Chapter 39: Chapter 39

An hour later,

Dann Harrows sat facing Val who held her arms around herself in the seemingly cold office room.

The day was especially bright for early autumn, and the golden sun was quite at its peak. The clear blue sky could be seen through the glass window of the office. It was a fine sunny day after all.

Margarette's well-organized office that had a crispy air and smelled quite like dried roses, was illuminated by the clear sunray. This was as a result of the potpourri placed in the corner.

Mahogany glass tables, cabinets and desks took most of the space and there were two sofas between which a low glass table sat, which was where the interrogation now took place.

" Ms Valerie, I'm Dann Smith... " Dann introduced reaching over the table for a handshake. Val slowly nodded and extended her hand to take the handshake that didn't last two seconds.

" Miss Margarette here has briefed me on the details of the case at hand, so I'll only be asking a few questions, is that okay with you?" He informed to which Val only said. " Alright"

" Right. Let's get started" Dann mumbled out of habit as he opened the case file in his hands, looking through it.

" From what I understand, the missing jewelry piece was found in your office correct?"

" Yes it was and I have no clue how it got there!" Val hastened in response, her voice shaky from all the anxiousness.

" Right." Dann jotted something down. He seemed to glance at some piece of information for a while before he asked,

" What time did you leave office the day before?" Since the jewelry was reported to have been missing since a day before, it was only logical that he asked.

" I left work quite early at 2pm yesterday to meet with someone." Val said, both frowning and finally relaxing knowing she could be vindicated with this information. However, it was hard to say since the Laguna teardrop could have gone missing at that same time. Val grew perplexed.

Dann Harrows looked towards Maggie with a look of suspicion as if to ask. Does that time ring a bell?

" Well, is there a way we can determine the time correlation?" Dann said when Maggie wasn't taking the clue. Val frowned hearing this but didn't say anything.

Maggie shook her head and looked towards the Chief security officer for answers. The latter was about to say something when Maggie cut him off...

" To be honest Mr Dann, for some reason, we have no footage in our security cam so we can't really determine" She couldn't reveal that the company's security personnel had faults. Maggie knew she had to be careful, so she relayed discreetly.

" Hmm" Dann placed a pen on his chin as he reverted his gaze back to Val.

" And you haven't been to work ever since then until today? Who even is this person you went to meet? Can I know?" He asked in quick succession, not wanting to waste time.

" Yes, I haven't been to work since then until this morning. And... and all I can say is that this person is a lawyer. A good friend of mine who just got back in town" Val answered with great difficulty, seemingly trying hard to not reveal the identity of the person she had met to be Attorney Chris. More so, she still felt weird from what had happened last night. She shook her head, knowing this wasn't the time to think about this.

" Hmm... Very well." Investigator Dann looked through the file in his hands again.

" I believe that'll be all for now. Thanks for cooperating" Dann said with a smile. Having nothing else to ask Val, he could only let her step back for now.

He gestured towards Kaitlyn afterwards to have a sit before him. The lady who had talked about seeing another staff with the stolen jewelry.

Kaitlyn shuddered in place and glanced at Margarette. The latter gave her a slight nod of affirmation and she slowly stepped forward amidst the silence to take a seat on the sofa right opposite of that which Investigator Dann sat on. Kaitlyn couldn't help but squirm uncomfortably every now and then, obviously not wanting to be a part of this. She was apprehensive now, but she could only push through it all.

' At this point, screw it all! I want a new life...' Kaitlyn braced herself, donning a serious expression.

" Are you comfortable, Miss Kaitlyn?" Dann asked with raised brows to ask, noticing the expression on her face and her countenance as she sat.

Kaitlyn didn't raise her head as she quickly nodded her head. Obviously wanting everything to be over with already.

Investigator Dann didn't dawdle either,

" So, here in my hands, I presume you do have a close relationship with Mr Mark whom you've pointed out to be the one behind this... shenanigan?" Dann asked.

" Yes, we're quite... close" Kaitlyn struggled to affirm.

Dann paused to take a note before proceeding with the interrogation.

“ And you’ve seen Mr Hawkins with the stolen jewelry piece, um, the Laguna teardrop? Would you elaborate on this?” He asked in succession out of habit. Dann despised wasting time, he had a principle of precision and swift efficiency.

Kaitlyn was hesitant at first and looked towards Maggie. Maggie affirmed once again with a nod, causing the former to also nod her head in understanding.

“ W-well, I had just closed off work and was heading down the car park when I saw Ollie hop out of his car. I asked what he was doing with Ollie when I got in his car and it was then that I noticed him tucking the Laguna teardrop in his pocket. He told me it was all an investment and I never pried after then...” Kaitlyn recounted, she added a little after when she realized something “ H-he drops me off at my place that's why I was in his car”

“ Hmm… And why didn’t you inform anyone of this as soon as you got to office the next morning and had heard of what happened? I get that you might have ‘assumed’ Mr Hawkins took it for some sort of official duty at first, but you should have spoken when it was clear that it was declared missing...” Mr Dann assessed.

“ I-I wasn’t sure at first…” Kaitlyn stated. u

Unsure of what else to say, she kept quiet.

Mr Dann looked towards Maggie as if to inquire her aid. The latter just gave him a wry smile as if to say “ they have that kind of relationship”. Dann understood this and nodded his head.

“ Thanks for your cooperation, miss Kaitlyn. That'll be all for now.”

“ Mr Hawkins, please?” He called out to the man standing with arms crossed in the corner of the room after Kaitlyn had stood to go stand beside Maggie. Mark looked at this but didn't think too much about it. Perhaps she couldn't face him and stand near him after doing all of this to him.

“ Mr Dann, I’m so glad you’re here. I don’t really know what’s going on right now as I’m in the-“

“ Mr Hawkins… please, let’s just follow with the procedures” Dann cut Mark off his ramble. The investigator understood from the dreary facial expression on the man’s face that he might as well be going through a conspiracy against him by the women he was romantically involved with. Of course it was easy for mr Dann to deduce what was going on. Valerie shared the same surname with him and miss Kaitlyn was dropped off by him at her house…She had affirmed that they were very close, and probably had that kind of relationship.

It was no telling whether the latter had recently found out that her supposed lover was already married, or maybe she was dumped by him.

' In any case, she connived with Ms Hawkins to deal with Mark...?' Investigator Dann premised.

But hey, there was a reason why it’s a common rule to never mess with women, they could ruin you!

Mr Dann only had one job, to interrogate and gather evidence, if all of these leads to Mark being the perpetrator, then it’s nothing but his own undoing…

Of course, Maggie hadn’t bargained with the investigator to join in on her plan. She couldn’t risk her company’s reputation in the hands of blabbermouths like private investigators. She was only using him to bring authenticity to the current case, she had a backup plan to achieve desired results after all. If anything, talking Investigator Dann into cooperation would be her last resort.

‘ Can’t wait for mistress’ reaction at this!’ Maggie was excited.

" So Mr Mark, was it true what miss Kaitlyn here had just said? Was she with you at the time she said she was yesterday?" Investigator Dann asked.

" W-well... Yes, she was" Mark gave it a good thought before answering. He chose not to lie because everyone already knew that he took her home from office. It wasn't a hidden fact, and he regretted it now.

" But nothing of what she said had happened!" He hurriedly added knowing there was no footage to prove Ollie had been there in the car park. He thought to proceed with the act that she was doing all of this because they had a fight, but seeing that the investigator was busy noting something in his file, and that he only had to answer the investigator, he decided otherwise.

Mr Dann thought to use a psychological approach, but he diverted instead "To an extent, her words might be true then. But at the same time it might be false." He said to himself, scratching his half grey beards.

Mark hearing this sighed in relief internally.

" Do you know Ms Valerie Hawkins. You seem to share the same surname, if I may ask?" It wasn't like he didn't know, it was only to get a clearer perspective on the situation he already suggested in his head.

Mark frowned and hesitated for a while. " We were once together. Not anymore" Mark said in an unmoving tone.

Dann noticed this and looked towards Val to confirm, to which the latter only looked away in abject scorn.

' They're not in a cordial relationship!' The investigator realized.

" I understand..." He said half apologetically and pretended to note something down.

" if I may ask Mr Porter, how come there are no footages for all of this?" He shot a direct question at the chief security officer instead. This was the root of the ruse that levitated all around... With footages, everything could have been resolved instantly. It was rather suspicious that there were no footages at all.

" Well... we believe one of our own must have been in on the theft, and had deleted the footages. I believe the two security personnels on duty at that time should have something to say about-"

" No they don't!" A sudden voice resounded following the opening of the door. Seeing who it was, Maggie smiled.

' Just at the right time!'

Dann turned to face the man with a slightly tan skin, straight short brown hair, and a stout muscly figure with a fierce expression on his usually calm face.

" Ms Margarette, I and the team have found something..." He said alertingly as he walked towards Maggie.

" What is it?"

The assistant chief security, Harry Caister looked in the face of his superior and to Mark's before pointing. " It's both of them!"

Mark's heart sank and he frantically looked about.

' What the fuck? Why's everything going wrong?' He looked towards Mr Porter as if to confirm but the way the elder man squinted his gaze at his assistant made things even worse...

' And why is Maggie being neutral at this point! Shouldn't she have shut this guy up already?'

Mr Dann slowly rose from his chair and said. " Well... can we all see the footage you found then, Sir?" He smiled wryly, feeling perhaps he was wrong about Mark.

" But of course" Maggie nodded, smiled, and signaled for Harry to present the footage.