they, Eddy had meant Jordan and John Barlowe. As the family lawyer, John had insisted on being present. Olivia looked at the one-way mirror that covered one side of the wall.
“Yes, they are. But if there’s something you want to say in confidence to me, you can whisper it. The microphones in this room aren’t good enough to pick that up.”
Olivia offered him a small smile and hoped it was good enough to get him to stop shaking. It didn't help. The moment Eddy realized that his response would be heard by everyone else, he kept quiet.
Olivia sighed. They had to get through the questions.
“Did you care for her, Eddy?” Olivia asked softly.
“Yes,” he replied with no hesitation. “She was always alone and so when she wasn’t by the country club, she’d come to the library to read books. She looked so lonely that sometimes I stopped by to keep her company.”
“I see. Did you kill her, Eddy?”
He looked up at Olivia and opened his mouth to answer. For a split second, Olivia noticed how his eyes flitted to the one-way mirror.
“Ye-yes. I did,” he stammered.
“Are you sure, Eddy?” Olivia asked again, this time, saying her words coldly. The reality was that Ruth Barlowe had been murdered and this man was responsible for it.
Eddy no longer answered and Olivia let her smile drop. At this point, Jordan had entered the room, with John hot on his heels.
“We’ve heard enough. Eddy Smith, you are under arrest for the murder of Ruth Barlowe,” Jordan said as he handcuffed the gardener.
Eddy kept his head down.
Olivia stared at the wall in front of her as silence filled the room. She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard the chair across from her scrape across the floor.
“You did well, Ms. Hudson. Thank you for your work," John said.
Olivia didn't look at him, but she heard the sound of paper being torn and the scratch of a pen writing. Moments later, a cheque appeared in front of her, with as many zeroes as promised.
She didn't get up from her seat even as his footsteps faded away.
Chapter 10
“He's been transported to a prison in the city,” said Jordan.
Olivia looked at the ground and shifted the dirt with her shoe.
“I see," she replied.
“Well, after our last rounds on this crime scene, what are you planning to do?”
Olivia laughed. “I’d like to go back to the sun, Jordan. Dresden is miserable in the winter.”
Olivia looked across the gardens and at the house. The day they announced that the case had been solved, Olivia couldn't help but feel like something wasn't right. The family had been adamant on keeping Eddy locked away. Eustace had looked triumphant when he heard the news, and he lorded it over Olivia.
“Hey, Jordan?”
“Yeah?” Jordan halted his inspection to focus on Olivia.
“Don't you think the case was too easy?”
Jordan shoved her gently. “Isn’t that a good thing, Hudson?”
Olivia smiled at him. Jordan may be right. She’d solved many cases before that had been more complex than this one. Maybe she just wasn't used to something so straightforward.
Olivia wrapped her jacket around her tighter as she shivered in the cold.
“I think I’ll go back inside. I have to pack my things.”
Jordan waved her away.
*****
On her way out of the room, Olivia bumped into John.
“Sorry,” he said unapologetically.
Olivia bowed her head and continued to carry her bags to the front door.
“You’ll be leaving now, Ms. Hudson?” John called out, causing Olivia to turn around.
She nodded, determined to get to the front door without anyone else making conversation. As she passed the library, she noticed that the fire poker had been returned to its original place. She looked up and saw Jordan finishing up with the inspection by himself.
Feeling guilty, Olivia dropped her bags by the front door and made her way to Jordan.
He stood by Ruth’s shallow grave, then crouched down.
“Do you see that?” he asked Olivia.
Olivia squinted and shook her head.
“What am I supposed to see Jordan?”
Jordan pulled her up and guided her to where he’d just stood.
“Now crouch,” he instructed. “From here you might see something glint when the light hits it. I've been trying to find out what it is for the past few minutes now.”
Olivia crouched by the edge and searched for Jordan’s shiny object. She figured that she could at least humour him. He’d been doing that for her ever since the beginning of Ruth Barlowe’s case.
Just as Jordan said, Olivia caught a glimpse of an object glinting in the dirt.
“Have you considered just yanking it out?” She teased Jordan.
Laughing, Jordan replied, “Actually, I haven't.”
Olivia leaned forward and brushed the dirt aside, revealing a thin silver chain. She pulled on it and realized that the chain was attached to something heavier. It seemed to be buried a little deeper into the ground.
Olivia asked Jordan to pass her a stick, and once he did, she jumped into the grave. She bent over the chain and dug around the object the chain was attached to. Olivia audibly gasped when she saw the corner of the object. It was a locket.
Determined to grab hold of it, she dropped the stick and started to dig with her hands. Jordan watched her from the sidelines, curious about the object.
Olivia abruptly dropped to her knees in the dirt, her hands now holding the tiny locket. Jordan jumped down and rushed to help her.
“What was it?” he asked.
She showed him the locket. Her eyes had turned glassy and she breathed heavily. Olivia was trying her best to keep her tears to herself.
What was Poppy’s necklace doing in Ruth’s grave?
She needed to think. Olivia willed her lungs to breathe and she stood up, aggressively pushing the piece of jewelry into her pocket.
“Jordan, I’m going to need you to tape off this section of the Barlowe estate and I want you to open an investigation immediately.”
Jordan looked confused.
“What happened?”
Olivia took the necklace out and showed it to Jordan.
“Open it,” she told him.
Jordan took the locket from her hands and opened it. He looked at the picture within and then back
at Olivia.
“Poppy?” he asked.
Olivia turned her head and glared at the house.
“I knew they had something to do with this,” she muttered to herself.
“Help me with my bags,” Olivia finally said. “I'm not going anywhere.”
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Bound By Secrets (The Dresden Island Book 2)
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