????ABIGAIL
INOCENCIO????
(The Murderer….)
By, Precious Pinky
Copyright ©️(Don’t copy this story if you don’t want to see madness!)
CHAPTER 53????54
••••
{ POISONED }
“Who is Felicia Hart to you?”
Marshall raised a questioning brow at her.
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you dare.” She snarled, stepping close to him and closing the distance between the both of them. “Don’t you dare feign stupidity, Marshall, and answer the damn question. WHO IS FELICIA HART TO YOU!?”
Marshall stayed quiet, beads of sweat forming on his forehead already.
How the hell does she know that Felicia Hart meant something special to him?
Did they come across each other in the hallway? Shit, that could be the case.
“Sandra, listen_”
“I don’t want to hear any excuses from you.” She cut him off, fighting the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. “Just answer the question.”
His body language, the condition of the room, and his appearance were words enough that she choose to ignore because she really hoped that he would deny knowing the woman who just claimed to be his wife.
She sounds stupid right now but she doesn’t give a f**k about that.
Marshall was quiet for a few moments as he gathered up the courage to speak and tell the truth about his relationship status. Something he has been keeping away from her for the past years they’ve known each other.
“I know how this might sound like but I swear to whatever deity you believe in, Sandra. What I’ve always felt for you was real and true.” He told her.
Sandra buckled herself up for the worse that was coming.
The man she has blindly trusted and loved was about to drop a bomb that might end up exploding alongside her.
“I’m listening…” She choked out, watching him closely.
“Felicia Hart…” He hesitated, building the tension that hung in the air. “is my wife.”
There it was. The truth.
Sandra dropped to the chair behind her, her mouth hanging open with her eyes widened.
It was as if her heart was ripped out of her body and shredded into a million pieces.
He has always been lying to her.
Their relationship… Their love… It was built on lies and deceit.
He deceived her.
How foolish does she look now in front of him?
She was ready to do anything for this man or wait, she actually did something for him. And that ‘something’ was on the verge of ruining her life if she is being caught.
Indeed, the saying ‘love is blind’ was correct.
How did she love this man without noticing or even suspecting that he has been lying to her?
Here she was thinking that she was the only woman in his life only to realize right now that she has been the other woman in his life. His f**king mistress!
Tears rolled down her face as she tries to still process everything in her head.
She expected him to scream in her face and say ‘Gotcha! I was only playing a prank on you. It caught you, didn’t it?’ The wish was impossible but there is no harm in hoping, right?
Marshall stood in front of her, feeling guilty about hurting her this way.
Honestly, he never wanted her to find out about the truth like this.
He was going to tell her about Felicia at the right time, especially when he was ready. But definitely not like this.
She must feel hurt, sad, and betrayed.
She was betrayed once when David’s father left her even before realizing that he was going to be a father.
Sandra and David’s father only had a one-night stand before he disappeared from her life without leaving a single trace. Although, he left something else with her. Something, or more like someone that kept reminding her about that one night she spent with him.
She promised herself never to fall for a man’s trap again.
She promised herself to be independent and not to trust a man because they were full of shit and all they care about was the hole between a woman’s legs. Well, until Marshall came along.
He made her believe in a second chance which she granted to him and now she was regretting her foolish decisions.
“I’m sorry,” He apologized, going on his knees in front of her. “I know apologizing isn’t enough and it certainly won’t correct anything but I swear…”
“Shut up.” She cut him off with a shaky voice, slowly coming up to her feet. “I will make my next decision after hearing your answer to the next question I’m going to ask you.”
“Ask me anything,” He told her, rising to his feet as well.
“How long have you been married to her?”
A dead silence fell between them immediately.
Marshall was doing everything to avoid her gaze while Sandra, on the other hand, was doing everything to meet his gaze.
“Answer me, Marshall. How long have you been married to her?”
“Does it matter?” He asked.
“Yes, it does.”
“Why?”
“Why?” She reiterated, giving him the ‘are you kidding me?’ look. “I need to know if I am the first woman in your life or…” She couldn’t find the enthusiasm in her to say the next words. “Or the other woman.”
Marshall bites his inner cheek, his heart hammering against his ribcage. It almost felt like it ( heart) was going to jump out of his body and run very far away from him.
“Don’t keep me waiting for answers, Marshall.” She said in a stern voice.
“I’m sorry…” He apologized again, indirectly answering her questions.
Sandra quietly turned around and walked towards the door but stopped just when she was about to touch the doorknob.
She stayed still for a few minutes, her back against him and then she walked back towards him and landed a hot slap in his face.
Marshall’s eyes went wide as her palm met his right cheek. He heard ringings in his ears and slowly, they subsided.
Unfortunately for him, she slapped him once again on the other side of his face.
“Sandra!” He called out, staring at her.
She attempted to slap him again but he quickly caught hold of her wrist. She tried slapping him with her other hand but he caught it as well.
He held her hands above her head, gazing at her in surprise. Never did he expect the comeback from her.
“Let me go!” She hissed, struggling to pull her hands from his grasp but he was stronger than her.
“Calm down.” He said.
“Why should I, you sick psycho!?” She snapped. “How dare you? How dare you?”
“I’m sorry, okay?”
“You’re sorry?” She scoffed. “What are your apologies going to do, huh? You said it yourself that they won’t change or fix anything!”
“Listen, you have every right to be mad at me but you really can’t blame me.”
“What did you just say?” She forcefully pulled her hands away from his grasp and clutched his collars. “You parasite! Have I always been a joke to you?”
“Sandra, as I said, I really felt attracted towards you. I enjoyed the moments we shared.”
“And your wife?” She raised a brow at him.
He didn’t say anything.
“She has always been the woman in your heart, isn’t that right? You even broke up with me earlier today. So this was the reason, huh? You decided to be faithful to your wife after making me fall in love with you.” She headbutted him in the face and he started bleeding from his nose, staggering back. “I am in deep shit because I tried to help you, Marshall. I will lose everything because of you and what, it turns out that you have been lying to me.”
“Shit.” Marshall hissed as he stared at his blood-stained finger after touching his nose. “What the f**k is your problem?”
“YOU.” She barked. “You are my problem, Marshall. I swear I will make you pay for this. You think this is the end?” She snickered. “This is just the beginning.” She turned around and stormed out of the office.
Marshall just stood still like a log of wood while staring at the closed door with his nose bleeding.
She really headbutted him pretty hard. And as much as he deserved it, he still wished she didn’t have to go this far and result in violence.
Marshall quickly rushed out of the office and hurried towards her.
“Stop.” He caught hold of her wrist, bringing her movement to a halt.
They both stood in the hallway now, glaring at each other.
“Get your hands off me!” She aggressively pulled away from him. “Don’t you ever touch me again.” She warned.
“Fine.” He threw his hands up in the air in surrender. “I won’t touch you again but we need to talk. I know you are pissed off at me and I get it, alright? I was wrong for lying to you but you know, I didn’t lie to you.”
“What?”
He cleared his throat.
“Let’s be honest with ourselves. You never asked me if I was married so I never talked about it. That doesn’t mean I lied to you, does it?”
She narrowed her eyes, staring at him with disbelief.
“Are you saying it’s my fault for not asking you about your marital status?”
“No. It is no one’s fault so stop blaming me. We both partake in the mistake, Sandra. You didn’t ask and I didn’t say anything.”
“You had your chances to tell me that you were a married man.” She sniffled. “Have you suddenly forgotten about the sacrifices I made just for you? Is this how you are going to repay me?”
“Stop talking like this.” Marshall snapped. “I’m grateful for what you did. I frankly appreciate it from the bottom of my heart but here’s a reminder, just in case you’ve forgotten,” He leaned to her level and whispered into her ears. “I never asked you to harm anyone for my sake. You chose to do it. So don’t blame me for anything.”
“Wait, what?” Her face dropped.
Marshall stood straight to his full height and took a step back.
“Regardless of your rude behavior right now, I am still going to help you. Nobody is going to find out about your presence that night. It will be between you, Thelma, and me. However, the thing we had going on between the both of us will have to stop. You’re right, it’s time I become faithful to my wife.” With that said, he turned around, walked the little distance to his office, and entered inside, slamming the door shut.
Sandra stayed speechless as she stared at the spot Marshall was earlier standing on.
She couldn’t believe all he has just said to her.
She was boiling with rage.
Sandra balled her fist and her face hardened as she muttered,
“You think you are going to use me and dump me like I am a piece of trash? You want to be faithful to your wife now?” She scoffed. “We shall see about that, dear ex-lover.”
••••
Robert and Emma entered the departmental office at the same time.
Robert wasn’t in a sour mood like he was earlier this morning. Emma did her best to lighten his mood and take his mind off his problems. For now.
Ginny quickly approached them, giving them both a questioning look.
“Where have you both been?” She asked.
“Out. Somewhere.” Emma shrugged. “We had something to take care of. What is it?”
“We need to leave right now.”
Emma and Robert exchanged glances, mirroring each other’s confused expressions.
“Leave? To where?” Emma asked, frowning.
“A murderer is on the loose, remember? We have work to do.” She answered, putting on her cross-bag over her body and pulling her hair up into a high ponytail.
“Why are you so determined?” Emma asked.
“Because I find the case intriguing? That is not a problem, is it?”
“No, of course not.”
“She remind me of you when we had our first murder case. And come to think of it, our first murder case was this same case we failed to solve.” Robert stated.
Emma simply rolled her eyes.
“How are you feeling now, Handsome?” Ginny asked.
“I’m fine, thank you.” He replied with a warm smile on his face.
“That’s good to hear. I was so worried about you, you know.” She batted her lashes, pouting.
“Uh, thanks for worrying about me?” Robert said in an unsure tone.
“You’re welcome. Anyway,” She cleared her throat. “While you both were nowhere to be seen, I studied the photo I took of the dead child closely.”
“And what did you find?” Emma asked.
Ginny went through her phone gallery and cli-cked on the photo of the dead teenage girl and zoomed in on Tara’s face, showing it to both Robert and Emma.
“There, do you see the bluish rash around her lips?”
Emma zoomed further into the picture, squinting her eyes a little bit to study the image.
“Wait, you are right.” Robert noted.
“How did we miss this before?”
“Well, because I didn’t study the image myself.” Ginny responded, feeling proud of herself.
“Hold on a sec,” Emma walked towards her desk, pulled out the images of the ex-victims from the locker, and spread them on the table.
“What are you doing?” Ginny questioned.
“Cross-checking the faces of the past victims. If we were able to miss the bluish rash on the kid’s face then it means…”
“We missed something as well on the last victims’ faces.” Robert completed the sentence.
“Exactly.” Emma examined the images and groaned at the back of her throat. “F**k!”
“What is it?” Robert and Ginny asked at the same time.
“We did miss something, Rob. Look,” She pointed at the faces of all the dead victims. “they likewise have the bluish rash on their faces.”
“You’re right.”
It is odd. Tara had no cuts or injuries on her body. The murderer could have used these two ways to kill her; One, she was poisoned. Two, she was over-drugged
Emma remembered Abby’s words and quickly grabbed her phone from the desk.
‘Over-drugged can’t cause this which leaves me to the last option…poison.’ Emma thought to herself as she unlocked her phone and saw the text message from Abigail.
ABBY: HEY, BABES. I HAVE BEEN TRYING YOUR NUMBER BUT YOU WEREN’T PICKING UP…
ABBY: PLEASE CALL ME BACK AS SOON AS YOU SEE THIS MESSAGE. THERE IS SOMETHING I NEED TO TELL YOU.
ABBY: LOVE YOU❤
Emma furrowed her brows as she typed a reply to her.
EMMA: HI, HUN. I’M SORRY FOR MISSING YOUR CALL. I WAS BUSY. WHAT DO YOU NEED TO TELL ME? DID SOMETHING HAPPEN?
EMMA: ????❤
“Who are you texting?” Robert asked.
“Abby. She said there is something important that she needs to tell me.” She answered, cli-cking on the Google app on her phone.
“What is it?” Ginny questioned.
Emma shrugged as she searched for signs of poison in a human system on Google.
“I don’t know. She will tell me as soon as she sees my response.”
“What are you doing now?” Robert asked.
“Confirming my suspicion which is…right.” She passed her phone down to Robert and cupped her forehead. “Oh, God. They were poisoned.”
“That was the method the murderer used to kill his/her victim.” Robert added. “F**k, how did we miss this?”
“Obviously because we missed this big clue.” Emma stated, gesturing at the bluish rash around the victim’s mouth. “Good job, Ginny. Because of you, we have a lead on the case.”
“You’re welcome.” Ginny winked. “But wait, if they were really poisoned, how come it wasn’t detected during autopsy?”
“We will need to figure that out.” Emma said.
“Okay, if you already figure this out. Why did you say we need to leave right now when we entered inside?” Robert asked.
“Well, Team 1 already left for the hospital. I thought we were doing the undercover thing.” She explained.
“Oh, yeah.” Emma nodded her head, pressing her lips in a straight line. “Change of plans…Ginny, you are going to stay back here and look for more clues on the images while Robert and I will go to the hospital.”
“Why?” Ginny whined.
“Well, because we need to find more valid clues. You seem to be good at that so please, do a good job. Robert, let’s go.”
••••
Abby walked into the hospital, clutching her handbag tight.
????Good afternoon, Dr. Abby
????Good afternoon, Dr. Abby.
People greeted her as usual as she walked past them.
Abby made sure to respond to every one of them until she came across Thelma.
“Good afternoon, Dr. Abby.” The young nurse greeted with a charming smile on her face.
“Good afternoon, Nurse Thelma.” Abby replied. “Where is Nurse Cora?”
“Uhm, she has not yet resumed her shift. Why are you looking for her?”
“I want to ask her about Anna, the patient of last night.”
“Oh. The girl in the ICU?” Thelma asked and Abby nodded her head. “I checked on her not quite long ago and believe me, she’s very stable. You have nothing to worry about.”
“I see. Thank you.”
“No worries.” Thelma attempted to walk away when Abby said,
“Can I have a word with you, Nurse Thelma?”
“Uh, right now?”
“No. Before you close for your shift, how about that?”
Thelma thought about it for a while before giving in, putting a smile on her face.
“Sure.” She walked away afterward.
‘You are my first aim.’ Abigail thought to herself as she watched Thelma’s retreating form.
••••
“Your mother told me about you and your sister’s argument. Is this how it is going to continue between the both of you?”
“You shouldn’t be having his conversation with me. Talk to your daughter.” Jersey replied.
“I will ignore that tone you used on me.” Mr. Hart cleared his throat. “Anyway, I have something more important to talk to you about.”
Jersey pinched his brows together, giving his father the go-ahead look.
“I also heard that you suspect Marshall of the murders in the hospital. Why?”
“Mother told you.” It wasn’t a question but a confirmation which his father nodded his head to.
“If she doesn’t, who will?”
“They are only my speculation. I’m not sure.”
“True. But what makes you suspect him in the first place?”
Jersey shrugged.
“Because I don’t trust him.”
“That’s not enough reason, son. Suspecting him of murder is a very serious allegation and you know it.”
Jersey did not say anything.
“Marshall is your brother-in-law and your sister loves him so much. You should learn to start trusting him.”
“Hmm. I’m leaving for work now. See you tomorrow morning or later tonight.” Jersey pulled out his phone from his pant pocket and stormed out of his father’s home office.
He made his way out of the house and went straight to the garage to take his car but the chime of his phone stopped him on his track.
He scrolled through the message and saw the text of the person he has been expecting a reply from.
STAFF: I’VE SENT THE VIDEO OF THE FOOTAGE YOU ASKED ME FOR.
Jersey saw the video below the text and smirked.
JERSEY: HAVE YOU DELETED IT FROM THE CCTV? I DON’T WANT THE POLICE OR ANYBODY TO WATCH IT.
STAFF: THE POLICE ARE ALREADY HERE BUT LUCKILY FOR US, I ALREADY DELETED THE FOOTAGE. WE ARE SECURED, BOSS.
JERSEY: GOOD JOB.
“I can’t implicate myself.” He said to himself as he deleted the video from his phone. “The truth must remain buried.”
TBC.