👼 MY ANGEL 👼
Elsa was seated in the interrogation room with Amanda, Lui, and two police officers.
Amanda sat tearfully at one side, waiting for justice and for Elsa to be charged and put in jail. Elsa told her side of the story, providing every detail of what happened. She was nervous the whole time because she didn't want to be charged with kidnapping.
She didn't know if they believed her, but she hoped they did. Yuliana was in the next room with an officer who was looking after her and asking her what happened. The officer was friendly and nice in order to encourage the child to talk.
The police officers asked questions to both Elsa and Amanda. When they were done, Lui asked if he could question Amanda. The confident Amanda agreed.
"Amanda, a quick question... What time did you realize your niece was missing?" Lui asked, leaning in a little with his elbows on the table.
"Immediately after I came back with her ice cream, which was about 10 am in the morning," she said, her crying intensifying. "And at what time did you leave the park?" Lui asked again.
"I didn't leave the park until nightfall. I searched everywhere for the child. I kept searching even after everyone left. I even searched in the rain that fell in that area at that time. But... my niece was nowhere to be found."
After she said that, Amanda raised the volume of her sobbing. Then, she wiped away her tears softly. She had cried bitterly, putting on a pitiful performance for the police officers to show her pain, fear, and anxiety.
Lui raised his eyebrow and looked at her with interest. "And you never left the park the entire time?"
Amanda looked at him, wondering where this was going. "No, I didn't. I was there until nightfall. I searched for my niece the entire time and never left the park."
"You never left the park at all? Are you sure about that, Miss Torres?"
Amanda felt a little annoyed. "Yes, I am. Why are you asking me that question? And how is that even relevant to anything that is going on?"
Lui smirked. ‘I've got you where I want you. Prepare to eat your own words.’
Lui turned on his tablet and pushed it forward to the police officers seated opposite him and Elsa, showing them what was on the screen. "Because I need Miss Torres to explain to me and the police officers why my CCTV gate camera caught her following Elsa and my driver home yesterday afternoon," he said, looking at Amanda.
"You were caught on my security camera at 3:34 pm. That was the exact time Elsa came to my house with Yuliana in her arms. Clearly, officers, as you can see, my camera captured her. She is there, seated in her car with binoculars, watching Elsa and Yuliana inside my compound," he said to the police officers. He then turned to Amanda again. "You followed Elsa and Yuliana from the park all the way to my house yesterday and didn't think once to approach Elsa and take your precious niece away from her? Instead, you left only to come back with the police the next day. Why?" he asked in an annoyed tone.
When the officers finished watching, Elsa took the tablet and looked at the footage. That was indeed Amanda. One could even see her through the windshield talking on the phone. Elsa did not expect Lui to have something like this up his sleeve. When did he think of this? Did he see this woman poking around his home? How did he know who she was and that he would need this? Elsa gave the tablet back to the officers, who still wanted to watch the footage again. They saw the date and time and then gave it to one of them for analysis to prove if the video was real.
At that moment, Amanda was panicking on the inside. She went mute, not knowing what to say. "You haven't answered my question, Miss Amanda Torres," Lui said impatiently. Amanda looked at those dark, cold eyes and couldn't help but tremble a little. "Well... I... I..." she tried to calm herself down as she thought of a lie quickly. "That is not me in that video. It has to be fake," she then pointed her finger at Lui. "You must have had someone pose as me and faked the video so that you can help this woman," she said angrily.
Lui burst out laughing immediately after he heard that. He found her hilarious at that moment. "Is the video fake?" Lui asked the officer analyzing the video. The officer didn't answer immediately because she was still checking through a computer that was in the room with them. And when she was done, she shook her head. "No, the video is real. I don't see any signs of forgery here." Everyone heard that clearly.
Lui nodded as he looked at Amanda like he had now put on his lawyer suit, ready to attack. "And your other argument is that I made some decoy to fool the police. A fake you, right?"
"Yes, that is exactly what you did! How can the person in the video be me? How could I have come to your mansion at that time? That's not me. You are just trying to protect your girlfriend and help her with child smuggling because you are just as guilty as her."
'Girlfriend?'
Lui remained calm, loving every moment of this. He wanted her to keep arguing and say stupid things so she would dig herself even deeper. "Child smuggling is a serious crime. You cannot just go throwing such accusations at people," Lui warned.
"I can and I will. She stole my niece without my knowledge. Who knows what her plans were. She could have wanted to sell her as a child slave for all I know," Amanda retorted.
Lui just smiled at Amanda and then turned to Elsa. "Elsa, I need you to forgive me. Because this entire time you stayed with me, I have had you followed."
Elsa looked at him, surprised. "What?" She had not seen anyone following her.
"Alex suspected that some kind of framing would happen to you this week. She didn't say why, but she said she felt a framing would happen, like the one with the bracelet. So she wanted you constantly looked after."
"So, I had one of my men follow you and take pictures or videos of anything suspicious he found. So when you picked up the child, pictures were taken. And videos were recorded the entire time you were with the child."
Predicting what Elsa was about to ask him, he nodded. "Yes, all those hours. We couldn't afford to miss anything."
Lui took the envelope and opened it. "These pictures were taken from the video of Elsa with Yuliana. I can show you the video if you wish, cropped up to show this important part, of course."
The officers took the photos and looked at them one by one. To say they were shocked was an understatement. "Miss Torres, here you are, just a few meters from Elsa and Yuliana!" one of the officers exclaimed.
The photos showed Amanda seated behind Elsa and Yuliana, just watching them. And every time Elsa would turn around to look in her direction, Amanda would hide her face so Elsa wouldn't see her.
Lui showed them the video on the tablet too. After Amanda stared at Elsa for a long time, the person following Elsa saw her as someone suspicious. So he made sure to capture her in the frame with Elsa. And at the same time, he called Lui, telling him that a child was with Elsa and that Elsa was being watched.
When Amanda followed Elsa, she followed so closely that she was between Elsa and Lui's bodyguard, whom he had hired to follow Elsa. So the bodyguard saw her stop the car close to Lui's mansion, and that was why the footage was also ready.
Following Elsa also allowed him to know that she had gone with Jeremy to a hotel room a few days ago. He also knew Elsa went to the Callahan mansion even before Elsa told him when he called her.
"Officers, as you can see here, this woman allowed Elsa to take Yuliana. And she even confirmed where they were so she could come running and crying to you the next morning and get Elsa arrested."
Amanda became so nervous that she was trembling in her seat. She had come here crying and had the officers follow the CCTV footage and come to Lui's villa quickly so they could "save" the poor child. She could clearly see their expressions change. They were getting mad at Amanda.
"So you faked this kidnapping?" one officer asked Amanda.
"No officer, I didn't. Elsa did take my niece without my knowledge. She did take her."
"But we can see that you saw Elsa with your niece. And we can clearly see in the video Elsa asking around for you while you were hiding. You wanted her to take the child away," one of the officers said in disbelief.
"What kind of guardian are you, putting your niece in a dangerous situation like that? What if Miss Halverson was a bad person and hurt her?"
"I–"
"Why did you do this? Was it for money? Did you want this couple to give you money so you wouldn't press charges?"
"You are a sick person wasting our time like that, and using your niece like that. We should have your guardianship taken away from you," they threatened.
When Amanda heard that, she shook even more. Her heart was beating out of her chest. One of the officers turned to Elsa. "I don't even know what to say to this. I have never seen a case like this. This is so bizarre to me."
"It is clear that this aunt wanted to frame you by having you take the child. I don't even know how to comprehend such an act. However, you are free to go. We will further investigate and give you a call. You can go home. As for this situation, no charges can be pressed against you," the officer explained.
Elsa felt a wave of relief wash over her. "Thank you, officer," she said gratefully.
Lui took Elsa's hand and helped her stand up from the chair.
Amanda, on the other hand, had to stay behind to provide further explanation for her behavior and the facade she had created.
She avoided making eye contact with Elsa and Lui, instead choosing to look down as she tried to come up with an explanation or a reason to make a phone call at that moment.
First, she needed to admit her failure. Second, she needed to ask someone to help her get out of this mess.