Love Journal – As Told By An Emotionally Constipated Half-Genius - Chapter 228

Miss Roger was not as cooperative as Katherine and Scarlet couldn’t see the information gathering session going anywhere. The actress was rather young and stiff in her acting so she was probably sticking to her script instead of playing according to the situation like Katherine earlier.

Still, Scarlet thanked the actress and noted that Katherine didn’t have an alibi at the time of the crime and had an argument with her father, confirming Katherine’s story. They left in three minutes and Scarlet sighed.

“Why the heavy sigh? I think you did well. We got all the information we could ever get out of her.”

Scarlet frowned. “She wouldn’t tell us enough for me to write her off the list of guilty suspects. Her tutor told me more about her than what she told me about her. Still, who exactly is her lover? I bet she didn’t tell us her alibi because she was with her lover.”

Edward nodded. “Very possible,” he said. “Still, don’t write it off yet. We need to find all evidence before coming to any conclusions.”

Scarlet agreed and they hurried off to the next place that was the kitchen.

When they got to the kitchen, Edward had to laugh at what looked like a bad imitation of a French chef. He didn’t have the right accent catches that Edward knew he sometimes had when he wasn’t conscious of it. Sure, the man looked like a very serious serial killer that fit in with the profile when he carried a prop kitchen knife. He was olive-skinned, dark-haired and had those hooded eyes with a masculine jaw.

“What do you want?” the chef demanded angrily, not happy to see guests.

Scarlet swallowed. He looked angry and suddenly, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to get any answers from such a hostile and defensive character. Edward took it easy and walked around with a smile in front of Scarlet.

“Just a few questions, sir. We’re investigating the murder case and you’re currently on the suspect list.”

Immediately, the chef became defensive. “I didn’t do it! The wine Mr Roger drank was the same, he didn’t die when he drank it last week!”

Seeing that there was an opportunity for more questioning, Edward gave Scarlet a nod who quickly followed up on it.

“Could you tell us more? Which was the bottle that you poured the wine from? When was it last opened and where was it bought from?”

The chef seemed distraught at the questions and looked left and right nervously. Edward took the time to look around the kitchen and found the bottle of wine that was half open with a red tag on it. On the other side of the kitchen counter together with some of the vegetables was a lighter with a yellow tag. Those were items that he had to get but for that, he needed Scarlet to be more aggressive with the interrogation.

Just as he was about to touch the wine bottle, the chef turned around and snapped for him not to touch it.

“The lawyer said you cannot touch that!”

Edward reeled back and daringly went for the lighter to which the chef told him not to touch it either. The lighter was something that belonged to the chef personally and Edward was now curious. They had to take that no matter what now.

“Mr Moreau ,” Scarlet asked again, getting the hint from Edward that he needed a diversion. “Could you tell me more about where you were between seven in the evening to midnight last night?”

The chef glared at her. “I was sleeping after the party. Why do you care?”

Scarlet wrote that down. “Was there anyone you saw before you went to bed?”

“No. Nobody at all.”

“Who was the last person you saw before you left?”

At this, the chef looked away and told her that he saw the maid. Picking up on the body language, Scarlet noted that the answer was most likely a lie that she had to confirm with the maid later.

“Did anything happen when you met with her?”

At this, Mr Moreau started to think a little more. Scarlet gave him time while Edward quickly pocketed the lighter and walked by Scarlet. She saw how her boyfriend gestured for the fingerprint kit behind the chef and Scarlet slowly removed her sling bag and pretended to adjust her case file for notes. Edward swiftly took the sling bag while the chef answered her previous query.

“She told me to prepare wine for Mr Roger to take to him. I poured his usual glass before he went to bed. Normally Samantha takes it to him herself but that night she had a guest request so she told me to give it to the master. I swear it is not me who poisoned the wine!”

Scarlet nodded. “So you’re saying that you went to bed soon after seeing the master? Why did you say that the last person you saw last night was Samantha? Did she appear later?”

The chef stammered and started making excuses that his memory wasn’t good and Scarlet smelled a lie even though it was scripted.

“Mr Moreau, please be honest with us. What really happened? You may leave out names if you wish to for now but we would like to know exactly what happened during the time seven to midnight in order to clear your name. If you served the wine just before Mr Roger’s death, it would be incredibly hard for us to think that you were not involved.”

The chef immediately sang to a different tune now that his lie had been exposed. Scarlet didn’t know if it was scripted but the man was a better actor than Mr Roger’s daughter even if he wasn’t as natural as the guest actress.

“It Is true, inspectors, you must believe me! I did not kill the master, someone wants to frame me. Master and I do not have a good relationship because of personal reasons but I have no benefit of killing him.”

Edward, who had finished obtaining the fingerprint from the wine bottle, now came to assist Scarlet with the interrogation.

“You say that your personal relationship with Mr Roger is bad. How can we rule out that you didn’t kill him from anger? As the chef, you had the most opportunity to slip poison into his meals without anyone knowing.”

At this, Mr Moreau broke down. “Promise not to tell anyone? I can tell you the truth but you cannot let the person I was with get into trouble.”

Scarlet agreed and the chef sighed in resignation, looking very sad. “Last night after serving wine, I left the kitchen to go to an empty guest room to meet up with my lover. She always leaves me secret letters there that I find to know when to meet her. Usually, we go after her father drinks his wine and goes to bed. However, the party ended late last night so I didn’t wait to go to my room first, I went to that empty guest room straightaway. I do not want to kill Mr Roger because it would make her sad.”

Scarlet blinked and Edward smirked. “Your lover was Miss Roger. If you were the murderer you wouldn’t have stayed. In fact, even after knowing that someone was trying to frame you, you remained because you knew the next person to be suspected for the murder would be her if you weren’t around.”

The chef nodded with nothing to say now that the truth was out. Scarlet was impressed that Edward managed to put together a story for the case even though the actors were following a script. Then, she asked one important question following the supplied questions. Now that they’ve become a lot closer to the suspect, she had a feeling that he would answer this bonus question.

“How do you usually communicate with Miss Roger? Where can you find or read her secret letters?”

Mr Moreau smiled. “She writes in citrus juice on a blank paper that is usually readied on the study table for guests. I normally hold the citrus-scented paper over a fire because heat will make the words appear. After I read the message, I burn the letter.”

Now that there were no more questions left to ask and Edward had gotten hold of all the evidence they needed in the room, they left. Scarlet added the chef’s fingerprint to the collection after Mr Roger’s and looked through her notes. She didn’t think that going back to talk to the daughter would be useful at this point. The chef had provided them evidence of his alibi so if they find evidence of what Mr Moreau said was true, they would be able to clear the star-crossed lovers’ names.

“Where to now?” Scarlet asked. “I kind of want to go to the study room to ransack everything first then talk to the maid before going back to Miss Roger for the last time to confirm my lingering suspicions.”

Edward agreed. “We will do that then. The study room is further down nearer to the main room. I got the fingerprint but I think it will be trickier from here on. It’s been twenty minutes since we started the game so we should quickly wrap things up here.”

When Nook heard that from his control room as Team A assisted them to wiggle through the patrol officers, he felt light-headed. Indeed, it has only been twenty minutes yet they’ve managed to uncover two scenarios to the maximum level that’s usually impossible within one attempt. The guest and chef have no more scripts to tell and were simply loitering around while Team B bulldozes through the challenges easily. Whichever the case, Nook and his team might be seeing a new record with the monster couples playing today’s game. No wonder the client said to make this harder. Edward was too quick when he was collecting fingerprints and the game master felt ashamed at his earlier demonstration.

It was as if Edward was the expert and him the rookie pretending to be an expert.