The Fate in your Eyes

Chapter 26 - Red Eyes

It was late in the evening when she came back from work, tired and exhausted. The light was still on in the kitchen, which surprised her. Was Juan still awake? It was already after twelve, much too late in the evening. She opened the door and saw Juan sitting at the table, busy with countless papers.

"Have you been waiting for me again? Honey, I told you that the rehearsal would be late," she greeted her husband and sat down at the table with him. But Juan seemed a little annoyed. "You always come home late, I've gotten used to it," he replied, chewing on his pen. "I'm sorry, honey. I try to get on stage as often as I can. You know that the theater doesn't get many visitors... and only me and André perform most of the plays," Juan's wife tried to cheer him up.

"I realize that it probably won't be long before the theater closes... but I want to use every opportunity to prevent it... or at least delay it," she said finally, putting her hand on Juan's. "Don't be angry with me, you know that I-". A ringing interrupted her. It was André, her colleague, it seemed urgent. "Him again?" Juan pulled his hand back and pulled a face. "It must be important," she said hastily and disappeared into the next room. Juan looked after her angrily.

How could she spend so much time with these snobs?! Every evening she spent time with him in this theater, every evening they spoke on the phone. "She's cheating on me," he growled

and shook his head. He could feel it. But how could he prove it? Juan could have gotten up now and gone to her, just told her what he felt - but he couldn't. She would make a fool of him. She would just laugh at Juan. The policeman stood up quietly and listened at the door, he heard his wife giggling. She giggled. She flirted.

Again his head screamed that his wife was having an affair with André. How could she!? He loved her so much! Juan's fist clenched into a fist. How could his wife, his... wife - no, she was a slut! A dirty slut!

"I'll catch you both red-handed... just wait and see..." Juan gritted his teeth. He would get this snob out of his life. He would make sure that he and his wife would be happy forever.

But there was only one thing Juan didn't know at that moment.

That one day later his wife would be found dead.

***

They had kidnapped Cheng.

The third player had Cheng in his power.

What should he do now?

Actually, it was already far too late, night had fallen, but Xiao

Lee had immediately called another meeting. So Lu, Luana, Xiao and Ms. Shogen were now sitting at a table and trying to understand what had just happened. Ms. Shogen in particular, who did not know about the paranormal powers, had problems understanding how she had come to miss a suspect and then run away. She could not remember anything. Lu, who kept running his hands through his hair, stared at the table and sighed. Everything had gone wrong, it had all been his fault again. Once again he had put Cheng in danger.

"Can't we find Cheng somehow?" Luana interjected, her desperation clearly audible. Luana was worried because Cheng was still injured... and should actually be in the hospital. And not in captivity somewhere. The two officers looked around thoughtfully when Lu remembered something.

"Why were we so sure that Juan was the person with the powers?" he asked. "Tali said it. You heard it yourself. And you three all had red eyes, which meant that Juan had you under control," Luana explained. "That... can't be... no, that doesn't make sense," Lu shook his head. "Juan couldn't get hold of any of your or my personal items. Okay, let's assume he did it the same night he tried to steal Min Guan's cell phone and... threw Hung off the roof... But what about Cheng and Ms. Shogen?" Lu stood up and turned to the whiteboard.

He quickly scribbled three people on it. "Juan couldn't get hold of Cheng's things because he didn't know that Cheng was in the room at the time. But he was able to bring him

under his control. We also have Ms. Shogen. She was brought in for the interrogation at short notice, so Juan had no way of knowing that she would be there," Lu crossed out the connection.

"But couldn't Juan, if he was controlling Tali, just control Ms. Shogen and you too?" Luana frowned.

"No. Because when the third player had you under control..." Lu paused, "we touched and hit each other several times, but I wasn't controlled. The person couldn't do it," the dark-haired man replied. "Wait, but how could Tali then drag you to the boat?" Xiao Lee narrowed his eyes.

"Because Tali is apparently the person who has the power to control other people. If Juan really was the third player, he wouldn't have been able to manipulate other people in Tali's body," Lu sat down again. "But how did Tali, if it really was her, manage to control you?" Luana's head was spinning. "Through physical contact. On the video camera you can see that Tali is holding Lu and Ms. Shogen's hands tightly," the officer explained. "That's right. As soon as Cheng pushed Lu off the boat, he came back to himself," Luana remembered.

"That means... that Tali Zhen is our murderer? She's the person with red eyes?" Xiao Lee grew grim. "It looks like it," the others agreed. Suddenly Xiao Lee's cell phone rang. It was a blocked number, so he immediately put it on speaker.

"My dear Xiao, it's me"

"Damn it, Juan, you're behind it. I knew it"

"Be happy quietly, buy yourself a cookie, but I'm calling you to gossip"

"What do you want? Where's Cheng?"

"The clairvoyant boy is with me, he's still alive."

"Don't you dare harm a hair on his head," growled Xiao Lee.

"Don't worry, I just want to make a simple deal," laughed Juan.

"You bring me Lu. To the old theater, you know the address. We'll swap Lu for Cheng. No one will get hurt," suggested Juan.

"You've gone crazy!" shouted Xiao.

"I already have been, my old friend. Do we have a deal? You have three hours. Bring me Lu, he should come in alone, no police. No tricks. Otherwise I can't promise that your blond friend will survive," then the call ended.

Lu stared at the display. "I'll do it. No arguments," he finally said. Luana, Xiao and Ms. Shogen immediately wanted to jump up when an officer entered the room. "Excuse me, Officer Lee and Officer Shogen, but there's someone here for you," said the officer. Everyone turned to the door.

A blonde girl entered. It was Tali. Her tired, brown eyes looked calmly at Lu. "WHAT IS SHE DOING HERE?!" Lu wanted to throw himself at the girl when she said something. And what she said made everyone pause. Her words made everyone freeze.

So the Zhen siblings are the person with red eyes.

"I am the real Tali Zhen. My brother, Taji Zhen, who works for Juan Wu, kidnapped Cheng. I am here to testify as a witness and co-responsible," Tali took a step forward.

"I and my brother are the person with red eyes"