After much thinking, Angel went to Daniel's house.
Daniel was lying on the couch and thinking about all that happened. After all these years, he met Angel. On top of that, she took up the same case he almost gave up. He did not expect anything from her but he did not want to be rude or unfriendly with her. But he wasn't able to ward off the feeling that she knew something and the fact that she is Veronica's friend is not helping. He can demand to know it from her as hiding potential evidence is also a crime. If she knows something, she has to tell that. But at the same time, he wanted her to tell him by herself. If only.....
The bell rang loudly bringing him out of his thought. He went and opened the door and there stood Angel in all her vulnerability. He can see it in her eyes. She was looking tired.
"Hi Angy. Come in."
But Angel did not want to beat around the bush anymore.
"Daniel, we have to go to a place."
Daniel was confused. What is it now?
"where?"
"Loca's house."
"Why? I think we have investigated him already."
"He said something which we did not consider yet."
She came to tell me something.
"And what is that?"
"I was thinking about something Malcolm said. Earlier when asked about any help that Veronica would have asked him, he said something about Veronica trusting Loca. Then I remembered Loca said something about finding a lab to test Grisham's samples."
Oh!!! how did I forget that??
"Oh yes. It completely slipped my mind."
"Yesterday we were worried about Grisham. Let's don't dwell on that. Vicky should be looking into it. Let's go to Loca and ask him if he was able to help her find any lab."
In between all this, he forgot to take a bite.
"Let's grab something to eat on our way from Junkies."
Angel did not dare disagree.
"Sure."
They went to the jeep and Angel started driving it.
Daniel was wondering how he should lay out the clues and solve the puzzle. He could draw a conclusion from all these things.
"Angy, what about the missing piece? I looked around at Alex's and Nina's place and there was no success."
"The missing rectangular can be with anyone. I found their houses cluttered with old newspapers and post it notes on the fridge. Alex and Nina don't have any books on their reading table."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Yes"
"Who is on the suspect list?"
"Sasha"
"Ron is looking into it as we speak."
"Good."
"That's it?"
"Who are you expecting?"
Daniel was silent the whole ride.
Angel stopped the car in front of Loca's stucco. She got down and looked at Danny.
"Rose and Marissa think there was something wrong with her relationship. But they do not what happened after the fight. Alex was watching over her property. He was vague and I could not get any information from them. But Nina took a new name, Neil. He is at the top of my list."
Daniel was expecting this.
"Why?"
Angel saw the change in his stance. He was getting protective. The same way he did for her at Milton...
"Was he your friend, Danny?"
Daniel was surprised to hear his name called like that. But that was not important now. Was she accusing him?
"Are you intending to say that I am biased?"
"Probably. Nina was uncomfortable with the look on Neil's face. I want the reason for that look. A day before the death makes it the worst possibility. Like it or not, but your friend is a possible suspect."
"Possibility for what exactly?"
Angel was treading on dangerous waters. She has to be careful. She wants to know if Daniel can be trusted.
"Him responsible for her death."
Oh God! Not her. The whole town knows that Neil liked Veronica. Then why would he kill her? We have interrogated him and that depressed him even more. The doctor advised him to move over to the hospital. But if he is again dragged into all this, Neil would not survive this time.
"How can you say that without meeting him or knowing him?"
The look on Daniel's face was one of desperation. Something painful is going on through his mind. Daniel is worried for Neil. He is his friend. She had heard from Maria how Neil was traumatized and Daniel felt bad for doing that to him. But duty calls. That is the reason he is protecting him. So, she was right all along. Daniel can be trusted. Together, they can catch the culprit. But only if....
"Oh, I know him Daniel! He was the reason Verni came to this town."
Daniel was looking confused. He was about to ask her when Loca came out.
Loca: Hi Danny!
Daniel: Hi Loca
Angel: Hi Loca
Loca: Why din't you come inside directly?
Angel: Nothing. We were just stopping by to ask you something.
Loca: Come inside.
Daniel gave a long look to Angel promising her to not let her go off the hook so easily. Angel was smiling.
Angel:(whispering to Daniel) Danny, just make sure to ask him tea and some biscuits.
Daniel: okay
They went in.
Loca: Please sit down. Would you like to have anything?
Daniel: Loca, do you remember the plant I asked you last time?
Loca gave it a thought.
Loca: One which you din't find at the green house?
Daniel: Yes
Loca: I have got it here in my garden. I remember my promise. Let me get it.
Daniel: I will tag along. Let me take a look at your garden.
Loca: Sure. Angel, please make yourself at home.
Daniel: Let's go.
Angel was looking at the retreating figures when Daniel turned to wink at her. She smiled. She still remembers the day she bumped into him.
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She was passing through the narrow alley after enjoying her time at the beach. She was going to take a left turn that would lead to the place where she was staying at Milton.
All of a sudden, she felt herself falling down. She closed her eyes and got ready for the impact.
Much to her surprise, she was flipped before hitting the surface.
She opened her eyes and found herself staring at a smiling face.
"Hope you din't hurt."
They got up and dusted themselves. Then he took her hand and started running.
"Excuse me" She struggled to get out of his strong grip.
"Not now. People are chasing us."
"What!" She turned around and to her surprise found a crowd falling behind.
She increased her pace because stopping such a crowd and talking sense to them is worthless.
They took a right turn. Instead of heading to the beach and out into the open, they wanted to confine in the alleys.
Suddenly he dragged her into a small house.
They hid behind the door.
After the crowd disappeared, He smiled at her and relaxed.
"Can you explain what you did?"
He was smirking.
"I saw a boy stealing cookies. When the shopkeeper started chasing him, I helped the boy in running and then the crowd followed me."
"You did a wrong thing. The boy would think that what he did was a right thing and continue to steal."
"Whoa! Wait. That was a setup Miss."
"What?"
"I wanted the shopkeeper to come out of his shop so that we could look at his records. He is a fraud."
"And how are you sure of that?"
"Because he tried to sell me something at a higher price than it is worth."
"I am confused. Why did you go to him in the first place?"
He was clearly amused by it.
"Miss, somebody tipped me at the pub last night. I just came to confirm."
"Oh! And why would they tell you?"
"You mean, who are you? Well, when you drink too much, everyone is your kin."
He smiled again.
"The guy at the pub was distraught that his friend betrayed and he had no means to prove it. So, I ended up helping him."
"You mean, when the shopkeeper left the shop, your friend picked those records?"
"No."
"Then?"
"The police did."
"Why?"
"I asked them to do so"
"Oh!"
He was smiling again. She was confused again.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You din't ask me why the police would listen to me?"
She was surprised. She did not know his identity. She stood up all of a sudden and tried to move out.
"Hey wait up...I din't mean to scare you! I know the sheriff. That's all. End of story."
She was staring at him.
"I am sorry. I din't introduce myself. I am Danny."
"Angy."
"I was just trying to lighten the things. Guess it din't look like that"
"What did the shopkeeper try to sell you?"
"A piece of land. I knowingly went to him and enquired about it. He took the bait and told me a higher price and he even produced some documents. I lured him to admit about the price. But he did not budge."
"The boy?"
"A friend of mine. Met here at the beach."
"Oh. Are you sure they would find something in the records?"
"Actually, documents and the other stuff are also kept in the same place."
"Wow. They probably got him then."
"Likely."
"Can you join me for a coffee?"
"My pleasure."
And then it started.
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She came out from her reverie with a smiling face. She was flooded with memories today.
Shaking her head, she got up and looked around the room. There was a small table with four drawers. She carefully looked into it without moving anything around. She found nothing.
Then she looked around and saw there were four doors altogether.
She opened one and found the kitchen. She checked all the cupboards and found nothing.
Then she opened another and found that was a spare bed room and all the sport equipment was kept here. She checked everywhere and found nothing. She opened another door and found it was his bedroom. Other than a photo of Veronica, there was nothing in that room. She tried opening the fourth door but it din't move. It was locked. She was suddenly suspicious. But she heard faint voices. They were coming back.
She sat on the couch again.
Danny was holding a Bonsai plant in his hand smiling from ear to ear.
She can see him trying to stifle it.
She stopped herself from asking why the door is locked.
Loca walked past her and opened the lock of the room and went inside. Angel looked inside it and found many bags kept stacked and many covers with some kind of powder. Mud was also kept in different covers separately. So, this was the storage room where Veronica must have had access.
She looked at Danny. He understood what she just thought. He kept the Bonsai down and came over.
"Loca, can we look around this room?"
Loca slowly turned.
"You mean..."
"Please don't jump into conclusions. I believe Veronica must have seen this room earlier."
"She was the one who cleared the room and arranged things around."
"What?"
"This was my storage room for furniture. But she insisted this room to be used to store supplies."
"So, Veronica was in charge of this room. You din't say anything."
"I couldn't deny."
Angel wanted to ask him. She had a feeling Loca would admit it.
"You loved her, din't you?"
Now Danny and Angy could see the regret clearly in his eyes.
"I should have told her. But I din't want to lose her."
The look of grief and regret in his eyes clearly spoke volumes. She wanted to get back to work. She was already distracted.
"Can we look around?"
"Sure. I will prepare some tea."
Angy watched as he made his way out of the door with slumped shoulders.
"So, let's start"
"Danny, first let's look at the mud samples. It has tags over it."
"Yes."
They looked into the mud samples but din't find anything suspicious.
They looked into all the packets kept there but came up with nothing.
But there was a table with four drawers kept in the corner resembling the one in the front room.
Angy went and pulled one. But it din't move. She turned to Danny. Then she called Loca
Loca came in and affirmed that he din't have the keys. In fact, they never had one.
He was surprised that he never noticed that.
He went out to look around his room.
Angy went near the mud samples and took out a packet. She was just looking at each of them when she noticed something interesting. On the tag, CLAY was written. This was one of the words Veronica wrote in her death note.
She opened and looked inside the packet.
She dug her hand into the mud and found it was very tight. She dug her fingers into the corner and soon felt something hard. She tried grabbing it and soon grabbed it out of the cover. It was a key.
She tried opening it but it din't open. She was shocked. There was a key but it din't fit. She was dumbstruck. She looked at her muddy hands and then handed over the key to Danny.
He washed the key and showed it to Loca who recognized it.
They sat in silence and sipped the tea that Loca made.
"I never saw that the drawers were locked. I never locked the drawers. I have a safe in there. I once showed Veronica all the keys and stuff."
Angel thought about it. May be this was another place other than Trista's.
"Why?"
"She wanted a table inside the storage room. So, I told her about the keys along with that. I must have given them to her. But I don't remember all that. Then she moved one of these tables into the storage room."
"Who left the covers here? One's with the tag on it!"
"Sasha did."
Angel wanted to clear the deal with Sasha. She wanted to narrow the suspects list.
"Danny, please call Ron and ask him to bring Sasha here! Now."
"Okay, Angel."
Loca was left in thought as to what was kept inside the drawer.
Angel was left wondering how to break the news about Neil to Daniel.
Daniel was anxious as to what Angel has to tell him.
But what are you thinking?
;)