Objects of Virtue

Chapter 09

"Ok, yes, we remember you mentioned her at the hospital too Zayn, go on, love" reassured Harry as he gently squeezed Zayn's knee. It had now stilled and lay against the arm of the sofa.

"She came over that evening – the day Mr. Corden got food poisoning – everyone else had gone home by then – I stay back sometimes to draw, you know – and well she came over that day and watched me draw," a tiny hint of a smile played over Zayn's lips as he spoke.

"Did she do anything different Zayn? Did she act any different? Do anything weird?" Harry asked quietly

"Well – now that you mentioned it – well – I don't know if its much – and well, honestly, I probably shouldn't have let her do it – but she did make herself a cup of tea from Mr. Tomlinson's personal pantry. But she had already poured the water into the teacup and well – I just assumed no one would find out about it – is that weird?" Zayn asked looking up hopefully at the boys.

"Why was this weird Zayn? What made it stick in your mind?" Harry further probed

"Well – because she hates tea."

Once the boys had made arrangements for Zayn to make a formal statement, Harry and Niall made their way over to Harry's car in silence. Zayn had gone on to describe his supposed "girlfriend" and well – to be honest – things were leaning in a direction that Harry had hoped wasn't possible. Zayn's description matched the description of Charlotte to a T. It was weirdly terrifying having to pretend not to know any of this that afternoon at the funeral. The thought plagued Harry incessantly as he tried to figure out her motives. It just made no sense! Why would she possibly want the old man dead? And why was she trying to frame Louis- her only brother for it?

"Well, I just got off the phone with Liam, Haz. Said he'd see that the CCTV footage is sent over to the station as soon as the funeral was done," Niall said breaking through Harry's thoughts.

"That's great Ni. This is a real hard nut to crack isn't Ni? I'm proper stumped, mate. I just can't figure it out." Harry replied as he looked outside his window at the streets passing swiftly by.

"Dunno mate. It's real frustrating isn't it?" Niall said as he sank back into his seat and pulled out his phone once again.

31st May 2021, E.H.Crouch Funeral Homes, Herdfordshire, London

"Of course, Detective, I'll have it there as soon as the funeral is done, hope you don't mind?" Liam said as he glanced over at Louis who was now listening intently. Shit. They had caught up. He wasn't too sure how to handle this. He knew that if they saw what Liam had shown him the other night, they'd come to the same conclusion that he had too – even though he hated it. He didn't know why she had done it, and he didn't know how he was to confront her but besides the fact that she had done all of this – she was still his sister and try as he may – he still loved her dearly. Louis sighed inwardly as Liam ended the call with Niall and looked over at him, worry written quite plainly across his face.

"They're going to figure it out Lou. There's nothing we can do to stop it. I can only buy you some time," he said as he rested his palm on Louis' shoulder. "Let's get back in, people will start to wonder."

Louis didn't say a word as they retreated to the funeral parlor. There was a quiet buzz of people having subdued whispered conversations. People nodded and smiled sympathetically with Louis as he passed them and he hated it. Loathed it in fact. A room full of people who thought the sun rose and set with Mark Tomlinson. What a shame they never knew the man he was to his very own flesh and blood. Louis wished he could take out an advertisement in the papers and let people know just how great a man he was. But what good would it do? More sympathetic smiles and quiet murmurs of poor little rich kid? He wanted none of that.