Hiding Behind Her Superficiality

Chapter 73

Chapter 73 Double Death

Elspeth first spent the past few days helping Lydia with her mother’s funeral arrangements. After that, she texted Arthur to ask him out.

Knowing that Elspeth wanted to find out what had happened to Lydia’s mother, Arthur agreed to meet her at the cafe around the corner. As soon as he entered, he saw her sitting at a nearby table. Her hair hung loose over her shoulders, and she appeared particularly tall and slender in a black dress. Seeing how she drank coffee across from him as though nothing had happened, he wondered if she was already numb with grief.

Elspeth put down her cup of coffee, her eyes gleaming. “You know my purpose in asking you out this time.”

“I’d still like to explain the matter to you. I really had nothing to do with it.”

She sneered. “Arthur, do you think I’ll believe you had nothing to do with it? Who else would be capable of such a thing if not you?”

Angered by the lady’s words, Arthur nearly blurted out Ophelia’s name, but he eventually bit his tongue. Instead, he replied, “Let me repeat this: I had nothing to do with it. If you don’t believe me, just go ahead and look into it. If I’m the one who swapped the medicine, I’ll die a horrible death.”

Elspeth didn’t seem convinced by his words. She stared at the man’s face, thinking it would never be the first time anyone had sworn in that manner. Her hands clenched into fists under the table. “You can say whatever you want, but I’ll definitely get to the bottom of this. If I find out that it was your doing or that you had something to do with it, I’ll never let you get away with it.”

“Why are you so hostile to me, Elspeth? Don’t forget that you’re still my—”

She cut in, “Girlfriend, huh? Our contract has expired, Arthur. Not only are you a pervert, but I find that you also have quite a thick skin.” The thought that she had let this homicidal maniac touch her hand made her feel downright nauseous.

Arthur didn’t mind what she said, though. On the contrary, he thought she looked rather adorable to the eye this way. “I also didn’t expect you to be way more interesting than I thought—especially when you speak.” He rubbed his chin in amusement.

Elspeth replied, “Stop it. I don’t have that much time to waste talking with you. I gotta go.” She had come this time to warn him in the first place. Seeing how impervious he was, she felt she had wasted her breath talking to him.

“Wait a minute.”

Elspeth looked back; a sense of unease arose inside her when she saw him suddenly stand up with a half-smile. “What’s the matter?”

He looked carefree with his hands in his pockets. “Lydia’s mother is dead, but there’s still Lydia—” His words sounded like a threat, but they also felt sort of like a hint.

Now that she was alarmed, replied frostily, “Don’t you ever lay a finger on Lydia!”

Arthur retorted, “Why can’t I? Elspeth, I really don’t want you to leave me at all.” Previously, he had merely wanted her to stay by his side. But now, after seeing how flustered and exasperated she was, he had a different idea. If such a proud rose snaps in two in my hands, how wonderful it’ll be! His lips slowly curled into a smile, and he looked at her with a gleam of passion in his eyes.

Elspeth shot him a dirty look. “Arthur, you really are a pervert,” she replied. With that, she stopped caring about what he said and hurriedly took a cab to Lydia’s place. Now that Lydia’s place was no longer safe, she had to take her somewhere new and settle her down.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

She kept calling Lydia along the way, but the phone calls didn’t get through. It was the middle of the day, so Lydia couldn’t have possibly turned off her phone. Even so, no matter how many times she called, all she got were busy signals.

Lydia’s place was close to here, so Elspeth arrived after about a few ten minutes. After getting out of the cab, she rushed to the door and knocked on it, but still, no one answered. Suddenly, she recalled the spare key Lydia had shoved to her last time. She quickly opened the door with it, but the chaotic mess inside was difficult for her to accept.

The floor was covered with a pool of blood, which had spread as far as several meters. Elspeth cautiously looked inside and saw what seemed like a body lying in the corner of the couch. Her hair was disheveled, her clothes were torn and tattered, and her neck was crisscrossed with wounds. She seemed to have suffered gruesome humiliation.

Elspeth checked her breath, only to find that the body was no longer breathing. Tears instantly ran down her cheeks. Little did she think her self-proclaimed protection would end up bringing so much harm to Lydia and her family.

Apart from feeling guilty, she was filled with tremendous hatred for Arthur. Subsequently, she called him right away, sounding totally out of control for the first time. “What a butcher you are, Arthur!”

“What’s the matter?”

“Why did you kill Lydia?”

“It wasn’t me who killed her.”

“Who did it, then? Tell me!”

Arthur shook his head. “I can’t tell you anything.”

“You mean to say you have a conscience, though it’s weak, do you?” Elspeth let out a sneer while clutching her phone tightly with her fingers. “Should I thank you for telling me beforehand that she’s been murdered?”

“Elspeth, don’t get too upset about that. She’s got nothing to do with you in the first place.”

Not bothering to waste time talking to the man, Elspeth immediately hung up on him.

Thanks to Lydia’s death, Elspeth didn’t sleep well for several nights straight. When Callum learned about this, he helped her take care of Lydia’s funeral. Then, knowing that Elspeth had almost fully recovered from her injuries, he got her discharged from the hospital lest the sight of this place might remind her of some painful memories.

Elspeth had Harper help find out who had murdered both Lydia and her mother, but the murderer had done an exceptionally fine job this time. The hospital paid several hundred thousand as compensation for Lydia’s mother’s death, claiming that one of its nurses had administered the wrong medicine to her. As for Lydia’s murder, no trace of the murderer was found.

Knowing that their murderer couldn’t be found out for the time being, she had Harper keep looking into it, whereas she returned to work at the company.

When she returned to her office, Ophelia was already mingling well with those in the company. Everyone seemed to have forgotten what she had done back then; instead, they grew even closer to her. However, this was rather normal, for such was human nature.

Ophelia said to her, “Elspeth, you’re back in the office? That’s great! You’ve been away over the past few days; I thought you were seriously ill.” Despite what she said, the look in her eyes seemed to suggest that Elspeth had been slacking at work out of laziness. “And besides, Callum had neglected his work just to stay by your side over the last few days. He’s rarely been like this before.” Having just pulled a stunt on Elspeth, she was in a merry mood, so she merely mentioned this with a smile.

Having just experienced life-and-death situations, Elspeth couldn’t be bothered to play nice with Ophelia. She replied shortly, “You think this is funny, Ophelia?”

“Are you mad, Elspeth? I was just saying. If you don’t like it, I won’t say it anymore,” Ophelia said while pretending to hang her head and weep.

Unable to stand the sight anymore, those around them immediately came to Ophelia’s defense, saying, “Calm down, Miss Lynwood. Ophelia’s just caring about you.”