CHAPTER 6

"It's been one week now. Why? Is everything alright with her? What's going on?" He asks her with curiosity.

"Okay…are you sure you don't have any other connections with her apart from what you just told me?" She asks him again.

"Yes…what's going on?" He asks her.

"Do you love her? Wasn't she your girlfriend?" She asks him as she pays close attention to him.

"What? Who told you that? How did you get to know that? She told you? That was supposed to be our little secret for now…gosh…" He says to her.

"Really? And why is that?" Claire asks him.

"It is going to affect my job if others know that we are dating…we just want to be on a low profile for now…nothing much." He replies.

"Okay…I understand you." Claire says.

"So she did tell you." He says.

"On the contrary." Claire replies.

"Then who did? Or did she tell someone else at work and they told you? I trusted her not to…why did she break my trust and her promise?" Jason asks in a bout of anger as he tries to suppress it by squeezing his fists as Claire observes him closely.

"I'm afraid she did no such thing. I called your workplace but they didn't know she was dating anyone." Claire answers him.

"Then how did you get to know?" Jason asks her in surprise.

"On Thursday at exactly 7pm you had dinner with her at Allison Baker's restaurant. You two acted like lovebirds and called each other pet names, so it was easier to know that you two were dating." Claire explains it to him.

"How did you know all of this? And besides…we are still dating…or has she broken up with me?" Jason asks.

"I am a detective…it's my job to dig into things I want to and I'm afraid you guys aren't dating anymore or can you date a corpse?" Claire asks him.

"Co…corpse? What do you mean by that? What are you talking about?" Jason asks Claire in shock and confusion.

"Aren't you aware that she is no more?" Claire asks in surprise too.

"What? I don't understand you…what do you mean?" Jason asks, getting all tensed up and scared.

"She passed away that same evening you had dinner together." Claire explains further.

"Detective Evatt or whatever you call yourself, please leave my shop. Don't come here and be telling me trash. What nonsense is this? How dare you follow me, chase me and come into this shop to tell me rubbish? Are you out of your mind? What kind of play is this? Please don't get me angry and leave." Jason replies back with a bitter and angry voice.

Claire understands that Jason is not aware of the death of Emerald. Or is this man only trying to play hard to get and pretend not to be aware of her death? As a detective, she decides to act dumb to see the end of the game. She goes back into the shop but Jason doesn't let her in. She then asks him to try and call her line to see if she picks up.

Daring him, he did call her line but it kept telling him to switch off.

"Maybe she's busy…I don't know but she'll pick up. She's not one to switch off her phone during the day." Jason replies feeling confused but trying to make things up to stay calm.

"I am detective Evatt and this is the photo of the late Emerald Warren." Claire says as she shows him the photos of the deceased woman which she takes out from a small envelope. Jason collects them as he goes through them. His jaw drops on seeing that she is telling the truth, his beloved is deceased.

Jason breaks down into tears like a woman. Claire is confused. Could it be that this man is not just acting up? Could it be that he really doesn't know about her death? Assuming and answering questions by herself isn't going to help situations now as she needs to find all the answers to her questions.

"I'm sorry Mr. Jason…but that's the truth. She passed away on Thursday, the same day you saw her last I believe but a few hours after you guys separated. Do you mean to tell me that you know nothing about this?" Claire asks him again.

"Who killed her? Who is responsible for her death and I swear to the universe not to let them go freely!" Jason threatens with anger boiling up in him.

"Calm down and let the cops handle things. We don't know who the killer is yet but we will bring whoever it is to book. You can only help me to do that fast by helping me with information that I need. Will you?" Claire asks him as she believes he will accept it.

"I will. I will do whatever it takes to get justice for her." Jason replies feeling grieved.

"Okay. Thank you. If I may ask, what is your relationship with her?" Claire asks her previous question again, hoping to get positive replies this time around.

"She is my girlfriend." Jason replies in tears.

"Oh…okay but how come no one knows about you two dating? Was it earlier that you two started seeing each other?" Claire asks again.

"As I've said earlier, we were an underground couple…" He adds.

"What was your relationship like with her? Did you two have any phone calls or chats that made one of you angry? Did you two quarrell before her death?" Claire asks again.

"We had none of that." He explains to her.

From his explanations and little chit chat that Claire had with Jason, she learns that he is a businessman. His business was the first before anything else as love was placed second in his heart.

"Well…we had an argument…she got angry with me for some days but later we got settled." Jason admits to Claire's curiosity.

"Okay…what was that about?" Claire asks him with keen interest.

"She…hmmm….she wanted a promotion in the office so badly. She was competing for the position with another colleague…" Jason ebings to narrate sadly as he keeps sighing every now and then.

"Who's that? Ava?" Claire asks to be sure of her information.

"Yes, how do you know?" Jason admits but asks back in surprise.

"I've done my investigations. Please carry on." Claire replies as Jason continues.

"She wanted me to bribe her for her to get the position…I didn't want to do something bad or commit a crime to get something for myself or for her. So I couldn't do it…she got mad at me and even stopped talking to me but I didn't budge." Jason explains.

"Okay…if I'm to get you right, you didn't want to commit a crime for the person you love? That's awesome of you. What happened next?" Claire asks.

"Yes. I didn't do it…she got angry as I said but I knew that with time, her anger would subside. She even threatened to break up with me but I pleaded with her and assured her she will get it but she should remain calm. I tried encouraging her to believe she would get it. Our last date was after we resolved our misunderstandings. She requested that we meet…" Jason says.

Detective Claire reasons that if Jason couldn't commit a crime for his love, then he definitely won't be the one behind her death. Claire has to look for new suspects as to who is responsible for the murder.

Detective Evatt thanks Jason and gives him her condolences before she leaves. Back at the station, she is in a dilemma as she wonders who this skillful serial killer is.

The last time such murder happened was five years ago and the murder was same with the butterfly cut found on the victim's body. What amazes her apart from the similar butterfly cut is that the killer's victims were only females.

She is convinced that this killer must be suffering from schizophrenia, which means that this killer must have been suffering from schizophrenia for five years now and such a psychopath would have obvious abnormalities in the conversation which Claire could not have missed and in the conversation with all the employees involved, no one showed mental abnormalities. So Claire thinks that the company's personnel can be ruled out.

Detective Evatt feels so heartbroken because the deceased joined the company less than a month ago, such a young girl. Detective Evatt hopes that the murderer can be found quickly.

When it is almost lunch time, she stops discussing as everyone goes out for lunch. This murderer has been working for a long time, and cleaned up the scene professionally. It is hard to find decisive evidence and clues.

A phone call comes into Claire's phone. She sees a new number and wonders who is calling her. Moreso, she knows that she didn't give anyone her personal phone number so who is this that is calling her? Curious to know, she picks up the phone.

"Hello, who's on the line?" Claire asks as she picks up her call.

"Someone familiar." The caller from the other end said.

"Please, can you tell me who you are or I'll have to end the call now." Claire reies sternly as she isn't in the mood to think deep or crack her brain to guess who could be on the phone with her right now.

"Hey…chill babe…don't you remember me anymore? It's your high school senior." He replies.

Claire is wondering who this may be. She remembers Maxwell, the CEO of a company who was a respectable rival back in her high school days. She doubts if it is Maxwell that is on the line now such a proud son will not remember her.